Saturday, June 29, 2013

The Man From Swift Current Chapter One Hundred Twenty - Madrid Gay Pride

Chapter One Hundred Twenty – Madrid Gay Pride

By our fourth week in Madrid, we had pretty much mastered the public transportation system.   We visited all the major museums and major landmarks in the city.   We also found a couple of great gay dance clubs!

One evening, we went to the Chueca neighborhood of Madrid, while the adults watched the little ones.  Tyler drove to the dance club and managed to find a place to park.   We went inside and were shown to our table.   Tyler looked around and said, “This is the first time we’ve been to a dance club since we’ve been married.”

Greg grinned and said, “I’m glad we convinced you guys to come out with us.   You need to get out on a date at least once a week guys!”

Joey said, “We hear you.”   He put his arm around Tyler’s shoulders and leaned in to give his husband a quick kiss on the lips.

The waiter approached our table and said, “My name is Rodrigo.   What can I get for you guys?”

I looked the waiter over and liked what I saw.   He was well built, and his uniform fit him very nicely.   He had jet black hair, dark brown eyes, a round button nose, and a thin, neatly trimmed black mustache on his upper lip.   He smiled at me and said, “I’m glad you like me.”

 I smiled back.   “You look good, mi amigo.”

He said, “You must be from the United States.”

“Yes, we are,” I said.

“Your accent gives you away,” he said.   “How do you like Madrid?”

“It’s a great city,” Rick replied.

“I’m glad you came to visit us.   We have a great club and there are many beautiful people who come here to have fun,” Rodrigo said.   “Your friends are married, no, but you are not?”

“Yes, they are married.   We have been together for almost three years now,” I said.

Rodrigo’s smile faltered slightly.   “Then, there is no chance for Rodrigo to persuade you to be my boyfriend?”

“I’m sorry, but no,” I said.

“Okay, then, I will be your friend, instead of your boyfriend,” he said.   He looked at Rick and continued, “You are very lucky, Señor, to have such a good looking boyfriend.”

Rick put his arm possessively around my shoulders, drawing me closer to him.  “He is just as lucky to have me as his boyfriend.”

“Yes, he is,” Rodrigo agreed, smiling at us.   “What will you have to drink?”

We placed our beverage orders and Rodrigo left us.   Joey shook his head in disbelief.  “Wow!   I didn’t think a waiter would be quite so bold as to hit on you before taking your order.”

“Well, there is a first time for everything,” Greg said, laughing.

I placed my hand on Rick’s inner thigh and began caressing him.   He placed his hand on top of mine and grinned.   “If you keep that up, we will need to make a quick trip to the men’s room.”

I gave him a wicked smile and said, “That’s exactly what I want to happen.”

Rick took my hand in his and raised it to his lips.   “Later, sweetheart, I promise to take care of your needs.”

The waiter returned with our drinks and said, “The dancing will begin in about an hour.   We have a great live band playing tonight.   While you’re waiting, would you like to order something to eat?”

We politely declined his offer and nursed our beverages for a while.   I looked around our table and noted, appreciatively, we all looked great; trim and fit, with tight fitting jeans and muscle shirts.   We drew a lot of attention from the guys walking in the door.   A couple of guys with blond hair and blue eyes walked over to our table.   Both of them were tall and athletic looking.   One was slightly taller than the other.   He introduced himself, “Hi!   I’m Peter and this is Morten.   We’re visiting from Norway.   Where are you guys from?”

Rick said, “We’re from the United States.   I’m Rick and this is Glenn, Cory, Greg, Tyler and Joey.”

Morten said, “It’s nice to meet you.   Do you mind if we join you?”

“Pull up a chair,” Rick said.   They pulled over two chairs from a neighboring table and sat down.

“How long have you been in Madrid,” I asked.”

“We’ve been here for two weeks,” Peter said.   “We are going to the Costa del Sol after the Madrid Orgullo parade.”

“Where on the coast are you going?” Tyler asked.

“I think it’s a place called Torremolinos.   We’ve heard that there are a lot of gay guys hang out there,” Morten said.

Tyler said, “That’s true.   There are some really nice clubs there.   We have a summer home in Málaga, which isn’t too far from there.”

“Maybe we’ll see you there,” Joey said.   We won’t be going down to the beach until Tyler gets out of school.”

Tyler said, “Unfortunately, I still have two more weeks of classes.”

Peter said, “We understand.   We didn’t go to school last semester.   We decided to take some time to tour Europe.   We will go back to school in the fall.”

Morten said, “We have been riding our bikes around Europe.   We stop at youth hostels for the night.   Sometimes, we sleep on the side of the road.   We liked Madrid very much.   This is like our honeymoon.   We were married a couple of months ago.”  

