Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 01:13:34 -0800
From: Josh Heilig <joshbabe22@hotmail.com>
Subject: What You Won't Do for Love, Chapter Six

What You Won't Do for Love, Chapter 6
By JoshBabe <joshbabe22@hotmail.com>

This work contains depictions of homosexuality. If
that is illegal in your jurisdiction, please, do not
continue reading this.

This work is copyright (c) 2001 by JoshBabe. You may
download and keep an unlimited number of copies for
personal use, but this work may not be used under any
circumstances without the prior consent of the author
with the exception of a personal copy. Aesthetic
changes (font size, font face, whitespace) do not
constitute a change that requires the author's
permission; any non-whitespace changes to the actual
text of the story require prior permission.

BRIEF REMARKS FROM THE AUTHOR

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, American
or not. All of you, be with your family, appreciate
what you've got. Be thankful. That's what the holiday
is all about. Thanksgiving weekend is the one time of
the year when we are all family. Be a good driver,
stand in line politely, do a favor for someone, make a
charitable donation. Be a good person.



WHAT YOU WON'T DO FOR LOVE, CHAPTER SIX

Just as a quick recap, after being brought to the
hospital, Dr. Krishnandruptha diagnosed me as a Type I
diabetic. I, umm, spent a little time getting over
that, although it wasn't such a big deal since I knew
something about diabetes going into the debate. -- One
of my teachers, in elementary school, was a Type II
diabetic, and taught us all about the disease. -- They
didn't let Alex into the room, but Mom didn't come in
either, so it was all O.K.

While they had me go to sleep, after telling Mom what
was going on, I had some pretty freaky dreams and woke
up and had a nice conversation with Nurse Cheryl, one
of the stranger characters around. She was, based on
the way Dr. Krishnandruptha had handled the situation,
totally cool with Alex-and-me (the hyphens are
important), and she said nice things about him, too.
That was novel.

Then, just when I was tiring of Nurse Ramble-a-lot,
Ira showed up to keep me cheered up and all that. It
was great, getting to see him, you know? And he
brought me some entertainment. A Penthouse and an XY.
Now, this is funny in part because XY is about as non-
pornographic as they come, unless you're a Republican.
(Although I will admit, I have always thought that any
publication that carries Ann Coulter should be banned
as pornographic anyhow.) But also, it's great because,
well, I was bored, yes, and I did a lot of sleeping,
but when I wasn't bored XY turned out to be an
interesting read.

In retrospect, I wish Ira had brought me a Playboy --
at least Playboy has good articles, and, you know,
pornos are fun but they run out of good photos after
awhile. And once you've seen 'em, -- well, who wants
to read an old porno?

OK, so now you're up to speed, and I can keep
trickling along with my tale.

I went to sleep after Ira came and visited a little
while, you know, did the usual talk -- it was great
that my friends treated me exactly the same now.
Although, hmm, well, OK, that's not true, Meredith is
much more protective now of my relationship, but
that's more because she never liked Julie than because
she thought I needed the protection.

And speaking of the devil, after I did a little
sleeping, you know, or rather a LOT of sleeping -- I
guess I went to sleep about 3:00 that day and woke up
around 7:00 the next morning -- I heard a little knock
on the door of the room, and Cheryl, who somehow was
on duty AGAIN in here, opened the door and brought in
"a visitor".

I sort of woke up, and rubbed and schluffed my eyes,
and squinted. Cheryl came over and handed me a little
towel to do the rubbing with, and made sure I didn't
peel the IV out of my arm. I smelled the nasty tangy
hospital air -- I HATE that smell -- and got a little
dizzy, since it always does, whenever I first take a
conscious breath of it.

Then I looked back over at the doorway, and there she
was. Julie. Dressed to kill, in a cute tight reddish-
purple skirt that went more or less to just above her
knees and a wide-collared grey shirt (as in, from
shoulder to shoulder) with three-quarters sleeves. She
had a gauzy black sweater over it. She had her hair
long and straight, with a little bit of a twirl at the
very bottom.

