Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:17:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: D H <dhthewriter@yahoo.com>
Subject: Homefront Chapter 2

Here's the second installment guys and girls!  Hope you enjoy it.  Please
remember to send me a message at dhthewriter@yahoo.com if you have any
questions or comments, and join the yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dhthewriter.

Usual disclaimer applies.


Homefront
Chapter 2

	The next night, Matt and Nick went to dinner and a movie as Seth
and Jenny did their thing.  Though Jenny and Seth joked about it being
their first date, both guys were quick to inform them that it was to give
them time to do whatever it was that they did.  Both Nick and Matt declared
that they were just friends and nothing more.  For the next two days, the
two of them hung out, doing whatever, until Nick had to return to Jackson
on Monday.

	On Tuesday, both guys woke up realizing that they had nothing to
do.  Matt took a shower and put on some shorts and a t-shirt, heading
downstairs in his parents' house to consume a bowl of cereal and a huge
glass of diet Coke, or, as he called it, the breakfast of champions.  It
didn't take long for him to get bored as shit, though.  Everybody he knew
was at work except Nick, who had returned to Jackson.  So with that, he
returned to his room, put on some khaki shorts and a polo, slipped his feet
into some flip-flops and another one of his Parsons caps on his head.  He
walked out of the house, locking it and turning on the alarm, and climbed
into the Caddy to head into town.

	Nick woke up to have a cup of coffee that his aunt had left in the
pot when she went to work.  Afterwards, he cleaned up the kitchen and
started some laundry before putting on some relatively clean,
gym-appropriate attire, and heading to a place just a few miles from his
house for his daily workout.  He found himself with a little more energy
that morning as he lifted weights, but he couldn't explain why or how that
had come about.  He wasn't going to argue with the gym gods, though, for it
felt good to actually do some things that were a little out of his routine.

	Matt ended up going to the mall for a little while and spending a
few dollars on some new jeans and buying a new computer at the Best Buy.
When he finished, it was about lunch time, so he skated into his father's
office only to find that it was crowded with people who had some business
with the company that he'd been willed by his grandfather.  Walking inside,
a few of the people that he knew were talking with groups of people about
apartments and rental properties, but there was a new girl working the desk
that he didn't know.  After waving at the people, all of whom smiled at
Matt, he walked up to the counter to introduce himself.

	"Welcome to Landry Properties," the girl said, obviously nervous
and stressed out but trying to put on her face an inviting, warm smile.
"If you'll sign in one of the agents will be right with you."

	"Actually," Matt smiled.  "I'm Matt Harper.  Is there something I
can help with," he offered, realizing that he had something to do if he
wanted to.

	"Matt Harper?  As in Ron?"

	"Yes," Matt smiled.

	"Oh!" she said.  "Um..." she looked around.  "I've got some rent
payments to process, and there are a few people waiting to be assisted."

	"OK.  Point out the first ones," he said as she grabbed the sign in
sheet and pointed him in the direction of some people that had been waiting
a while.  She handed him a sheet also of available units which he quickly
scanned before putting on his own smile and walking over to help them.

	The lady's name was Regina and her twin daughters were going to be
starting at Parsons in the fall.  The campus housing department had put
them into separate buildings and could find no way of getting them
together, so Regina decided to investigate the option of putting Haley and
Holey into a two-bedroom apartment close to campus.  Matt asked what they
were planning to major in, and the two girls, simultaneously, answered that
they were going to be Vocal Performance majors.  Matt, excited about
meeting two other sings, ended up suggesting a place that would be just a
couple of blocks away from the music building, where he knew they would be
spending most of their time, even though they were incoming Freshman with
responsibilities all over campus.  As Dan had always done when he found
himself in a situation, he had the `new girl', whose name was Zoe, grab him
the keys to one of the available units.  He handed the keys to Regina and
told her to have a look around the place and just bring the keys back when
they were through.

	He did that for three other people in the office before one of the
ladies that worked there came free.  "You know," she said after hugging
Matt around the neck, "your father always hated when your grandfather did
that.  The two had a few discussions about that over the years."

	"I can imagine that Pa, though, reminded him who was the boss and
then took him out for a beer," Matt said.

	"Right!" she said as someone else came into the office and she went
over to quickly assist them.

	"So what's your favorite place for lunch in town?" Matt asked Zoe.

	"I don't really have a favorite place," Zoe answered, not really
knowing where he was going with the question.  Pulling his wallet from his
pocket, he handed her his Amex card and told her to pick a place and then
order lunch for everyone there and at the construction company, for he knew
that they were running their fingers to the bone as well to get a couple of
projects finished before the end of summer.  He told her to go get it and,
if necessary, fill her car with gas.  Again, it was something that his
grandfather had always done.

	When Ron returned, he found Matt sitting at the desk answering
phones.  "You fire Zoe or something?" he asked, jokingly.

	"I sent her to get some lunch," Matt responded as he answered
another call.

	"He's been giving out keys, too," one of the ladies said.

	"Matthew..." Ron looked at him and shook his head.  There was a
smile on his face, though.  "I'm gonna make you call when some of them
locks have to be changed."  Matt smiled and nodded.

