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“... and here's the manual, but not much has changed since the last version. Are you doing okay, Richie?” I nodded. ‘Don't forget that I explained the old version to you, Rip.’ My father grinned. ”Yes, but only because you didn't trust me to choose a sensible program for the practice myself. Oh, and one more thing: a new patient is coming in later, so please take care of the paperwork, okay?” I tapped my forehead with two fingers. ‘No problem.’ ”Good, I'll be in the office. Call me if anything comes up; Anne will be helping out with the reception later.”
With that, my father disappeared, leaving me alone at the practice reception desk. Before I even touched a hand here, though, I first needed a large cup of strong, black coffee. Fortunately, we had a small kitchen in the practice, which also had a coffee machine. While the coffee was running, I browsed a bit in the manual for the new practice software. So far, everything looked pretty good, and even some bugs in the old version had finally been fixed.
Before I devoted myself to the program in detail, however, I first compiled the documents for our new patient – now back at the reception. Ripley – Dad, whatever; none of us seriously addressed him as 'Daddy' – hadn't told me anything more, except that he would arrive sometime this afternoon. I looked at the clock – it was just after three. So I probably still had plenty of time. I looked through the stack of documents that still needed to be processed; there wasn't much. The old databases had been transferred without any problems and as far as we could tell, no data had been lost.
I can see from your looks that you can't quite follow me, who I am and what I'm actually doing here. All right, our new patient isn't here yet, so I'll take the opportunity to briefly introduce myself. My name is Richie – actually Richard Andrew – Masters, I just turned 18 and live with my family in Hamburg. Besides me, there's my brother Julian, he's 20 years old and has been studying dentistry at the University of Hamburg for a year. My little sister Anne is 16 and, like me, still goes to school. And then, of course, there's Ripley, just called Rip by everyone, our father.
Usually there is someone missing... that's right. No child is born without a mother, but there are families in which the mother eventually leaves, and that's how it was with us. I was just four years old when Mom met another man and left Rip. She never got in touch with us again, and she was much too career-oriented to have children of her own anyway. So Rip simply opened the practice only half days, took care of us and only worked when we were at school. Rip would never let us down, he is our father and we all respect each other unconditionally.
We are all now old enough to take care of ourselves and we help Rip out a bit in the practice – which has two advantages for us: for one thing, we always have enough pocket money (Rip pays us for the hours helping out at the practice) and on the other hand, we keep meeting nice people – Anne even met her boyfriend there, which I'm still a little jealous of, because the guy is just damn cute. Oh yes, by the way: Julian and Anne will have to take care of the grandchildren in the family, unfortunately it won't work for me – gay men find it difficult to have children of their own.
Now there is only one question left: What kind of practice is this actually? That's an easy question to answer. Rip is an orthodontist, a job that many of you will know from your own experience. If not, orthodontists are the dentists who make sure that you walk around with more or less large wire constructions, also known as braces, in your mouth during your youth. Rip's, however, has a little something extra: the practice is not listed in the Yellow Pages or any other telephone book. I am proud to say that, although it is not meant to sound as arrogant as it does, we only treat patients who come to the practice on special recommendation. Most of them can be admired from time to time in the movies or on television, some can also be heard on the radio. In any case, they are not unknown. Most of them are simply referred to as teen stars.
How did this come about - an orthodontist from Hamburg treating patients from the land of opportunity? We were a bit surprised ourselves when it all started. Rip was born in Los Angeles and still has many friends there; one of our neighbors is the leading actor and producer of a US television series. In the summer of 1989, there were a few problems on the set that Rip had to deal with, and this brief assistance eventually developed into something more. Word got around, Rip had a pretty good reputation in the industry, and so it finally came about that he devoted himself full-time to this group of patients. Rip was also often involved in films as a consultant when, for example, there was a fight in which one of the actors was supposed to be punched in the face – in this case, he had to make sure that no one was hurt and, if something did happen, intervene immediately.
Oh yes, one more thing: since our parents are both American but we live in Germany, we grew up bilingual. In practice, this is unavoidable and when we are with Rip in Los Angeles, we don't have any problems. We used to get confused more often, but now we can speak both languages fluently (sorry, it's not meant to be a boast, but maybe some people would be surprised if the conversations were not emphasized separately).