I raised a hand, to beckon her over, and in the
meantime called out weakly, "Hi, Julie."

"Josh," she said, and came over and gave me a kiss.
Somehow, I didn't respond very heartily. She frowned a
moment, and then pressed a hand to my chest. "Poor
baby. I shouldn't have woken you up, I'm really sorry,
hon."

I bristled, but didn't let any of it show. Like I
wanted to be with her now? I'd come to the
realization, at some point, that she could be kind of
bitchy, and I'd hung on as much for the fun
socializing that a teen pair can have as for the fact
that she was hot. I mean, Christ, if she could ever
show off that pretty ass, that particular skirt would
do it. If she were to bend down more than 15 or 20
degrees, I'd be able to see all the way up to her
panties. She had me sweating at the thought.

But somehow, it wasn't O.K. anymore. I had Alex, and
I'd actually gotten a chance to feel his body, which
was more than Julie had ever really let me do. Tease.

I wasn't in the mood now, to be false-mothered or to
have her bitch about one thing or another.

"Anyhow," she kept on, "I came to check up on you,
baby. I guess Jessica invited one too many of her
friends, since she told me on the phone yesterday
afternoon that she was really sorry she hadn't invited
me to the party but she simply didn't think of me when
she invited all of her friends. I suppose I shouldn't
hold it against her.

"But no, I brought something for you, anyway. I hope
you had fun at the party," and she put a kiss on my
forehead, "ooh, you feel warm, are you sure it's
diabetes and not the flu? Oh! I have flowers, you
know, get-well ones, to go with the nineteen thousand
other bunches you have here -- oh, is this one from
your grandma? -- and some chocolates, and I smuggled
you in few other things."

I rolled my eyes, and I guess she heard. "Julie, I
can't have chocolates. I'm a diabetic. It means I have
to limit the amount of sugar I have." OK, she was
definitely losing points by the minute here. How
insensitive can you BE? "Anyway, thank you for the
flowers. Did you stop by before going to school?"

"Oh," she tilted her head and smiled at me, and blew a
little cute kiss, and I swear I saw her touch the tip
of her tongue to her lips, which she did deliberately
more or less all the time just to get me turned on,
"I'm actually skipping first period this morning
anyway. Or rather, second period, whatever they're
calling it now. I wanted to come check up on you, and
I mean, I heard about it yesterday but I called your
mom to check and she said that Ira was going to come
by and I didn't really want to take away from his time
with you since I know the two of you are practically
attached at the hip and ankle and, you know, I figured
I'd come. I hope you're not really tired now."

Somehow, a laugh escaped my lips. Oops. Probably not
good... but she wasn't fuming yet. She didn't think I
was mocking her. Or she figured it was this new
sickness or whatever. "I, umm, fell asleep at three
yesterday, which means I slept -- oh, hmm, seventeen
hours. I'm fine."

Now she bristled. "Don't be curt with me. I'm here to
be nice, Josh... this is a favor."

OK, that was something bitchy that I hated. Whenever
she started pretending that I owed her a great deal;
this was not one of those times that she could tell me
that I owed her. You know? It's like, Christ, you ARE
at least in name my girlfriend, bitch, you'd better
come and fucking visit me when I'm in the hospital.

Sorry, I'm cursing heavily again. I'll watch myself.

I went ahead and made my first monumental mistake. I
told her exactly what I was just thinking, more or
less minus the nasty words. "Julie, you know, I don't
think that I owe you anything for coming out here and
visiting me. I'm in the damn hospital, for Christ's
sake, I was just diagnosed as a Type I diabetic, and
you act like you're doing me some kind of favor coming
to say hi. Wanna be my girlfriend? You know what that
means? It means that this is something EXPECTED of
you. Sure, you could have stayed at home.

