Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 14:52:56 EDT
From: That's The Way I Like It <bsb_stories@hotmail.com>
Subject: gay/celebrity/boy-bands/by-my-side  By My Side Chapters 9-10

It's baaack.  ;-)  Enjoy!  As always, please don't read if you
have some kind of problem with gay sex, and remember that -
alas - this is just fiction and isn't documented on videotape
anywhere.

This will be the end of this story for now, although I might
decide to pick it up again in the future.  Let me know if
there is interest in doing that, and a special thanks to
everybody who wrote to me about this story to tell me you
were having fun reading it.


CHAPTER NINE

"Run, J!  Run!"  D yelled at me over his shoulder as he took
off.  I was laughing so much, it wasn't easy to run, but I
scrambled my skinny ass right out of there, and as soon as I
made it out of the building, D put two fingers in his mouth
and whistled real loud like the Mexican kids at my middle
school used to do.  "I'm coming, yo!" I said, and I ran across
the street in the rain, slipping a little in my funky new
shoes and smacking my hand down on the hood of a car stopped
in front of me.  "Sorry dude."  I kind of signalled the driver
like to say thanks for not killing me but he yelled something
at me in French and drove away.  So I stood there with my arms
out.  "You want a piece of this?  Bite me, Monsieur!"  "Come
on, J," D said, laughing so much he was shaking.  "Let's go."

My ass was freezing in Montreal.  D and I decided to make a
break for it after rehearsal and go get in trouble somewhere.
We were supposed to do an outdoor gig tonight - I don't know
what crackhead thought that was gonna fly - but now we have
play time.  Of course, Uncle Steve tried to keep us in the
hotel saying maybe we could rent a movie.  I don't think so,
dude.  I felt a little bad about ditching Kaos, but if you
had to spend more than five minutes with Uncle Steve, you'd
be running out that door with me too.  Even Train thinks the
guy is a twat.  "This place looks good and sleazy," D said,
but he looked nervous.  He always tries to act down, but he
is a geek at heart.  I understand; I'm a geek too.  Besides,
some big Frenchie guy could probably beat the crap out of
both of us with one hand scratching his ass.

"It's even sleazy enough for B-Rok," I said when I saw Bri
sneaking down a back hallway.  "Oh, he's here?" D tried to
sound casual, but whenever he gets excited about anything
he starts squeaking when he talks.  "I just saw him, Minnie
Mouse," I said.  "Go get us some beers, dude."  I went and
sat at a little table in the back on a high chair, trying
to look casual.  I lit up a cig and checked out the pool
tables.  All taken and probably for the night.  Bastards.
I took a long drag off my ciggie and made eye contact with a
couple chicks at the table next to ours.  They looked amused.
Women are like fucking aliens to me.  I wasn't up to dealing
with their shit.  Ya know, it's just easier with guys.

D came back with the beers.  "So you really saw the Rokster,
he he.  Do you think he was going to take a piss, or was he
with somebody?"  "I dunno," I shrugged, gulping my drink.
"Well, this should be interesting," D gasped.  I had a
strange thought cross my mind and I kind of shot D a look.
"Yo Howie."  "Sup."  "You and Rok... you guys never messed
around at all, huh."  "What?"  D looked around us.  He
doesn't like random people knowing he fucks guys.  "No, no.
Jeez, watch your mouth."  I smirked and slid my empty glass
over to him.  "Go get me another beer, bro.  Maybe you'll be
at the bar when Rok gets out of the john."

***

"Okay Nicky," Uncle Steve said.  "I'm going to turn out the
lights.  Now remember, I'm just next door if you need anything."
"Uh huh," I said, cuddling the blankets around me.  "Remember,
the bathroom is right there," Steve said.  "I put a glass of
water on the nightstand.  It won't be that cold, though.   And
there's some aspirin-"  "I knoooow," I said.  "Night night,
Nicky."  "Nahnah," I kind of mumbled.  When he closed the door,
I threw the blankets off and slammed my hands down.  I'm so
mad!  I'm so SICK of my Uncle Steve and I'm so bored and I'm
so lonely.  Everybody sucks!  Fuck them all.  They all run off
and leave me 'cos I'm too young.  I lied.  I'm not sick at all,
just mad and ... Ugh!  I kicked my legs.  Uncle Steve knocked
on the door real quiet and I hauled the blankies back up.
"I thought I'd bring you a cold wash cloth for your forehead,"
he said.  "Please, just let me sleep," I said.  "Okay?  Please?"
"Okee dokee," he said.  "Night night."

