“What’s your fuck’n problem, prick!” shouted Trent, startled.
“You’re fucking huge!” said Josh, unable to look away.
“Got $50? I’ll let ya play with it for $50,” said Trent with a sneer.
The lewd suggestion snapped Josh out of his amazement and back to reality. Crossing his arms he frowned at Trent. “I don’t pay for sex, especially with boney ass city boys. I’m in a relationship, thank you.”
“Yeah, and I bet twinky boy is oh so goodie two-shoes too. All vanilla sex. And what you want is a wild fuck thrown into you.” Trent started gyrating his hips, spinning his cock in front of him.
Josh spun and left the house. Embarrassed at the display, but more disturbed by the fact that it was turning him on. When Josh burst back into the ranch house, Mitch looked up from his work.
“Did you tell Trent the caseworker was coming?”
Josh paused, “No, I forgot.” And then rushed into his room.
Jeez, thought Mitch. He needed to get Trent a damn phone so he could just call him. Mitch also wondered what was wrong between the two of them that would have Josh upset again.
>
Zach was walking behind Josh, trying to hold down his gag reflex as they walked through Josh’s goats. Josh had to agree, the males still smelled pretty ripe, but it was part of having goats. Zach would disagree. In his world, things that were this unpleasant didn’t last long. Zach finally decided that conversation would help him think about something other than the strong smell.
“So how are you and the guy that the sheriff dropped off getting along?” asked Zach.
“Fine,” said Josh, his thought’s drifting to what he had seen the week before and somehow could never get out of his head.
“Really? I’d think having a hooker living in your house would be awkward. I bet you can’t wait until he leaves,” said Zach.
“It’s not like he’s still hooking, he was doing it to survive,” said Josh quietly.
“Yeah, but you know something has to be wrong with him. He must have really screwed up to get thrown out by his parents like that,” said Zach with finality.
“You think?” asked Josh with one eyebrow cocked.
“Oh yeah. Definitely. He must have really screwed up. Parents just don’t do that to their own kids. And he probably kept doing it in the foster homes you said he was in. Just a big mess-up with no redeeming qualities,” said Zach.
“You know, Zach. I don’t think it was Trent’s fault. I think he was abused,” said Josh, his face reddening with anger.
“Not like that. You know. Some people are just bad and can’t be helped,” said Zach nonchalantly.
Josh was trying to keep his frustration under control. Zach didn’t seem to remember how Josh ended up on the ranch. The more Zach talked, the more Josh came to realize that only chance and luck separated him from ending up in the same situation as Trent had found himself. He wasn’t sure how he would have handled it either. With a sigh, he decided it wasn’t worth the effort to try and educate Zach.
The pair continued through the herd as Josh checked them for problems. As they moved silently away from the barn, a slight rustle came from inside. Trent had walked up on the conversation, and stayed to hear what was said. He was shocked that Josh had defended him.
Trent moved away from the pair so they would not know he was there. He was carefully thinking through what he had just witnessed, trying to reconcile his previous experience with the way things seemed to be on this ranch.
>
Darrin and Mitch walked into the living room to find Josh sitting and staring at a sheet of paper in front of him. When he didn’t make eye contact with either of the two men, they knew something was wrong.
“What’s up, Josh?” said Darrin.
Without a word he spun the paper so they could see that it was his semester grades. Mitch and Darrin glanced down at them. They were relieved to see that he hadn’t failed anything, but some of the grades were just enough to pass. Looking back at Josh they waited for him to speak.
“I don’t really like ag classes . . .” said Josh looking dejected.
Mitch chuckled, “We never said you had to have the same major as we did.” Darrin nodded in agreement. “What do you think you want to major in?”
Josh quietly ran his finger down the page, stopping at his lone A. Darrin and Mitch paused to absorb the information. Following the line back they were both shocked to see it was a drawing class.
“Art? You want to major in Art?” asked Mitch, trying to keep his dismay under control. “What would you do with that? And I thought you liked the ranch.” Darrin put his hand on Mitch’s shoulder to prevent him from going any further. Mitch caught himself and stopped, realizing he was about to go off and he needed to listen.
“Graphic arts, like designing posters and books and stuff. They can actually find jobs. But I’ll have to take regular art classes too,” explained Josh. “And I do love it here, and I always want to be involved in the ranch, but I can do the graphics from here and not depend on the ranch to make a living.”
Darrin squeezed Mitch shoulder gently, trying to get him to realize that not everyone’s dream job was running a cattle ranch. Josh had shown interest in the ranch so they’d assumed he wanted to do it. But that didn’t mean that he did. Darrin was relieved when Mitch reached up and patted his hand.
“Then you should try it, Josh. You might love it. You might hate it. But years later you don’t want to be wondering,” said Mitch.
Josh nodded, a nervous tremor in his cheek settling down as he realized Darrin and Mitch were still going to support him. He suddenly jumped to his feet and grabbed them both in a huge hug.