Hi all!

I'm pleased to announce the release of:

Reflections Over Coffee Part II: Prologue

AND

Chapter 1: Something to do on a Quiet Saturday

Please let me know what you think!



Special thanks to Sharon for editing, Tim for Beta Reading, and all the readers for being so patient in between serials.

A special thanks also to rbq4u if you happen to be reading for making my day by leaving me all those reviews in eFiction and of course to all my other excellent commenters and who make the story so much fun to write and discuss!


Take care and have a great day all

-Kevin

On the basis of having read the prologue, I am prepared to make one firm conclusion. This story is not going to suffer from drama deficiency

Well I'm gonna start off by saying, WOOHOO! I'm glad to see "Worth A Shot" starting to get posted. I was wondering how long of a hiatus you were gonna subject us to before an update.

Okay, so my first feedback is on the "Reflections over Coffee Part II" and, sorry, but I have to say that I can't help but wish Aaron would give up coffee altogether. I simply don't like this much better than Part I, and my reasons are the same. Telling rather than showing. Little action. Telling things that could be surmised or found out through action in other chapters. I guess I'm just not a fan of your interludes, Kevin. Sorry.

But Chapter 1 makes up for it. Hot, and very Aaron. He's obviously "in lust", as I'd mentioned before. He's a total goner. I can't wait to see how things shake out when Aaron decides to stop thinking with his dick... but I give it at least 3-4 more chapters before that happens.

I'd have to disagree with Cynical Romantic on this one. While the first Reflection over Coffee seemed a bit redundant, this one gives you a brief overview of what's happened since the conclusion of BMAD. Plus, it introduces Aaron's current dillemma(s) that have either changed or progressed since BMAD. I think it works well as a prologue.

I do agree about Chapter 1. Hot and certainly very Aaron

Great job, Kevin!

-Steve

Well I'm going to have to agree with all three of you!


LOL, there will definitely be a sufficient quota of drama in the story


Thanks CR

Well, it's over now, lol! And I'd better get cracking if I'm going to keep up with the posting schedule!


Great observation! Aaron being 'in lust' was definitely what I was trying to show with this chapter.




Thanks Steve! That was what I had in mind for the prologue. I briefly wanted to sum up what happened in BMAD so that if anyone didn't read it they wouldn't be lost, while also letting people know what Aaron's current situation is and what's been going on since we left him in chapter 10 of BMAD.

In this case I guess the bare essentials can be boiled down to:
-Aaron moved in with Ben whom he's still very enamored - and indeed in lust - with
-His friendship with Ronnie has grown closer
-Mick's been great and understanding but Aaron misses him.

Apart from that I guess everything else could be readily deduced, which is essentially that:
-nothing much has changed with Jake
-Cosmo has continued to be supportive
-Daisy and Giorgio have been pains in the butt
-Nothing's changed with Amanda but Aaron wants to get to know her better





Anyway, I'm glad you guys enjoyed chapter 1. I was a bit nervous that the story would get off to a slow start since, IMO, the action picks up a lot more in chapters 2 and 4. Indeed, I can't wait for you guys to read chapter 2!

So a couple questions if ya'll don't mind.

How did the scene with Ronnie work? When I was writing the chapter I briefly thought 'well, does Aaron seem too experienced and too comfortable?', so I decided to inject that scene with Ronnie which turned out to be a lot of fun for me to write and which I think really helped hammer down their dynamic even more. So how did that come across to you guys?

I worked hard to keep both Ben and Aaron in character during the sex scene. I'm really relieved that so far people have indicated that Aaron behaved as they would have expected. So just out of curiosity did Ben? Or is everyone still more or less waiting and reserving judgment on Ben?

Anyway thanks for the comments and feedback!

I really appreciate it

Take care and have an awesome day all!
Kevin

Kevin,

I think one sentence in the both the prologue and Chapter one has me giggling like a school girl. I can barely type thinking about it.



That line has me in stitches. It is so......so......Kevin .

Hopefully that answers your question about the Ronnie scene.

I loved it.

I need more.

Thanks for sharing

Steve

Woo Hoo! Thanks Steve!

I'm really happy you said that about that line! I had actually considered deleting it. It was one of my favourites (so I left it), but I wasn't sure if it might not have been a bit too much. I also experimented with how Aaron delivered it. In any case I'm so glad that you liked it and your comment alone definitely made it worth hanging on to as is!

As I alluded to in my thread about my ghost anthology, lines like that, straight out of Aaron's head, kept cropping up and I had to keep cutting them out because it really isn't that kind of story.

With WAS though I've definitely been enjoying letting Aaron's quips and sarcasm have free reign.

Thanks!
Kevin

I loved the shocker you pulled when Aaron was going down on Ben and thought of...Ronnie! Good one, good one, my friend. You know how to make your audience laugh. That's one thing I can count on for this story.

As for the Coffee Reflection thingie, I admit that at some points, my eyes glazed over. It wasn't boring at all, but there was little action and I have a short attention span. However, it was very informative, and it did help me understand what had happened and let me know Aaron's feelings. But honestly, I just skimmed through it, reading certain paragraphs carefully.