"All the same, YOU CANNOT PRETEND, FOR ONE FUCKING
INSTANT, that you're doing this as a favor to me. You
are doing this as an OBLIGATION, like ANY form of
friend at all. Don't give me this bullshit about how
this is some kind of god-damned favor. Next time you
pull that out, you might as well try and sell me some
beachfront property in Kansas, while you're at it."

She blinked, I guess, when I finished. She calmly
stood there, and then she picked up her vase of
flowers, off the table, and then set them back down
again. Her eyes could have shot daggers at me, but she
calmed herself, breathed deeply. I was impressed. She
had better self-control than I did; although then
again, I did have an IV in my arm, and that was making
me pretty irritable.

Her voice was calm, calm and cool as Lake Oswego at
three in the morning on a clear night in June. "Josh,
please, don't upset yourself. I didn't mean anything
by it. All the same, I know you're probably not in the
best of moods, it being seven in the morning and you
in the hospital besides... I just don't want you to
upset yourself, is all. You know that. I miss you,
baby!"

That was a lie. She hadn't called me of her own
volition since Tuesday or so of the past week, and had
more or less ignored me at school. I think I pissed
her off on Monday night.

I sighed and shrugged it off.

Then, she really exploded.

"Don't you fucking ignore me! Josh, I am here, and I
am being nice to you, like nobody's business, and yet
it's not good enough. What the hell is the matter?
It's not like they told you, you've got cancer, you're
going to lose your hair, you're going to die in a
month. No. You're going to survive, and damnit, you
have nothing to be so melancholy about. What the hell
is wrong?"

She had a few streaks going down her cheek. Oh,
Christ. I had her crying. Her shoulders shook.

"What's the matter?" she cried out, a little louder.
"What the hell is wrong?"

Then, she collapsed into a puddle on the floor.
"Julie, I would go down there and help you out, you
know, but I can't," I said, with a little bit of pity
in my voice, and then I pushed the buzzer for Cheryl
to come in.

She did, quickly, and helped Julie back on her feet
and into a chair, at least. "I'm sorry," she sniffled
a little.

"I came with something to tell you, and I'm not
looking forward to it," she said, a little lightly, a
little shaky.

Yeah, I thought, and I might as well go first...
hmm...

"Julie," I said, real softly. "I have something I need
to tell you, too."

She nodded. "Go ahead. I don't want to go first."

Cheryl nodded at me, gave me a little salute and
walked out and closed the door, after giving Julie a
small paper cup of water and some Kleenexes.

I shivered a little. "Julie," I said. "I, umm...
umm... I'm bisexual."

It didn't even register. "That's nice, dear. What did
you want to tell me?"

You would have thought I told her, "Wow, it's sunny
outside, you know?" Or, "Did you know that hospital
water tastes funny?" Didn't click. Rolled right off
her, and kept on moving.

"No, I'm serious," I said, persisting. Stupid stupid
stupid, in retrospect. "I mean, I really am, Julie."

She blinked. "Are what, Josh?"

"Bisexual."

I saw her blink again. "What?! You're a queer?"

Oh, dear. One of THESE. "No. I'm bisexual. Or, well,
yes, but not in the sense you mean." Meredith would
have castrated her, or whatever you do to girls, for
saying that, with that tone dripping from her voice. I
mean, ALREADY, she would have done it... swift as a
medieval British headsman, that one.

"Did you think I would be fucking O.K. with that?"

Wow, I was really shocked. I guess it showed. "Of
COURSE I did. I'm the same person I always was. I just
discovered that I have, hmm, another facet to my
personality, one which I was suppressing or something.
I'm not a psychologist, I can't tell you what made me
realize it now."

"And you think I'm going to date a fag?"

OK, now I was pissed. Not just that, shocked too, but
I think more ticked off than anything else. "Don't you
ever call me that, you bitch. You think you're so
cool, such a great person, and then you call your own
goddamn boyfriend 'queer', 'fag', like it was cool?
You want to fucking date me? Get the hell out of this
room, now. I could call Hospital fucking Security on
you."

