Chapter 1: Alvins Teenage Secret

Lewis held Alvin close to him until his shivering stopped. ‘It’s ok,’ he said, ‘We’re going to sort it out together. Lie down now. I’m going to go and open up the shop.’ he told him, ‘It’s one minute to two. You stay there as long as you need to.’

‘When we close tonight, we’ll continue.’ He stroked the side of his face. ‘You’re going to be ok,’ he said, ‘I promise.’

Lewis opened up the shop and did his best to cope with the afternoon rush. Five minutes later Alvin appeared and joined in. He gave Lewis a smile and they continued with their hectic afternoon. As five o’clock approached, Lewis said, ‘I’ll go and put the kettle on.’

By the time Alvin had shown the last customer out, locked up, put the lights out and come through to the back room there were two cups of coffee on the table.

‘Is it always like that on a Saturday?’ Alvin said sounding exhausted. ‘Yes, I’m afraid so.’ Lewis said. ‘I’m glad I’m only temporary then.’ Alvin said grinning. As they drank their coffee Alvin said, ‘Thanks for opening up earlier.’ ‘No problem,’ Lewis said, ‘How are you feeling now?’

‘Strange,’ Alvin said, ‘I can’t believe I actually told you what I did.’ ‘That’s your subconscious deciding you can trust me.’ Lewis told him. ‘And it’s decided that I might just solve it for you. It usually takes a lot longer, but it has happened like that a few times before. It’s your brain feeling the need to share it with someone.’

‘Now, when we’ve had our coffee, we’ll forget what you told me for the moment. We’re going to continue to get you even more relaxed as well as me getting to know more about you. But if by any chance you have changed your mind, don’t worry. What you have told me will never be repeated and if you want to try again another time you can always contact me.’ He passed him his card. ‘Here’s my number.’

Alvin was feeling uncertain but after this assurance that what he had said would go no further, he decided that having started, he’d keep going. ‘I’d like to carry on, please.’ he said.

‘Good,’ Lewis said. ‘Now you’ve started, you’ll sail through it. When you have finished your coffee go back over to the settee. There’s no rush, remember it’s all at your speed.’

They drank their coffees in silence. Then Alvin got up and went over to the settee. He took his shoes off and lay down. Lewis sat back at the side and said, ‘Turn over when you’re ready.’

He massaged the back of Alvin’s head and said, ‘Say go when you’re ok to start.’ Alvin settled into place and relaxed with the massage. Then he said, ‘Go.’ As Lewis moved down onto his shoulders he asked, ‘Tell me about where you live.’ Alvin had gone very tense but had managed not to shout stop.

As Lewis moved down his back, he remained very tense but managed to answer, ‘I live in a one bedroomed flat. It’s in a block of flats and I’m on the second floor.’

‘Describe the layout.’ Lewis asked as he reached his waist. Alvin was shivering as Lewis massaged his cheeks over his trousers but continued to answer. ‘The front door opens into a very small vestibule,’ he said. ‘From there you go into the lounge.’

‘Off the lounge is a door to a small kitchen dinette. At the far end of the lounge is a door to a double bedroom. Off that is a door to a small bathroom.’

As Lewis had moved on down the back of his legs, Alvin gradually stopped shivering but remained tense. ‘How did you come to be living there?’ Lewis asked as he started back up his legs.

‘When I went to Uni, mum and dad assumed I would get a job afterwards and be moving away. Dad’s health hadn’t been very good, so they downsized and moved to a one-bedroom flat in a place with a warden.’

‘When I finished at Uni, I went to stay with one of my Uni friends up north for two months. He got a job, and I didn’t so I then returned home and slept on their settee for a week. Lewis reached his cheeks, and it wasn’t until he was halfway over them that Alvin went tense. This time he didn’t shiver.

As Lewis continued over them and on up his back, Alvin continued. ‘But when no job appeared I had to look for my own place. I saw an advert and went to have a look at where I am now. Karim the owner seemed friendly enough and although he was clearly a Muslim, he assured me he wasn’t a strict one. I won’t be fussing over what you eat he told me grinning. I might even call in and share a bacon butty occasionally.

As Lewis reached his head he had relaxed. ‘Turn over.’ Lewis told him. Once he had settled, Lewis said, ‘I’m going to go down your front now the same way. Say go when you’re ready, then carry on with your story.’ He massaged Alvin’s head briefly then moved onto his temples.

It took a minute or so before Alvin said go, he was relaxing too much. As Lewis moved down onto his shoulders, he continued, ‘There wasn’t any other flat available at the time and it seemed to fit the bill, so I moved in. I have settled there well.

‘How do you get on with your parents?’ Lewis asked. ‘Ok.’ Alvin said, ‘They push me a bit sometimes because I can be a bit lackadaisical, but nicely so.’ Lewis had moved up onto the front of his trousers. Alvin had gone very tense once more and was shivering again.

However, he managed not to say stop so Lewis asked, ‘How did you get on with the other students at Uni?’

‘Not too well the first year,’ Alvin said, ‘I’d always been a bit of a loner. But in the second year we had to find our own accommodation which generally meant sharing with one or several others. My pal Hamish who I went to stay with after Uni was very quiet too. We teamed up and found two other similar people to share a four bedroomed apartment with. It had a shared lounge and kitchen and worked out quite well.’

‘He had stopped shivering once Lewis moved onto his legs and as he moved further down had relaxed. Now starting back up, Lewis saw that his eyes were fixed on Lewis’s hands.

‘By the time I finished Uni, I was still quieter than most, Alvin continued, but I’d become a better mixer.’

‘What about ordinary school, did you have any special friends there?’ Lewis asked as he moved up to the top of his thighs. ‘Just one.’ Alvin told him as he went tense again. Lewis was massaging the front of his trousers. ‘Remember nothing is going to hurt you in here,’ Lewis told him. As Lewis massaged upwards, he stayed tense but this time he didn’t shiver.

As Lewis passed over his belt and moved onto his flat stomach, he started to relax and continued, ‘His name was Alex, we met at the start of secondary school. He was as quiet as I was, so we hit it off right away.’

‘We lived on opposite sides of town, but that was no problem as we both had bikes.’ ‘What sort of things did you do together out of school?’ Lewis asked as he moved on up over Alvin’s long chest.

‘We would often do our homework projects together,’ Alvin said. ‘We both liked to read, so we were content to sit and read together. That was either at home or out in the country. We went swimming occasionally and we both liked playing golf.’

‘When you were wearing your swimming gear, did you feel more, less, or just as shy as usual?’ Lewis asked as he massaged his head. ‘The same, I suppose.’ Alvin said as Lewis took his hands away.

‘You’re doing well,’ Lewis told him, ‘You’re shivering a lot less already. I want you to turn over in a moment so I can go down your back again. Before you do, I’d like you to take your top things off if you feel able to.’

‘That will mean I can massage your back on the skin. That will not only feel much nicer it will also relax you more. But remember everything you do in here is your choice.’

Alvin thought about it. He was feeling more at ease with Lewis than he had thought possible. He had enjoyed some of the massage and he wasn’t bothered about Lewis seeing his top. He sat up and pulled his top things off. He handed them to Lewis, lay down and turned over.

‘Well done.’ Lewis told him as he put his clothes on the armchair. He rested his hands on his head and massaged. ‘I’m happy you know you can say stop anytime,’ Lewis said, ‘So you don’t need to say go anymore.’