I was lying there in the dark and I was kind of starting to
fall asleep, even though it was still early, and I thought I
heard Boo's voice, singing something, quiet, kind of far away.
I went into the bathroom and I could hear him louder through
the wall.  I sang a little back to him and he stopped.  Then I
went to the window of the bathroom and opened it.  It was
raining really hard outside but he did the same thing.  We just
looked at each other for a sec.  I felt so warm inside when I
saw his beautiful green eyes.  They're as deep and sparkly as
two oceans.  "I miss you, Boo," I said.  Tears were running
down my face mixed in with rain.  "Bunny," he said soft, "I
miss you so bad."  "Come be with me," I said.  "I told my
uncle I'm sick."  "Um," Boo said, looking down at the ground.
We were like on the seventh floor.  "I don't know how I can
get in there, but I can try."  "Maybe I should try," I said.
"Since I'm littler."  "No way," Boo said real quick.  "I'll do
it."  He slid most of himself out the window and then he
grabbed the sill of mine with one hand.  "Here goes nothing,"
Boo said, and he swung all the way out so he was holding himself
up with one hand on his window sill and one hand on mine.  He
was getting really wet!  "Here, let me help," I said, "take my
hand."  I was in the bathtub and I was already holding his one
arm.  Boo let go real fast and tried to grab at my windowsill
with the other hand, he almost fell, but I was helping and he
grabbed it the next time.  He was breathing hard and he looked
kind of scared.  "Should I pull you in?" I asked.  "No," he
said, "get out of the tub so I can get in."  "But what if you
fall?" I said kind of loud.  Boo hissed at me to be quieter.
Oops.  He pushed real hard against the windowsill and his
face was red, and he sort of did a push-up against it, then
fell over forward so his whole upper part of his body was
inside!  Then I helped him slide the rest of the way in.
"Damn," Boo said.  He cut himself a little on the window and
he was all scraped and totally wet.  I started crying.  "You're
here," I said, "I can't believe you're here!"  "Shh, please,"
Boo said, "if Steve hears us, I'm gonna be really mad I did
this for nothing."  He took off his clothes and hung them up
on the shower curtain, and then he started to dry off with a
towel.  I was staring at his beautiful body when Boo smiled
at me and my heart melted.  "You know how much I love you,
baby?" he said.  "You could have died," I said.  "You're the
most amazing man in the world."  "Yeah," Boo laughed, "I'm
Superman."  He tried to act like it was no big thing.  "You
are, to me," I said, and we started kissing so passionate
and hard I almost passed out from not breathing...

***

A word to the wise.  Try to check out the potties before you
get funky.  Our door would not lock right and there wasn't a
lid for the john, so there were gonna be four legs in the
stall no matter what.  I straddled the toilet and hoped that
the guy wouldn't let the door swing open too wide.  His
lips were wrapped around my cock, sucking it real good, when
I heard other people come in the men's room.  I bit my lip
and closed my eyes, wanting to concentrate on cumming fast,
and believe it or not, it was kind of turning me on that
other guys would know we were messing around.  Maybe they
were getting hard thinking about what we were doing...  Yeah,
they would love to be in this dude's place, sucking my pretty
young dick, getting a mouthful of my sweet cum...  The guy
who was blowing me took me to town with his mouth, I could
feel the head of my dick in his throat, almost bending from
the pressure and the suction... I moaned a little when I shot
my load, pumping my hips up and into his face and grabbing
his hair with one hand, the other hand up on the wall to
balance myself.  Then I zipped up my jeans real quick and
stepped over the dude to go wash my hands.

It's not like I have to get boned by J. Crew models, but
these dudes in the john were FUGLY.  So I washed up real
quick and casual and hurried my ass out of there.  They were
all mumbling and grumbling in French and one of them
followed me out to the main room.  Just before I got out of
the hallway, he grabbed my arm.  "Mumble mumble mumble," he
said.  (I don't speak French)  "Whatever, dude," I said.  "Je
ne parle pas."  "You are Eeenglish?" he asked.  "American,"
I frowned.  Do I look like a fucking Brit twit?  "You are
prostitute?" he asked.  I choked.  "Shit, no!  Now if you'll
excuse moi!"  I yanked my arm out of his grasp and walked
into the main room of the bar.  He was pissed and he shoved
me from behind so I smacked right into this little barrier.
I wasn't real comforted when the couple who was sitting
right there got up and cleared out of the way.  Frenchie was
mad and he was all in my face.  "Sorry man," I said, "you're
confused or something."  "You fucking prostitute, fuck you
so much!" he yelled.  Whoah!  He punched me right in the
stomach and I literally got the wind knocked out of me, I
couldn't breathe and I felt like there would be a big ol'
indentation in my body where his fist went in.