You remember when I said, I only sanction cursing for
effect and when you're really ticked? Yeah.

"And you think the whole goddamn world doesn't know,
hmm? Faggot. Why the hell did you date me? Why didn't
you go off with some pretty boy, a Thespian," she spat
the word -- why do people associate them with
homosexuality? -- "why did you waste your damn time
with me?"

I just pointed my finger. I guess, by this point, I
sort of got the idea that it was over between us.
"Just get the hell out of here, Julie. Because the
minute Cheryl walks in here, you're in deep--"

And just then, she did. Cheryl walked in, that is. She
just walked over to Julie and put her hands around her
shoulders, to escort her out. I was about to mouth a
thank-you when Julie curled her arm around, shook it
off and slapped Cheryl. Hard.

Just then, Cheryl reached over, and hit the emergency
button on the wall. I guess that's in case there's
something really serious? A couple of people came
running, and she had Julie held tightly, pinned
against the wall. "Get Security up here. We have a
problem... deliberately riled one of my patients, and
then assaulted me," she said, teeth clenched tightly
together. She pointed to her cheek, already reddened,
and one of the other nurses grabbed an ice pack and
held it to Cheryl's cheek.

And that was that. Ten or fifteen minutes later, I
guess, Cheryl came back in and told me that Julie was
gone. But, of course, she was in serious trouble, not
for riling me but for hitting Cheryl. Oops? "Sounds
like you found the rough core at the center of the
cubic zirconium today, Josh," she told me, a little
ruefully, still nursing a sore mark. "I'm sorry it had
to happen this way. That's the hardest. I heard
everything she said, which is why I came in." She came
over to me, and just rubbed my arm.

"I never expected her to take it so hard... I guess
it's ... it's ... oh, fuck," I said, and just broke
down and started crying. She took me and cradled me in
her arms, the kind of mothering I really needed just
then. I was sobbing, hard, almost hysterical, and I
just needed some comforting. What a rough morning.

Cheryl sighed, and kept rocking me back and forth,
careful not to disturb the IV. "I'm so sorry," she
said, crying now herself. "If I had known, I'd have
come in sooner..."

"Don't beat yourself up over it," I said, sniffling.
"It's not your fault. I guess I had this coming to me.
Should never have dated her in the first place."

She sighed, and just ran her fingers through my hair.
Nice woman, Cheryl. I take back everything unpleasant
I ever said about her.

Later that morning, Mom came by. She'd taken the
liberty of sleeping in, since she'd been here more or
less, evidently, all Saturday night, and a goodly
chunk of Sunday morning. It was now Monday morning,
about 9:00 or so, and she looked like she'd been rung
through SOMETHING horrible.

"Hi, sweetie," she said, a Starbucks cup in her hand.
"How are you holding up here? Are they feeding you
properly?" She came over to the bed, and gave me a big
hug, which I REALLY needed by now, still, and a big
kiss. She just stayed there, holding me, comforting me
-- and I guess her, by proxy. "Your dad says he'll be
coming down to visit you sometime this week. I think
it's great. Probably Wednesday, he said. You DO
remember that he was coming down in two weeks anyway,
right? Anyhow, he managed to shift his time off, and
so he's coming down just as soon as he can manage it."

I shifted, uncomfortable in the bed. "That's great," I
managed to sniffle out, and then I started crying
again. Mom seems to bring out the emotions in me.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" she said, with real
concern in her eyes.

"Julie and I had a fight," I somehow choked out. "She
came by, and said hi, and brought me flowers, but then
-- I, umm..."

She sighed, and rolled her eyes a little. "Wait. I can
almost see it coming. You came out to her, and she
didn't take it real well?"

I nodded.

