Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:16:32 -0800 (PST)
From: Jo Jo <crossingboi2004@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Living Years Chap. 24 "Over Great Leaps and Bounds"

Disclaimer: The following story contains activity that would be considered
of homosexual nature between consenting college students.  While none of it
crosses into a gratuitous nature, if such material is offensive to you or
you are not of the legal age to read such material in your area, please do
not. Other than that, please enjoy the story!


The Living Years

Chapter 24 "Over Great Leaps and Bounds"


"Hurry up before she comes back."

"Why do I always have to-"

"Because you're better at it."

Trey just sighed as he reached first into Noah's pants with one hand while
trying to undo the zipper with the other.

The two of them were sitting on a small loveseat in Noah's room as Noah
tilted his head back, closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh as Trey
lowered himself down.

This was actually one of the very few spare moments either of them had been
able to grab what with everything that had been going on the past
week. Between Jeremy going back to his 24/7 room inhabiting ways to Grace
deciding that Noah and Trey were going to be permanently attached to her
hip, there had been few to no chances for them be alone together. They were
actually starting to feel like they never would be. Which was why they were
going to take what little time they could get to themselves to do what they
could with whatever time they had.

Trey for the most part had grown comfortable with being the one to do all
the servicing. It had come to the point where they were fine making out but
when it came to anything more, Trey usually was the one to do it. Aside
from the one and only time they'd had sex, there really wasn't much love
making going on between the two of them.

Trey had just managed to get Noah fully hard before he felt his left pocket
vibrating. Noah, who was totally consumed by the moment previously, groaned
as he tilted his head forward.

"Just don't answer it," he mumbled.

"It's Grace," Trey sighed. "She might need me."

Even though Trey felt like his friends treated him like he was the younger
brother that needed protection, when it came to Grace, he felt like,
especially lately, that he needed to protect her. And after letting her run
off with the same stalker lunatic that had also planted a camera in Amber's
bedroom, he felt like he needed to be around for her more than ever.

Noah just sighed, frustrated yet sympathetic at the same time.

"Yes love of my life?"


"What are you doing?" Grace asked.

"Nothing now."

"Good, cuz I need to talk. What if that nigga killed me, Trey? What if I
was dead now?"

"Grace," Trey sighed, propping himself back up on the couch. "We've been
over this. It was a week ago. He didn't kill you and you're fine."

"Come check my room again. What if his ass put a damn camera in here since
the last time you checked?"

"Two hours ago, Grace? Come on!"


Trey looked over at Noah, who'd already zipped up his jeans and had started
to put back on his t shirt, before sitting up on the couch and getting
himself into a better position to listen to Grace.

"I just feel like a target," Grace continued. "Lord knows that Amber girl
is dumb as rocks so no wonder that shit happened to her but I started
college as a sophomore. I'm supposed to be smarter than that."

"Grace, you ARE smarter than that. Maybe you just need a project. Something
to take your mind off of what happened."

"Trey.  Boy, do I LOOK like a need a project to you?"

"Grace-"

"No, you know what? I don't even know why I'm wasting my time talking about
this to you. You obviously don't understand. You probably just wanna get
back to sucking Noah's dick some more."

Trey looked over a fairly annoyed looking Noah, feeling embarrassed that
Grace knew him so well before sighing and tilting his head, as he tried to
figure out how best to handle her next.

"Grace..he...hello?  Grace...she hung up!"


"Good," Noah quelled, turning around from facing the window. "Now she can
stop obsessing over something that didn't happen to her and finally leave
you alone."

"I'm still gonna be worried though," Trey replied, as Noah, facing him,
wrapped his arms around him and lifted him up, placing him on the small
coffee table in front of them and taking his spot on the couch. "I mean,
she's just so fragile right now. And the smallest little things set her
off."

"I know. My favorite was when she gave Shawn that black eye when she
thought he was calling her fat," Noah chuckled, rubbing Trey's legs.

"Noah, I'm being serious here. I feel bad that we haven't had any time for
us but I really think I should be worrying about Grace right now. I mean, I
don't want her to do something stupid like hurting herself or something."

"You really think Grace would do something like that?"

Trey thought about it for a moment.

"Probably not. But still, I don't wanna take any chances."

Noah decided that he was gonna play dirty and decided to flash Trey the
cutest baby face he could muster. Trey, deciding that he wasn't going to
fall for it, looked away. Noah in turn placed a hand to Trey's chin, facing
him towards his face as he leaned in for a kiss. Not wanting to fight him,
Trey gave in, falling backwards as Noah's hands started travelling over his
body.

The two of them had gotten themselves so wrapped up in their little
impromptu make out session that they'd completely missed Jeremy's return to
the room, who'd actually stopped to watch for a few moments before deciding
it was too weird to keep watching and interrupted.

"Porn.  Who needs it when my two roomies have the sex drive of three
million jack rabbits," he spoke, backpack dropping to ground. "And what's
with the light? I thought we decided darkness was our friend."

"Jeremy," Noah spoke, climbing off of Trey and straightening himself
up. "Aren't you supposed to be visiting your cousins in Tampa?"

"No, because if I was visiting my cousins I would be totally missing
this...wait, what is this?"


"I should probably go find Grace," Trey spoke, standing up.

Noah, once again annoyed, sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried
to keep his cool as he watched his boyfriend leave.

"What?"  Jeremy asked noticing Noah's look. "When adding to the roommate
spectrum, seniority rules."