	By the afternoon, everything had died down a little bit in the
office and Zoe had returned with enough lunch for everyone in both sides of
the business.  Having gone to Ms. Geneva's, all she had to do was say that
she was with Landry Properties, and her car was filled with food for
everyone.  She set it all on the table in Ron's office, and everyone dug
in, thanking Matt as they enjoyed the fried chicken and other Southern
delicacies that she'd sent.  As everyone returned to work, Matt and Ron
were left in the office to eat lunch.

	"So I had a thought," Matt told him.

	"What's that?" Ron asked.

	"The Memorial Day party..." Matt looked at his father, who smiled.

	"Your mother and I were talking about that last night, actually,"
Ron answered.  "We were going to have it at the house this year.  We were
gonna talk to you, though, and see if you would help finance it, since you
sign their checks."

	"Oh yeah..." Matt responded as he took a piece of chicken into his
hands and bit through the skin and the perfectly deep fried flesh of a
thick thigh.

	"I was talking to Derek about it this morning, and he thinks it
would be a good idea, too," Ron told Matt.  "If anything else, it will be a
chance to celebrate your grandfather as much as get together with
everyone."

	The two finished lunch a little bit later, continuing to talk about
things related to the party.  Afterwards, Matt went next door, to the
Construction company, to help them out with some things in the office and
to talk to Derek for a bit about the party before heading home at around
4:30 in the afternoon.  His mind was reeling with things, ideas that would
help make the party one of the best that anyone had seen in a while.

	The Memorial Day party, from Matt's memory, had always been a big
affair.  Dan would invite all the people that worked for him, from those
who'd been with him for decades to those who were just working for him
temporarily, into his home to celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer.
He would invite their families, including those few employees with
significant others of the same gender.  He would cook hamburgers and
hotdogs himself on several gas-powered grills, but he would also serve
baked beans, chips, potato salad, deviled eggs, and coleslaw.  There would
be enough beer and soda on ice to make sure that everyone had their of
either.  He would set up tables in his back yard for everyone to sit at as
they ate, and the kids would have games and such.

	When asked one year why he went to so much trouble, he explained
that because everyone served him throughout the rest of the year, he wanted
to take one day to serve them.  While most employers wouldn't have seen it
his way, for Dan, it was an honor to have a meal with them, to break bread
in an atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie.

	So for the next couple of weeks, Matt worked to get everything
ready for the party.  He hired a company in Williams, the next town over,
to come and set up tables and such.  He and Seth, when the latter wasn't
working at his new job in EudoraBank's Mortgage Department, tinkered with
his grandfather's pontoon boat, which had been sitting up at his house on
Lake Faulkner for a couple of years, and eventually got it running.  With
that, they brought it to Ron and Linda's house and put it on the smaller
lake in their neighborhood.  It would be used to pull anyone who wanted to
ski a little bit, or just go out on the water for a few minutes.  They also
cordoned off a part of the lake for anyone who wanted to go swimming.  The
manmade lake behind their house was, after all, just large enough for both
things.  Matt also stayed there at the house a couple of days as people
came by to redo the hardwood floors in the house so that they would look
nice for all the people that would be going in and out and hired Consuela,
his grandfather's housekeeper, to come by and give her thoroughly magical
touch to their place after that was done.

	The night before the party, Matt went through making sure that
everything was ready.  All the food, except for the hamburgers and hotdogs
were cooked.  One hundred fifty patties and several huge packs of hotdogs,
though, were in the freezer in the basement, ready to be put on the grill
when the time was right.  All the tables and chairs were set up, and the
boat had enough gas to get through the day.  He spoke to Derek to make sure
that he had the grills ready to bring over the next morning.  He had two
gas grills that could be easily transported over to their new home; Ron and
Linda had a little gazebo with a huge brick, charcoal grill that could be
used for a huge portion of things, and Jimmy and Becky had already brought
theirs over and set it up in the same `cooking station' place.

	At nine, bushed, he climbed into the bed and rolled over onto his
side.  After a single deep breath and a yawn, he was gone, out like a light
for the night.  As he slept peacefully though in the room of his parents'
house, Nick found himself in the middle of a horrid evening.  His anxiety
had been piqued earlier in the day as he was at the mall to take care of a
few things for his aunt.  He paid her cell phone bill at the HiTelCo store
and then her JC Penney Charge account at one of the mall's anchors.  Being
that it was a holiday weekend, everyone in the world, it seemed, was either
in or traveling through Jackson.  The traffic that they produced,
especially on I-55 was just enough to make things all the more horrible for
him.

	When he got home, he handed the aunt the receipts before heading
into his room, almost without a word, to take some medicine and lie down.
He slept until around the time Matt was going to bed, and while he wanted
to text him, he knew that Matt had a lot going on the next day and would be
busy the whole time.  For half the night, he stayed awake, watching TV,
technically, but reliving painful moments from the past.  Until he went to
sleep at around three, all he could think about was Corey, his mom, the
past and those things and people in it that were no longer a part of his
life, all for reasons beyond his control.

	As he rested, albeit waking up every little while, Matt was getting
ready to get up and go about his day.  Yawning, he pulled on some shorts
and a t-shirt that he would replace at some point later in the day after
he'd had a decent shower, and went down to the kitchen to fix a pot of
coffee from which he, his mom, and his dad, would all be drinking in the
next little while.  As it was brewing, he took a little notebook and
started checking things off the list that had already been done.