So much for us. I was going through our files, trying to bring order to the chaos and at the same time learn the new features of our practice software, when suddenly someone cleared their throat in front of me. “May I interrupt for a moment?” I looked up, actually a little annoyed by the interruption - but unfortunately I saw the person's face directly. And so it hit me like a bolt of lightning out of the blue. “Yes... uh... what can I do for you?” ‘I'm supposed to register here somewhere,’ the guy said. He had dark blond hair, a little curly, about my height - for those who don't know me: a little over six feet - and he simply knocked my socks off.
The face looked familiar, but I couldn't think of a name for it. So instead, I frantically searched for the documents and stuttered something about “Yes, just a second...” until I pushed the first stack of papers into his hand. “You have to fill this out.” He took a look at the stack of papers and smiled - and I clung to the desk as inconspicuously as possible. “Are you sure?” he asked. I looked again – and realized that I had given him some women's magazine from Anne, with the current competition question on it, appropriately enough.
I felt my face turn bright red, bent over the table – so that he wouldn't notice – and quickly gave him the right papers. I hadn't made such a mess of things even on my first day on the job. But wasn't something still missing...? Oh yes, a ballpoint pen. I put it wordlessly on the thin stack of papers and then turned to the computer, pretending to do something. But that didn't last long. Was he looking for a reason?
“What should I enter here?” ‘Where?’ I asked. ‘Just take a look at it.’ I could almost hear a smug grin. So I turned around and looked the enemy in the face... well, if that was the enemy, then I wanted to die like this. He tapped the “Pregnancy” field with the tip of his pen. Now I couldn't even stop smiling. “It's best to just leave the field blank – or you can enter which month you're in.” I hoped that he wouldn't come up with anything, but after a moment's thought, he said, “In the 221st month.” “Huh?”
That irresistible smile again. “18 years and almost six months – do the math, my birthday's already written here.” “Thanks, I believe you.” Man, was I embarrassed. We were standing just about a foot apart, and I could smell his aftershave. He crossed out the section with the pregnancy with a flourish and then signed the form – even reasonably legibly, most celebrities signed even more illegibly than my father and he really had a doctor's handwriting.
I stapled the original of the registration form to the index card and put the copy on the stack to be processed – if I had looked at the data immediately, it would probably have been too noticeable. “And now?” he asked. ‘Have a seat in the waiting room for a moment, I'll let you know right away. Or if you want, you can wait here.’ Yes. Great. My first spontaneous answer qualified me for the next faux pas. But he smiled – again – just. ”No problem, if you don't mind... it's definitely more interesting than sitting around.”
What was that supposed to mean? Well, I probably got my hopes up again way too high. “No problem...” Before I could finish the sentence, the door opened and Anne came in - with her friend, of course. He immediately greeted our new patient. “Jason! What are you doing here?” So his name was Jason - and the two knew each other. A glance at the registration form – now I wanted to know – revealed to me beyond doubt who I was dealing with. Hm, I should have imagined a whale, then I would have guessed sooner.
Anne reached over the counter for her magazine. “I just wanted to pick this up quickly, Richie. Can you maybe fill in right away? We still have to go into town.” “Uh... sort it out with...” “Hello everyone.” Dad came out of his office, obviously having heard the noise at the reception. He walked up to Jason and shook his hand. “Hello, I'm Ripley Masters.” Jason took Rip's hand and introduced himself as well. ‘Anne, haven't you changed yet?’ ‘No, actually, the two of us’ – she nodded at Elijah – ”were going to go into town in a minute and I wanted to ask Richie if he could fill in?”
I swallowed. I had already had enough to do here at the front, but now I also had to assist with the treatment? My knees went a little weak and I was glad that I was still sitting on my desk chair. Rip looked at me questioningly. “Richie, what about it? Otherwise, there's not much going on here, I'll settle for one of you here this afternoon.” I nodded. “Sure, no problem... I'll do it.” Anne smiled at me, leaned over the counter and gave me a fleeting kiss on the cheek. ‘Thanks, bro.’ I defended myself against this unexpected attack. ‘Now don't overdo it, or I'll reconsider.’ Elijah winked at me too. “Thanks, Richie, I'll return the favor sometime.” I waved him off. ‘Then Dad can close the practice.’ ‘Richie, you still have to change,’ Dad remarked with a sugary sweet grin, thus preventing further taunts that were part of our daily lives.