Noah grunted in semi confusion.

"I was here first?"

"He's my boyfriend. He doesn't have anywhere else to stay. Where else are
we supposed to...you know?"

"Can I just say that I'm probably the only one within a two hundred mile
radius with the kind of setup I have that allows me to do the kind of
serious gaming that I do, which yes, does require the use of the room my
parents are paying six hundred bucks a month for."

Noah sighed as he grabbed his jacket and started towards the door.

"What?"  Jeremy asked turning around. "I'm just saying."


"You know, I can easily change my mind about my obviously insane decision
to have breakfast with you," Jesse spoke, as he stared at Amber eating eggs
in front of him, mouth wide open.

The two of them were at Jesse's apartment, eating breakfast as his
housekeeper worked around them, getting the place clean.

For the past week, Amber had been stuck to Jesse like glue. At first he'd
found it amusing. He took every opportunity he could to get Amber to do
things, including pointless and menial fetch quests just because he knew
she would. It was like she was on a mission to repay him for being her
brave and fearless savior. That much he was okay with as it gave him the
perfect opportunity to enact a few revenge plans he'd worked up without
much a fight from Amber.  What he wasn't okay with was her complete and
utter devotion to him, almost like his slave or something. It was one of
those things where the idea seemed much better than the reality turned out
to actually be.

Needless to say he was no spending the majority of his time trying to
figure out how to get rid of the same girl he's wanted to get revenge on so
badly.

"This is really good Jesse. And I never even liked eggs before because of
how they smelled. But these one's don't smell like eggs."

"Really," Jesse spoke, semi amused. "And what exactly do `these' eggs smell
like?"

Amber continued chewing for a few seconds as Jesse wondered if she'd even
heard the question before she swallowed and titled her head to the side.

"I don't know," she replied. "Just not like eggs."

Jesse wasn't the least bit surprised with the answer he'd received before
deciding to go back to reading the paper he'd been looking over.

"So, what are we gonna do today?" Amber asked.

"You mean before or after we attend the days courses?" Jesse asked.

Since the whole camera thing, not only had Amber been permanently attached
to Jesse's hip, but she also had refused to sleep in her own room or bed,
deciding that sleeping at Jesse's in his bed with him was much safer.

Jesse, who never minded another girl in his bed, had decided to humor her
for the time being but was even starting to tire of that. To go along with
the always being at his side thing was her always wanting to go out and do
something that she deemed safe and fun. Between taking random day trips to
the beach to spending entire days at the movies, it seemed like as long as
she was with him and not at school learning, which again didn't surprise
Jesse, she was happy.

It was strange but yet not strange that Amber actually had him missing
school. He was actually at the point where he'd jump at the opportunity to
do something with the people he'd been working to avoid befriending the
entire year.

Anything to get him away from Amber even for just a little while.

"You do remember school, don't you, Amber? The place where through some
miracle you actually managed to get into?"


"Hey, I'm smart. I know lots of things. And besides, I'm not ready yet."

"Amber, what happened to you had nothing to do with school. I don't see why
we can't just-"

"Because I said I'm not ready damnit!" Amber shouted, standing up as she
screamed the words.

Jesse stared at her incredulously, wondering if she thought he was supposed
to care that she was so upset before turning his attention back to his
newspaper as Amber quietly sat back down.

"Sooner or later we're going to have to rejoin everyone else in the world I
like to call reality and get back to doing all the things that make living
life so hard."

"Yeah, my vote is for later," Amber replied, mouth full of food.

Jesse side-glanced Amber before signing and going back to reading his
paper, wondering exactly what it was going to take to get rid of Amber.


"Okay, now I'm confused. What is this place?" Zoey asked looking around as
if she'd stumbled upon some unruly third world country.

Trey and Noah each stepped up beside her looking around, also confused.

When Grace had called Trey, sounding like the Earth would shrivel up and
die if he didn't meet her as soon as possible, Trey had gathered Noah and
Zoey as fast as he could and had rushed out expecting to meet her at the
quad, like normal.

Instead, the place she'd needed them to get to so fast looked like an
abandoned gym. Like the kind of place that people forget about when
something bigger and better is built to replace it. The floors were peeling
back. The walls looked like they were once white but only if you squinted
hard enough. The ceilings looked so bad Zoey was a little nervous they'd
collapse on top of her and the smell was somewhere in between that of a
moth ball and old mop water.

Things weren't entirely out of place, however. Scattered throughout the gym
were several small clusters of people all talking quietly amongst each
other. While some looked happy to be there, others looked like they were
angry at something.  Ready to take action for something. And then there
were the few, Trey noticed, that looked like they'd be the perfect
companions for Jeremy, Noah's roommate.

"Come on," Trey spoke, sounding confused yet afraid at the same time. He
had no idea that a school as uppity as his was that they'd have a place
laying around that looked so bad. He almost felt like he was in the ghetto
somewhere.

Noah, feeling like he needed to be on his guard, took Trey's hand as Zoey
followed along behind them. Trey started scanning the room for Grace but
wasn't prepared for who his eyes happened to spot. Noah, however, was the
first to comment on it.

"What's HE doing here?"

Trey felt the same way he'd been feeling whenever he saw Shawn around
lately.  Like he had a lot of things he wanted to get off his chest
regarding him but knew that he'd never be able to say without getting to
upset and ruining everything. This isn't to say that Shawn hadn't done such
a good job of that himself, ruining things between them.

"Can we go?" Noah asked impatiently. "Now. Please?"

