Who's idea was it to have mornings so early-this morning especially? In a little while, I go home to take care of my personal stuff, job and everything, packing my stuff and moving here. I nudge Nigel, but find he is not there, thinking to myself 'I wonder' I went downstairs and found him staring at the trophies won by him and his dad yesterday. I walk behind and hug him while resting my chin on his shoulder, looking at the awards.

By the looks of things, he has been up for a while as I smell something coming from the kitchen. As we walk into the kitchen, it hits me. I turn to Nigel and say "Happy one week anniversary buddy". His eyes turned into pie pans "SONOFABITCH!! It never even crossed my mind, but yes, it is our anniversary" He gives me a hug and a kiss as I dance him across the room. I could live in those arms forever.

With breakfast a memory, I get my gear in order. I won't be needing much for this ride. Let’s see, keys, wallet, phone and charger and a ...

"Nige!"

He comes a runnin’ wondering what's up.

"I need a picture of you, to show my mom". He finds one after some digging and hands it over.

"Nice pic, I like it,” I said and put it in my wallet.

Time to hit the road now, but my legs didn't want to move. I soon get a spin and a kick in the ass from Nigel and I'm soon sitting in the Civic.

"I will hopefully be back by the weekend, we can celebrate then, and I'll call every chance I get," I tell Nigel. With a wave, I was gone.

I'm taking the interstate this time, get home faster. Is it just me, or do all the fields start looking the same after being on the road for a few hours? The mountains were nice though, great scenery. It's turning to dusk as I pull into my hometown, almost feeling like a tourist as I go through the suburbs. When I get to my apartment, I collect my mail that I forgot to stop for my vacation and go inside. The answering machine is blinking.

‘Wow, I never noticed that before' I think as I check the messages. I have four, wow! I end up deleting them all. I don't need siding, windows, lawncare service, or another credit card, geesh! I call Nige as I'm getting situated at my apartment. Do you believe it? He misses the shit out of me already! The feeling is mutual though.

I'm supposed to be off this week from work yet, but I go in anyway to talk with my boss and the higher ups and let them know what I'm doing. They are genuinely upset that I'll be leaving and asked where I was moving to, and the CEO thought for a bit, "Were you aware that we have a distribution center about 50 miles away from there?" "Umm, no sir, I didn't. What good would I be there?" "Do you know that we have offices there, and you could, if interested, have your same job there?" "No sir, I never gave it much thought, but I think I'll have to give it a lot of thought." "Ok, think it over, until then, you will still be on paid vacation until I hear otherwise and I will let the managers there aware of your possible arrival. And if you take it, we'll consider it a transfer, nothing else will change." "Thank you sir, and I will have an answer by the weekend." As I leave work, I'm almost giddy. I didn't really want to leave, and the boss gave me an option. Extremely cool. I leave all my new info with my boss and head outside.

I drive around, looking for nothing in particular, when I remember that I need a u-crawl for all my things and a dolly for the car, so I stop by the place and reserve one of each. From there, I go to my mothers place and tell her the news. She is obviously bummed, but glad that I'm going to do something with my life, and with someone as I pull my picture of Nigel out to show her. She is taken by his picture, and I fill her in on what brought this all on. She is kind of surprised on how fast this happened. We spend the rest of the afternoon making small talk, what I'm going to do, the offer from my boss, etc. I tell her I'll see her before I leave, and I take off and head home.

I get home and find the office for my apartments are still open, and I give them the bare bones information, new address, etc and let them know when I'll be out, then head to my place. Once I get inside, I remember one more thing, boxes. I guess I'll go to the store in the morning and snag all the boxes I can and still get them in the Honda.

With boxes stacked everywhere, and newspaper piles, I start the task of packing. Good thing I don't have a lot here or I'd be in trouble. I start with the little things and work my way around the apartment, picking and packing. Feeling a break coming, I head out to see some friends and tell them what’s happening, and give them my new address. Making a few stops that day, doing about the same thing, I go back to the apartment. I call Nigel, letting him know everything that has gone on, he was actually geeked about my job offer, but we would talk about that later. I tell him, hopefully, Friday I would be rolling home.