	"Shit!  Ice!" Matt said, having completely forgotten about a
summer-time party staple.  "Shit," he expressed again as his mother walked
into the room.

	"What's wrong?" she asked, still half asleep.

	"Ice!  I forgot to arrange for fucking ice!"

	"Matt.  Call Mr. Harris and see if he can bring some over," she
suggested.  "I remember several times when your grandfather was doing this
party that he would forget and call the morning of."

	"Seriously?!"

	"Seriously," she said, almost mockingly as she pulled a mug down
and started filling it with the coffee.

	"OK," Matt said, following it with a yawn.

	"You need to do it soon, though," she warned as Matt stood from the
kitchen table and grabbed the local phone book to look up the number.
Linda smiled as she stirred the cream and sugar into her coffee, for Matt,
from the sound of things, had gotten the answer that he needed from the man
who owned the only local ice business in Eudora.

	"You are a God, Mr. Harris.  Thank you!" Matt exclaimed as the two
hung up the phone.

	"And?"

	"He's sending a truck over," Matt said as he took a seat and
continued checking things off his list.

	"What the hell's going on?" Ron asked.  As Linda filled him, Ron
laughed.  "Your `Pa' always forgot the ice," Ron fondly remembered a
particular year when Dan was huffing around the house cussing like only a
Marine could, because of all the things he'd forgotten to get for a party
when Matt was younger.

	Ron, as he sipped his own coffee, had Matt go through the list
again, giving him another set of ears.  With the ice on its way, though,
everything was done except for actually cooking the food that needed to be
cooked, which Linda said that she and Becky would have covered by the time
people started getting there.

	"You'll be fine, Matt," Ron told him.

	"I know," Matt told his parents both as Linda was agreeing with
Ron.  "I can't wait till it starts, though, and I hope nothing happens."

	"Matt.  Dad would just tell you to enjoy yourself and deal with
things as they came up," Linda advised.

	"True."

	"Then you can cuss about them when you're having a cocktail after
everybody's left and your cleaning up the back yard," Ron said as Matt and
Linda both laughed a little bit.

	By seven, the ice was there and was being placed into coolers as
fast as Matt and Ron could do it.  By eight, Jimmy and Becky were there,
ready to help out where they could.  Derek brought by his grills, but
explained that his daughter, in Birmingham, had gone into labor a month
before they were expecting her to.  With everyone's blessing, he left as
quickly as he'd arrived and removed the two huge charcoal grills from the
back of his truck.  Everyone told him to let them know how things went and
if he or his wife, Sylvie, needed anything, and he wished them a good time
at the party and apologized again for not being able to stay and help.  A
little happier than any of them had been, they returned to work.  As Jimmy
and Ron got the grills started, which, incidentally, included aprons that
said "Kiss the Cook", Matt was in the kitchen with Linda and Becky, who
were speaking in their own code about various and sundry things and people
within their sphere.

	"MATT!" Seth said at around nine, barreling into the house as he
normally did.

	"Kitchen!" Matt yelled back as Seth walked in, a huge smile on his
face.

	"Hey Moms," he said as he hugged Becky and then Linda.

	"Seth, did you get laid last night?" Linda asked.

	"...and this morning," Seth smiled.

	"My child is a manwhore!" Becky joked.

	Seth took a deep breath as he looked at Matt, who was standing for
a single second to take a breather.  "Jenny's coming to meet the Moms," he
said as Matt stared at him.

	"Hold on," Becky stopped.  "You're actually bringing the girl that
you... getting the bing-bing from to meet me?  What is this about?  Am I
going to die or something and just don't know it yet?"

	"Yes, Mom.  You're going to die, in about a hundred years or so!"
Seth said as his Mom smiled.

	"Then why are you bringing her here?"

	"She's already met Matt..." Seth started.  "And so round 2 of the
process is meeting the Moms."

	"Wait.  Are you saying that you're dating this girl?" Linda asked
as Matt snickered.

	"Yes," Seth said as Matt smiled.

	"She's not... is she?" Becky asked, a concerned look creeping over
her face.

	"Mom.  The world is not ready for you to be the best looking
grandmother in the world just yet."

	"Thank God!" she and Linda laughed together.

	"My husband," Becky went on, "would so start calling me his GILF or
something."  Linda laughed as Matt and Seth looked at each other and shook
their heads.

	"We talked about it last night," Seth said, "and we decided that we
liked each other enough to make it official, exclusive.  So tomorrow
morning, I'm going to have my cell phone number changed and burn the little
book."

	"Damn.  This is serious!" Linda added.

	Jimmy and Ron came into the room a moment later.  Everyone stopped
and looked at Jimmy.

	"What'd I do?" he asked.

	"So Seth has a girlfriend..." Becky said.

	"Seth Bentley!  I swear to God!  What the hell were you thinking
not taking care of yourself and her..."

	"Sweetie!" Becky said above him, forcing him to stop in the middle
of his thought.

	"What?" Jimmy almost angrily inquired as Seth stood there smiling.

	"She's not pregnant," Becky said.

	"And I was just getting ready to call you my GILF!" Jimmy said as
everyone laughed a tad bit harder than they had the first time.  After they
asked Matt what he wanted to do about something, the guys quickly returned
to the yard, to the area of grills to continue working away.  It wasn't but
a moment later that Seth's phone was ringing.

