Lawn Mower Boys

LAWN MOWER BOYS by Lily Sawyer Dale Laramie was pushing his lawn mower across the dew soaked carpet of grass. He glanced over to the white pickup truck parked in front of the colonial style house. The words ‘Laramie Landscaping’ were boldly written in green lettering on the door of the vehicle. His uncle owned the company; he’d heard that his nephew needed a job after his graduation from landscaping design school. Dale could never see himself working in a stuffy office job sitting in front of a computer all day. Fresh air, sunshine and sculpturing the landscape of people’s homes was what he was happy doing. Landscape architecture was Dale’s dream, but he knew he’d have to work his way up the ladder to get there. He nodded towards his partner, Henry Gillis, as he passed him on his left, mirroring the art of pushing a lawn mower. Dale was about to celebrate his one-year anniversary with the company while Henry was still a rookie with barely four months under his belt. Dale liked how Henry didn’t take life too seriously and he took every opportunity to lighten the mood and make people laugh. He was a regular jokester. “Do I have to?” Dale had asked Henry that morning after they arrived at the job site. “A deal’s a deal, Dale,” Henry said, a huge self-satisfied smile on his face. Dale regretted having made that bet with Henry. They’d gone to the Watering Hole Bar last night; Henry lined up some shot glasses on the dark wood bar and dared Dale to play a shot glass game with him. The loser had to do whatever the winner wanted him to. Over confidence is what had gotten Dale into trouble and it was also the reason he was walking around with his shorts pulled down low on his hips. “Henry says you have to walk around dressed like me,” Henry told him in a

Simon says kind of voice. Dale rolled his eyes when he spotted the Calvin Klein name clearly written on the waistband of Henry’s exposed underwear. So there they were, two twenty-four year olds pushing lawn mowers down a lawn in a suburban Long Island community with their drawers hanging out for the world to see. “How long do I have to walk around like this?” Dale asked him when they’d stopped to empty out the lawn clippings into the back of the truck. “I don’t know,” Henry’s fingers stroked his chin in contemplation. “Lemme think about that for a while.” “Well?” Dale snapped the lawn bag back into place and pulled the cord to start the mower. “Till the end of the day!” Henry shouted above the roar of the machine. “Wait, what?!” Dale shut his mower down just as Henry revved his up, Dale saw the broad smile the other wore. Ignoring the shocked look on Dale’s face, Henry continued to mow the lawn. **** They’d been hard at it all day; this was their last house on the schedule. Good thing too—it was the hottest day of the summer so far and the sweat was pouring down their bodies like a river. Dale couldn’t deny the feelings he was starting to have for his co-worker. Henry was a great-looking guy and his easygoing demeanor only made him even more attractive. “Let’s take a break.” Dale told Henry as he dug into the ice chest in the backseat of the pickup and fished through the ice, pulling out a can of soda that he showed it to Henry. “Want a Coke or a Sprite?” “You know I don’t like colas, sprite is good.”

“Here” Dale tossed the can in Henry’s direction, but the other man wasn’t ready for it and the can hit him in the chest and landed on the lawn. “Hey, what’s the big idea?” “You can’t catch.” Dale chuckled as he took a sip from his soda can. “You throw like a girl.” Henry picked up the can and carefully popped open the soda. The minute he popped open the can it gushed out streams of soda at Dale. “Why you!” Dale was on Henry in a flash, their cans of soda landed, together, on the grass. The two men landed behind some boxwood hedges that hid them from view. They playfully wrestled on the carpet of grass. “Get off me you big doofus.” Henry squirmed beneath Dale. “Take it back.” Dale held Henry’s arms above his head. “Take what back?” Henry looked up at him curiously; something in that look communicated something to Dale. He didn’t know why he did what he did next but he decided to just go with his instincts and throw logic out the door. He leaned in and kissed Henry on the lips. Tentative movements, not knowing if he was about to get beaten up. He pulled back and looked into Henry’s blue eyes, hoping he hadn’t really screwed things up between them. “Um, that I uh.” Dale’s brain had turned to mush and he’d forgotten what he was going to say. “I hope you’re not going to say you want to take back that kiss.” Henry looked up, waiting for Dale to make the next move. “No” Dale reached out and pushed an errant strand of Henry’s dark hair off his face. Dale couldn’t stop his fingers from combing through Henry’s hair or from