With most of the kitchen packed, just leaving a couple things I need out, and the fridge and cupboards almost bare anyway, I fix a little lunch. I hang around the apartment for the day, going thru my things 'this can be packed, this can go to the dumpster' I find most of the place is packed. I call for a pizza, and when it arrives, I tip the pizza guy a bit more than I should've, couldn't help it, he was cute. With a wave of my hand, half of the pizza disappeared, and I now have breakfast for tomorrow. Relaxing on the couch, with a movie, my thoughts wander to Nigel. About that time, the phone rings 'damn, someone thinks I'm alive' I pick it up, with a mighty "yes?" It was Nige, seems that he was bored and thought he would check on my existence. "What's up Dar? You sound bored." "Oh, nothing, just killed a pizza and turned a movie on when the phone rang, caught me off guard, nobody ever calls." "So, tell me about that job" I tell him all the particulars and where it's at, then he says "Damn, I totally forgot about that place, it's not too far away either. I could always use a break on parts too" The last part he had to laugh out. "But, it's up to you, I can use you here. Tell your boss you'll take it. We can sort out any other things when you get back" We talk another 2 hours about whatever came up.

Damn, it's Wednesday already. After nuking some of yesterday’s pizza, I call the u-crawl place to check on my reservation, I'll pick them up tomorrow afternoon and will get dropped off at the closest dealer to Nige’s town. I start thinking 'Hmm, I'm going to need some help getting the truck and moving my stuff in it'. I call an old friend of mine and ask him to come over. I need to tell him face to face what's going on, he knows about me, but we never really seem to talk about it. A couple hours pass until he arrives. "Todd, how are ya?" "Not too bad Dar, I was off today anyway. What's up?" I proceed to tell him the story, and what's going to happen. He walks up to me, sniffling, pulling me into a hug telling me "I'm going to miss you". We talk for the rest of the afternoon. As he was leaving, he said he will be here tomorrow afternoon to help me with my stuff.

I go to my moms that evening, telling her that tomorrow I'll be loading and finishing the packing, and may not, but I would try to see her on my way out of town. We talk about Nigel and myself more, what the arrangements are, my job and everything about the area. We have a quiet dinner, I'm going to miss her cooking. Finishing up there, I give her a kiss goodbye and head back to my apartment.

When tomorrow becomes today, I start moving all the boxes to the living room and start breaking things down, like my bed. At least I don't have a lot of furniture to haul, just boxes of memories. The only things not moved around yet, were the couch and the TV. Gotta have some entertainment. About that time, who comes knocking at my door? Only Todd. As he walks in, I mention that he's really early "no I'm not, were going out, it is your last day here, so we are gonna have some fun" I couldn't deny that, life’s simple pleasures.

So, where do we go first?? A road course go-cart track. We were bout the only ones on the track, so the staff kinda let us go and play. I'm ahead for a bit when he comes up behind be and gives my backside a sound THUMP. I couldn't let that go unpunished, so we start trading paint, just enough action to keep us playing, but not bad enough to get us kicked out. We go to the arcade inside, and he precedes to hand my ass to me on most of the games, I was never much of a gamer, so I was a easy target. After that, we go to the mall and poke around there, taking in the sights when a cute guy walks past me, Todd just looks at me and says "Get your chin off the floor" We wander the mall for a while, then it's Todd’s turn as a fine lady walks past him, I look at him and just say "Paybacks are a bitch, huh?" He just nodded his head.

It's about that time, as we head to the u-crawl place to get everything and take care of the paperwork. We look the truck over and the dolly against the checklist so any damage there already, I wouldn't be responsible for. I thank the guy and we head to my place, for maybe, the last time. We get the truck situated, and we start loading. Good thing I'm on the ground floor. It makes it easy moving things out the slider instead of going up and down stairs. It takes awhile, but everything is loaded and secured. We get the dolly back on the truck and put Nigel’s Honda on it and make sure it is stable and won't be going anywhere. It's getting late, and Todd has to get home. I give him my new address and the phone number there, and with a final hug, he climbs in his car and leaves

It's hard to separate, but my new life awaits. I get the place all cleaned up and pull a sleeping bag out on the floor and get some sleep. The next day, I make some calls getting all my utilities shut off and giving them my new address for my last statements. Off to the landlord’s office, it's time to walk thru the place, and with everything in agreement, I get my deposit back, I hand him my key, and I leave.

My first stop out of town was work. I talk to my boss there and tell him that I accept the job and to inform the new place of my arrival. Next stop, Moms place. We have a nice lunch and we talk some more. We talk about my future life with Nigel, she doesn't quite understand it, but won't give me any grief over it either. I tell her that Nige and me are like two sides of a coin, both different in their own way, but together thru thick and thin. We end this visit on a happy note, and I make one more stop before hitting the road.