	"You are the most beautiful woman that I've had the pleasure of
seeing the next morning," Seth smiled.

	"Awww.  That's so sweet, Seth.  And you're the only guy that I've
kissed in the morning whose morning breath didn't bother me!" Jenny said,
loudly enough for the Moms and Matt to hear and chuckle a little bit as
Seth smiled from ear to ear.  "So where do I need to go?"

	"Wellsgate," he answered.  "Once you get in the neighborhood, take
the fork to the right and follow it around until you see my car by the
mailbox."

	"Can do," She told him.  "So did you tell them?"

	"Yes, and both my parents wanted to know if you were preggers."

	Jenny laughed.  "Janelle did too!" she told him as they both
laughed.  "It is kinda cool to be somebody's girlfriend, though."

	"I know, right.  Well, boyfriend for me," Seth mentioned as he
walked out of the room and Matt shook his head as the mother's laughed.

	"So what do you know about this girl?" Becky inquired.

	"Cute... smart... funny... Basically, she's Seth with female
parts," Matt explained.

	"Is she good to him?"

	"Yes... and good for him.  He's not been this happy in a long
time," Matt noted.

	"I know," Linda chimed in.  "He's got a glow."

	"Uh huh..." Becky said.

	"Alright.  Loverboy and I have stuff to do," Matt said as he
finished the bottle of water he was drinking and stood from his perch on
his mother's counter.

	"OK..." the ladies said as they continued with what they were
working on before, chatting as Matt left the room about this mystery girl.

	"LOVERBOY!" Matt yelled throughout the house, taunting Seth.

	"Imma kick your ass," Seth yelled back as Matt laughed.

	"NO RUNNING IN THE HOUSE!" Linda yelled back at them.

	"Yes ma'am," they both responded, much as they had as children.

	The pair went outside a moment later, walking down the steps from
the huge deck into the yard that was set up for everyone to go through
everything one last time before people started to arrive.  What they didn't
realize, though, is that Seth had neglected to give Jenny instructions to
come around back, and so when she got there a few minutes later, she walked
up to the front door.  Linda and Becky, collectively in their role as
mothers, met her at the door, quickly inviting her into the house.  There
was an instant rapport between Jenny and Becky, which made Linda happy.
Both women had horrible experiences with their mothers-in-law, God rest
their souls, and it was good to see that, at the least, things were off to
a very good start between them.  Seth and Matt came back into the house a
few minutes later, and Seth thought nothing of giving her a peck on the
lips right there in front of the two ladies that he'd completely respected
his entire life.

	When she offered, though, Matt had a million things for her to do,
all of which she was willing to do to help out, which was something that
really impressed the ladies.  Both of their mothers-in-law had never been
willing to lift a finger for any function, so the fact that she was getting
involved was a sign that their cycle wouldn't continue into the next
generation.  After meeting the dads, she went to the pier behind Matt's
house to help them get things going down there.

	As she was working away, though, Nick found himself lying in the
bed, staring at the ceiling to which he'd looked for months.  His mind
wasn't reeling as much as it was yelling at him to get the hell out of bed
and find something to take his mind off of the things of the previous day
and night.  With that, he climbed up and went into his bathroom for a
shower.  The water, for once, was quite relaxing.  It was waking his senses
as much as it was relaxing his tense body.  For a moment as he lathered his
body, his mind was quiet.  As he washed his hair, though, he knew that he
had to get away from that house, even if for the afternoon.  He thought
about going to Vicksburg, to a casino, but he didn't really feel as though
he had the money.  He could take his aunt out to lunch, but he realized
that she'd made plans for the day already.  She would have cancelled them
for him, but he didn't want to ask her.  It would be a burden.

	But as he climbed out of the shower, he thought to call Jenny.  She
was busy at Matt's party, no doubt, but she would have some suggestion of
something around Jackson that he could do that would help get his mind off
things and not be too much of a mental burden on him.  He walked into the
bedroom, still debating about whether or not to call her and bother her
with his shit, and pulled on a pair of olive-green boxers that, like so
many pairs of underwear in his drawer, needed to be discarded and replaced.

	As he sat on his bed, he grabbed his phone.  Taking a deep breath,
he dialed his cousin's number and held the phone to his ear.  At Matt's,
she stopped what she was doing and pulled her Blackberry from her pocket
and looked at the caller ID.  She smiled and turned to Matt, "It's for
you."

	"OK..." Matt had a puzzled look on his face as he took the phone
and looked at the ID.  With a smile of his own, he pressed the green
button.  "Jenny's phone," he added a couple of affects to his voice.

	"Who is this?" Nick asked, puzzled.

	"Who do you think this is?" he said with the same voice.

	Nick was ready to show his Marine teeth for a moment before
realizing that, with the cadence of the voice the way it was, it could only
be one person.  "Shit.  Hey Matt."

	"Hey man," Matt smiled, returning his voice to normal.  "How are
you?"

	"Good," Nick said as he lay back on his bed.  He didn't want to
tell Matt, in that moment, what was going on in his mind, but suffice it to
say that, for whatever reason, Matt's voice had more of a calming effect on
him than the drugs he'd taken the previous day.  "You?"

