Clark wiped the tears from Justin’s cheeks and kissed him lovingly where the tears streamed from Justin’s sad eyes. Their tears mingled and dampened their faces. Clark held Justin in his arms and rocked him back and forth as though they were in a rocking chair, one that a mother would sit in to rock her child to sleep while it was cradled in her loving arms. Clark regained his composure and wiped the tears from his eyes and face. He looked into Justin’s saddened eyes as Justin looked blankly back it him, looked back at him but didn’t see him, only the visions stirred up from the emotional depths of his being held is pained attention.

Finally Justin spoke, his voice weak and trembling, “I got to go home.”

“Okay, sure if that’s what you want.” Clark replied. Clark let go of Justin then stood up next to the chair. He waited and watched as Justin also regained his composure. “Lets wash up, then we can go, okay?”

Justin nodded as he wiped the tears from his face with his hands, then rubbed his hands on his pants. Clark led the way back to the bathroom where he turned the water on for each sink. Justin stood before the sink beside Clark, looked in the mirror at Clark’s reflection, then his own, leaned forward with his stiffened arms supporting some of his weight, then leaned further forward and lowered his head to just above the sink and running water. He let the warm water fill his cupped hands and splashed his face with it. He did that several times then wiped his eyes and face before standing up again, with his face dripping water. Clark was doing much the same thing at the same time. They both reached for the same towel at the same time, which struck them both as funny. The laughter broke the tension for a moment. Clark let Justin take that towel and then took the remaining one beside it. They both dried their faces, combed their hair and made themselves presentable again before leaving the bathroom one after the other.

When they entered the game room, Clark turned off the TV and opened the curtains so the room was once again well lit by the morning sun. Clark led the way out of the guest house and back to his car. The morning sky was blue and clear, there was a slight breeze that felt good as they walked to the car. The birds were singing in the trees, the smell of fresh cut grass mixed with the scents of flowers filled the air. Even though it was a beautiful day, full of poker oyna life and promise, Justin didn’t see it, his heart and mind still being filled with the feelings and thoughts of his loss.

Clark drove without saying a word. He turned on the radio then turned down the volume since it had been set very high from the last time he had it on. Justin sat in the passengers seat quietly and motionless, looking at the view before him. As they approached the neighborhood where Justin’s apartment complex had been, the traffic became increasingly more and more heavy. It wasn’t usual for traffic to be this heavy in this part of town. So many people had seen and heard about the accident and wanted to see the site for themselves, so the place was swarming with looky-loos. They were several blocks from the site, and the traffic was at a stand still so Clark said, “We might as well find a place to park and walk from here if you want.” He looked over to see Justin’s reply.

“Yeah, okay. That’s fine with me.” Justin said blankly.

Clark found an empty spot to park along the street and took it. Once the car was turned off, they both got out and started walking down the sidewalk in the direction of Justin’s place. They weren’t alone on the walk, there were others heading that way speaking amongst themselves about the disaster and how awful it was. There were other people they passed who, by the tone of their conversation seemed to be on a vacation because they were joking and laughing.

When they were about a block away, their progress was blocked by road blocks and that yellow plastic tape they use to cordon off a crime scene. There were several uniformed police officers directing people and cars to turn around because, they weren’t letting anyone into the area except rescue workers, investigators and emergency response personnel. When they approached the officer blocking the path on the sidewalk, Justin started to walk by him, but the officer extended his arm, blocking Justin’s advance and said, “Sorry son, you can’t go any further.”

Justin quickly replied, “But I live in there. That was my home.”

“That doesn’t matter, I can’t let you pass.” The officer said firmly. “My orders are to keep the public out of this area, and that is exactly what I am going to do.” He paused a moment, “so you might as well leave now.”

“Shit!” Justin nearly spit that word into the officer’s face.

“Come canlı poker oyna on Justin, lets go. There’s no use in pushing this.” He sort of coaxed Justin to follow him.