“Okay. Jason, you can go to the treatment room, I'll be right there,” I said. Jason nodded – and somehow his self-confidence was suddenly gone. His face lost a little color and when I entered the room behind him, he looked around rather uncertainly. ”You can sit down.” I put down his papers and washed my hands, and I could see his face in the mirror. “Are you afraid?” I asked him. “Uh... no, not really,” he said. I suppressed a smile – it seemed to me that we had swapped roles as soon as we entered the room.
I hung a napkin around his neck and checked again to make sure everything was ready. Although Dad was someone you could talk to about anything, without exception, he wouldn't tolerate even the slightest thing being missing in the practice. I smiled encouragingly at Jason. “It won't be that bad, don't worry.” “Are you seeing your father yourselves?” I nodded. “Of course. But be glad that Anne isn't assisting you,” I laughed. “Believe me, that's... uh...” Was it my imagination, or did his ears turn a slight reddish color at that moment?
“Well, sorry, it took a little longer.” Rip came in and washed his hands as well before putting on the gloves. ‘Oh, that's not a problem at all,’ Jason replied. Rip gave me a questioning look and I just nodded – the old game, ”Is the patient afraid?” “Definitely.” Rip also put on his ‘it's-not-so-bad’ look and then asked Jason to open his mouth. He did so reluctantly, but at least Rip could start. He dictated a series of numbers to me, which I wrote down. Finally Rip summed up: “Well Jason, you have pretty good teeth. I found a small cavity and a piece is missing from one of your incisors - that's why you came here, right?” Jason nodded. Dad smiled. “Well, in fifteen minutes it'll all be over. Don't worry, it's not worth worrying about.”
Jason lost a little more color and weakly protested, “Well, I wasn't prepared for that at all.” “So what? You're not going to take the next flight back to L.A., are you?” Jason shook his head. “My luggage wasn't here yet anyway.” Rip grinned convincingly. “All right. Do you want an injection or should I start right away?” We both already knew the answer. He just nodded at me and I prepared everything. “Okay, then open your mouth again, please.” He pulled up the corner of Jason's mouth with his left hand, so that he couldn't see at the same time. At some point he had told us that it was much more pleasant for the patient if he couldn't see the syringe at all. Nevertheless, Jason felt the prick and instinctively reached for my hand. I squeezed it briefly to show him that I was there, and he made no particular effort to free his hand.
Since the kids always came without their parents – at least to the treatment room – we were used to providing a little comfort every now and then. There are definitely more pleasant things than a visit to the dentist. So I took Jason's hand and squeezed it gently to let him know that he had nothing to worry about. To be honest, I enjoyed every second of the touch, but I was able to hold back in every other respect and fully concentrated on my work as an assistant - helper would be an exaggeration.
Rip works quickly and thoroughly and after just twenty minutes he was done. Jason was clearly relieved. “Do I have to watch out for anything, not eat for a few hours or something?” Rip shook his head. “Don't worry. The fillings are made of plastic and are irradiated with UV light, they're already cured. Here, take a look.” He pressed a small mirror into Jason's hand and the guy was amazed. ‘Hey, you can't even see that anything was done at all.’ Rip coughed slightly and Jason noticed the unintentional double entendre. “Um... sorry, I mean, if you don't know that something was broken before, you can't see that something has been repaired.” Rip grinned. ‘That sounds better. Do you fancy a cup of coffee?’ he asked.
Jason looked at his watch. ‘Sure, why not?’ ”Rip, do you really want to do that to him? First your treatment and then my coffee, too?” Rip winked at me. “If we'd done it the other way around, I wouldn't have had a chance, son.” I made a face – I'd gotten used to Rip always having an answer ready – and Jason looked back and forth between us in amazement. I grinned. “Before you say anything else, just come with me.” Jason shrugged and followed me.