All of a sudden Bone and D were there, and they were
actually standing in front of me to protect me, trying to
talk to the guy.  "Look, he's with us, okay?" D was saying,
talking so fast the guy probably couldn't understand him.
"Dude, let us buy you a beer," Bone was saying.  Even in the
extreme pain I was in, I almost laughed, since of course
Bone ain't old enough to buy anybody beer and he never has
any money.  He meant, let D buy you a beer.  "It ain't
worth it," Bone said.  I gotta give these two props.  They
looked like they were pissing in their pants, but they were
stickin up for me.  The guy backed off with some more
French mumbling and I limped over to sit down in a booth
nearby.  "That'll teach ya," D said, still very freaked out
looking.  "Shut up, okay," I said.  I almost felt like I had
to puke.  "Let's go chill somewhere more PG-13," Bone said.
"Okay you guys?"  "Yeah," I nodded.  When we were on our
way out, I kind of mumbled, thanks.  They both nodded and
just patted me on the back.

***

We couldn't wait to make love to each other, but it was pretty
cold on the bathroom floor, and after we brought each other to
orgasms with our mouths, Nicky led me by the hand into his bed.
We sat together, just holding each other close and kissing.  I
had to stop for a second because I started crying.  "You are so
precious to me," I whispered in his ear.  Ever since I realised
that getting older didn't mean that I loved older guys, I dreamt
of finding the perfect moment in time, the perfect body and face,
the perfect soul.  That's Nicky.  He's partly a child and partly
not a child.  He's more beautiful than any woman but he's one
hundred percent boy.  He has the sweetest and most innocent
presence of any creature on this earth.  Making love to him is
a gift from God.  One tiny part of me is afraid that a love
this perfect can't last.  Nicky can't stay like this forever.
Can't he?  It's my blessing and my curse to love and lust for
somebody like him.

We stretched out our naked bodies side by side and Nicky lay
one long leg over mine, sliding up close to me and running his
soft, full lips over my neck and collarbone, his one hand
touching my nipple wonderingly.  I slid my hands over the
plump cheeks of his ass and parted them gently, tracing my
fingers over the sweet pucker of his hole, loving the sound
of Nicky sighing in my ear.  He turned over and rubbed his
butt against my erection.  I kissed his neck and held his
small, throbbing cock in my one hand, squeezing it lightly
as I began to move my hips in rhythmn.  We were both trying
to be very quiet, and it helped things to last longer; we
drew out every touch and savoured it.  I was aching to be
inside him and Nicky was panting and whimpering, he wanted
it so much.  I tilted his ass up a little and whispered for
him to bite down on the pillow so he would be quiet.  I
guided my stiff cock into Nick's ass, pushing hard to get
the head inside and then resting it there to let him adjust.
Nicky groaned into the pillow and I pinched his hard nipples
and lifted one of his legs a little and I pushed my cock
further into him.  I grabbed Nicky by the waist and I began
to pump deeper in and pull out slightly, as he clenched himself
down on me and thrust his butt back against me.  He moaned
loudly into the pillow as he came again, pumping his dick
with one hand, and then he began to feed me his cum, letting
me suck his fingers clean as I fucked him.  I was getting
close when we heard a knock on the door and we froze.

"Nicky, are you okay in there?"  It was Uncle Steve.  "Uh
huh, yeah, I'm fine," Bunny said hurriedly, breathing hard.
The door started to open and Bun sat up in bed.  "Hold on
one sec!" he yelled.  My cock was still in his ass and we
looked at each other, panicked.  "Under the bed," Bunny
whispered.  I had to scramble to get under there in the
dust, painfully aware of the fact that I was butt naked and
sweaty.  I had just gotten under when Steve came in.  "Are
you sure you're okay?" Steve was asking.  "Do you have a
fever?"  What is wrong with this man?  Surely he would
assume that his nephew was masturbating and give him a
little privacy?  "I'm fine," Bun choked out.  He was
probably red as a tomato.  My baby has a tendency to blush.
"I just have to use the bathroom," Steve said.  "Then I'll
leave you alone.  Okay?"  He went in and I had a horrifying
thought.  My clothes were still in there!  I lay there
praying that he was so stupid that he wouldn't even notice.
I heard a toilet flush and then the door click shut again.
Bun got out of bed and locked the door as I slid back out.
"Do you think he noticed my clothes?" I whispered to
Nicky, who was dusting me off.  He paused, a little
shocked since he'd obviously forgotten about that.  "I
dunno," he said, and he looked up at me.  "You know, my
Aunt Deb always sez Steve wouldn't notice if she got set
on fire until the next morning when nobody made coffee."
"Well," I said, "I think we've been saved by Steve's
Steveness."  I kissed Nicky on the mouth.  "Looks like we
have the rest of the night to get reacquainted."