I saw her hand flick out, briefly, and then she
reached down and grabbed my hand. Then, she started
explaining to me, well, I guess something she thought
I ought to know. I'm inclined to agree, anymore.
"Josh, I would be willing to bet she sort of
suspected, and didn't want to admit it to herself.
Then, when you told her that you were bisexual, she
flipped. She's been dating you, she's trusted you,
physically and emotionally; so if she knew, or even
just suspected, she had it buried deep. She had that
snap just coming to her, I promise, Josh. It's not
anything against you."

She reached down on the floor and handed me a package.
Wow, I was really on a roll lately. I opened it up,
eagerly tearing the wrapping, and saw three really
cool things inside it. I guess, to keep me occupied.

One was a brand-new, shiny Handspring Visor Deluxe, in
bright translucent blue. It was really neat. I had to
stop myself from drooling on the box. 16MHz, 8MB, and
TRANSLUCENT BLUE! How cool is that? -- I guess,
looking back, it's not as cool now as it was then; but
hey, it was pretty new then.

The next thing was a GameBoy. Wow, she really went
overboard, this time... oh, wait, that one had a
little card on it 'From Dad, with Love', so she's not
breaking the bank by buying me all of this. That's
really cool, was all I could think.

And, sandwiched between the two boxes, was -- a
PLAYBOY? From MOM?! Oh, my God, I was so mortified, I
could feel my face blushing beet-red. "Ira told me you
already had an XY, and I'm sorry, but I was NOT about
to buy you anything homo-pornographic, they would look
a little oddly at ME buying this. So I picked up
something you could read, too." Oh, wait, and below it
was a Rolling Stone, which was not only fun to read
but interesting, too.

I still can't get over the fact that my MOTHER brought
me a Playboy. Jesus.

Anyway, I just laughed, and she patted me on the arm
and told me she was going to go get a refill on her
coffee, so I just kind of ruminated over Julie.

Who the hell did she think she was, anyway? I thought,
I think I'm probably better off without her, but I
mean, God, that really burns me. And you know what's
worse?

Oh, shit. I bet she's told half the school by now, not
just that we've ... oh, well, I GUESS we've broken up,
although it's not like it was terribly clear before
Security took her away. But I mean, not just that
we've broken up, but that I'm bi. And it's not like
she's going to say that calmly either.

Oh, no. She's going to curse, and spit, and call me a
queer or a fag or some other terrible deprecatory
name, you know, and everyone'll titter a little and
pretend to be totally nonplussed, and curse, even
while they're floored.

Or maybe they aren't. I don't know how obvious I am.
Mom and Meredith had some idea, and Jessica might've.
Alex seemed to hit me. But all of them have fairly
well-honed gaydar. That's not going to be true of, oh,
ninety-five percent of the school body, and the other
five percent is not going to be hostile, most likely.

I sure hope that's the way it ends up panning out, at
any rate. Otherwise, I don't know if I could bear it
all, you know what I mean?

Mom came back, with a mug of coffee in hand, and she
came in, gave me a kiss and a sip of her latte. She
leaned into my ear, and conspiratorially whispered,
"When they take this IV out, and I know they will
today, go check out the barista at the coffee bar in
the cafeteria. What a BABE!"

I just rolled my eyes at her, but I was secretly
amused on the inside. This could be a lot of fun, with
a mother who understood and was supportive. "Yeah, I
bet..."

She laughed, gave me a kiss, and told me with a
twinkle in her eye, "He looks a little like your
boyfriend. Can I call him that, now that you've broken
up with Julie?"

Then, I heard a voice laugh and boom through the
doorway, in an unmistakable voice. "You bet he can!
I'd be personally insulted if he didn't!"

I just sighed, and wanted to melt against that voice,
feel that body against mine. There he was. My gallant
Alex, radiant as ever. His beautiful, golden hair was
rumpled lightly, the result of a first-period math
class, and he was GORGEOUS in a pair of low-slung
cargos and a grey Abercrombie T-shirt that fit nice
and snug across his chest, with a green plaid shirt
tied around the waist. Oh, God.

