Under the Stars and Stripes (Under Him)

It was two floors, in fact, with a library and an atrium. It really wasn’t hard to fit a gym in too. Besides, my condo had one of the best views in the city. The building was so high and faced just right that on a clear night I could swear I could make out the hills in the distance.

I had often wondered what it would be like out in the country. I guess it was a classic case of the grass being greener on the other side. Though, to be fair, I had never heard of anyone escaping to the city.

Going to the city or moving to the city, sure. But it was almost always for school or work. “Escaping” was a word that seemed reserved for the context of moving out of the city and into the country.

Historically, the human desire to leave the city was what the RV culture, as well as the billion-dollar industry that went along with it, was all about. At least that was what I dearly hoped, as much of the adaptation process for The Pilgrim was based on similar logic. It had been sound enough for Amelia Greene to sign on, so there must have been something to it. You didn’t get as rich as she was by taking stupid risks.

The real proof, though, was going to be the presentation for Smith & Smyth. Or was it Smyth & Smith? I had heard it both ways, no one seemed to be able to get it right. Not that it mattered much anyway. Like that old band Tony! Toni! Tone! When you got right down to it, who could tell the difference?

In any case, that was the big test, not only of the viability of The Pilgrim but also of myself as an engineer and an investor. It all seemed sound, but that didn’t make it seem any less scary. All I could do was prepare as well as I could and hope. There really was no way of telling what people were going to do.

One of the biggest surprises of recent years had been when Amelia Greene had invited me out to dinner. It became pretty clear really quickly that it wasn’t going to be strictly professional and she had great interest in being more than just my business partner.

I wasn’t even tempted. Not even for the sake of my reputation and contribution to my career. I would have considered it a betrayal, which was strange because I hadn’t even seen Ada in years, but I still cherished what we’d had. I cherished it even more knowing that I was the reason that it had ended.

Amelia was beautiful, rich, powerful, and could go great things for my career, but she hadn't hidden under the bleachers with me when Billy Thomas, who was only in 8th grade but already shaving, said he was going to ‘knock my lights out’ for no other reason than he could and thought it would be fun.

We hadn’t bonded over prime number conjectures and shared a good laugh at the fools who thought that Catalan was out to lunch. We hadn’t shared our first kiss ever while sheltering under the giant Yew tree in the park after getting caught in a freak summer rainstorm, also on the 4th of July. There had been some question as to whether the fireworks would go ahead as planned. Of course they did. The colors lighting the sky matched those bursting in my fifteen-year-old head.

I had known Ada for two years at that point. We were still ‘just friends’ but already the chemistry was starting to brew. That first kiss was the first of many we would have over the next six glorious years. Every one of them made it so I never wanted to kiss anyone but her again.

I had always heard that first times were supposed to be awkward, with lots of fumbling and not quite sure what to do. It wasn’t that way with us, though. I guess we already knew each other so long by the time we did it on the night of my eighteenth birthday, forever after referred to as ‘the best gift ever’, that we were already comfortable with each other.

I felt no shyness being naked in front of her, despite the way her eyes widened when she first saw my fully hard cock, and she didn’t seem to either. We just took off our clothes and got right to it. The orgasms we had that night were our first ever, sealing our bond even tighter.

There were, of course, dangers from going from friends to lovers, but with Ada it felt less like a change and more like a progression. We were finally getting to where we were supposed to be.

The machine let out a loud, long beep as I hit the emergency stop. I was too depressed and way too hard to safely keep running. The machine returned to its flat position from the highest possible incline and I slowly backed away, carefully taking down my shorts after I was off.