We went into Dad's office, picking up a few coffee cups and the pot on the way. “Milk, sugar?” “Black,” Jason replied. We sat down and looked at each other shyly for a moment. “Well,” I said, “I don't think we need to introduce ourselves anymore. What's your usual title?” “Jason's fine – I can't stand my middle name anyway.” I poured us both coffee. Again, an awkward silence spread until Jason asked, “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” I nodded. “Yes. You met Anne and her boyfriend earlier, and my older brother Julian is probably in a lecture about inflamed wisdom teeth right now.” Jason raised his hands in defense. “Okay, thanks, that's enough.”
At that moment Dad came in. “What's this about inflamed wisdom teeth?” Jason's face turned a little paler. “I didn't notice anything with you,” Dad said with a wink in Jason's direction. “Dr. Masters, I hope you don't mind me saying that I've had enough of dentists for the next five years.” I grinned. “Maybe for half a year at the most – I've known my father for a lot longer than just yesterday and I know that he's adamant about this.” Dad waved a hand. “Now don't you go unsettling him more than he already is.” “Honestly, Jason, was it really that bad?” He shook his head. “At least not as unpleasant as my previous visits to colleagues of yours, but I just don't like it when someone does something to me that I can't defend myself against.” Rip nodded. ‘Understandable, but that's the way it is for a lot of people. For the future, I can only give you the advice that if you feel uncomfortable about something or have questions, just raise your hand, okay?’ Jason nodded.
Dad lit a cigarette and automatically pushed the pack over to me. I held it out to Jason first, but he declined. “Thanks, I quit smoking six months ago. But don't let me... er, don't let yourselves be disturbed,” he quickly corrected himself with a sidelong glance at Dad. He grinned and held out his hand. “You can call me 'Rip', that's what everyone here calls me.“ ‘Okay... I'm Jason.’ Rip grinned even wider. ‘I know.’ Again, that slight reddish tinge played across Jason's face.
“Tell me, what happened to your luggage earlier?” Dad asked, trying to change the subject. “I guess it must have taken a different flight than mine.” “I see. So business as usual with our favorite airline. Do you want to call and see if it has arrived yet? Then you can save yourself the trip to the airport.” ‘If it's not too much trouble...’ Instead of an answer, Dad pushed the phone over to him without comment. ”The number for Hamburg Airport is 5075-0. You have to dial another zero in front of it.”
After Jason had fought his way through the various departments, he was finally informed that his luggage would probably not arrive until the next day. They were sorry about that... and so on. Slightly dejected, Jason let the receiver slide onto the cradle. “Have you at least found a hotel room yet?” Rip asked. Jason shook his head. “No. I wanted to ask you... er, you, actually, if you could recommend a hotel for me?” Rip grinned. ‘Stand next to each other, the two of you.’ Jason and I looked at each other blankly, but I could guess what was going through Rip's mind. So we stood. ”Okay, I think you're about the same height. Richie, do you know if the guest room is tidy and do you have any clothes left for Jason?“ Jason raised his hands in protest, but I didn't even let him speak.
“The guest room is difficult, but clothes are not a problem. If necessary, we can put the guest bed in my room too.” “Wonderful. Jason, I don't think we'll be needing the hotel tonight after all.” ‘But I can't...’ Rip waved him off. ‘Nonsense - of course you can. Besides, it's bound to be difficult for you without your luggage. And surely you can find a toothbrush in this house?’ Now the ice was finally broken - we all had to laugh and Jason resigned himself to his fate.
When we went to my room – Rip had sent me off to get a head start, since no more patients were coming – Rip seemed a bit nervous, though. “What's the matter?” “Oh, I just feel a bit uncomfortable – just crashing in on you like this, you don't know me at all, and I'm being put up.” He eyed me suspiciously, probably assuming I wouldn't notice, and then quickly looked away. Hm, I couldn't get anything out of him at the moment. We sat down in my room and talked about everything under the sun until Dad called us for dinner.