"Noah.."  Trey strayed.

"What you don't like it here? I personally think it reminds me of my own
private Idaho."

"THAT, was an absolutely rubbish movie if I do say so myself," Jesse
surprised everyone from behind.

Noah turned around, sighing.

"Exactly what we need right now. A jackass named Jesse," he spoke.

"Well as long as we're going with the pseudo movie theme, how about a line
involving an American asshole? Sound about right for you?"

"Okay, okay, can we please simmer down with all the male testosterone and
avoid sticking out in this of all places?" Zoey asked, jumping in between
Jesse and Noah.

"I don't get it..." Amber strayed, twirling her hair as she looked
around. "You said we were going to the movies."

"This not entertainment enough for you now is it, Amber?" Jesse asked, not
caring the least little bit. "You could always detach yourself from my hip
and sod off."

Everyone looked over at the two of them, feeling just slightly
uncomfortable.

"Well I can't exactly have you following me around the rest of my life now,
can I? Next thing you know we'll be sharing a churro while you offer to
braid my hair."

"Silly little Jesse. You mumble in your sleep you know," Amber replied,
taking a seat in one of the wooden foldable chairs setup in the middle of
the court like floor.

"What?" Jesse asked, after flashing Noah and Trey nervously confused
glances.

"Let's just say that I know more about you than you do right now," Amber
replied, a coy smile sitting snidely on her petite face.

Unsure of how to respond or what to say to the statement, Jesse just took a
seat next to Amber, confusion very evident on his face.

"Hey guys!" came the greeting of Sierra from across the room as she made
her way over to everyone else.

"Jesus, okay let's go," Noah spoke, grabbing Trey's hand.

Trey let go as Sierra finally reached everyone, looking around.

"God, it's like someone had a blackout in here, huh?" she said.

"Yes well you would know plenty regarding the subject wouldn't you?" Jesse
mumbled, still looking over his newspaper from earlier.

"What are you doing here?" Amber asked, distaste evident in her tone.

"What are you talking about? I always help these guys out around campus.
I'm very pro homosexual."

"Because you're very anti sexual, correct?" Jesse mumbled.

"What is this place again?" Zoey asked.

"Has anyone seen Grace?" Trey asked.

No one really knew exactly what they were doing in such a jacked up place
but the one thing they did know was that they were now all a mixture of
pissed and confused.

"You all came!" Grace exclaimed, flying over to hug Trey.

Trey returned the hug but couldn't take his eyes off of who Grace had
dragged along with her. Trey could tell that Shawn could tell they were
thinking the same thing right now. Shawn almost looked a little
apprehensive to be there.  That and a little bruised from the black eye
Grace had given him a week ago.

Things between everyone quickly grew quiet as they all settled into
thoughts about why they could possibly have been there and what the place
was as Grace looked them over.

"Well damn ya'll, don't look so dead," she mumbled, crossing her arms
angrily.

"Grace," Trey started sympathetically, walking over to her so that he could
be the only thing she saw. "Why did you want us all to meet you here?"

"Because, I needed a project and I didn't want to get involved in this on
my own," she replied.

Trey frowned.

"Trey, you're the one that said I should find something to keep me busy and
I found it!"

Everyone looked around again.

"What exactly is, `it', love?" Jesse asked.

"A campus youth group!" Grace exclaimed, as if she were unleashing some
happy surprise.

It was then that everyone decided to give closer looks at the people
already in the room. While they did look like an odd bunch of students,
from Goths to straight up geeks, there did seem to be one common thread
between the majority of them that was only just now starting to make sense
to them all.

"What kind of campus youth group, Grace?" Trey asked apprehensively,
already fearing that he knew the answer.

"Well duh, an LGBT youth group!"

Jesse was almost certain that his mouth had fallen open for a moment as
everyone else registered the shock on their faces before he decided he was
absolutely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Okay, time to go," he spoke standing up.

"Yeah, I actually think I have somewhere else to be too," Ben spoke as
Shawn grabbed his arm.

"Ben..."


"Guys, come on. I figured ya'll would understand since half of you fit
right in," Grace started.

"Grace, there's a guy over there with piercings in his eyelids.  Eyelids,
Grace! Fitting in isn't exactly the-"

"Okay look, these people need my help. I think I can get them
recognized. Understood.  Taken seriously."


Trey looked over at Noah who seemed to be highly annoyed while everyone
else was half deciding whether Grace was serious or not and whether they
would need to find a better excuse to leave.

"Grace, you can't turn these people into your project like they're these
helpless aliens that need saving. They have feelings you know. I think they
realize they're..."

"What? Outcasts? Misfits? Yeah, they know Trey. And how do you think that
makes them feel?"


"God, had I known Oprah moments would have been on the menu I'd have phoned
the woman myself. At least let HER do her own thing," Jesse mumbled.

"Shut up boy," Grace snapped.

Trey turned his attention back to Grace. He knew that what that Josh guy
had put her through some pretty intense times but he had no idea that he'd
done this much to her. It was almost like she'd lost her mind.

"Grace...if you need to talk, about what happened...I'm here for you-"

"Naw boy," Grace spoke, interrupting Trey as she moved past him.  "What I
need is for us to figure out how we're gonna turn these misfits into
students people take seriously around here. I think we need a real
project."

"You mean doing the impossible isn't project enough for you?"  Jesse asked.

"You'll see," Grace started. "This is gonna be good for us."