Peter said, “Our parents don’t approve of us being married, so we left Bergen and went to Oslo to be married before we left Norway.    We don’t know where we will live when we get home, but I’m sure we will figure it out.”

Morten asked, “What brings you to Madrid?”

Tyler said, “I’m working on a master’s degree at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.   Joey is my husband and we live not too far from here.”

Greg said, “We came to visit Joey, my brother-in-law.   Cory is my husband.”

“Greg is my uncle and Rick is my boyfriend,” I said.

“So, you are all related to each other,” Peter said.

“You could say that,” Rick said.

“I wish I had family members who were gay, because my parents don’t understand me at all,” Morten said.   “When I told them I loved Peter and wanted to marry him, they told me to get out of their house.”

“My parents don’t approve of our marriage, but they didn’t disown us,” Peter said.

“Where have you been, since you left Norway?” I asked.

Morten answered, “We took the ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen.   We toured Denmark, then the Netherlands.   We like Amsterdam the best.   We didn’t stop in Belgium, but rode our bikes to Paris.   We spent a couple of weeks in Paris.   France is a wonderful country.   We biked to the coast and made our way to Barcelona.   We spent a few days there.   Then, we decided we would come to Madrid.”

“We plan to spend time at the beach before biking along the coast to Italy,” Peter added.  

“We came here to be part of the gay pride parade,” Morten said.   “It’s one of the largest gay pride events in the world.   It’s called Madrid Orgullo here.”

I looked over at Tyler and asked, “Did you participate in the Madrid Orgullo last year?”

Tyler smiled and said, “Yes, I did.   I had a great time.”

Peter smiled.   “Did you march in the parade?”

“Yes, I did,” Tyler responded.

“We should meet up tomorrow and march together in the parade,” Morten said.

Tyler said, “I have an even better idea.   Why don’t you stay at our house tonight?   That way, we can start out from the house together in the early afternoon.   The parade starts at 6 pm and lasts until 11 PM.”

Peter looked over at his husband.   “What do you think, Morten?”

Morten shrugged his shoulders.  “Sure, why not?”

Peter said, “Okay, we’ll stay at your place, but we’ll need to stop by the hostel to pick up our things.”

“If we’re going to march in the parade, we can’t stay out all night like we planned,” I said.

Rick agreed.   “Yes, we’ll need to call it a night at a reasonable hour.”

Peter said, “Things don’t start moving around here until after midnight.”

“Okay, we’ll leave at 2 AM.   That should give us a few hours to get some sleep,” Tyler said.

The live band began playing, and Peter stood up from the table.   “Let’s dance,” he said, taking Morten by the hand.   They disappeared among the crowd on the dance floor.   Rick took my hand and said, “Let’s show them how to dance.”

After a few dances, the band played a slow song.   Rick pulled me into his arms and I laid my head on his shoulder.   He nibbled on my ear and whispered, “I love you.”  I turned my head, and his lips met mine.   Time seemed to stop for us.   It was like we were the only two human beings on the planet.   He released my lips, pulling back until I could see his love for me shining in his eyes.  

“I love you so much, Mr. Lernier,” I said.

Rick’s embrace tightened as we kissed.   The music came to an end, and Rick led me off the dance floor.   Tyler and Joey joined us at our table.   Tyler declared, “You guys were hot!”

I grinned at him and said, “So were you guys.”

Our new friends appeared at our table.   Peter exclaimed, “Wow!  Where did you guys learn to dance like that?”

Rick shrugged.   “We just do what comes natural.”

Morten said, “I loved watching you guys dance.   I could see how much you love each other.”

Our waiter appeared and asked, “Would you like another drink?”

Peter said, “Yes, please.”

The rest of us echoed Peter’s request.   The waiter soon reappeared with our beverages.

Morten looked at me in surprise.   “Why did you order a soda?”

“I don’t drink alcoholic beverages,” I replied.

Rick confirmed it.  “I always order a soda or water for Glenn.”

Joey said, “It feels good to get away on a date, and I love dancing.”   He put his arm around his husband.   “Thank you for bringing me here.”

Tyler grinned and said, “I’m just sorry we didn’t come here earlier.   I’d forgotten about this place, until the guys wanted to go out clubbing.”

Peter said, “I think we should walk to the club down the street.   They have a nice dance floor, and a great DJ.   We went there last night.”

“Okay, let’s grab Greg and Cory,” Joey said.   We found them on the floor.   When we told them we were going, they came off of the dance floor and joined us.   We spent the next couple of hours dancing and enjoying ourselves.

