Love Means No Boundaries - Andrew Grey

met him.” Lane propped himself up on his elbows, soaking up the shade. Joey laughed as his friend—in Lane’s words—shadebathed. He was so fair that any more than twenty minutes in the sun, and he’d be lobster red, so he pretended.
     
“I do, too, but if you remember, you were finishing your seminar in….” Joey crinkled his face. “What in hell was it, anyway?” Joey knew perfectly well what it was, but he got few opportunities to pick on Lane and this was definitely one of them.
    “It was a literature class.” Lane said indignantly and scowled.
“Come on, it was a naughty literature class.” Joey covered his mouth with his hand, and he snickered into it.
    “It was a great class that explored the history of erotic writing throughout various cultures.” Joey saw Lane’s eyes begin to light with mischief. “It was pretty fun and some of it was pretty hot.” Lane smacked Joey on the shoulder. “So is he coming back?” Joey shrugged, “I don’t know; I sure hope so. I really miss him.”
    “You fell in love with him.” Lane’s statement would broach no argument. “Of course you miss him, but you need to move on with life. You’ve been holed up on the farm, working all the time, trying to avoid dealing with what you’re feeling, and it isn’t healthy.” Joey rolled his eyes. “Thank you, Lane Freud.”
    “I’m serious. You need to move on. How often do you call him?”
“Only once a week.” Joey reclined on his towel, hoping Lane would get the hint and stop. He didn’t.
“How often are you e-mailing him?”
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Joey pretended he hadn’t heard, but Lane wasn’t about to give up, and Joey knew it. “A few times”—he peeked at Lane’s face and saw his eyes drilling into him, waiting. Joey exhaled dramatically—
     
“… a day.”
    “So you’ve been talking to him and calling him with no hope of seeing him. How do you expect to move on?” Joey knew Lane’s reaction was out of concern, but it didn’t make it any easier for him to take. “Joey, you know I love you, so I’m telling you this for your own good. You need to break off contact, at least for a while, and do your best to move on. You’re only prolonging the pain.” Joey didn’t know how to react. The last thing he wanted to do was give up. “I just don’t know how I can.” He rolled onto his side, looking at Lane. “How would you feel if someone you cared about just cut you off like that?” Joey knew he just couldn’t do that.
    “Well, you have to do something, because you can’t mope around like you have been for the rest of your life.” The sun was getting really strong, and the shade that they’d been enjoying was quickly disappearing. Lane got to his feet and began gathering up his towel. “We should get back before I get burned, and aren’t you helping Eli with one of his lessons?” Joey reached for the shoe where he’d stashed his watch.
“Damn, we’d better get moving. The class starts in an hour.” Joey gathered up his towel and pulled on a pair of shorts before following Lane toward the parking lot.
    The ride back to the farm was fun. They rolled down all the windows, cranked up the radio, and sang along, badly, with whatever happened to be playing. Lane was good for Joey. His optimistic attitude was catching, and for the first time in a while he felt almost normal by the time they pulled up beside the house. Joey climbed out and retrieved his things from the back seat. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and we can go for a ride.”
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    Lane waved as he pulled away, and Joey went inside and changed his clothes, meeting Eli near the riding ring a few minutes before the start of his beginner’s riding class. The ring behind the barn rang with the excited voices of Eli’s students. Most of them were younger children, and Eli needed help getting them ready and just making sure they were okay through the class. This was also one of Joey’s favorite classes because all the students were always so excited.
This group of students had just started a few weeks earlier, and when Eli had asked Robbie to help him, he’d been reluctant at first. A few of the kids had asked him what happened to his face, and he’d told them he’d been in an accident. Most of the kids, having their answer, went back to what they were doing, to Joey’s relief.
    However, Kerry, a small girl who had to be about five, had tugged on his pants leg, “Mr. Joey?” Her big eyes