Since each of you has probably had dinner with a larger group before, I'll just leave this story out. As the old saying goes, “The later the evening, the nicer the guests,” and even though my surprise guest had arrived in the afternoon, it was still a nice evening. Jason and Elijah talked about various premiere parties where they had seen each other and there was a lot to laugh about. During the course of the evening, both of them tried to show off their German skills – Elijah had been around us long enough to pick up a little, and Jason had lived in Germany for quite a while a few years ago when he was here shooting a movie. He had retained a few things and could at least follow the main points of a conversation.
Finally, it was just after eleven and we went upstairs to finally get my room ready. Jason stood a bit helplessly in the corner while I set up the guest bed. “Can't I help?” I shook my head. “Nope. You're a guest here.” “That's no reason.” I grinned. “I'm already done anyway. So, a test lie-down, sir.” Jason did as he was told and was satisfied with the bed. ‘And now?’ he asked while lying down. ‘I, for one, will quickly go take a shower and then lie down. Oh wait, you still need clothes.’ I rummaged through my closet and then threw him a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. ”Here, these should fit you.”
As promised, I went to take a shower and when I came back to my room, Jason was just about to change his clothes. Compared to his first movie, he had changed quite a bit, as I noticed with a smile on my lips. Well, five years had passed since then. When he saw me standing in the doorway, he blushed again. “Sorry, I thought you weren't back yet.” “Don't worry, I've seen guys with naked chests more often than not. You've got quite a few muscles.” The sentence didn't exactly help his complexion. ‘Do you think so?’ I nodded. ”Yes. At least in contrast to your first movie.”
“How come you're always reminded of your youthful transgressions in this job?” I shrugged. ‘No idea - because it's part of the job?’ Jason nodded resignedly. ‘Yeah, I guess so.’ ‘Do you actually have a girlfriend?’ I asked him while I lay down. ”No, and also no... uh, I mean never had one.” I looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he had originally wanted to say – I had a good guess. “You expect me to believe that, looking at you?” Jason lay down as well and covered himself with the blanket. “Well, that's just the way it is. And what about you?”
“Never been either. Once I was in love, but it didn't work out. That person couldn't do anything with me,” I replied. Jason smiled weakly. ‘With that, I could return this question to you.’ Silence spread throughout the room. Something had happened during this question-and-answer game. I had felt attracted to him all day, but somehow it had just clicked. Not clearly audible, but I had heard it and that was enough for me. Now I just had to find out if he felt the same way about me, and something told me that I wasn't necessarily barking up the wrong tree. I took a shot in the dark.
“Have you ever had a boyfriend?” Jason almost fell out of bed when he turned to me. ‘What makes you think that?’ ‘Well, I thought I heard something earlier that suggested you don't have a girlfriend and aren't interested either. But then I must have been mistaken.’ Again, we were both silent. “Well, it would have been too good to be true,” I said, turning around. However, I didn't stay lying there for long - a dull thud caught my attention. I had guessed right, Jason had really fallen out of bed.
I got out of bed too and helped him up. ‘Did I just hear you right?’ he asked. ‘About what?’ I asked with a completely innocent look. “Didn't you say something about it being too good to be true?” I still held his hand. ‘Yes, that's exactly what I said. If you have a problem with it, just tell me.’ Instead of an answer, he sat down on the bed and stared at the floor. ‘No, on the contrary,’ he said. ‘?’ These question marks were clearly written on my face.
“Why didn't you say so earlier?” he asked, turning his gaze back to me. ‘Why should I have done that?’ He stood up again and looked me in the eye. ‘Would you be angry with me if I told you that you are more than just likeable to me?’ I shook my head. ‘No, quite the opposite.’ He smiled a little. “Then we could have had this much sooner.” He put his hand on the back of my neck, gently pulled me towards him and kissed me on the lips.
No sooner had our lips parted after what seemed like an eternity than there was a knock at the door. We quickly broke away from each other. ‘Come in.’ Rip poked his head around the door. ”What was going on in there? I thought I heard something.” Jason put on a shy smile, matching the returning blush on his face. ‘I just fell out of bed - I haven't quite adjusted to the surroundings yet.’ Rip winked at us. ‘Well, then everything's fine. Sleep tight, boys.’ With these words, he closed the door and left us alone again.
Jason looked at me, shaking his head. “What? That Dad just barges in like that?” I couldn't help but grin, and Jason gave me a gentle push in the ribs. “Nonsense. That I can finally hold you in my arms.” I nodded. “Hey, it was the same for me. But still, maybe we should lie down and not stand around in the landscape forever.“ I pulled Jason to my bed and a short time later we were lying snuggled up under the covers.
“Can I clear up one more thing?” Jason asked. “Sure, what?” “I said earlier that I've never had a girlfriend.” “But a boyfriend?” I asked. “Yes. You know him, he sent me to you.” I looked at him questioningly and wondered if I should back away from him a bit – but he didn't give me the impression that he was still involved with someone. He seemed to sense my thoughts. ‘Don't worry, we weren't together for long, but we remained friends.’ ‘Who is it?’ Jason smiled gently. ”Jeremy.”
If I hadn't been able to hold on to Jason, I would have fallen out of bed. 'Jeremy?' Jason just nodded. 'Yes. A few days ago I didn't know where to go and Jeremy was the only one I could think of. As I said, he gave me the tip to go to your father.' 'What happened anyway?' Jason shook his head. 'Not now, Richie – some other time.' His hand found its way under my T-shirt and he gently stroked my chest. I enjoyed these touches - it was the first time that I was so close to another boy and I really was on cloud nine. Finally, we took off our T-shirts to be even closer. We just lay there for a while, snuggled up close to each other, and finally fell asleep contentedly.
When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised about two things: first, that an arm was on top of me and second, that I was not wearing anything except my shorts. After a few seconds, I remembered what had happened the night before. I carefully turned my head to the right and Jason was lying next to me, breathing evenly and obviously still fast asleep. I just looked at him – for me there was no more beautiful sight in the world. Those of you who have been in a relationship before may remember the feeling of happiness when you are newly in love and wake up together in the morning.
I would have liked to stay like this for longer, but I slowly realized that one of my body parts was becoming alarmingly stiff – namely my neck, which was because I was lying at quite an angle in bed. I turned around carefully and put my hand on his chest. He grumbled contentedly and snuggled up even closer to me. I kissed him gently on the lips, maybe that would wake him up – but there was no reaction. Hm... I had read somewhere that he was quite grumpy in the morning, but a glance at the clock told me that we should get up slowly because otherwise it would almost be time for lunch.
But Jason was obviously impossible to wake up. I leaned forward and nibbled on his lower lip, but other than trying to escape my teeth, there was no noticeable reaction here either. Wasn't there a smile playing around his lips? Hm, I must have been mistaken. In my mind, I went through the other options I had left to bring him back to the present. I tensed my hand and tried to catch his neck, but just as I was about to grab it, he opened his eyes and grinned at me. “Who would be so brutal early in the morning?”
“How long have you been awake?” I asked, smiling as well – is it actually normal for lovers to grin all the time? ‘Long enough to enjoy your kiss. Can I have more of the same?’ he asked with a challenging look. Everyone can guess the answer, and of course we didn't manage to finally get up during the next hour.
Around twelve we finally managed to get up. “We should shower separately though, I think anything else would be too obvious,” I suggested. Jason nodded. “Do your people know?” I shook my head. “No, not yet – but sooner or later they'll probably have to find out.” “Are you afraid of that?” “No. I'm not worried about Dad at all, nor Anne and Elijah... only Julian might have a few problems with it.” ‘Why?’ ‘He told me a while ago that he went out with two fellow students who are both gay and he wasn't thrilled about it.’ Jason couldn't say much about that, because he didn't know Julian very well. He stroked my cheek. ”Let's hope for the best. I'm going to take a shower.”
I took the opportunity to pick out some clothes for him and tidy my room. When Jason had finished showering, he came back into my room and got dressed – for the first time I was able to see him in all his glory. However, he never turned his back to me the whole time. We were now something like a couple, but still, it surprised me a little. Well, he probably had his reasons. “Do you want to call your parents later so they know where you are?” Jason waved it off. “Don't worry, it's not urgent.” “Okay, you have to know.”