	"I'm real good, actually.  Everything is almost ready for the
party," Matt stopped himself, at that moment, from begging him to come.
Nick had this way about him, even in their all to infrequent texts and wall
posts, of showing his strength, not just physical, but of character as
well.  It was as comforting to Matt as his voice was to Nick, but, like
Nick, he didn't want to say anything for fear that he might seem... too out
there for Nick's taste.

	"Oh yeah?  I hope it all goes well, man."

	"Thank you, thank you," Matt told him.

	"So is my cousin around?" he asked.

	"Yeah.  Here she is.  Good talking to you," Matt told him.

	"Likewise," Nick said as Matt handed the phone off to Jenny.

	"So how are you, Nicky?" she asked, knowing what had happened the
day before from the conversation with her mom that morning, but not wanting
to say anything in front of Matt and Seth.  There were some things that she
knew that he wouldn't want her saying in front of them.

	"OK..." he answered, almost unconvincingly.  Jenny took that as a
cue to excuse herself from Frick and Frack for a moment, walking up the
pier to the yard for a little bit of privacy.

	"So what's really going on?"

	"I've got to get out of the house for a little while..." Nick
started.

	Before he could finish, though, she was responded.  "So you're
coming up here?" she smiled, knowing somehow that that's not what he was
going to say.

	"Jenny.  They're gonna be having a fun day.  I don't want to come
up there and be a downer," he told her.

	"You won't be a downer, Nick.  Promise!  And I know that they
wouldn't mind you coming.  In fact, I think that Matt would kind of enjoy
having you here."

	"Jenny..."

	"Just come on.  Get some things together; you can crash at my
place, spend a couple of days away from home.  Please... for me?" she
implored.

	"Jenny..."

	"Come on!  His mom, Nick, is the nicest lady on the planet.  Matt's
Dad will have you in stitches.  Seth's parents are amazing, too, and it
would mean a lot, to me, for you to meet them," she started using guilt,
for it always worked on him.

	"OK..." Nick looked and sounded confused.

	"We talked last night," Jenny smiled.

	"Seriously?"

	"Seriously!" she mocked him.  "So get your ass up here... for them
and for Matt!"

	"I don't want to spoil..."

	"Shut up!  Get dressed and come!  And fix yourself up, then maybe
you can cum later!" she smiled as she could almost see Nick rolling his
eyes.

	"None of that today!" he warned her, recalling the last time that
he and Matt had hung out and the almost juvenile response that she and Seth
had to that.

	"I'll be on my best behavior!" she promised.

	"OK.  I'll get dressed and be up there in a couple of hours."

	"Yay!" she said.  "OK.  I'll see you when you get here!"

	"Alright...  Bye, Jenny."

	"Ciao, babe," she said as she hung up the phone.  "GUESS WHAT!" she
yelled, getting Matt and Seth's attention.

	"What?" Seth responded.

	"Matt's man's coming!" she smiled as she walked back down to the
boat.

	"Did you get him pregnant, son?" Ron asked as he and Jimmy laughed
hysterically.  Matt, normally a little reserved about such things, much
more so around his parents than Seth was, shook his head.  He was thankful,
though, that he had the father that he did, and that his best friend,
Seth's father, was as cool as he was.  To think that, at one point, he was
worried to tell those two men that he liked guys like Seth liked girls.

	"What the hell's going on?" Linda yelled as they came outside.

	"My cousin is coming," Jenny called from the pier.

	"And he's a hot, gay, Marine that Matt's got a stiffy right now
because of!" Seth completed.

	"I am going to kill you!" Matt said.

	"Now," Seth smiled, "we're even for the loverboy shit!"  Seth made
the make of turning to do something on the edge of the boat.  With a
wickedly evil smile, Matt walked over and pushed him into the lake,
laughing as he ran toward the house.

	As Jenny made it where the adults had congregated around the
grills, she asked, "Are they always like this?"

	"Yes!" the four of them answered, simultaneously as Matt stood in
the middle of the yard, taunting Seth as he climbed out of the water and
started running toward him.

	"We've learned to just stay out of their way unless something gets
broken," Linda told her as Becky yelled for them to stop, just as both moms
had done many times when they were little.

	"Dude," Matt said as he stopped.  "I'm sorry for the loverboy
thing."

	"And I'm sorry for the stiffy comment," Seth told him as they both
recovered.  "I'll fix it."

	"My stiffy situation.  Seth?!  You know I could do that with you,"
Matt joked.

	"OK.  It's back on now!" Seth said as the both laughed.

	"Y'all finished?" Linda asked.

	"Matt will be about 20 minutes after Nick gets here, I'm sure,"
Seth responded as they walked toward the parents.  Matt reached over and
punched him on the shoulder.  "Oww!  That actually hurt for once."

	"You want another?" Matt smiled before their mothers spent the next
few minutes scolding them before sending them to change.

	As they went inside, Nick was taking his things to his car in the
garage.  "Hey Janelle," he said as he walked into the kitchen, where she
was sitting with her `boyfriend' Charles, a man whom she'd dated for years.
Boy is a bit of a misnomer, though, for he was a good fifteen years older
than Janelle.

	"Yes, sweets?" she asked.

	"I love you, and I'm going to give you a Memorial Day gift?"

	"Grandchildren!" she joked, having known for longer than he that he
was gay.  As Matt, he thanked God that she, and Charles, were both cool
with it.

	"Not quite," Nick smiled.  "I am going to hang out with Jenny for a
couple of days."

