Achieving Loft 2

"Nothing, Roberto. I was telling the man here that we're brothers."

I felt like a total idiot, when Roberto spoke the truth about me, complaining, "Oh, he's a bastard!"

"Rober-to!" Alberto scolded him. "That's not nice. Mama didn't bring us up like that. Now apologize to the man."

His head rocking back and forth on his shoulder, Roberto replied to his brother's wishes.

"Sorry mister."

Alberto adds, "I hope my brother hasn't been bothering you, mister. He's not supposed to be in the mall on his own."

"Oh, no. He hasn't been a problem to me. In fact, he's kind of right," I told Alberto.

He smiled, saying, "You mean, you are a bastard?"

I giggled, seeing the jocularity in Alberto's demeanor showing through. I followed his lead.

"Yeah, I guess I am. I think I have some apologizing to do to Roberto."

Walking the two steps, to stand in front of him, I extended my hand.

"Roberto, I'm sorry I was rude to you. My name is Luke."

"Hi Luke," Roberto then said, meekly.

Having Alberto there, seemed to overshadow his response.

"And I'm Alberto. Alberto Dominquez."

"Good to meet you, Alberto."

"I'm sorry about my brother, Luke. It's nice meeting you, but we've got to get going on home. My dad will be home soon and I've got to get started on the dinner."

I figured the least I could do, is be cordial.

"Say, can I give you boys a ride?"

Roberto pipes up with, "No. I can't ride with strangers."

However, Alberto, eyeing me up and down, replies, "I'm with you, Roberto. That's makes a difference, okay? Besides, Roberto, you're nineteen years old. 'Bout time you've learned to trust some strangers. I think we can trust Luke. What do you think, Roberto?"

Both of us waited for Roberto to filter the thoughts through his brain. He did more than make up his mind, verbally, with me. Moving forward, he wove his hands inside my $800.00 sports coat and hugged me, pinning his chest up against mine, the top of his head fitting under my chin.

"Sorry, Luke."

"It's no problem, Alberto," I replied, really not minding, using my hands to rub up and down the kid's back.

"If your offer still stands, Luke, we'll take that ride."

"It's still there, waiting, Alberto."

"C'mon Roberto, before you wrinkle Luke's shirt!"

The two lived quite a ways from the mall, in a nice section of Maplewood.

"This is our house, Luke. you can let us off here."

Roberto, having fun switching CD's nine million times, asks me, "Luke, you want to stay for dinner, so I can play all your CD's?"

I laughed out loudly, as Alberto blushed.

"Ro-ber-to!" Alberto again criticised.

"Oops! You can't come for dinner, Luke," Roberto withdrew the offer.

"Ro-ber-to!"

Roberto kept digging himself deeper into trouble with Alberto. I figured I better help him out of his mischief.

"Actually, I have to meet with a friend. How about I stop on my way home, in a week or so?"

"Where do you live?" Roberto inquired.

I know I had mentioned to Alberto that I resided in Warren, but reiterated it, for Roberto's benefit.

"Do you live in a nice house like our's Luke?"

"Um, probably not as fancy," I fibbed, which Alberto picked up on, figuring on how I was dressed and what I drove.

"Roberto, run inside and get a paper and pen for me."

"Yes, sir!" Roberto saluted and then hightailed it into the quaint brick home.

"Well, it's been nice to meet you Luke. Really."

"Oh I believe you and I think Roberto is kind of a cute guy."

"Cute? You think?"

I realized that I had just moved our conversation into a different outlook. I'm not sure how Alberto was perceiving it, but I let it ride.

"How do you mean Cute, Luke?"

He was prying!

I'm not out to hide anything, so figure I'd let on to my sexuality, seeming the timing to be correct.

"Well, Alberto, I don't know how you feel about this and if you want to change your mind about dinner on my return, it's fine. I'm gay."

A big grin widened his face.

"I wasn't sure Luke. So are we."

"Here's the pen and paper, Alberto. Hey, what's up?"

Both Alberto and I, realized Roberto's implication. Yeah, there was a sense of mystery about us now.

Alberto put it bluntly, placing his arm over his brother's shoulder, telling him, "Luke is just like us, Roberto."

"He's a latino?"

Alberto and I laughed, which made Roberto blush.

"No, bro, he's gay."

"Did you like my hug, Luke?"

"Yes, but I didn't hug you because either of us are gay, Roberto. I hugged you because we're friends."

"When you come back for dinner, can I have another friendly hug, Luke?"

"How about one right now, Roberto?"

I didn't have to beg him to run around the car. Opening my door, Roberto was waiting.

As I redoubled my trail, I got lost a little. I don't know by which route Alberto directed me, from the mall, but fortunately, I found myself on the Garden State Parkway. I knew that it intersected with Route 80 and I'd find myself going west, which had been my original objective. From there I would find the the Andover exit. I skipped over the Mapquest segment for Route 287.

"206?" I questioned.

Sure enough, the directions read Route 206. I figured that I could have picked up 206 way down near Bridgewater and had a nice scenic ride. Then it dawned on me. If I had done that, I wouldn't have met neither John Newcomb, nor those cute Dominquez boys. In friendship, I meant. True, when nineteen year old Roberto hugged me, in the men's room and later on, at my car, in Maplewood, I sensed a 'wamth'. Plus, I thought Alberto to be quite a handsome guy. As I drove onto 80-West, I thought about how I really liked the two and looked forward to visiting them in a week or so.

I did make one more pit stop, up around Ledgewood, but then figured I could hold it, as I began seeing signs for 206.

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written by achieving_loft