By 2 AM, the guys were pretty loaded, so I drove Peter and Morten to their hostel.   We secured their bikes to our bike rack on the roof of the car, and returned for the rest of the guys; who were waiting for us at the entrance to the club.   I managed to drive us home without too many wrong turns.

When we got to the house, Joey showed Peter and Morten to their room, and pulled out fresh sheets and blankets for them.   Rick and I stripped off our clothes and crashed on our bed.   The next morning, I was awakened by Rick’s moaning.   I opened my eyes and looked over to see him sitting on the edge of our bed, holding his head in his hands.

“I’ll get the aspirin and some coffee,” I said, getting up, and pulling on the clothes I had worn last night.   I walked downstairs and into the kitchen.   Sra. Nájera was already there, cooking breakfast.   “Buenos Dias, Sra. Nájera.   May I help you make coffee this morning?”

She smiled and said, “I’ve already made it.   I knew it would be in high demand after a night out.   The coffee cups are on the tray along with the aspirin.   Here is the coffee pot.   I will send Sr. Nájera up with breakfast a little later.”

I took the coffee pot from her hands and placed it on the tray.   I carried it to our room and poured Rick a cup, handing it to him with a couple of aspirin.   “I’ll be right back.”

I carried the tray from room to room, administering to the guys’ needs.   I returned to our room to find Rick had finished his coffee, and had returned to bed.   I climbed in beside him.   He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead.   “You’re an angel.”

We must have drifted off, because the next thing I remember was someone knocking on the door.   Then I heard Sr. Nájera enter.   “Good morning, boys.   Here is your breakfast.”   He placed the tray on the computer table and left us to eat it.

Rick ate with gusto.   It seems the aspirin and the coffee had restored him to perfect health!   He finished and helped me with mine!   Next, he put our dishes back on the tray and returned to our bed.   His lecherous grin and the look of lust in his eyes sent a thrill of anticipation down my spine!   Without saying a word, Rick made me his in every way!

*** ***

Joey and Tyler had finished their coffee when Sr. Nájera arrived with their breakfast.   Tyler said, “Buenos días, Papá.”  (Good morning, Papa.)

Sr. Nájera said, “Buenos días, mis hijos.   Cómo les fue anoche?” (Good morning, my sons.   How did it go last night?)

Tyler replied, “Nos la pasamos bien, Papá.   Trajimos a la casa a dos amigos de Noruega anoche.   Están dormidos in la recámara al otro lado del corredor.”   (We had a good time, Papa.   We brought two Norwegian friends home with us last night.   They are sleeping in the bedroom across the hall from us.)

Sr. Nájera said, “Bueno, les llevaré el mismo desayuno que tu Mamá preparó para todos nosotros.”  (Okay, I’ll take them the same breakfast Mama prepared for all of us.)

He left the room and Tyler said, “I’ve been thinking about our Norwegian friends.   Do you think they would be interested in working for us?   They could go to college here and work for us part time.”

Joey thought about it for a few moments and said, “We need to talk to Grandpa Scarborough and Sr. Nájera about it first, before we discuss it with Peter and Morten.   I think it would be a good thing for them and for us.”

“I like them both.   They seem pretty level headed.   I have to admire them for touring Europe on their bikes.   They have done little odd jobs to earn money along the way.   I think they would be hard workers,” Tyler said.   “I wanted to get to know them better, so I invited them to stay with us.”

“I wondered what you were up to when you asked them if they wanted to stay with us, especially since we already have four guests,” Joey said.

Tyler smiled.   “Yes, I know I complained about having so many visitors staying with us at the same time.”   He lightly ran his hand over Joey’s chest, stopping to play with his nipples.   He leaned over and kissed his husband.   “I love waking up next to you.”

Joey caressed Tyler’s cheek with his fingertips and smiled.   “I love the feel of your body next to mine, and I really like being fucked by you every morning.”

Tyler ran his hands over his lover’s body, as he kissed him deeply.

*** ***

Later, they heard a light tapping on their bedroom door.   Joey shouted, “Come in!”

The door opened, and Rachel appeared in their room.   She ran across the room to their bed and climbed up to be with them.   She said, brightly, “Good morning.”

Joey hugged her and kissed her cheek.   “Good morning, munchkin.”

Rachel laughed and said, “Daddy, you’re a munchkin, too.”

Joey grinned and asked, “How you do you figure that?”

“Abuela says that if I’m a munchkin, my Daddy has to be a munchkin,” Rachel said, seriously.”

Tyler laughed and said, “She has you there, Joey.”

Joey said, “Okay, I’ll admit to being a munchkin if you’ll agree you’re a munchkin, too.”