"I'll just leave you two alone," Mom said, with a
little bit of a laugh, and then she left, and shut the
door behind her.

Alex came over, a little look of pity in his eyes, but
it melted in an instant when he saw me looking up,
with what I can only suppose was probably adoration.
"God, you look gorgeous," I whispered.

"I would say the same, but you look pretty much like
any hospital patient who's more or less healthy, just
in need of some recovery and recuperation," he said
with a laugh. "Shit. I'm not supposed to say stuff
like that, babe, in a hospital... I know..."

I just wrapped my hands around the back of his neck
and drew him in for a good, long kiss. Time slowed,
the clock stopped ticking, my heart slowed its very
beating somehow, and I think at some point ten or
fifteen minutes later, I regained some form of
consciousness. We weren't kissing any more, just
staring lovingly at each other; or maybe we weren't
kissing. I just wasn't clear.

"I love you," he finally told me, breaking the
silence. "More than ever, baby."

I extended a hand and rubbed his chest lightly with my
palm. He took my other hand in his, and squeezed it,
laced his fingers through mine and sat down on the
bed. I guess he decided I didn't need any more
flowers; evidently, the past twenty-five visitors, all
of whom had come while I was asleep, had left flowers,
and so they were sort of haphazardly laid around the
room. It had a cheerful feel, all blues and oranges
and reds and purples, and it smelled a lot better by
now, but it was still a hospital room, and I couldn't
wait to get out.

Alex breathed softly in my ear, "I have a special
present for you, baby. Wanna know what it is?" He
flicked his tongue real lightly at the tip of my ear.

I laughed, and then sighed, really melodramatically.
"Don't turn me on, baby, I'm in a hospital bed with an
IV in my arm. You don't want me hurting myself, do
you? Besides, what would Cheryl say if she came in and
saw us in some degree of intimacy?"

He just shrugged, and I could tell he was fighting
back a laugh or fourteen himself. "Well, she'd
probably give you a big thumbs-up, and then go back
outside the room. She's a good person, and she's very,
very impressed with you, Josh."

I smiled and touched a finger to his lips. "Pretty
words for a pretty boy. Not very common; I expected
some dumb jock with a beautiful face and vapid eyes.
And, of course, I was hoping, a very well-endowed
body."

"Well, you got a pretty bright jock, but I guess the
rest..." He nudged me in the side. "That, you'll have
to attest to yourself."

I blushed furiously. So, to cover up, I pulled him in
for another kiss. Mmmmn. He smelled so GOOD. When we
finally broke that one off, he grinned at me and
glanced down, and laughed. "Christ. You're GOOD. Do
you know, you're one of the few people who can do this
to me?"

"Yeah, of course, babe. Only 5% of the world's
population will ever get that chance, anyway."

He chuckled. "I don't even need that many... 1.6x10^-
10 is good enough for me."

I did some quick mental math. "That would be ... one
person. Awww," I cooed, "how sweet, he even did some
cute numerical manipulations for me. How long did you
have to try to get it right on your calculator?"

He punched me in the arm -- carefully, I noticed, and
in the arm without the IV. "Bitch."

"Oh? At least I'm not a slut, sleeping around with
whatever cute little thing happens to roll himself
into his sleeping bag," I said, laughing at him.

I saw that beautiful grin flash back at me. "Hey,
you're the little strumpet who rolled into my sleeping
bag with me."

"Correction: I think that was MY sleeping bag."

Another new voice. The door must have opened, without
my noticing. "You all didn't HAVE a sleeping bag,
dears," Meredith said lazily. "Or, more properly, you
tried to zip two together, to make more room, and you
were rather unsuccessful, I gather. As a matter of
fact, Jessica rather embarrassedly informed me this
morning, during first period -- err, second period --
that she had the security people destroy the tapes
from that night, with strict orders NOT to watch them
first. Evidently, she discovered that you all didn't
zip your bag all the way up."