pulling his head towards his and capturing Henry’s lips again. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while now, but I was too scared.” “Scared?” Henry asked him. “Scared you weren’t like me, you know.” “You mean gay? Well I have a confession, I’ve had some moves planned for you too, but I didn’t want to take the chance on getting punched or lose my job.” “Well now we know.” Dale could feel Henry’s erection pushing up through the fabric of his shorts, rubbing against his. It all happened very quickly—one minute they were on the ground kissing and then their shorts and briefs were pulled completely off and they were rubbing their engorged and leaking cocks together. They did their best to stay as quiet as possible, they didn’t need any nosy neighbors checking where the strange sounds were coming from. Luckily for them most of the neighborhood were at work. Dale could feel his balls ready to explode at any minute. His hand wrapped around the dueling cocks and he stroked his hand up and down over and over until they both came. “So good.” Dale couldn’t stop kissing Henry; first his forehead, then his cheeks, nose and finally his swollen lips. “Yeah that was so good.” The boys quickly separated when they heard a delivery truck pull up in front of the house. They quickly dressed and spotted a UPS driver walking up the front walk of the house they were supposed to be landscaping. There was no one home so he left the package right outside the front door. He was too busy looking down at the electronic pad he held to notice two very sweaty lawn mower boys staring at him from behind the bushes. After he left they went to the back of the house to find a garden hose and

washed off the remains of their spunk off their chests and stomachs, then got back to work. CHAPTER 2 After their initial hello how do you do intro, the lawn mower boys found ways to make their job even more interesting. This was the first serious relationship that Dale ever had. The most action he usually ever saw was either given by his own hand or through one of his friends who wanted to experiment. They never did get past the hand jobs and maybe a few half-hearted kisses. His friends just wanted to see what the difference was between a guy and a girl; for Dale he was never interested in girls. He knew what he wanted but finding that special someone was never easy. He’d gone to some gay bars, had a few one night stands, but all he felt afterwards was empty and sad inside. He wanted to find someone to share his life with. He looked over at Henry; they were sitting at the Watering Hole. It had become a regular thing between them to go there after their work week was done. It was Friday night and the place wasn’t packed yet. They had karaoke and a piano player that was there on Saturday nights. He and Henry sat at the bar, nursing two beers and enjoying the ESPN highlights that were playing on the TV behind the bar. They hadn’t repeated the roll in the grass that they’d done the other day. They didn’t talk that much about it either and Dale wondered what was on Henry’s mind. He decided that coming to a neutral spot like the bar was the best place to talk about what the next step was, or if there was one at all. “Henry?” “Yeah?” The other man kept staring at the TV screen. “Can we talk?” Dale was getting nervous. What if Henry told him he didn’t want a relationship with him beyond work? What if he’d get one of those ‘let’s just be friends’ kind of response? “Sure,” He now had Henry’s undivided attention. The look on his face was open but he couldn’t tell what he might be thinking.

“Let’s go to the corner booth so we can have some privacy.” “Okay.” Henry picked up his beer mug and followed Dale to the booth. “What’s on your mind?” Dale was sitting on one side opposite Henry staring down at his own mug; his fingers were running up and down the condensation that collected on the outside of the glass. “I wanted to ask you something. It’s not easy for me. You know—to talk about this.” “It’s okay, Dale, you can talk to me about anything.” Henry took another sip of his beer and licked off the foam from his lips. “Knock that off, you’re not making this any easier if I have to watch some tongue action.” Dale couldn’t stop squirming in his seat. His cock had also noticed the tongue swipe and it was starting to get very tight in his jeans. “What are you talking about?” Henry asked, a smirk on his face—he knew exactly what he was doing to Dale. “I want to know where we go from here. I mean I’m interested in you, and I hope you want the same thing, too.” Dale took a nervous sip of his beer and stared at Henry’s face. “Well, I’ve been thinking about my options,” Henry said as he traced his finger idly against the wooden table. “Your options?” Dale sat up straight; Henry didn’t say anything about being involved with anyone else, but then again he hadn’t asked him either. “Yeah, I mean I was looking around, seeing what Green Lawns had to offer.” Henry rattled off the names of other landscape companies that Laramie Landscaping competed with for contracts. “But you know what I discovered?”