	"Are you OK?" she asked, standing, with a look of concern on her
face.

	"Yes ma'am," he answered, smiling to allay any hears that he knew
she had.  "I just want to get away for a couple of days."

	"Alright sweetie," she accepted his response, knowing that he was
lying through his teeth.  "You'll call if you need me?"

	"Yes ma'am," he leaned down to kiss his aunt on her cheek.

	"OK," she hugged him and allowed him to leave.  As she heard his
car starting, she returned to her seat and looked at the man she called
Chuck.  "Thank you."

	"For what?"

	"Being patient with me in the last few months," she told him.

	He smiled and took her hand, lifting it to his mouth and kissing
it.  "You are, without a doubt, the sweetest woman on the planet, and I am
honored to have the time with you that I do."

	"I love you, Chuck."

	"And I you, Janelle.

	It wasn't long before Nick was at the interstate, heading north to
Eudora.  As he got off I-55 at Williams, it was almost as if he could feel
something changing him.  The hardwoods and pines soaring toward the sky
seemed to be standing sentry, as if to let him know that he was safe there,
among those things and people.  Part of him felt guilty for allowing
himself to experience, since so many people he'd known wouldn't, but
another part of him was OK with allowing the peace to wash over him.

	Passing a sign that said "Eudora: 10 miles" he grabbed his phone
and called Jenny.  She answered, giving him the same directions that Seth
had given her.  When he first pulled into the neighborhood, he felt almost
out of place among the huge houses belonging to Eudora's `new' elite.  He
arrived at the house with all the cars and climbed out after parking his
along the street.  Per Jenny's instructions, he walked down the driveway to
the back yard.  Dressed nicely in shorts and a t-shirt, he walked around
back to find about half the people there.  Quickly scanning the crowd, he
found Jenny and Seth sitting at a table talking to some people, laughing
and carrying on.

	As soon as she noticed him, she smiled and excused herself, walking
over to meet him as he walked toward her.  They talked for a minute before
she put her arm in his and the two walked over to the table.  She
introduced him to those people that she'd just met as they stood there.
Nick was polite and put on a smile for their benefit, joking as they joked,
etc.  He really couldn't wait, though, to see Matt.  He wanted to thank him
for letting him come up and apologize, probably more than once for
intruding on a day that was obviously for him to celebrate with people that
he knew.

	"Welcome to the party!" Matt said as he walked up behind Nick.
Nick, as he turned, found himself wearing a huge smile on his face.

	"Thanks for inviting me up," Nick said.

	"It's no worries," Matt said, trying to keep from staring at this
man before him, this man who was almost godlike as he blocked the sun from
Matt's face.  "You hungry?  We got plenty of food?"

	"Ya know.  I am a little bit," Nick responded.

	"Then come on," he said as Nick turned to smile at Jenny before
following Matt to the covered area with all the food.

	"Ron," Linda said as she fixed herself a plate, well after everyone
but Matt.

	"Yes?" he asked as he turned and took a bite from a hotdog.

	"Don't stare, but Matt is walking over here with a guy.  Do you
think that's Nick?"

	"If it is... all I can say is that, at least, when he does decide
he wants a man, he doesn't skimp!" Ron told his wife.

	"That almost made no sense!" she smiled at him.

	"Well, Jimmy and I've had a couple.  I bet he's not making much
sense either," Ron smiled.

	"I want to apologize for something," Matt said as they slowly
walked over.

	"For what?"

	"For what I'm about to put you through," Matt responded as Nick
smiled.

	"OK..."

	"Seth has given my parents the impression that we're..." Matt
started as Nick smiled.

	"I could do worse!" Nick joked.

	"Fucker!" Matt said before laughing a little bit himself.  "Mom and
Dad," he said as they stood there, trying to act nonchalantly.  "This is
Nick."

	"Mr. and Mrs. Harper," Nick said politely.

	"Uh oh..." Ron laughed.

	Linda smiled.  "Mrs. Harper was my mother-in-law, may she burn,"
she said.  "I'm Linda."

	"Oh.  Sorry," Nick smiled.

	"And I'm Ron," he introduced.

	"It's very nice to meet you guys," he said as he shook Ron's hand.

	"You're a Marine, right?" Linda asked.

	"Yes ma'am," Nick answered.  Linda handed her plate to Matt and her
beverage to Ron and opened her arms, wrapping them around his neck.

	"Thank you," she said, sweetly, quietly.

	"Thank you, Mrs... Linda," he said, correcting himself.

	"So fix yourself some food.  There's PLENTY!" she smiled as she
pulled away and took her things from the two men who remained in her life.


	"Yes ma'am.  Thanks for letting me crash the party."

	"You wanna explain to him just why it's OK?" Ron asked Matt as
Linda smiled.

	"We're gonna get out of y'all's hair," Linda told the guys.  "Come
on, Ron."

	"Yes ma'am," Ron smiled.

	Nick and Matt each grabbed a plate and started fixing themselves
something to eat.  "So you're parents seem really cool," Nick said.

	"They really are," Matt said.

	"When I came out, they had to be the coolest parents about it all.
Mom said that she hoped that I found a good man with a great ass, and Dad
was like... `Son... just remember to always wrap it before you tap it'."

	Nick laughed.  "Nice," he said as he grabbed a bun and started
putting on all the fixings.