CHAPTER TEN

It's very funny that some people think we call A.J. Bone
because he's skinny.  Or because he's horny.  Or even
because he wears that cheeseball choker necklace.  Nobody
rolls a better joint than Alexander James McLean, a.k.a.
Bone.  Oh, I know, I know, it's against the law and it's
bad for you and we should set a good example.  Whatever.
Bite me.

We had good cause for celebration.  No more Jabba and no
more Uncle Steve.  It was just us guys on a picnic, and we
didn't have to go back for rehearsals until much later that
evening.  We have four more shows, and then it's back to
O-Town.  Me and Kevin and Howie are gonna try to get a place
together.  Right now Howie's with the rents, and Kev and I
are shacked up with Jabba - not a pretty scene.  We had to
bail on Kev's last place.  Kind of hard to pay the rent
without any income, but things are looking up for us now.
Everything is chill ... everything is ga-roovy baby.  I
was just smoking my herb and watching Kev and Frack making
us burgers.  Frack doesn't know what the hell he's doing,
but he's starving to death, so he'll do anything to get
the food done quicker.  He's a cute kid when he isn't
being a pain in the ass.

"What's on your mind, Rok?"  Bone parked his miniature
booty next to mine on the wooden bench.  "Just thinkin'
about when we get back to Florida."  "Yeah, I know.  It
seems like this tour went by so fast."  "Wanna hear something
scary?"  "Sure."  "I think I feel like I grew up a little
on this tour."  "That is scary, Rok.  Cut it out."  We
both laughed.  "You know, like that stuff with Josh.  You
meet a cool person, you connect with them, and you find
out he's gonna die..."  "We're all gonna die, man," Bone
said with a little grin.  "Nah, I know what you mean."
"That was kind of a reality check, I guess.  You have to
remember what's most important in life."  "And it's not
lots of casual sex?"  I smirked at Bone; I knew he was
mocking me.  "I dunno," I said, grinding out the butt of
the joint in the dirt.  "Maybe I'm ready to meet somebody
and get into a serious, romantic relationship.  Full-time,
monogamous ... spiritual."  I took a few steps away from
the bench before I whipped around and stuck my tongue out
in Bone's face.  "HAAHAAAHAA!  Yeah, RIGHT!"  Bone burst
out laughing and sat there shaking his head at me as I
strutted off to hunt down my lunch.

***

"Smells good, guys," I said, walking past the grills.
"Thanks, Howie," Nicky grinned, with his mouth full of
half-chewed-up food.  "Bunny, stop eating chips or you won't
be hungry for the burgers," KFC said, putting his hands on his
hips and wiping off some of the grease on the apron he was
wearing, which said "LE CHEF" on it.  "I have lots of room,"
Nicky said, patting his stomach.  He fed Kev a chip; his eyes
lit up as he watched Kevin laughing when part of it fell to
the ground.  "Los locos," I said to Alex with a wink, while
I cracked open a can of coke.  "They are cute together," A.J.
said with a sad little smile.  I put an arm around him.  "It's
gonna be okay, bro," I said.  "Thanks D," A.J. said, and he
rested his head on my shoulder.  "My Latin partner in crime."
I laughed a little and we just stayed that way.  It felt
real comfortable and easy.  Rok came over and started messing
with Nicky, and within a minute, they were chasing each other
around the two grills, throwing things at each other and
laughing their asses off.  Kev got mad, but it's not like
anybody is gonna take LE CHEF seriously.  Especially not today.