“What?” Dale was worried. Suppose Henry decided to leave? He couldn’t dismiss the budding feelings he was having for the man sitting opposite him. Maybe he’d come on too strong and this was Henry’s way of saying no. The man tended to beat around the bush instead of coming directly to the point about matters. “They don’t hold a candle to where I’m working now. I mean the pay is about the same but the workers are all old farts. They don’t have a handsome guy like Dale Laramie working there. So I think I’ll stay with the best.” “You will?” Dale reached over and stroked his fingers against the back of Henry’s hand. His heart leapt when Henry wrapped his fingers around his and squeezed. “Sorry, Dale. I just needed a little time to think. I mean I haven’t been in a serious relationship in about two years.” “I didn’t mean to come on strong. I was worried I scared you away, that you’d quit.” “Not a chance. I need the job. Besides, I like the perks that come with it.” Henry smiled at him. “Perks?” Dale’s uncle didn’t give many perks to this job, aside from offering some health insurance. “Yeah, where else can I get to view a bubble butt?” “Get out of here, I don’t have a bubble butt.” Dale felt his cheeks grow red in embarrassment. “Oh yes you do, I saw it myself.” Henry paused to change the subject. “So does your uncle know you’re gay?” “Yes I came out to my family when I was sixteen. It took them some time to get

their minds wrapped around it, but they just want me to be happy.” Dale knew it would be a risk to come out to his family, not knowing how they would take it. But he was glad he had. “What about you? Does your family know?” “My mom and my sisters know. My dad died about five years ago. I don’t know if he knew I was gay or not. But my family has always been very liberal-minded so they were cool with it.” After sitting in the booth for a while their order of Buffalo wings finally arrived. They’d ordered more beer and ate more wings until they were stuffed. “Do you want to take a walk down to the marina?” Dale loved the water and loved going down to the docks to see the fisherman coming in with their boats. “Sure, let’s go.” Dale led the way down the long sidewalk. They glanced at the shops lining either side of the street that led down to the water.

“Come on I want to show you something.” Dale grabbed Henry’s hand and pulled him along to the stone retaining wall at the end of the road. He could see the boats that were coming into the harbor for the night. “This is the best place to watch the show.” “What show?” Henry mirrored Dale’s actions as he got onto the wall and sat down on the edge. The boy’s legs dangled down against the other side. “That one.” Dale pointed at the setting sun. “There’s nothing like watching the sunset. This is my favorite part of the day. I’ll sit here for hours after the sun goes down and wait for the stars and the moon to come out.” “Are you a stargazer?” Henry asked. “Yeah, have been ever since my parents took me out to stargaze during the fall

and winter. Those are the best times to really see the stars. There is too much light pollution the rest of the time.” Dale felt Henry’s fingers intertwine with his own, Henry rested his head against his shoulder and Dale got a warm feeling inside. “What do you want to do, Henry?” “Do? Right now I’d like to just sit like this and watch the sunset with one of the nicest guys I know.” “Nice huh? Well you’re not so bad yourself.” Dale turned and kissed the top of Henry’s head, then rubbed his cheek against the soft dark hair. “But where do you want this to go?” “You think too much. I like you, you like me. Let’s just go with the flow and see how things develop.” Dale smiled when he felt Henry’s arm go around his waist and his head moved from his shoulder to his chest. Dale wrapped his arm around Henry’s shoulder and held him close. He never dreamed that taking a job mowing lawns would have brought him someone who was making him very happy. The water lapped against the stone wall, they listened to the sound of the seagulls crying out and heard a distant horn from one of the boats. They sat there a long time, watching the stars come out. Every once in a while they would start kissing and hugging each other. They took things very slowly. Dale had never felt this happy before. **** Four months had gone by, the two guys were officially dating. Henry surprised him on his birthday by giving him a T-shirt, which said ‘Lawn Mower Boys’ on it and opened his jacket to show him he was wearing a matching shirt. When someone said something was as interesting as watching the grass grow, Dale and Henry agreed, their relationship grew as strong and everlasting like the grass they mowed.

THE END Author bio: Lily Sawyer has to credit her late mother for her interest in reading and writing. She used to take her to library and opened up to her the world of books. She took a writing class in an adult enrichment program and got hooked. She started off writing stories set in various fandoms she was interested in like Star Trek and Brokeback Mountain. After getting some encouragement from family members and friends, she finally decided it was time to write her own original stories.