Everyone exchanged looks, the one thing they shared between them being that
they all felt this to be a really bad idea.


"What is she thinking?" Noah asked, tearing his roll apart before biting
into it aggressively. "I mean, I'm not sure, but I almost think some people
can't be helped."

"Did you see that...I wanna say guy with the-"

"Yeah...all I have to say on that is, how?" Zoey asked, cutting Trey off.

They were at dinner back at Statham Hall. After managing to come up with
decent excuses as to why they couldn't help Grace right away with her new
project, Grace had decided their avoidance was a good thing as she needed
more time to figure out what her first big step would be as newly elected
president of the Pink Panthers.

Which left everyone else free to pick apart the inner workings of Grace's
obviously fragile mind.

"When she said she didn't need to talk after what happened, I believed her
cuz she's Grace and she's my friend and she's strong. But this is stuff she
has going on now is so beyond anything I would have thought she'd come up
with."


"Well in her defense, Trey, it's not like she went off and started hurting
herself. It may be off color for her but it could be a good thing."

"In what universe is hanging around with a bunch of fourth class losers a
good thing?" Amber asked, taking a seat as she and Jesse joined the three
at dinner.

"Great, you tracked us down," Zoey mumbled, completely aware of the fact
that them being here wasn't random. In fact, for some reason, Jesse had
been following them around all day, claiming that he needed not be alone
with Amber for fear of what she might do to him.

Jesse took a seat beside Zoey, the only seat left on the side, forcing and
obviously annoyed Amber to take a seat across from him next to Noah.

"I know people who aren't weird," Amber spoke, shaking her bottle of
flavored mineral water. "People that throw parties I can get us invited
to."

"We know people like that," Noah started, Trey stopping before letting him
finish the rest of the statement he knew was coming.

"Your friend has gone some kind of coocoo hasn't she?" Jesse asked, looking
over the cafeteria food he'd actually decided to purchase.  "It's like she
can't even function on that of a normal level."

"She functions just fine thanks," Trey spoke breathing through his nose,
slowly getting peeved as he took offense to the things that were being said
about his friend.

"Well if she needs a guy to get over that guy-"

"So your video hit number one on Youtube fast. Got over THAT yet?"  Trey
interrupted.

Everyone grew quiet, Jesse waiting in anticipation over what Amber's
response would be. Amber, for her part decided to ignore to comment,
instead turning to her vegetable lasagna.

And things pretty much stayed quiet between all of them for a little while
before Grace broke the silence as she approached everyone.

"There you guys are, I've been looking all over for you," she spoke, as if
she literally had been looking all over for them.

"Yeah because we've only been eating here the past two weeks," Zoey
mumbled, deciding not to say anything more after catching a sharp glance
from Trey.

"I figured it out," Grace spoke, pushing Amber out of the way to take a
seat next to Noah.

She'd come with pamphlets, brochures and notepads full of information, the
likes of which didn't seem would be very interesting at all.

For Grace's sake, Noah, Zoey and Trey all decided to feign interest while
Amber, who had yet to pick herself up from the floor checked a text message
and Jesse scanned the room for good looking girls.

"Grace, don't stress yourself out with this club now," Trey started.

"I told you, they're called the Pink Panthers. And they're the only thing
keeping me from thinking about how I almost became the internets black
Paris Hilton. Now shut up and listen to me boy."

"Yes ma'am," Trey mumbled, straightening up as Grace sprawled all of her
information out over the table, which actually managed to catch Jesse's
attention.

"I believe all the learning is done with for the day," he spoke
sarcastically.

"So Hurricane Katrina sucked ya'll. Bush pretty much said fuck all ya'll
poor negros for living there and did jack shit," Grace started.

"Evidence enough that America needs a total revamping of it's governmental
system," Jesse mumbled.

"I mean, we still got people running around homeless. That's why I was
thinking we could help build some homes for the families that were victims
of the storm. You know, charity work?"


"I'm sorry did you say charity?" Jesse asked, sounding disgusted with the
thought.

Everyone exchanged yet another one of their shared glances as they thought
over Grace's words. Grace for a her part looked everyone over, a large
smile on her face as she figured everyone would be jumping all over the
opportunity.

"Oh come on, I didn't ask ya'll to help me sell crack on the streets or
anything," Grace defended herself.

"Yes and thank god for that because fake hood thug wouldn't look very
convincing for me," Jesse spoke, sounding relieved.

"Plus this shit looks good on a resume ya'll," Grace continued. "I was
talking to Sherry.."

Everyone but Trey moaned and sighed. For the past week Grace had been
talking nonstop with the school counselor about her feelings and her
future, coming to the conclusion that she just needed more to do with her
time. And she'd been telling everyone all about it. As if the fact that she
was taking seven classes wasn't a good enough way to pass the time.

"She says companies like people who've experienced being in different
scenarios."

"When you say scenario-"

"Scenario Amber, god, don't get yourself over involved in something
stupid. Again," Jesse sighed, stopping Amber from making a fool of herself
before she started.

"Look, ya'll is supposed to be my friends and friends support each other
with all their shit. Now I'm asking ya'll, please, just do this for me.
Please?"

Everyone exchanged looks once again. There was no denying that Grace a hard
person to say no to but when it came right down to it, each person saw a
different reason for wanting to do this for her, everyone if they were all
just a little bit jaded at the thought.

And this was something that Grace could tell as a smile formed over her
face and she settled herself a bit at the table, realizing that the hard
part of her night was over.