Geez, this truck has a big tank! I hope I won't have to stop too often, as I finish filling the gas tank up, and grab some munchies and drinks for the ride to my new home. As I pull on the road, I think to myself, 'I'm going home'. Eight hours, plus or minus a few minutes and I will be back in my friends arms. I was listening to the radio, geesh. No good stations out here, so I settle on some “wayback” station, mainly 70's era stuff, but tolerable. Shit, forgot to call Nige. I hurry up and do that, he'll be at work, so I'll have to make it quick.

"Just Passin Thru"

Oh, that voice... "Hi hon, miss me?"

"Nah, I've had a couple guys keeping me company. I missed the shit out of you, of course. You leave yet?"

"Yeah, a couple hours ago, totally slipped me to call you."

"As long as you called. When do you expect to be back?"

I look at my watch, and do some figuring.

"About 6 hours or so, you have anything going tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm patiently waiting on my bloody boyfriend to drag his ass home is all"

"Oh, do I know him," I said, playing around, but he plays back too.

"Nope, don't think so, well, you might've seen him around. He's about 5' 8" and has a mop for a haircut"

"Nah, can't place him"

"Ok, it's you, ya poofter, I'm waiting on you"

"Poofter, huh? Talk dirty to me why don't ya, you dirty Englishman"
Nige starts laughing and I know I have him.

"Well, I better get off this thing, traffic is starting to pile up some. I'll call when I get close, and it'll give you time to get your gigolo to leave."

"No gigolo here, just waiting on a wanker is all I'm doing."

“Ok”, I say through laughter, "Talk to you soon"

"See you soon too, bye"

I swear, there are two seasons around here, winter, and construction. Delays suck, traffic sucks more. Good thing it was a nice day, or I'd really be cross. After another hour or so, I glance at the gas gauge, sitting between half and a quarter, I figure another hour, and I'll have to make a pit stop, for more than gas too. I finally find a good station on the radio that was playing harder stuff, helps make the time go faster, it seems.

With the gas stop out of the way, I'm back on the road, thinking about my future, our future, together. After about six hours on the road, I look around at the scenery and tell myself "almost home". I get off the interstate and start on the two lanes that will lead me to my new home. It’s getting dark when I have an evil idea. I ponder that as I pass JPT and decide to act on it. About a mile from the house, I call Nige.

"Hey bud, where are ya?"

"I think I'm lost in the sticks."

That earns me a chuckle. "No idea where you’re at? Ok, find a crossroad and tell me the names."

I figure it out and tell him the names.

"You ass! You’re right down the road! Get your butt here, people here want to meet ya"

"Ok, be there in a few, and by the way, I love you"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just bring your ass." I laughed as I went down the road and pulled in 'our' driveway.

Out pours the welcome wagon as I get the truck parked. I look at the people there, obviously happy, but I wonder if any of them know...Nige runs up to me and puts me in the hug to end all hugs and gives me a kiss.

"I've been waiting all week to give you that," he says as I look at the guests, who didn't even look stunned by the display.

I then tell him, "I've been waiting all week for that too, got any more?"

I don't know who started it, but someone started clapping, and they all joined in. I took Nige’s hand and bowed to our guests.

After things got settled down, a lady takes my arm so we can talk.

"Oh, sorry, Molly, forgot who you were for a sec."

"You know something Darren?"

"Umm......."

"You’re my hero, you saved Nigel. I haven't seen him this happy and content ever. I owe you for that." With that, she gave me a peck on the cheek. She then said "It doesn’t matter, gay or not, it doesn't matter to us here. These people have known Nigel since he moved here, and we are a family."

"So, the hugs and kisses did nothing to make you cringe?"

"Oh, I was jealous though, I wanted to kiss him for ages, but you have him now, take care of him."

I could barely whimper out, "Thank you, Molly."

I find Nigel, talking with some friends, take his hand and walk him away from everyone for a minute.

"You have great friends there. Molly and I talked some."

I got another hug, and a kiss, that was perfect. We went back to the group, all sat on the deck. Nige went inside for some drinks while I played 20 questions with his friends. He comes out with a drink for everyone, and drops a cold Corona in my lap, just missing “the twins”.

I give him a look and tell him, "Keep it up and no nookie for you."

The whole backyard erupted in laughter, and I knew I was finally home.



To Be Continued...