"So you guys are all gonna get a place together," A.J. was
saying absent-mindedly.  He always got very thoughtful when
he smoked and wanted to have deep conversations, unlike
most of us who just get goofy.  "Yep," I said, taking a big
gulp of my soda.  "Kevin needs somewhere private to rape
Nicky."  Oops... bad thing to say.  I'm an asshole sometimes!
"Sorry Bone," I said, giving him a hug.  "It's okay, man,"
A.J. said, but we kept holding on to each other.  "Him and
Kev are good together.  I don't want to break that shit up."
"Right," I said.  "It's crazy, but it works for them."  I
just looked at Alex.  He came off so hard, but inside he was
vulnerable.  Young.  Unsure of himself.  Even with the shades
on, I could read him like a book.  Of course, we've known each
other forever.  "I was wondering about you and Rok, actually,"
he said, kind of talking to my shoulder.  "Maybe since you'll
be living together... you'll hook up too."  "Me and Rok?"  I
laughed.  "No?"  Bone looked up over his shades.  "Alejandro,"
I said, laughing, "no more wacky weed for you today.  You've
gone mental."  I let him go and patted him on the back.
"Besides," I go, "I'm not even gay."  He didn't say nothing
for a minute and then we both started laughing like fools.

***

My stomach hurt from laughing, and from potato chips.  I rolled
around on the grass grabbing my tummy and moaning... "I hate
you Frick ..."  "You're a bitch, Frack!"  "You are!" "No, you
are!"  "I know you are, but what am I?"  "Oh, you're begging
for it now!" Frick attacked me and pinned me down, pressing one
of his knees into my chest.  "Let me go ... butt munch ..."
"Ah haha, your face is so red!  You look like a tomato!"  "Quit
it, fart breath!"  "Brian, get off of him!"  "He started it."
"I mean it - off."  I lay on my back and smiled up at Boo, my
knight in shining armour.  "He was hurting me," I said in a
baby voice, "that meanie face."  "Get up, presh," Boo said,
trying to be strict, but his eyes were laughing.  I crawled up
slowly and wrapped myself around my love.  "You're going to
get covered with grease," Boo said, patting me on the behind.
"Love grease," I said, and I started giggling, ow, my tummy...
"Come on, cutie, let's flip the burgers," Boo said, and he
took my hand and we walked together to the grills.  This is
the most perfect day of my life.  The sun is out and the sky
is bright, deep blue.  There is a wind way high in the tops
of the trees, so the little clouds move around the horizon,
drifting smoothly like ships on the water.  You can smell
wild flowers and pine trees and of course Boo's wonderful
cooking.  Did you know he's a great chef, too?  I felt so
happy I wanted to burst; I wanted to remember every detail
of that day and keep it safe for the rest of my life, so I
could always go back there and run around in the hot
sunlight, my friends and the love of my life by my side.

***

It was just one of those days where you sit back and kind of
take stock.  I knew I was happy with my life, but maybe I
wasn't quite appreciating how lucky I really was.  I was
lucky to get out of Kentucky, for starters.  Sure, there
were days I questioned if I was doing the right thing, but
would I rather be living with my parents, in homophobe hell,
working at the Red Lobster?  Singing didn't seem like a
real job because it was too much fun.  People who don't
sing maybe don't understand what a huge mental and physical
release it is to belt out a song, to be at one with the
music.  I would say it's like sex, but then you all might
start thinking I am just some kind of pervert.  I would
hate for that to happen.

Getting our own place would be nice, too, even though I
knew Kev and Howie were a little carried away with what
we could really afford.  Damn label whores.  I don't know
how I got surrounded by all these queens.  I laughed to
myself thinking about them; you know I am only joking and
I love all those guys.  They are my brothers.  OK, Harry
is my brother too, but he's straight and not as much fun
to go clubbing with.  Of course, sometimes the other
guys think I'm a little shallow.  I do work hard at giving
off that image.  It's tough to explain, I guess, but when
you build up a wall around you like I had to, it's not
always easy to let down your guard.  So I'm not Mr. Touchy
Feely.  But maybe I could try a relationship.  A boyfriend.
What a concept.  Me, the king of the wham-bam-thank you-sir?
Yes, many young men will weep when they hear I'm off the
market.  But I could try it out, you know, just for shits
and giggles, as Bone would say.

There are all kinds of gay couples, the ones who pretend
like they fit into "normal society" and the ones who know
they are never going to be accepted.  There are the ones
who want a wedding with a big white cake and mom there
bawling her eyes out, and the ones who are going to pretend
they are just buddies until the day they die.  The ones like
Nicky and Kev, who aren't legal anywhere in the world.  And
the ones who use being gay as an excuse to never settle down.
Sure, it makes things harder.  It just depends on what is
important to you, like I said to Bone before.  I'm not
making any promises here; I don't know if I'm cut out for
that kind of song-and-dance.  But I guess I figured out
over this trip that maybe, deep down inside, I'm a lot
softer than I thought I was.