Chapter 1, well, had it's humorous elements, but it makes me feel as if Aaron is setting himself up. Moving in so fast with Ben? It's definitely lust right now and he's confusing it with being IN love. However, most relationships are in the honeymoon period in the beginning, where things are hot, intense, and passionate. So it's realistic in that sense. I just wonder what will happen in the future? Will he and Ben last? (I'm still rooting for Mick! I hope Mick realizes his feelings and comes out, freaking hell!!!!) After all, Aaron and Ben don't talk too much do they? And they're not compatible in terms of friends, although that shouldnt make or break a relationship, however, it often does. Plus, Aaron is too much in awe of Ben or Ben is too out of Aaron's league. I think Aaron chose Ben because he was so thrilled to be "chosen" by a guy like him. After all, the way he was staring at Ben doing crunches? At least with Mick, they had good conversations. Either way, the sex scene was hot.

Can't wait for more..........

Indeed it was funny. I am still wondering if those lessons worked at all. Hopefully Ben will be... okay, I should stop now before people start to think I'm a perv.

I loved the Ronnie scene, and thought you made the transition in and out of it very well. Most times flashbacks can be awkward, but you managed to capitalize on that awkwardness in a way that I didn't mind being interrupted.


Ben is still an enigma... maybe because we don't get the benefit of his thoughts and everything is clouded by Aaron's insecurities. Aaron sees Ben as a Brian from QAF, but I don't think he really is. Otherwise, what's he doing with Aaron? Will we ever get to hear some deep thoughts from Ben? Well, deep thoughts that Aaron actually understands (I'm still as confused as Aaron about that coffee house scene).

Woohoo! It's started again! (okay, so I'm little late)

I loved the first chapter! But I have to say, as much as I liked the first Coffee, this one did seem a little stale.



I thought the scene with Ronnie worked into the chapter smoothly. Aaron's freak out and eventual resignation over "learning" was completely in character. I've missed the quirkiness in between stories; I've missed Aaron!



I still haven't heard enough from Ben to judge yet, so I guess I'm in the 'reserving judgement' group. Like Steph said, the little we've heard about Ben has come from Aaron's insecure perspective. It's hard to at this point to weed out those insecurities and see who Ben is.

While I'm still hoping Mick gets his act together, I would like to learn more about Ben and how he feels about Aaron.

Can't wait for Chapter 2!

Thanks, Tim! Glad you got a kick out of it







Thanks very much ya'll! I really was worried that it might have interrupted the flow of the chapter, so I'm relieved that it didn't





I confess that up until now I have kept Ben fairly enigmatic. I hope I've offered some hints about him though. I will say that it's my hope and intention that by the end of the story Ben will be quite well-developed, but still have some mystery to him.


Thanks!



I remember watching an interview of the creators of Friends and one of them said something to the effect of:

"When you're young and in the city your friends are your family."

OK, maybe Houston isn't "The City" but it's a large city and I think Aaron and Ben both fall into that 'young' and 'friends as family' category pretty well. This is of course further demonstrated in shows like QAF, and it's almost a cliche' now that for many gay people their friends do become their 'extended family.' Indeed the whole 'family' euphemism emphasizes this point.

As for my personal experiences I'll definitely say that my friends matter to me more than the people I've dated up until now. This largely seems to be the case for most of my friends too. Our boyfriends have come and gone but we've pretty much stuck together. Even when we've been angry with each other and had a lot of conflict and drama, we've still somehow remained in each others' lives and more or less found a way to re-work things or start over. As I've said many times, "Boyfriends come and go, but friends are forever." Of course this is indicative of where I am in my life right now. I'm open to settling down if the 'right guy' comes along, but I'm not dying to by any means. I'm enjoying the single life and casual dating and light relationships quite a bit. Yes, I'm fine with it turning it to more if it feels right, but it's not my priority.

Anyway, with all that said it's probably quite apparent that, yes, in this story Aaron's friends and Ben's friends will definitely play a major role in all of this. In fact the next chapter touches on this to some extent. I also think now is a good time to release the next chapter name. Right now I'm halfway through writing chapter 5, and I'll say that this coming chapter if probably my favourite of the five chapters (and Coffee) so far. It's called:

A Cosmo Mixer


Anyone care to speculate as to what it's about?

Cosmo has a party!

It sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it. Oh, I've read it by the way. It's good.

At the risk of sounding simple -

I only just realised the "worth a shot" thing kinda goes with the "by me a drink"
either I was simple to not see this at first OR more worryingly... I drank waaay to many sambucca shots at pride

LOL! Good guess!


Thanks very much Tim!

I've been waiting to hear people's reactions to this chapter for quite awhile now!


LOL!

Well don't worry, I never said it explicitly and it's easy to miss. Naming the chapters and stories is usually one of my favourite parts of the whole writing process and I usually at least try to sneak in a couple of extra layers of meaning.

Anyway, I think you're embodying the whole spirit of the title with your pride shots



The next chapter should be soon (anywhere from between the next couple of hours till possibly tomorrow night)

I hope you folks enjoy it!

-Kevin

I vote for the next couple hours!

Well since the voting is unanimous ( ) it'll be up in a few minutes!