	"MATÍ!" Matt heard a moment later yelling for him in the distance.

	"Madilín!" Matt said as he put his plate down as the little girl
was running toward him with her arms wide open.  Matt bent down so that the
little girl could wrap her arms around his neck as he picked her up.  "Cómo
estás?"  (How are you?)

	"Bien!  Me alegro de que hayas vuelto!" she told him.  (Good.  I'm
glad that you're home.)

	"Y yo también!" Matt smiled.  "Has sido una buena chica?"  (Me too.
Have you been a good girl?)

	"Sí!  Por TODO el año!"  (Yes!  All year!)

	"QUE BUENO!" Matt smiled as she spied Nick.  (Good!)

	"Quién es él?" she asked.  (Who is he?)

	"Pues," Matt said, smiling at Nick, "él un amigo mío.  Se llama
Nick."  (Well... he's a friend of mine.  His name is Nick.)

	"Es tu novio?"  (Is he your boyfriend?)

	"Qué tú sabes de novios?" Matt responded, smiling at Nick.  (What
do you know about boyfriends?)

	"MUCHO!  Tengo un novio en mi clase!"  (A LOT!  I have a boyfriend
in my class!)

	"DE VERDAD!?" Matt continued.  (Really?)

	"Se llama Paul," she insisted.  (His name is Paul.)

	"Qué bueno!" he smiled.  (Awesome!)

	"OK.  Voy a jugar ahora!  Podemos jugar hide-and-seek más tarde?"
(OK.  I'm going to play now.  Can we play hide-and-seek later?)

	"Sí!" Matt told her.  "Debes pedirle a Nick si quiere jugar," Matt
told her.  (Yes.  You should ask Nick if he wants to play.)

	"Nick!" she said, turning in Matt's arms to look at him.  "I'm
Madelyn."

	"Nice to meet you," Nick smiled.

	"You're hot, and you should be Matt's boyfriend," she said.

	"Maddie!" Matt swapped to her English nickname.  "Did Seth tell you
to say that?"

	"Yes!" she said.

	"I'll talk to him later," Matt apologized, with his eyes, to Nick,
who smiled.

	"So would you like to play hide-and-seek later?" she asked Nick.

	"Sure," Nick smiled.  "Just let me eat first, and then we'll play."

	"OK," she said as Matt set her down and she ran off to play with
other kids.

	"I'm so sorry," Matt said.

	"Shut up!" Nick told him.  "Seriously.  You're a catch, and if we
knew each other better, I'd give you a shot."

	"Of what?" Matt asked as Nick laughed.  "Sorry.  Seth must be
throwing his voice."

	"If you apologize one more time, Matthew, I'm gonna kick your ass,"
Nick said.  Matt, to avoid making another joke only to make one with his
gesture, put his free hand over his mouth, having picked his plate back up
with the other.

	As they walked from under the tent, with sodas in their hand, they
found a full table free, taking two of the seats for themselves.  After
they ate and had a few minutes to relax, Madelyn and about a dozen other
children came over to their table to tell them that it was time to play.
Both guys threw away their trash and went over to the group of kids.  Matt
was selected as the first to count as Madelyn declared Nick to be, wherever
he was, the "safe place".  As they played, just for the sake of playing,
Jenny sat at the table next to Seth, her attention divided between the man
that had, unbeknownst to him, taken her heart, and the man that was the
first one in her life.  Like Nick, her father had been `absent' making
appearances every once in a while to bring her trinkets from his `travels'
around the globe.  The last she heard, he was in prison, but she didn't
care.

	Linda and Becky were standing on the deck of the house, along with
a few people that they'd known most of their lives, and every once in a
while, they would look down to check on their kids.  It did Linda's heart
good to see Matt carrying on as he was.  He'd lived far too long as a grown
up, and she was happy to see him as a kid again, as her kid.

	That afternoon, as people began to leave, Matt and Seth, along with
Jenny and Nick, helped get everything cleaned up as the adults put the
leftovers away.  After it was all done, all that was left was the tables in
the yard.  The company that had brought them would be the next day to pick
them up at some point.  By dark, everything was done and everyone was
bushed.

	"So what do y'all have planned for tonight?" Becky asked the four
among them that were known as "the Kids".

	"No idea," Seth answered.  "Y'all wanna go out or something?"

	"Sounds cool," Matt and Nick said together.  Jenny agreed.

	"So yeah, we're going out!" Seth laughed.

	"OK.  Y'all be careful," Linda advised all four of them.

	"We always are," Seth smiled as Linda and Becky shook their heads.
Jenny snickered as Matt looked at Nick as if to say that it was already
starting.  The proverbial `it' meant that Matt and Nick were going to be
spending some time together that evening, without the company of the two
people that they separately trusted most in the world.

	After Matt fixed himself a bag with some clothes, the four of them
were off.  Jenny and Seth took their own cars back to Seth's, where Jenny
had a couple of outfits that had been left there.  Matt and Nick, though,
both rode in Nick's Mustang.  Behind the wheel, Nick was a kid with an
amazing, sexy, new toy.  Matt, grabbing his iPod and started playing
something that Nick was singing at the top of his lungs, and even though he
obviously couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, Matt still was amazed by the
sound that he produced.  It was soothing, calming, and amazing, despite the
variance in pitch and such.  When they got to Seth's, both of them were
laughing and carrying on as they climbed from the car and walking toward
the door.

	"Oh Seth!" they heard Jenny scream as Matt opened the door.
Carefully, quietly, they both backed out and quietly shut the door.

	"Could they not wait on us to get here before telling us to get
lost?" Nick inquired.

	"I know, right?" Matt smiled.  "So we've got a couple of hours to
kill.  What would you like to do?"

	"I have no idea," Nick smiled.

	"If we're going out, then I need to shower, and I can't if
they're..."

	"Right!" Matt smiled.  "It is awesome that they've had `the talk',
though."

	"I couldn't agree more," Nick said.  "She's a great girl, and I
love her lots," he looked at Matt.

	"I feel the same way about Seth," Matt answered.  "I remember one
time, when we were in high school, this kid was making fun of me and shit,
cause of the whole gay thing, and I was able to hold my own against him.
Oh!  But when Seth found out, I thought he was going to murder the guy."

	"Did he beat him up?" Nick asked.

	"Threatened him... made him cry... and piss himself," Matt joked.

	"So is he the reason why you're single?" Nick asked.

	"Nope," Matt smiled, "but you're not the first to make that
observation."

	"Ah!" Nick smiled.  "Can I make an observation?"

	"I don't know," Matt smiled.  "Can you?"

	"Well... yeah..." Nick laughed.  "You're a great guy, Matt, and if
I were in a better place, I would ask you out."

	Matt smiled.  "If I were, as well, I would accept."

	"You're just saying that," Nick joked, knowing that Matt wouldn't
joke about that.

	"I am not," Matt continued to beam, from ear to ear.

	"Then prove it!" Nick demanded, not expecting that Matt, a moment
later, leaned over and kissed him squarely on the lips, right there in
front of God and the rest of the world.  It was a passionate kiss, the kind
that could slow, or even stop, time, the kind that sent electrifying chills
through a man who wasn't prepared.

	"Satisfied?" Matt asked as he pulled away.

	"Um... Whoa," Nick smiled.  "So amazing kisser is another thing to
add to the ever-growing list of things about Matt that are amazing."

	"I gotta have something that complements sexy-as-fuck," Matt gave
Nick a once over.  "On a serious note, though, you are an amazing guy, and
if we were in our respective better places, I would accept your invitation
for a date."

	"If you knew everything there was to know about me, then you'd not
be so quick to answer," Nick remembered the previous day, and how bad it
had been.

	"Or... there is the possibility that I would think even more highly
of you, and accept before you could get the words out of your mouth."

	"Thank you," Nick said as he leaned against the railing, facing the
world as Matt's back did the same.

	"Nick.  We all have our demons.  You've got things; I've got
things.  It's how we deal with them that matters," Matt told him.

	"True..." Nick said.

	"And Nick, I know we don't know each other all that well," Matt
said as Nick turned and looked at him, "but if there's every anything you
need, whether it be $20 bucks for gas money, a place to crash when you have
to get away from things in Jackson, or even if it's just that you need
someone to talk to..." Matt started as Nick stood straight up and put his
hands on Matt's arms, kissing him as plainly as he'd kissed Nick only a
couple of seconds earlier.  Pulling apart, it took Matt a moment to get
himself back together.  The kiss, as just as kiss, was amazing.  "Was that
to shut me up?" Matt joked.

	"No.  It wasn't," Nick looked into his eyes, plainly.  "That," he
smiled as he stepped back, "was to show my gratitude for what you were
saying."

	"So when are you going back to Jackson?"

	"Probably Wednesday morning," Nick said.  "I've gotten into this
habit of cleaning everywhere I go, so I was going to clean Jenny's
apartment and then probably pass out from exhaustion."

	"Why don't you skip that," Matt started, "and let a local boy show
you around town."

	Nick acted as though he was thinking about it, when he knew the
answer the whole time.  "That would be much more interesting, I'm sure,"
Nick smiled.

	"Then it's a... meeting of two friends."

	"Yes.  A meeting of two friends," Nick smiled.

	"So let's walk to the Chevron and get some ice cream," Matt
suggested.

	"Favorite flavor?"

	"Chocolate.  Just plain chocolate," Matt told him as they walked
from the stoop, putting their things back into his car, temporarily, and
walking down Harrison to its intersection with Cossart Boulevard.  Turning
away from the crowds at Blind Jim's, they went south for a couple of blocks
until they got there.  Inside, the place was quiet, except for their
playful argument about who was going to pay for what.  The lady, who'd
known Matt's family for ages through her rental of one of their houses in
the city, shook her head and laughed as they carried on.  On the way back,
Matt ate from his pint of Blue Bell Chocolate Ice Cream as Nick munched on
an ice cream sandwich and carried his Mountain Dew.  The pack of cigarettes
that he'd bought were in his pocket.  Borrowing chairs from the neighbors
after their return, they sat on the porch, carrying on, with their feet
propped up against the railing until Jenny and Seth finished with their
thing and Seth came to the door to let them know.  They just smiled as they
continued to sit there, enjoying their moment.

	As he and Jenny were leaving, headed to her place for the evening,
they agreed to meet at around eleven the next morning.  Matt would pick him
up at Jenny's place, and they'd go about their days while the others were
at work.