***

"Okay guys," I said, "the burgers are done.  Come and get
it."  Like I even had to say anything.  They were all pacing
around the grills like a pack of wolves.  "Oops," I heard
Bunny say, and I looked over my shoulder and joined in the
laughter.  "It's okay," Bun said, picking up the burger from
the ground and dusting it off lightly.  "I'll eat that one."
"Sweetie, just leave it," I said.  "We have enough."  "No,
I can eat it."  He was determined now, and so I just let it
be.  We all fixed ourselves a plate of burgers and sides and
sat down to dig in.  "Mmm," I said, "just right.  This must
be one of the ones you made."  Bunny beamed at me happily.
"Aww," he said, "I wuv you sho mush Booboo, you are sho
shweet!"  (He had food in his mouth)  He took another big
bite of his burger and his eyes opened really wide when
something made a loud crunching sound.  I had to set my food
down, I was laughing so hard.  "Itshnot funny," Nicky choked
out, shaking with laughter.  "Probably just a big ol' cicada,"
I said.  "Or a snail," D threw in.  "That's right," Bone
grinned.  "You knew 'LE CHEF' was going to make you a
French specialty."  "It was the only damn apron in the
store," I said, laughing too.  "Damn Frenchies," Rok said.
"Stop making fun of my Booey," Bun said, sticking his
tongue out and hugging me protectively.  I leaned over and
kissed him on the tip of his nose.  Then I just stared into
his beautiful wide-set blue eyes.  Bunny half-closed them
as he pressed his soft lips against mine.  I kissed him
back and slid my tongue into his mouth.  "Hey you two," D
said, nudging me in the side.  "We're trying to eat here."

"We can't help it," Bunny said.  "We're in love!"  "Well,
no shit, Shakespeare," Brian chirped, bending back a plastic
spoon and firing some egg salad at him.  "Hey!" Bunny laughed.
"Don't be starting something you don't want to finish."  "You
guys," I said, "don't-"  Before I could even get the words
out, I was wearing egg salad on my head.  "Very well," I
said.  And then I quoted Bugs Bunny:  "Of course you
realise ... this means war."  "Oh, shit!" D laughed.  "Run
for it, Rok!!!"

***

I lay back on the grass with a smile on my face.  Kev had
gone chasing Rok into the woods with the bottle of squirt
ketchup, and of course Nicky was following Kevin wherever
he went.  I meant what I said to D; I didn't want to see
Nicky unhappy, and he was so sad when they were apart.  Who
knows what the future is going to hold, but for now, I have
to just be his friend.  It still hurts, don't get me wrong.
It might always hurt a little.  D lay down next to me; he
had taken off his shirt and was lying on it.  "Might as
well work on my tan," he said.  "Good point," I nodded,
doing the same.  "We're gonna look like albinos when we
get back to O Town."  D laughed and checked his muscles
out a little with his thumb and forefinger.  I didn't know
if he wanted me to watch him, or what.  "It's nice to see
Kev finally chill out," D said.  We both thought the same
thing; it's because he's got Nicky back, today, and when
we get home, too.

"Yeah, you old farts are kind of uptight sometimes," I
said, waiting for the smack upside the head I knew I was
gonna get.  "Ow."  "Old farts," D chuckled.  "You just
wait.  You haven't seen me really come out of my shell
yet."  "Do I want to?"  "Well, I mean, I couldn't be as
wild as I really am when I'm living at home with mom and
pop!"  "I guess not," I grinned.  "Not everybody has a
mom as cool as mine."  "My mom is cool."  "But not as cool
as mine."  "Whatever," D laughed.  "Your mom probably
encourages you to act like a crazy fool."  "Of course
she does," I smiled.  "Well, once we get set up, we'll
have some crazy-ass parties."  "You will?  You mean
when Kevin is out of town."  "Hmm... Okay, yeah, you're
probably right."  I rested my hand on Howie's stomach.
It was warm, almost burning to the touch, and we shifted
positions slightly to lie closer together.  "You'll have
to come over all the time anyway," Howie mumbled, falling
asleep.  "Save me from Rok and Kevin."  "Hmm, yeah," I
said softly, "I could do that.  I could be there with you."
I shut my eyes against the golden glow of the sunlight
and drifted into a peaceful sleep.  When I woke up with
Howie by my side, our arms wrapped around each other's
bodies, it was like we had never been apart.  And so the
five of us found ourselves in a whole new chapter of
our lives together, but that is for another story and
another time.  For this time in our lives, we have
reached,

THE END