Rachel wrinkled her nose and put her hand on her chin as she thought for a moment.   She shook her head and said, “No, I’m not a munchkin.   I’m a little girl, and you’re a man, so you can’t be a munchkin.”

“You’re right, Rachel; however, may we still call you a munchkin?” Tyler asked.

Rachel said, “You can call me a munchkin if you want to, as long as you know I’m not really a munchkin, but a little girl.”

Joey said, “I think we need to watch the movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” with you, so you know who the munchkins are.   It was one of your Mom’s favorite movies.   She made us watch it all the time.   Don’t you remember the movie with the scarecrow, the lion and the tin man?”

Rachel shook her head.   “No, I don’t remember.”

Tyler said, “Well, I think we’ll have to watch it later today.”

Rachel clapped her hands.   “I love watching movies.   Will you watch movies with me, Dad?”

Tyler said, “Yes, I will.”

Rachel jumped up and climbed off of the bed.   “I’m going to tell Abuela we’re watching a movie today.”   She ran out of the room, leaving the door open.  

Tyler said, “She is so cute.”

They heard a tap on the door, and looked up to see Peter and Morten standing in the doorway to their room.   “May we come in?” Peter asked.

Joey and Tyler sat up in bed.   Joey said, “Sure.”

The guys came in and sat down on the foot of the bed.   “What are the plans for the day?” Morten asked.

 “Well, we could go swimming in our pool,” Tyler said.  

Peter smiled.   “That would be great.   We’ll go change into our swimsuits.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Tyler said.   “Joey and I need to shower first, then, we’ll meet you down at the pool.”

Peter said, “Okay.   Do you want us to tell the other guys?”

“Sure,” Joey said.

Peter and Morten left them to get ready.

I heard a knock on the door and opened it to find Peter standing there.   “We’re going swimming.”

I said, “Great.   Are you going down right now?”

“As soon as we change into our swimsuits,” Peter said.

“Okay, we’ll meet you down by the pool,” I said.

Peter left, and I walked into the bathroom to let Rick know the plans for the day.   “We’re going swimming.”

“Okay.   It’s a good thing I wasn’t dressed yet,” Rick said.   “Let’s wear our bikini swimsuits.”

I grinned and said, “You just want to show off your great physique.”

Rick returned my grin.   “That’s right.   I only do it for you, Babe.”

I laughed and said, “I do admit I like it when you wear next to nothing.”

Rick walked into the bedroom and grabbed his powder blue bikini swimsuit.   I admired his perfect bubble butt, as he bent over to pull it on.   Rick caught me looking him over and grinned.   “Do I meet with your approval?”

I walked over and put my arms around his neck.   “What do you think?”   I kissed him deeply, and felt him stirring down below.  I pulled back and playfully rubbed his groin.   “I don’t think this swimsuit was built to hold you in.”

Rick laughed and said, “No, it wasn’t.”

I released him and stripped out of my clothes.   I pulled out my matching swimsuit and pulled it on.   Rick started teasing me by putting both hands inside my swimsuit as he kissed me.

He released me and said, “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Babe,” I responded, hoping my hard-on would go down quickly!  

He took my hand and led me downstairs.   We went out the French doors that led out to the patio and the pool.   Greg and Cory were already there in matching yellow bikini swimsuits.  

Peter caught sight of us and wolf whistled.   “Wow!”

Morten turned around to see why Peter was whistling.   Spotting us, he grinned and gave us the thumbs up sign.   “You guys sure look good!”

Joey and Tyler joined us, wearing even skimpier matching swimsuits.   We all whistled at them!   Rick said, “I thought we were pretty daring, but I think you two beat all of us.”

Joey grinned.   “I thought since we’re married, it was okay to flaunt what we have.”

Tyler was blushing, but smiled.   “Joey convinced me it was okay to show off for him.   We haven’t worn them since you guys arrived, because I was too embarrassed about them.”

I looked at him in surprise.   “What made you think we wouldn’t appreciate seeing two gorgeous guys in those great swimsuits?”

Joey came to Tyler’s defense.   “It’s okay, Tyler.   We’re wearing them now.”

I walked over to Tyler and kissed him on the lips, holding him in a tight embrace.   “That’s for making my day.”

He looked at me and smiled.   “I’m glad you like how we look.”

I turned to Joey and kissed him, as well.   Joey wrapped his arms around me and deepened the kiss, surprising me.   When he released me, he grinned.   “I’ve always wanted to do that, and I’ve never dared to, until now.”

Tyler laughed at the look on my face.   “Joey told me he planned to kiss you, at least once while you were here.”

Joey’s smile widened and he put his arm around my shoulders.   “I’ve never seen you speechless.   I think we should celebrate.”