"So, what were we talking about before I showed up?" she asked.

"Amber's stalking me-"

"Please Jesse, get over yourself. Do you even KNOW what stalking is?
Because we all know I know about it."

"Yes, in every sense of the word, Amber."

"Moving on!" Trey spoke, raising a hand.


"And I try and I try and I get nowhere," Shawn complained, as he replaced a
pillow cover and tossed it atop the bed roughly. "I don't understand it."

Ben sighed, annoyed as he looked away from his computer in another attempt
to pay attention to his friends sorrows.

"You know what I don't understand? Why your entire world has to revolve
around some guy," he replied.

"He's not just some guy, Ben. He's THE guy. The only guy that I've ever
been attracted to and probably the reason why I am the way I am now."

"Yeah, yeah dude. Three shades self absorption and jealousy. Really looks
good on you."

"Hey, I am NOT self absorbed. I just have a problem. A really long lasting,
crucial problem but a problem all the same."

Ben watched, half amused as Shawn changed the sheets to a bed that he had
never slept in and turned around in his chair, tossing a football above his
head.

"You know you wouldn't be having this problem right now if you'd have just
pledged a fraternity like me," he stated.

"Ben, where do you think we are? You stay in Ark Hall, like me."

"Yeah but in the good, non crispy part. Besides you know as well as I do
it's only because the rents, and by rents I mean mom, paid for an entire
year of dorm living up front."

"Aww, she wants her little baby to succeed in life. If only she could see
what was hanging on your wall right now. Or what was on your computer last
night."

"Which reminds me, I need to take a trip home one of these days, pick up
some forgotten porn and bongs I left."


"Nothing smarter than leaving incriminating evidence around for your
parents to go nutso over," Shawn spoke before sighing and falling back on
Ben's bed.

Realizing that his friend really needed to talk, Ben decided to switch the
focus back over to Shawn.

"Look, maybe we just oughtta find you a hot chick. Or wait...dude. Sorry,
still not used to that," he started.

"I told you, Trey is the only guy I wanna be with and even if that weren't
true, what makes you think I can't find a guy on my own?" Shawn asked.

"The fact that you can't break away from looking so needy-"

"Hey, Shawn White is NOT needy," Shawn objected, sitting up quickly.

"Then prove it," Ben replied, a smirk on his face.

Shawn stared back at his best friend wondering how exactly he was going to
prove to his friend that he was fine while simultaneously getting Trey to
consider the two of them as a couple.


"Don't tell me, you two are gonna sleep together again," Jeremy spoke from
his computer desk as Trey and Noah tried to finish changing the sheets to a
bed they'd been working on for nearly half an hour.

"Actually I was thinking we'd put the beds together, have ourselves a nice
three way spoon session," Noah giggled before kissing over Trey's neck, who
slapped Noah with a pillow and moved to the other side of the room, Noah
following behind.

"Nice try, jackass. The bed's a bunk," Jeremy mumbled. "Which, all rhymes
aside, puts me in a funk like you wouldn't believe. I'm not a big fan of
the top, ceiling slash claustrophobia causing bed."

"You were in the room before me Jeremy. As in, you picked the top," Noah
laughed as Trey kept Noah's shirt from him.

Jeremy rolled his eyes and sighed, annoyed as his roommate and his
roommate's boyfriend continued to be their usual blissfully in love selves
while he did what he usually did and tried to ignore them. The problem was,
it was getting harder to ignore people who were obviously falling deeper in
love with each passing day.

"Yeah well that was when I thought I had the room all to myself since the
first three didn't work out," Jeremy replied.

"First three?" Noah asked, curiously.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Jeremy replied annoyed. "Pretty much done
with that though so don't worry about it."

Noah and Trey exchanged what were at first worried glances before each
cracking a smile that led to full-fledged laughter with Noah tackling Trey
to the bed before tickling him furiously.

"Gee, what happened to getting plenty of rest for tomorrow?" Jeremy asked.

Noah tried to catch his breath before sitting up, Trey first to beat him to
it.

"No, he's right," Trey started. "Grace wants us there at 9 tomorrow. I
don't think my body can handle getting up early for something that isn't
school."

"Sure that's the only reason?" Jeremy mumbled.

"Jeremy..." Noah sighed, before standing up and walking over to his sink to
start getting ready for bed.

"So what exactly are you doing tomorrow anyway?" Jeremy asked, turning his
attention away from his game.

"I don't know," Trey started, as he peeled off his socks.  "Grace won't
tell us. Which isn't exactly a good thing."

"She probably wants us to gather homeless people on the street and take
them to soup kitchens or something," Noah spoke, rubbing shaving cream over
his face.  "Which has nothing to do with those freaks in the club but
whatever."

"Noah, don't call them that-"

"Eyelid piercings, remember?"

Trey figured Noah had a point and decided not to comment further.

"Well then," Jeremy started. "Sweet dreams then. Oh and by that I mean lets
have some actual dreams tonight instead of all night long make out
nightmare inducing sessions."

"What do you say babe?" Noah asked, shaving the left side of his face.

Trey sighed before crossing his legs Indian style atop the bed.

"Something tells me I'm gonna need my energy for tomorrow so yeah, that's
fine," he replied.

Jeremy smiled to himself, happy that he'd have a normal roommate for the
night.  Albeit one that just happened to be bunking with another guy.

Trey smiled to himself knowing that even if he was expecting the worst for
tomorrow, he'd still have Noah by his side there to help him through it.

Noah however did not smile. He wasn't a complete idiot. He knew the real
reason why Jeremy wanted them to use the literal meaning of the term `sleep
together'. All he knew was that he needed some serious alone time, away
from Grace, away from Jeremy, away from everyone, with his boyfriend soon.


Jesse liked his bedroom to be a very distinctly and original way. He liked
his sheets to be turned in, out and over exactly three times, three times a
day. He liked the room to smell faintly like cinnamon, enough to where he'd
know it was there, but not so much to where he'd always know. He wanted it
to surprise him sometimes.

He liked his curtains pulled up a certain length, only so much that the
moon would be able to shine through at night so that he could see it but
not so much it would keep him up at night.

He liked it to be no less than 60 degrees at night and to counter that
temperature he liked to have only the thickest, most expensive Persian bed
covers, three to be exact, to cover him at night.

He liked all that but what he enjoyed the most was sleeping alone. He'd
never actually `sleep' sleep with anyone if he could help it. He liked the
feeling of having an entire king sized bed to himself. He liked knowing
that if he ever somehow managed to get hot in bed that all he'd have to do
is roll over to the other side and cool off.

Sleeping alone suited him.

Sleeping with Amber, however, did not.

"No, absolutely not!" Jesse exclaimed. "You're the one who agreed to
volunteer for the insane idea to waste an entire Saturday helping the
school's most reckless band of miscreants and if I'm to do that, I'm going
to need my sleep."

"So get your sleep. I'll just keep you company," Amber giggled, trying to
crawl into Jesse's bed as Jesse did his best to keep his tightly packed
blankets from allowing Amber any room to do so.

"Amber, you have a room. And a bed. You could try sleeping there and
leaving me the hell alone."

"You're cranky when you're tired. Let's turn the lights out now."

Jesse watched as Amber tried to crawl into bed from the bottom. Realizing
things were slipping south fast, Jesse decided to turn out the lights,
preventing Amber from seeing anything.

The room grew quiet and still for a moment as Jesse decided to just listen
for Amber's breathing. When she didn't move for several moments, he sat up
and looked around only to be knocked backwards a moment later when Amber
made her way up to the top of the bed.

"My bloody nose! Jesus now I'm going to need a plastic surgeon!"

"You're supposed to be the guy in this relationship. Quit bitching."

"What relationship? And as long as we're calling a bitch a bitch-"

"Jesse, it's almost midnight. I think we should save this conversation for
the morning. I need my beauty sleep."

Jesse sat in the dark speechless. He hadn't felt this helpless and taken
advantage of since his brother. He didn't know what to do. On the one hand
he couldn't stand Amber's presence. But on the other, he had to realize
that he actually liked all the attention Amber was showing him despite the
way he was treating her. It made him feel almost like he had a reason to
call himself special. A reason more valid than all the other reasons.

"You think you could move over some? You're taking up all the cool spots,"
Amber yawned before turning around to face the other way.

But then she'd open her mouth, Jesse thought, and the status quo would
rebuild itself just as fast as it had diminished.

Getting Amber off his back was apparently still priority one.


Trey knew that Grace was obviously still trying to get over the idea of
being the eye of some perverted losers affections and almost allowing
herself to become one of his helpless little victims, but he had no idea
that she'd completely gone and lost her mind.

Because when Grace said she wanted to help the poor and build a better
image for The Pink Panthers, he had no idea just how big of an
understatement she was making.

"I'm sorry, you want me to what?" Jesse asked for the third time in under
two minutes.

Everyone stood in one semi aligned line staring at the frame of what was
obviously eventually going to be a home. A home that Grace apparently
wanted them all to build themselves.

"Ugh, why ya'll gotta act like I just told you when you was gonna die?"
Grace asked, a hint of utmost positivity in her voice. "We only building a
house."

"Only?"  Trey scoffed. "I can't even change a flat tire. What makes you
think I know anything about building a house?"

"What makes you think any of us know anything?" Grace retorted. "Trey, I
already told you, were doing this to help spread more campus awareness
about the Pink Panthers and all the good the club can do."

"We should listen to the girl," Jesse spoke while simultaneously lifting
and examining a nail gun with curiosity. "A little self promotion never
hurt anyone."

"Yeah well it's not self promotion I'm worried about," Trey mumbled before
turning and noticing Shawn staring at him from the corner of his eye.

As soon as Noah noticed it he walked over and obstructed their view of each
other, crossing his arms as he looked over some blueprints for the house.

"Grace, this isn't something we can do in a couple days in our spare time,"
Trey started. "This kind of thing takes months. And dedication."

"Which I'm hoping you're all willing to give me," Grace replied.  "You know
it's for a good cause."

Trey looked around at the house site before catching Shawn's eye again.

"I'm not so sure about that," he mumbled as Grace started past him and made
her way into the center of a large group.

"Alright everyone," she started. "I think if we're gonna spend the next
three months working together..."

"Three months!" Jesse gasped, sounding ready to die from the thought alone.

"Yeah boy. This ain't Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I ain't building no
damn house in a week. Anyways, I think we should get introductions outta
the way before we do anything. Now, you all know me already. Somebody else
go."


Everyone looked around at each other, some doing their best not to make eye
contact with others, everyone feeling just a bit too nervous to introduce
themselves.

"I'll go!" Amber exclaimed.

"What...Amber, no, Amber!" Jesse spoke in high whisper before noticing the
mean glare of a few of the Pink Panther members and backing down.

"I'm Amber. I'm in a sorority. I had a 3.5 last semester. And I'm dating
Jesse Yorkshire. A celebrity. Yes, you can be jealous."

A few people clapped awkwardly as Amber, obviously proud of herself started
away from the center and back over to Jesse, who was beginning to think
she'd lost her mind and decided to go next to debunk her statements.

"Why yes it's true I'm a celebrity," he started.  "The fact of the matter
is I am not now, now have I ever-"

"You're all gay right? You'd completely understand kissing other guys
right?" Amber spoke aloud, no one but Jesse quite sure of what she was even
talking about. "Well, except for this one. She's a closet lesbian."

"Thanks Barbie," Zoey started in a faux cheery voice. "And now for a bit of
truth. I'm Zoey, NOT a closet lesbian despite what this pinheaded moron
wants you to think, and I think this is gonna be a neat little experience."

With no one volunteering to go next, a random guy from the group spoke up.

"I'm not sure if I can top everybody else but I'll go anyway," he
started. "Uh, I'm Dylan, I'm a freshman new to the whole gay friendly
thing-"

"Me too!" Ben spoke out. When he noticed several of the guys were looking
enticingly at him he decided to clarify. "My best friend's new at it. I'm
new to dealing with it...I'm not gay. Not that there's anything wrong with
being gay. Did I mention my best friend is gay?"

"Uh, thanks Ben," Shawn spoke, sounding slightly embarrassed.  "It's true,
I'm gay. But it doesn't really matter right now since the guy I thought I
was in love with is kinda being an asshole and not talking to me."

"Hey, I'm Noah. Boyfriend to the asshole in question, no offense Trey. And
just wanted to mention there's a reason why no one wants to talk to
you. Bet you were gonna leave that part out huh?"


"Oooh, are we playing two truths and a lie again?" Amber spoke up.
"Because that game was fun. I learned a lot that day."

"Really? Only just that day?" Sierra asked sarcastically.

"This one is the whore of the group," Amber spoke up. "You know, the real
life leave your money on the dresser, fuck a whore-"

"Shut up bitch!"


"Okay, introductions over!" Grace shouted. "Now, building a house.  Let's
consult the how-to guide shall we?"


It took nearly two hours to figure out what step one and two would be, but
once they started, everyone really got into their work. They'd figured out
that it was really going to take at least three months for them to build
the house and that was if everything went according to their plans, but
things seemed to be going fine.

They'd been working in tandem since about noon, only stopping briefly for a
lunch break around three. As it was getting close to sundown, everyone was
beginning to feel the strain of building a house.

"Ugh, this much physical labor and I'm not even getting paid?" Jesse
groaned as he reached behind and grabbed his lower back. "And why do I feel
like such complete shit?"

"That's called working harder than you're used to. Or at all," Zoey
replied, tossing down a hand saw. "Get used to it. Apparently this place
owns our souls the next three months."

Amber giggled while Jesse groaned once again. Zoey stood by idly before
noticing one of the lesbian members of the group, Ginger, eyeing her with
lustful eyes.  Cringing a little, Zoey walked off, passing Trey who was
hard at work separating pieces of alike wood into their rightful piles.

"You okay?" Noah asked, walking up behind Trey.

Trey lifted another piece of wood, a bit angrily, and tossed it into a pile
to which it didn't belong.

"Almost fifty degrees outside and he feels the need to be outside
shirtless?" was Trey's response.

For the past four hours, Trey had been watching Shawn flirt with nearly
every cute guy in the Pink Panther's. And while there weren't many of that
variety, one especially, Dylan, seemed to be the one Shawn was flirting
with the most. He'd even convinced Dylan to work shirtless outside in the
middle of January.

"Stupid," Trey mumbled.

Noah looked over and watched Shawn laughing at something with Dylan,
noticing how obvious it was that he was trying to get Trey's attention
before looking back over at Trey who was still angrily tossing planks of
wood into the wrong piles.

"Here, babe, maybe you should let me help you with that," he said.

"No, see I can handle this. Not like Shawn who has to get every guy here to
do stuff for him. Even Jesse's been doing his own work, even if it is for
just five minutes at a time!"

Trey's words had been spoken a little loudly and had been heard by Shawn,
who briefly looked over at Trey, before turning his attention back to
Dylan's chest which he was now stroking idly.

"You know what gets me is how we're supposed to be building a home for
charity and yet everyone is treating it like a means to a stupid end," Noah
spoke.

"Not everyone's doing that Noah," Trey replied. "Some of us aren't afraid
of hard work. Some of us actually know what we're doing."

"Yeah?  Then why are you tossing that wood into the wrong piles?"

Trey stopped working and looked down before sighing and taking a seat on
the damp, recently snow covered ground.

"Look, maybe we should take some time for just us," Noah started, taking a
seat next to Trey. "Take your mind off...of everything."

Trey wasn't really sure he was ever going to not be able to think about
Shawn in one way or the other. But he did know that he at least owed it to
his boyfriend to try to put more into their relationship than he was
giving. He already felt guilty enough as it was.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked, trying his hardest to focus only on
Noah.

"Well," Noah started, wrapping his arms around Trey and slowly rocking him
in his arms.  "I was thinking a nice dinner, away. Downtown or
something. Maybe some dancing-"

"Dancing?"

"Dancing. And a nice walk in the park. It'll be good for us."

Trey wasn't so sure but he had to admit that the allure of the night did
sound really tempting.

