Almost Easy: Plantain Series Novella 5.5 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  EPILOGUE

  Ch 1

  Ch 2

  Ch 3

  Ch 4

  Ch 5

  Ch 6

  Ch 7

  Ch 8

  Ch 9

  Ch 10

  CH 11

  Ch 12

  CH 13

  Ch 14

  CH 15

  Ch 16

  Almost Easy

  A Plantain Novella

  Written by Amelia Oliver and Kate Hastings

  Copyright © 2017 Amelia Oliver and Kate Hastings

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons living or dead, events or locations are entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Ch 1

  Ch 2

  Ch 3

  Ch 4

  Ch 5

  Ch 6

  Ch 7

  Ch 8

  Ch 9

  Ch 10

  CH 11

  Ch 12

  CH 13

  Ch 14

  CH 15

  Ch 16

  EPILOGUE

  Prologue

  Finally! The shrill sound of Coach White’s double whistle fills the air.

  “That’s it Princesses, wrap it up and hit the showers.”

  A collective groan fills the air and a few of the guys even drop down and lie flat on the court. I swear this wannabe NBA star is trying to kill us. I know high school basketball is a career springboard for some gifted students, but for fuck sake, we’re not training to be Marines.

  Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m playing basketball. The seniors get all the game time, and as underclassman we’re mostly benchwarmers. We’re paying our dues I guess, and in a couple of years we’ll be getting all the game time and the new wave of freshman will be complaining about their lack of play.

  “Hey Harrington! Aren’t you forgetting something?” Coach calls me out.

  I look over and see him gesture at all the practice gear spread around the gym. Yup, we’re not just benchwarmers, but equipment lackeys too.

  “Right Coach, I’m on it.” I reply, making my way to the empty canvas bags and begin to collect the balls from the court.

  “My guess is you’ve never been on it Harrington. Do you even know what pussy looks like?” Lewis sneers and the other guys near him start laughing. Lewis White, team bully and the coach’s son. Says it all really.

  I can’t help it, I feel my face turn bright red and I know I must look like a deer in headlights.

  “Stop being an asswipe Lewis. I suggest you start worrying about what little pussy you’re getting instead.” The strong voice of one of our assistant coaches stops the bullshit in its tracks, as he grabs Lewis by the back of the neck and steers him away from me.

  “C’mon Nolan, I was only fucking with him”, Lewis defends as they all walk out of the gym, and I breathe easier knowing that they’re gone.

  It takes me about thirty minutes to collect all the gear from practice and lock it away in the storage room. I figure at this rate all the other guys will have finished showering by now and left for home.

  Hitting the locker room, I’m assaulted with the combined scents of sweat, pain ointment, dirty laundry and axe body spray. I take a deep breath and let the smell fill my nose and lungs. I find it comforting, I don’t know why and I don’t look too closely at it either. At my locker I strip down, grab my shower shit and head towards the showers, taking a clean towel from the cage on my way through.

  The space is still filled with steam and water pools across the dingy white tile floor, heading towards the overflow drain in the center of the room. Stepping into the shower recess directly in front of me, I begin adjusting the temperature of the spray.

  Hearing humming, I turn my head and notice that the shower on the far end is actually still occupied. Occupied by Nolan. He must’ve stayed back to chat with Coach or something. He’s a former star player on the team, and with his height and natural athleticism, he was a hell of a power-forward. Or point guard. In fairness, Nolan could play the shit out of any position on the team. Given he goes to college in state, Coach hired him to assist with our practices and home matches when he can.

  I start to wash my body, running my soapy hands over my chest and stomach, the soreness in my muscles relaxing under the heat of the spray. Nolan turns his body slightly and reaches for something on the shelf next to him. Shampoo. Lifting his arms up to his head, he starts washing his hair.

  I can feel my cock lengthen, the skin becoming taut. I’m not shocked; I’m a fifteen-year-old guy. Simply taking in oxygen causes me to throw wood, so a hot shower and my own soapy hands causing one is nothing new.

  Watching Nolan move under the water, his muscles shifting with each pass of his arms, it’s clear he’s well on his way to having the body not just of a man, but of a Viking warrior.

  Without thought, the washing of my dick turns rougher, becoming firmer with each pass and I’m thankful he seems oblivious to me even being here. My breathing changes and speeds up to match the rhythm of my hand. My balls draw up closer to my body as I watch Nolan tip his head back and rinse the shampoo from his dark blond hair. With my hand still in motion, my eyes follow the streams of sudsy water as they choose their path down his body. From across his shoulders, down between his pecs, along his taut stomach and into the neatly trimmed hair of his groin, before finally running down his legs and into the drain below. Bringing my gaze back up his body, my eyes are glued to his dick. I’ve never seen a man dick before. I’ve seen old men at the Plantain Recreational Center in the showers, and all these high school guys after practice. But never a virile, strong, girthy, long, fat dick that looks like it would be astonishing hard— wait, what?

  Before I know what’s happening, I feel the tingle in the base of my spine and I know I’m about to jizz. Holy shit! What the fuck is wrong with me? With an intense sickened feeling in my stomach, I drop my hand and quickly turn my body towards the shower wall. My dick begins to spurt, refusing to be denied what my hand started, the muscles of my body finishing the job.

  Rinsing away the evidence, I turn the taps off in the shower with such force that the old pipes shudder and complain loudly. Grabbing my towel and throwing it around my hips, I start walking so fast the slippery surface beneath my feet makes my steps clumsy, but I don’t slow down. I can’t get out of here quick enough.

  Filled with a strong sense of shame and embarrassment, I’m gulping air like I’ve been holding my breath for hours. I dress without really drying my body, almost forcing my street clothes onto my limbs. My mind is in turmoil, refusing to acknowledge any lingering pleasure of the most intense orgasm I’ve had since I’ve been jacking my own dick. A dick I’d let go of! I don’t even want to think what it would have been like if I had stroked through it. Fuck, stop! I’m not going to process what the fuck just happened. No, I don’t want to process what the fuck just happened. One thing is for certain though, it will not be happening again. That shit stops now.

  As I leave the gym, I’m not really watching where I’m walking. I need to call my Dad for a ride home, so I’m trying to fish my phone from the bottom of my gym bag. Focused on just getting the hell out of here, I don’t see Irys until she sp
eaks.

  “Hey Rupert. Is Nolan still in there making himself beautiful?”

  Snapping my head up toward her voice, I see she’s leaning against the bench under the trees, just in front of the student parking lot. I respond the only way my scrambled brain can manage.

  “What? Who? How the fuck would I know?”

  “Damn, chill out. Who pissed in your Gatorade? Didn’t you just come from practice?” The look on her face tells me that she’s confused by my reaction, and really, she just wants to know where her oldest brother is. I reassure myself that she couldn’t possibly know what I was just doing while watching him shower. God, fuck. That sick tingly feeling is back in the pit of my stomach. With Irys watching me, waiting for me to answer, I really need to get it under control.

  Taking a deep calming breath, I look right at Irys, really taking her in this time. She’s in a pair of white jean shorts, the pocket insides hanging lower than where the frayed legs end, and a bright blue racer-back tank. She’s as tall as I am, her long lean limbs are covered in bronze skin, and she has a head of hair that belongs in a shampoo commercial. Her tight body, perky boobs and high ass complete the package. Jesus, the genetics in this family really do pack a punch. Irys is in about half my classes, and hangs with most of the same crew I do. It’s harder not to really. In a town the size of Plantain, everyone knows everyone. She’s popular, she’s smart, she’s fun to be around and most of the guys my age think she’s hot. It hits me in that moment that she’s also not dating anyone.

  “Shit, I’m really sorry Irys” I say, giving her my eyes, “Practice always makes me extra agitated. Forgive me, gorgeous?” I tease while giving her my mega-watt smile.

  She grins back at me, a long, pink tipped finger twirling a strand of her hair. “Of course.”

  Smirking slightly I add, “Well, how about I take you out to dinner at the diner tomorrow night? You know, just to show you how sorry I am.”

  Ch 1

  NOLAN

  Pulling up the long driveway, I park beside my sister’s Explorer and get out of my truck before walking over to let myself in the side door.

  "Irys it's me!" I announce.

  "Changing laundry!" she replies from the basement.

  I walk through the kitchen, headed for the bathroom when I'm stopped by mini-Evan.

  "What's up Con-man?" I greet him, extending my palm for a high five.

  "Connor," he corrects.

  "I know, it’s a nickname, a nickname I've called you for four years," I remind him.

  We have this conversation every time I call him this, and really I do it just to get him going.

  "My name’s Connor," he states.

  “But the nickname is so much cooler than Connor.”

  "Why are you even starting with him?" Irys asks, plopping a laundry basket full of clothes into the sectional adjacent from us.

  "Connor," he repeats.

  I tilt my head as I look at my nephew walk past and into his bedroom.

  "You know, for having a grandpa like Smokey and a dad like Evan, your kid is really uptight," I comment.

  "He's not uptight, he's just type A. He likes things as they should be, his name’s Connor, so he's Connor."

  "Whatever," I shrug as I head toward the bathroom.

  "Did you come to my house just to pee again?" Irys asks.

  "Yup."

  "You live a block away," she reminds me.

  "You're right by Main Street, which is where I'm going."

  I flush the toilet as I finish and wash my hands.

  "Where you coming from?"

  "Beaver Falls," I reply, walking past her folding laundry as I head into the kitchen.

  "Oh yeah?" she says with a playful lilt in her tone. "Seeing anyone in particular there?"

  "No, just had to end something that should’ve never been a thing," I say, uncapping the milk jug and sniffing the contents.

  "That sucks."

  "No, he sucked, and not in the way that makes it worth it."

  It should've surprised me that my family was so excepting of me being gay. I thought I put on a pretty good act, but when my dad barely missed a bite of his dinner as I made my announcement, I realized I wasn't fooling anyone.

  "What's new?" I ask her.

  "Not much… oh, but ya know what? I went for coffee the other day with Rupert. You remember him?" She asks.