I finally recovered my wits and laughed.   “Rick has competition in the kissing department.”

Joey looked over at Rick and said, “I promise not to spoil him too much.”

Rick grinned.   “I think we should pick up a couple of swimsuits like the ones you’re wearing.”

Tyler said, “We have a couple you could borrow; that way, you can see if you like them or not.”

Peter said, “What I’d like to see is all of us wearing those swimsuits in the Gay Pride parade, tonight.”

Tyler shook his head.   “There’s no way I’m going to wear this swimsuit in the parade.   I might consider a bikini one, but not this one.”

“Okay, are we in agreement we’ll wear our bikinis?” Peter asked.

I looked over at Rick and he shrugged.   “I don’t care.   I’d more comfortable in cargo shorts, especially if we’re going to stay for some of the entertainment.”

Greg said, “I vote for the cargo shorts and muscle t-shirts.   We can shed the t-shirts if we want to.”

Morten protested.   “Ah, come on, you guys!   Where is your sense of adventure?”

Cory said, “Why don’t we wear our bikini swimsuits and change into our cargo shorts after the parade.   I could carry a backpack with our cargo shorts in it.”

Greg said, doubtfully, “I guess I’m up for that.”

Cory said, “You can wear your cargo shorts if you don’t feel comfortable parading around town in your swimsuit.”

Greg smiled at his husband.   “Okay, I’ll go in my swimsuit, if you’ll bring my shorts for later.”

Having decided what we were going to wear for the parade, we spent the rest of the day swimming in the pool.   Sra. Nájera brought out lunch and refreshing lemonade, later in the afternoon, when Sra. Nájera and Louise brought the girls out to swim.

As I watched Tyler and Joey entertaining Rachel and Sarah in the pool, I leaned over to Rick and said, “I’m glad to see them enjoying the children.   They are both good Dads to the girls.”

Rick agreed.   “I hope I can be as good a father to our children as they are.”

I smiled and said, “I’m sure you will be.”  I leaned over to give him a gentle kiss on the lips.

*** ***

We marched in the parade and stayed out until the early hours of the morning.   I couldn’t believe how many people were there, celebrating gay pride!    We garnered quite a bit of attention with our swimsuits, but we weren’t the only ones!   It felt good to be part of the celebration of who we are.

As we walked back to our cars, Rick said, “I never imagined there could be so many gay men in one place.”

Greg laughed.   “Me either.   I had just as much fun watching Glenn.   He was like a kid in a candy store.”

“Well, you have to admit there was a lot of eye candy on display,” I said.

Rick said, grinning, “Yes, there was, and I had to keep my eye on you to keep you from running after some those great looking guys.”

I protested, “You did not!   I held your hand nearly the entire time.”

“Yes, you did, because I wanted to make sure everyone knew you were taken,” Rick responded, only half joking.

Joey said, “I think Rick was right to keep his hands on you.  There were quite a number of guys giving you the once over with their eyes.”

“Well, they didn’t have to have too much of an imagination, because I wasn’t wearing much,” I said.

“I know!   That was another reason for making sure they knew not to mess with you,” Rick said.

Cory said, “If you were married, you wouldn’t have to worry about Glenn running off with some other guy.”  Rick opened his mouth to respond, but looked at me and closed it.  “You know I’m right, Rick.   Greg and I don’t worry about each other at all, and neither do Tyler and Joey.   You can make the argument you don’t need to be married to be committed, but there is a certain mindset that comes with marriage that, otherwise, doesn’t exist in a relationship.”

Rick said, “Okay, I get it.”   He looked over at me and asked, “Did you put Cory up to lecturing me about getting married?”

I squeezed Rick’s hand and said, “No, but I’ll pass him 20 bucks later, for making my case for me.”   I stopped walking and pulled Rick into my arms.   I looked deeply into his eyes and said, “I love you, Rick.”  I kissed him and put my hand to his cheek, cupping it gently in my palm.   “I’ll never leave you, sweetheart.”

The light from the street lights sparkled in his eyes, which were full of unshed tears.   He cleared his throat, and in a choked voice, said, “I love you, too.”

Peter said, “I agree with Cory.   Marriage is a great thing.   Morten and I love being married.”

Morten added, “It makes me feel much more secure, especially when so many people are anti-gay.   Being married forces people to acknowledge they have to treat us with respect and dignity, or, otherwise, they will face jail time.”

We arrived at our cars.   We climbed into them and made our journey home.   We were so exhausted when we stepped into our room; we stripped off our clothes and crashed on the bed.   Rick pulled me into his arms, and we were out for the count! 

*** ***

Author’s Note: