My German Lover, Part 24, chapter 1

One morning in early September, back in Paris, Paul was alone, having breakfast... when François walked in...

"Oh Hi, gorgeous!", Paul asked him, smiling, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah..."

But from the way he had answered, Paul sensed there was something wrong with François. So he raised his eyes to looked at his young friend straight in the eyes, and said:

"Hey pal: Are you okay?"

"Sure!... No problem, really..."

"Oh come on François... don't give me that shit! What's wrong?"

François sat down, served himself some coffee... then, after a long moment of silence, he started to say:

"(...) Well... There's this guy in my class..."

"Hu-huh... And?"

"Well... he... he's kind of cute...", François said, slowly turning a lovely shade of red...

"Oh, is he? And what's his name?"

"Philippe..."

"Is he from Paris?"

"Yes..."

"And... you like him?"

"... I ... All I said is that I find him cute!"

"Of course, of course! (...) Anyway... how is he? How does he look?"

François raised his eyes to look at Paul and, with a very big smile on his face, he said:

"He's very nice! And very handsome too. He's about seventeen I guess... and he's a bit taller than me... about six feet tall, I would say... He has curly black hair... and lovely blue eyes. Very sexy!"

"And have you talk to him?"

"Sure... I mean... But of course, I didn't run to him to tell him that I'm gay and that I find him cute!"

"... And that you're attracted to him...", Paul added, smiling...

"OF COURSE NOT!!!"

"... So I take it you haven't jump on him... not just yet!", Paul said, laughing...

"Oh come on Paul: Don't tease me!"

"Okay, okay... But tell me more about him..."

"...You should see his hands... They are so beatiful, with long fingers... Everything about him is beatiful! The way he talks... the way he walks... the way he smiles... and, when he looks at me with his beatiful blue eyes, I feel like..."

"...Like if you were going to die?"

"Yeah!", François answered, laughing... "And yesterday, in class, he accidentally touched my hand, and..."

"...You felt like if an electrical current had passed right through your body?"

"Yes!"

"And that made you shiver?"

"Yeah!", François answered, still laughing...

"Well my friend, I think you have a very serious illness..."

"Huh?"

"Yup! Very serious case, we got here pal... and it's call "love"..."

"...You think I'm falling in love?"

Paul burst out laughing, hearing that question... and he answered:

"I'm afraid you have all the symptoms..."

"Shit! (...) But I don't even know if he's gay... What if he's not? I can't walk over to him and ask him: "Hey dude: Are you gay?"

"So: What the hell am I suppose to do?"

"That's not an easy question to answer, you know, and I guess you're gonna have to find the answer all by yourself! I can't tell you what to do... all I can do is to give you some hints..."

"Like what?"

"(...) I don't know... like... At first, I guess you and Philippe could become friends... give yourself time to know him better... and give him time to know you... I know, I know... it's a slow process... but unless one of you decides to bring the "subject", there's no way out: You'll have to take your time... to see where it leads to... and you know, at one point, you could ask him if he has a girlfriend... things like that... And anyway, if he never talks to you about girls, I guess you'll have a good indication..."

"Yeah... That would be a good start... I mean..."

"Hey pal, as I said, I don't have all the answers for you. You'll have to go with the flow. But just don't try to cross the bridge before you get to the river! Don't scare him away... If he's gay, he's probably as unexperienced as you are, and doesn't know how to act..."

"Yeah... I guess you're right..."

"In fact, you probably have more experience than he does... with Jacques... you know..."

"That's not much! Only once have I fooled around with him... and I got beaten for that! Talk about experience!"

"Yeah! Not much, I guess... Anyway, why don't you invite Pilipppe over here?"

"...It's not my house... I would never do that!"

"Don't say that François: You hurt my feelings when you say that, for this is your house, as much as it is mine..."

"Sorry Paul... I didn't want to hurt you... But anyway... even if I invite him over here, where would we go? I mean... I would certainly not take him to the drawing-room, you know... it would be like taking him to a "Salon" at Versailles! And I can't take him to my bedroom... I mean... It wouldn't be very "suitable", and how do you think Ludwig would react?"

"Guess you're right", Paul answered, laughing... "I never thought about that... I guess we do have a problem here! But anyway, I'll think of something... don't worry!"

"Anyway Paul: Thanks for listening to me..."

"Anytime pal! You always know where to find me..."

"Yeah. Thanks!"

Indeed, Paul had never thought about the fact that, at seventeen, both Ludwig and François could want to have a place of their own, where they could have fun with their friends... away from the "older" guys... meaning himself, Will, Lutz and Franz!

Not that Will and Paul were that much older than Ludwig and François! After all, Will was twenty-two, and Paul had just turned twenty-one! Later, that small "difference" in age wouldn't matter! But for now, it did! And Paul could understand it very well... The "kids" had to be left alone with their friends...

So he started to think about a solution...

And of course, as always, it didn't take long for him to find one!

One morning, he called madame Louise, his governess, and said to her:

"My dear madame Louise... We're going to make a few changes around here, and I need your help..."

"Of course monsieur..."

"You know... the "petit Salon"... right across the hall?"

"Le Salon Bleu, you mean?" (the blue Salon...)

"Yes, yes..."

"...It's been closed since... well... since your family left for New-York..."

"I know! Well... we're going to reopen it and transform it... We're going to change all the furniture in there... and put modern furniture instead..."

"(...) BUT monsieur Paul... That's a beatiful room... with very beatiful and very expensive furniture in it... What would your mother say?"

"My mother? (...) She's in New-York and no longer lives here, does she? And we don't use that room, so... But don't worry about the rest of the mansion: I don't intend to touch it!", Paul answered, laughing...

"(...) And what do you want me to do monsieur?", madame Louise asked, scandalized...

"I want you and your staff to do a good cleaning job over there... Tomorrow, I'll ask a few workers from the company to come over here and I'll ask them to move out all the furniture from that room. I want that room stripped out of everything... the carpets... the drapes... even the chandelier will have to go! Then, I want the room to be cleaned. Can I count on you and your staff to do that?"

"Of course monsieur... But..."

"No "BUTS"... Paul said... "Just make sure the room is cleaned!"

"Oui monsieur."

And of course, the job was done. And of course, madame Louise almost lost consciousness when she saw everything in the room being taken away. And she shed a tear or two, when she saw three men remove the beatiful chandelier... But... After that... she made sure the room was well cleaned! She was mad... she felt sorry... but nevertheless... the room was cleaned!

"It's a shame", she said to herself!

Two days later, the decorators were at work!

"What the hell is going on over there?", Will asked Paul, one morning...

"...The other day, I saw the furniture moved out of that room...", Ludwig added...