After I had showered and changed my clothes, we went downstairs to the kitchen. Julian was sitting at the table with the newspaper and a mug of coffee, and he greeted us with a grin. “Good morning, are you guys up already?” Jason and I looked at each other uncertainly for a moment – did he suspect what was going on? In the next sentence, Julian reassured us immediately. “Don't worry, I used to chat with friends all night long when they stayed with me, too.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Did you leave us any coffee?” I asked. Julian nodded at the coffee machine. “Sure, help yourself.” Jason sat down at the table while I got us coffee – which was way too weak for my taste, of course.
We talked about everything under the sun, but when Julian wanted to talk about his studies, Jason politely stopped him. “Thanks, Julian, but I've got enough dental information for a while.” Julian grinned. “Oh yeah, I forgot you were at Rip's yesterday.” Jason nodded with a self-pitying expression. “Yes, and Richie assisted.” Julian almost choked on his coffee laughing. “Oh man, and you survived that?” “Yes, just.” “Then it's no wonder that you're so sensitive on the subject.”
I stood up and nudged my big brother in the ribs, challenging him – but without causing any serious damage. Julian saw the maneuver coming and reacted as he usually did – he tensed his abdominal muscles and my hand hit a rather hard muscle plate. He grinned. “Richie, you never learn.” With a quick movement, he grabbed my wrist and before I knew what was happening, I was lying on the floor and he tickled me. “You see, little brother, never mess with your elders.” I screamed and laughed at the same time, while Jason - also laughing - watched. I'd lost out again, as I almost always did when Julian and I tussled.
After breakfast, we told Dad that we were going into town. “Do you have any special plans?” he asked. I shook my head. “No, I want to show Jason a bit of Hamburg and we want to stop at the airport on the way back.” Dad nodded. “Okay. But don't you dare take the BMW.” “Don't worry, I wouldn't dare take the car into town.” Dad had recently fulfilled a long-held dream – a dark blue BMW 850 CSi – and he guarded the car like the apple of his eye. “Then it's fine. And drive carefully, Richie.” I grinned. “You know me.” “Exactly, that's why.”
Jason and I fought our way through the heavy Saturday afternoon traffic in downtown Hamburg in the station wagon. It was a warm day and I got the impression that some people were probably too warm. In any case, some drivers were behaving erratically, and twice it was probably only luck that the car didn't suffer serious damage. It took almost an hour before we found a parking lot and inwardly I cursed the Hamburg traffic routing more than once. »Say, I thought Hamburg had its own subway, right?« I nodded. »Yes, we really wouldn't have needed much longer with that.« And we still could have taken a cab back from the airport.
I parked the car in the last free parking space on the street and turned off the engine, while a Mercedes driver honked angrily behind me. He obviously wanted to park here too. The driver and a young girl, about our age, got out regardless of the traffic. “Say, what do you think you're doing, taking the parking space away from me? Do you even have a driver's license?” the driver shouted angrily. I nodded. ‘Yes, I even got it at driving school and didn't buy it with my car.’ Jason grinned and the driver blushed. The girl - obviously his daughter - suddenly took a closer look at Jason, then she tugged her father's sleeve excitedly. ”Dad, that's...”
“WHO is this?” He turned to her angrily. She whispered something in his ear and then pointed to something in the car. He looked at her in surprise. ‘Are you sure?’ She nodded eagerly. Her father reached into the car and took out a video cassette – and another comparison of people. He had obviously come to the conclusion that she was right. Wearily, he waved it aside. “Okay, let's forget the whole thing.” She took the cassette out of his hand, held it out to Jason and then asked him in English, “That's you in the picture, isn't it?” Jason smiled. “At least it was me until yesterday.” “Could... would you give me an autograph?”
While the two were talking, her father approached me. “Sorry for the scene just now, but we've been looking for a parking space here for an eternity.” I nodded. “Yes, welcome to the club - it was the same for us.” “Normally that's not my style - Uwe Schmidt is my name.” “Richie Masters.” We shook hands. “Are you American?” ‘My father, but he's been living here for a long time – I was also born in Germany.’ He nodded to show he understood. ‘I hope we're not messing up your plans?’ I waved a hand. ”No, don't worry – we just wanted to see a bit of the city.” Mr. Schmidt grinned. “Well, you should avoid the area with the young girls, otherwise you won't have much time for a stroll through town this afternoon.” I laughed too. “With a companion like that, you have to expect that, yes.”
