Cookie Connection
1300 Words
Donny Windham slowly closed the barn door from the inside. His shoulders automatically tensed when the old rusty hinges squeaked.
The young man left the door just slightly ajar so he could peek through the c***k. "I can't believe I slipped by Toto without waking him up. He's so cute on that little doggy pillow Aunt Em made for him." Adjusting his angle, he added quietly, "I don't see any lights on or any movement in the house."
"Why are you whispering?" asked Jay Bridgestone, his best friend. "Your aunt and uncle couldn't hear us all the way in the farmhouse, even if they were still awake. Which I'm sure they're not, since it's almost midnight. And damn, why don't barns have air conditioning?"
"I know. I checked the temperature before I came out here, it's still eighty-eight degrees. At this time of night! Can you believe-" Donny looked over his shoulder. The sight cut his thoughts in mid-sentence.
At that exact moment, Jay grabbed the hem of his tee and pulled it over his head, revealing his perfect farm work-toned upper body. The shirtless stud reclined on the hay bale. With his legs spread open, the rest of his manly equipment showed quite prominently beneath his tight jeans.
Donny had often noticed that straight guys were fearless when it came to their bodies. How he envied their confidence. If they only knew what they did to their closeted gay friends when they showed off like that.
The young man tried to force himself not to stare at his friend's buzzed, hairy pecs. Donny closed his left fist and dug his nails into the palm of his hand. He'd developed that automatic reaction to channel the energy whenever he felt the urge to run his hands all over Jay's chest.
He wanted so badly to feel that hair beneath his fingers, to kiss his friend's nips and... Snap out if it, he ordered himself.
Jay asked, "So, dude, now that you got me out here at freaking midnight, what's up that you couldn't text me about? Or wait until tomorrow?" While he waited for an answer, Jay's eyes swept over his friend.
Donny couldn't help but wonder what Jay saw when he looked at him. Did he notice the dirty blonde hair and the masculine stubble on his face which was on the verge of being classified as a light beard. How about his smooth chest showing through his top two undone buttons?
Those were the kinds of things Donny noticed about other men anyway. He hoped someday he'd find someone who paid attention to him like that too. He hadn't worked on a farm his whole life like Jay, but he had done farm work for the last two years. The daily farm chores as well as his participation on various school sports teams had given him a hot jock bod, even if he felt strange admitting it.
"Well?" Jay prompted. "What did you do? Break a nail and you want your old pal Jay to kiss it better for ya?" he asked with a smart aleck grin.
"You love getting me riled up. Do you just enjoy torturing me?"
"That could be fun – if you're into that sort of thing," Jay shrugged.
Jay delivered the line so naturally and casually that there was no way Donny could tell if the stud was serious, cracking a joke, or just plain making fun of him. It had always been that way between them since the first time they met when Donny came to live with his Aunt Em and Uncle Henry two years earlier.
* * *
Donny clearly remembered the day he met Jay Bridgestone.
Aunt Em had said to her nephew, "I won't have you sitting around the house all day after you finish your chores. You've been here two weeks already and haven't made a single friend yet."
"The nearest neighbors are a million miles away," complained Donny as he looked out the kitchen window at the seemingly endless Kansas prairie.
"They are not either," Aunt Em contradicted as she wiped her hands on her apron. "The Bridgestone family's farm is only a mile up the road. They have a boy about your age too."
"Aunt Em, I'm not a 'boy,' I'm going to be a high school junior in the fall."
"You're practically ready to retire," Aunt Em said with an eye roll meant to convey her sarcasm. "Fine, then, the Bridgestones have a 'young man' about your age. Better?"
Donny nodded his agreement.
Aunt Em slid a tray of freshly baked cookies into a basket which she covered with a fancy dish towel. "Here, take these cookies down the road and go introduce yourself. Boys, young men, old geezers, whatever age they are, none of them can resist my cookies! Share them with Jay Bridgestone and you'll have a friend for life." She handed Donny the basket. "Now, off with you!"
Donny surreptitiously grabbed his duffel bag hanging on the back of the chair by the door. He knew Aunt Em would never approve of putting food in what she called "that stinky bag that smells like every locker room you've ever been in and every dirty sports team uniform you've ever worn." Donny slipped the basket inside the bag and headed down the road.
An hour later, he and Jay Bridgestone sat under a maple tree by the stream in ninety degree weather shoving the last of the cookies into their mouths.
"You've got melted chocolate all over your face," Jay told his new friend.
Donny wiped his mouth several times with the back of his hand. Each time, Jay shook his head to indicate that Donny had still missed some of the melted chips.
"Come here, I'll get it," Jay said, leaning over. Jay's rough, farm-toughened fingers reached out towards Donny's face. He cradled both hands around Donny's chin and cheeks in order to provide stability when he rubbed the chocolate away.
Donny thought he would have automatically recoiled at someone he hardly knew holding his face and rubbing around his lips like that. However, Jay's touch sent tingles up and down his spine. He involuntarily shuddered, yet he didn't want them to stop.
"There, got it," Jay announced.
"Thanks," Donny mumbled.
Neither of the two young men moved. They looked into each other's eyes. Their breathing stopped for a second.
As if some unknown force pushed him forward, Donny started to lean in towards Jay. He closed his eyes.
So many thoughts raced through his mind. He'd never told anyone about "those" feelings he had – feelings for other guys.
First, Donny had grown up on the other side of the state in a little town. He'd gone to school with the same small group of people his whole life. He had no doubt that he was the only gay kid in the school. His classmates whispered that one girl's gate swung both ways, but that obviously didn't interest him in any way.
Now that he'd moved to the farm with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, he turned out to be the only gay guy in a two hundred mile radius. (He'd checked the mobile apps!) Yet, somehow, he found this handsome hunk. Brought together by something so old-fashioned like chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, what were the odds?
Donny puckered his lips, ready for anything. Then... Nothing!
Jay's hands fell away from Donny's face. Even though they were gone, Donny could still feel their impressions against his skin.
"What're you doing, dude?" Jay asked. "You looked like you were waiting for me to kiss you or something!"
"Oh, I, um, I-" Donny stammered.
"Spit it out, man. Did you want me to plant a big smooch on your mouth or not?"
- Writer