Alex sighed. "Shame she destroyed them. I would have
paid good money to have copies of them."

Meredith smirked, and then came over, gave me a kiss
on the cheek and a big hug, and kept on, "I bet
Jessica has them in store for you, babe." This was
directed at Alex, since I was already blushing beyond
belief.

"ANYWAY," I interjected, "I want to see what your
special present is, baby."

I saw him blush. I shouldn't have done that to him,
with Meredith around, but I couldn't resist. He
reached down into his backpack, and pulled out a
little jewelry box.

My heart beat faster, and I tried not to die of
anticipation. And trepidations. Please, don't let it
be a ring... don't let it be a ring... I'm not ready
for this... please don't let it be a ring...

I opened the box. It was an anklet. A hemp one, light
brown, with cute little blue round beads in it. Oh,
wow. And I LOVE boys with anklets on... maybe Alex
does too, and that's why he wants me to wear one.

I wrapped my arm around his neck, and pulled him in
and gave him another kiss. This one was relatively
quick, since Meredith was around; she WAS kind of a
turn-off, you know? A good firecracker-douser, that
one. "Mmmn," I whispered at Alex. "Damn, you're a good
kisser, and I love the anklet. I'll wear it every day,
and think of you every time I do."

Alex leaned down and took the anklet and put it on my
ankle. "Oh, man, you look hotter than ever, babe," he
said with a grin and a look that made me want to, umm,
OK, I won't say that word in that context here; I
wanted to be with him, to know him (in the Biblical
sense), in this hospital bed. Damn it! Meredith is
going to notice! Think gross, nasty old women topless
on a beach in France!

Oh, wow. Fat old unshaven French women will do the
trick, in a pinch, anytime. Although now, I think I
needed a glass of water.

I smiled softly, after that quick heartbeat-racer, and
laced my fingers through his again. "Thanks, babe," I
said. "I really appreciate it."

Meredith came over, patted my hand, and told me she'd
come back in a few minutes. I guess I needed it. My
heart was about to burst with love for this boy, and,
shoot, I guess my heart wasn't the only thing: My
zipper was about to burst too, if I wasn't careful.

OK, THAT was probably more than you wanted to know.

He leaned in and kissed me again, and I swear, I could
almost taste the Altoids he always had with him. He
had the smell of cologne, I have no idea what kind,
just augmenting his delicious natural smell. His hair
had the most amazingly perfect texture, as always, and
I found myself running my fingers through it. Blonde
hair like that always fascinated me.

He leaned in and planted a kiss on the tip of my nose.
"I wish we had more time to be alone, babe," he said,
with a sigh, "but I probably ought to get back to
school. As it is, I've already missed second and
third, and I should get back before fourth or
Slaniczew is going to be pissed at me. I'll seeya
later, babe."

I giggled and rubbed his hand. "Love you, baby."

My beautiful Alex looked down at me and responded,
lightly, with only a little twinkle in his eye: "Love
you, Josh."

My heart just about burst. Damn, I love that boy.



COMMENTS FROM THE AUTHOR

That was fun. I seldom get to write a chapter that has
all the elements of the back cover on a supermarket
romance novel: romance, passion, love, anger, hatred.
Plus a smattering of liberal buzzwords: bigotry,
conservative, fundamentalist.

I hope you enjoyed that one as much as I did. I sort
of sat down and started writing it at 10:00, and
finished it around 1:00 AM. So it's not ACTUALLY
Thanksgiving anymore, although it will be for
another... hour in Hawaii. (Oh, well, and seven
minutes, in Alaska.)

Keep writing, guys! I love hearing from you all! Let
me know if you like the episodic format better than
the real-time-coverage format that I was using in
Chapters One through Four.

Just remember: http://www.vspin.com/butterfly, for the
latest updates; and joshbabe22@hotmail.com, in case
you want to email me. Flames go to /dev/null.