Justin looked down the street behind the officer. He could see debris strewn throughout the street closer to the crash site. He could also see a partially destroyed multi-story building where the remains of what once were people’s homes, once hidden by bricks and walls, was now revealed to the world in its crumpled disarray. He could barely see what appeared to be a charred plane’s tail fin that still smoldered with a grey smoke that drifted skyward. There were search dogs and their tenders briefly in view, but they moved out of his field of vision quickly. “How could anyone survive this?” Justin said out loud to himself. He shook his head sadly then turned around and started walking back to the car.

As they walked next to each other, there were still more people heading towards the crash site so they had to weave their way through the crowds. “What am I going to do now?” Justin looked to his left at Clark, “I have no place to go, no other clothes to wear, nothing.”

“I think you can stay in our guest house for awhile.” Clark smiled at Justin, “I’ll ask my Father if that’s okay when we get back to my place.” He put his arm over Justin’s shoulder and pulled him closer, “You know I’d love you to stay.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I don’t have many choices at the moment.” Justin stopped and looked into Clark’s blue eyes, “I don’t know whether I should love you or hate you for saving my life.”

“Love me.” Clark returned Justin’s penetrating look, “I couldn’t stand to have you hate me.” He continued, “Sometimes people meet and things happen for a greater purpose. I’m glad I met you. I’m glad we had sex and slept together. I hope we can move into the future together to see what it holds for us.” They began walking again.

“I guess the first thing in the future is our appointment at the Butterfly Motel.” Justin looked at his watch. “We should probably be heading over there if we are going to be on time.”

“You’re right.” Clark was a little more cheery, “Want to stop at a drive through and get some food on the way?”

“I’m not really hungry right now,” Justin paused, “I don’t have any money to buy food anyway.”

“That’s okay, I got plenty of money.” Clark grinned at Justin, “Money is the internet casino least of my concerns, so if I can spend some of it on you, I don’t mind at all.”

“Okay, I don’t want to be a freeloader, so I’ll pay you back once I get paid.”

“Fair enough.” Clark looked at Justin, “But you know you’ll have to pay interest.” He chuckled a bit, “Sexual interest, that is.” He winked at Justin.

“I suppose it will be compounded daily?” Justin poked Clark in the rib with his finger.

“I may have to consult with my accountant to determine the exact terms,” Clark joked, “but I’m sure we can get it straight between us.”

Justin laughed, “Yeah.”

They finally got to the car and then eventually got on the freeway that headed to the other side of town. As they drove, Clark and Justin shared bits of information about themselves and their lives. They found they had many similar interests, some where Clark preferred being a spectator while Justin preferred being a participant, in particular with activities such as sports. They found out they both loved swimming. Clark said he loved to swim in the nude at night under the star lit sky. Justin said he’d never swam in the nude, but rather mostly with the swim team at school. He was an excellent swimmer who helped the high school swim team to win several trophies over his high school years. There was a glass trophy case in the main hallway at the high school which had a picture of him and 3 other lean handsome guys in their speedo swimsuits holding a big gold chalice type trophy. The actual trophy sat on the shelf just below the picture.

Along the way, they stopped at a drive through fast food restaurant where they both ordered hamburgers fries and a soft drink. They sat in the car, in the parking lot and ate their food and continued to learn more about each other. When they had both finished eating, Justin took the trash, got out of the car and put it into a trash can not far from the car.

The motel was in the next block on the right side of the highway as they approached. Clark pulled into the parking lot which was nearly empty. The only other vehicles that were in the lot were a couple of panel vans with “Video Fantastic” painted in stylish font on the side of each van and a fairly new black Cadillac with dark tinted windows next to a new Porsche sports car.

“You ready for this?” Clark turned off the engine and looked over at Justin.

“Sure, why not?” He was a bit nervous, but didn’t really show it. It was a good thing to have something else to think about, to keep his mind off the other feelings that he suppressed.