  Flashbacks of the Plantain locker room, wet skin, his hard dick.

  “That dude who pretended he was your boyfriend? Yeah, I remember him,” I tell her, while looking deeper in the fridge.

  “Oh stop,” she chastises. “But that all makes sense now, the way he was with me…you know what he told me?” she says, again with that playful tone to her voice.

  “What’s that?”

  “He’s gay and single,” she sing-songs.

  Well it’s about fucking time, I’ve been knowing he was gay before he did. I could just tell, not only since the locker room incident, but also just because we have a sense for our own kind. I’d heard he was back in town, but had yet to see him. I thought for a brief moment that maybe he and I would become a thing all those years ago, but he went off to college and just recently moved back. It’s been almost seven years I think, and to know he’s openly gay, makes me wonder if maybe those sparks will ignite once again.

  “Okay, Irys, later. Bye Con-man!” I say quickly as I exit out the back door.

  I don’t rush away for any other reason than my sister thinks all gay people will work as a couple, like since this is such a small place, that two gays just automatically like each other and they couple up. No. I try to explain this to her, like how she doesn’t find every guy on the face of the earth hot or attractive, but she still doesn’t see the comparison.

  I get in my truck and check my phone. I have ten minutes before I’m supposed to meet with the council’s project manager for the new build. I also see there’s a text from the guy I ended shit with last night, Chad. We’d fucked a few times, but he really did suck in bed and I’d rather jerk off then drive somewhere to meet a lame lay. He’s nice, but just not for me. He’s too feminine and would get this whiney pleading tone whenever I’d tell him I was heading out or didn’t give him a concrete answer to when we’d get together again. I want to be in a relationship, but not forced into one just for sex. So, I’d cut those ties and I’m on the hunt for something new. Not that I’m rushing into a relationship, I’ve never had a boyfriend to be honest, just hook-ups. I’m getting older and would like that to be a possibility, but the homosexual population around here is limited and I don’t plan on leaving Plantain any time soon.

  Ch 2

  RUPERT

  As I drive into work, I look around at the place I grew up with an older perspective than the one I had before I left for college. I see the beauty now, the story it has to tell. I also see the potential. Like many small towns, when you return after a long time away, you see the things that have changed. At the same time, you get the feeling that maybe nothing has.

  Thankfully, I have changed. Grown the fuck up to be exact. I’ll be the first to admit that the apathetic eighteen-year-old I once was, is not someone I’m overly proud of. I get that with age comes wisdom or some shit, but I was just not one of those guys who was comfortable in his skin. I didn’t really know who I was or who I wanted to be; and being too afraid to find out, I just became the guy I thought it was easier to be. Popular. Athletic. Indifferent. An asshole.

  I was certainly an asshole to Irys, no question. I’d used her. I’d used her beauty, her popularity and her captivating wild spirit to create the image I thought I’d needed. Motivated by a healthy dose of fear-based denial, I started dating Irys the day after what I now call, ‘the locker room incident’. We were the epitome of high school sweethearts. We made sense together. Everyone thought so, including her. Truth be told though, looking back, I think maybe Irys was just as lost as I was.

  It wasn’t until the summer before I left for college that she bro
ke up with me. Fierce and confident, in a total Irys way, she put a stop to something we both knew wasn’t working. Had never really worked, for either of us. That didn’t mean I was ready for it. Fuck, no. She’d scared the shit out of me and I’d panicked. Still not out of the thick woods of denial and about to leave the safety of Plantain, I’d tried to get her back. In yet another completely self-serving asshole move, I’d also inadvertently nearly ruined her chance at the happiness she deserved.

  I’ve seen her a couple of times since being back in town and there are no hard feelings between us. As I suspected, Irys wasn’t all that into me either, but I still feel guilty that she was the one who’d had to put a stop to our charade. She’s happy, she’s running her own clothing boutique, she’s raising a family, and she’s totally in love with the guy she married, Evan. In typical Irys fashion, when we’d run into each other at the diner, she’d demanded we sit for a quick coffee and catch up. Not having much time, we’d kept it to the general ‘how have you been?” and ‘do you know what so-and-so is doing now?’ sort of shit. I did however give her the ‘btw, I’m gay’ confession. I knew she had more than moved on, but I’d still figured I should break it to her gently. I shouldn’t have worried, Irys had laughed her ass off. Apparently, I’d not shattered her view of me, but instead shone a light on things that in hindsight had always struck her as odd. Barely being interested in sex, and then, only ever fucking her from behind for a start.

  Pulling into my parking space at the Plantain municipal building, I check to see if I’ll have time to grab a coffee from the diner before my first appointment. Nope, looks like I’m shit out of luck. The truck a few spaces over from me bears the logo of the construction company that won the bid, so the project manager for the high school gym rebuild must already be here.

  I enter through the staff access door at the rear of the building and head straight down the hall towards reception. I’d prepped for this meeting before leaving last night, so it should be a relatively quick one. I just need to hand over the final plans, co-sign the permits with their project manager, and they’re set to begin.