Jason had signed the video tape for the daughter in the meantime and now she came back to her father. “Dad, can you maybe take a photo of us? Jason agreed.” Her father nodded resignedly. “Do I have a choice?” She beamed and the two of them posed. I deliberately stayed a little way off. Her father took a few pictures – I was glad that she didn't want a little kiss from Jason for the photo – and finally that part was over, too. “Come on, we don't want to keep them any longer.” I grinned. “There's a parking space opening up up ahead.” We said goodbye to each other and the two drove on. About fifty meters further on, I saw someone jump out of their car angrily...
“Does that happen to you often, Jason?” I asked. ‘Not anymore, but for a while I hardly dared to go on the road.’ I nodded. ‘I'll bet you do... if only for that reason, the job wouldn't be for me.’ He grinned. “Oh, but you get to meet some interesting people – even if it's only at the dentist's.” I nudged him in the ribs and we continued our leisurely stroll towards the Alster. ‘Come on, let's go and get a coffee first.’ There were some cozy cafés in the Alsterakarden, and we had a nice view.
The waitress was also around our age and exactly what I had secretly feared happened. We had come across one of those very elegant shops where you were looked at askance if you didn't pay with a credit card, and the waitress pushed the bill towards Jason with a sweet smile until I demonstratively cleared my throat and remarked, “I'll pay.” Finally, she could bring herself to ask Jason for an autograph. When we left the café, Jason said, “Why do I always get girls?” If at least once in a while there was a cute guy in between...” ‘Hey, careful - what about me?’ He raised his hands laughing. ”Hey, don't worry.” The passers-by gave us various looks - either amused or annoyed, but we didn't care about either.
We visited a few more places of interest in Hamburg before we finally decided to drive to the airport and check on Jason's luggage. “When do you want to tell your father, anyway?” Jason asked during the drive. “I don't know yet.” ‘Well, because I was only supposed to stay with you for one night.’ I waved it off. ‘That shouldn't be a problem – when I tell Dad that we've become friends, he'll definitely have no objection to you staying with us for a few more days.’ Jason's gaze wandered into the distance a little, and I decided not to disturb him in his thoughts.
When we arrived at the airport, we had one less thing to worry about: there were no parking problems here, at least not at this time of day. We fought our way to the airline terminal and after being sent to four different offices, Jason finally held his travel bag in his hand. The airline employee apologized profusely and countless times until Jason finally interrupted her in a friendly but firm manner: “Ma'am, I have my luggage back and nothing is missing. So why all the fuss?” She looked at him in amazement, and before she could say anything, we took flight with Jason's bag. Once we were back outside, we just looked at each other, shaking our heads. “How can a person talk so much without a break?” Jason asked. I shrugged. “I don't know, but that lady obviously can.” We got in the car and hurried to finally get home.
When we arrived, I asked Jason, “You're not planning on getting a hotel room, are you?” Jason shrugged. “I don't know – I haven't thought about it much. I'd like to stay with you, but I don't know what your father would say.” I grinned a little. “He invited you. Besides, Elijah almost lives here, so I don't think one more person will make a difference.« »Don't you think we should ask him anyway?« I shook my head. »No. We've had friends stay over here before, and it was never a problem for him.«
We went upstairs and brought Jason's bag to my room. He carelessly put it on the guest bed. “Well, I guess we won't need this anymore, will we?” I asked. “I don't know – does your father have a habit of stopping by at night to make sure you're really in bed?” I shook my head. “No, he hasn't done that for two or three years.” Jason took me in his arms and then kissed me gently on the lips. “Oh Richie, what have I ever done to deserve you?”
We lay down on my bed and Jason slowly took off my T-shirt. Gradually, we were both only wearing our shorts and we enjoyed each other's company to the full. I scratched Jason's chest, he scratched the back of my neck and we were just happy. There were definitely body parts that longed for more, but there was an unspoken feeling between us that we wanted to wait before doing anything further.