"Okay," he replied. "Let's sneak out of here before Grace has us building
into overtime hours."

Noah laughed before helping Trey up as they tried to slip away unnoticed,
completely unaware that someone had noticed and was now quite upset.


"I hope they aren't dead," Amber spoke. "They make a cute little
couple. They should have their own show."

"Naw they ain't dead girl," Grace replied, shaking a mountain of salt over
her fries. "Ugh, why the hell you eating with us anyway? I don't need your
motormouth shit tonight."


Realizing that Trey and Noah had snuck out on her, Grace had decided to
call it a day early on and had convinced that local school restaurant to
treat everyone to dinner. Granted it was an all you can eat buffet that
catered to nearly everyone with the least amount of money, but everyone was
feeling like they could eat for days after the amount of work they'd
done. Plus, Grace figured it gave them all a great opportunity to do some
bonding.

"Because Sheniqua-"

"Say what!?"

"Tonight, is all about bonding. I mean, we're supposed to be about
unity. Peace, love and understanding!"

"I'ma knock the peace, love and spit out yo mouth if you don't shut up
talking to me girl-"

"Okay, Grace, let's calm down. We have enough food here to last us an
eternity and everyone seems like they're in a good mood, which is
surprising considering the amount of face jewelry that had to be put back
in."

"Thank you Ellen," Amber spoke cheerily. "One of these days you'll have to
introduce us to your girlfriend. I bet she's hot."

Zoey clenched her teeth together ready to strike any second now.

"Amber, I believe that tort was made for your mouth. Why don't you invite
it inside and leave the chit chat to the grown ups, okay?" Jesse spoke as
if he were speaking to a three year old before practically shoving food
into Amber's mouth.

"Thank god," Sierra started, swirling around her spaghetti with a
fork. "Ironic it takes food to shut the elephant up."

Amber was responding with some kind of remark but couldn't be really made
out with the amount of food in her mouth and therefore was not paid much
attention to.

"So where ARE those two gorgeous friends of yours?" Sierra asked.

"Who knows," Grace sighed.

"Or cares," Jesse asked just for the sake of things.

"Off fucking like little rabbits, I hope," Sierra replied. "I mean can you
imagine what their kids would look like if they could have any.
Oh. My. God."

"Well we've certainly seen the depths of which your mind will travel,"
Jesse replied. "I'd ask if anyone was willing to put up with more
sophisticated dinner affair but considering the place you've all chosen to
eat I'd say sophistication is off the table."

"Speaking of tables, what kinda wood ya'll think this thing is made out
of?"  Grace asked, suddenly inspecting the table they were eating at.
"It'd make a good front door for the house don't ya'll think?"

"You mean the house that's three months away from even needing any doors?"
Zoey asked. "I think we should just focus on the here on now. Everyone
remembers school right?"

"Don't remind me," Sierra mumbled. "We're only three weeks in and I already
hate all my classes."

"I can assure you I have more reason to hate them based on classmate
selection alone," Jesse replied, referring to the fact that the two of them
shared every single class they had together.

"Ya'll think this table cloth is real silk?" Grace asked, now inspecting
the checkered red and white cloth covering the table.

"Yes, I believe the blood stains under my plate are authentic as well,"
Jesse spoke with distaste.

"Let's just try to aim for normal for time being, okay Grace?" Zoey asked.

Grace barely paid attention to Zoey before she looked up and noticed
herself on the television screen above her head on the opposite side of the
wall. She didn't pay much attention to the fact that everyone else at the
table was on screen as well. All she saw was herself and all she could
think about was how she almost became some Internet slut. Some helpless
little victim.

"Turn that off," she mumbled.

Everyone exchanged glances.

"What...Grace...what are you-"

"Turn that shit off!" Grace shouted, loudly this time before standing up
and walking straight out of the restaurant, leaving Zoey to follow.

"Well, that'd be an ace way to get out of paying a bill if we had one to
pay," Jesse mumbled.

"Does this mean we don't get free ice cream now?" Amber asked, serious with
her question.

"Ugh, like you need any more food," Sierra replied before promptly stuffing
some pasta into her own mouth.


"So this is nice huh?" Noah asked again for the second time in ten minutes.

They were together, he knew that but for some reason he felt strangely. He
thought a nice relaxing date with Trey at a semi expensive restaurant would
cheer him up and take his mind of off that loser Shawn, but apparently he
was trying too hard. Or not hard enough, he hadn't figured it out yet.
Regardless of what he tried, he couldn't seem to get the momentum of their
date in order.

"Yeah," Trey replied with a beaming smile on his face. "This is a really
nice place. I hope you're not spending too much.."

"Oh no. No, it's fine. My parent's send me more than enough hush money
every week. So long as they get to keep on keeping on, I get to keep
spending their money."

Trey, having come from a home with one parent with two jobs, money was a
big concern of his and really saw their date at a place that he didn't even
think fit the two of them well as wasteful. But Noah was his boyfriend and
he'd vowed to make more of an effort to appreciate and pay more attention
to him, even if there was always something to distract him.

"Uh, so, we should probably figure out what we're gonna order huh?" Trey
suggested.

"Oh, yeah, right," Noah said nervously grabbing a menu and looking it over.

While Noah wasn't thinking twice about the prices, Trey was cringing at the
prices of the items. Even the appetizers were more expensive than he
figured they'd be. He was almost tempted to just order a milkshake and call
that dinner. But again, he was all about the trying and the trying to be a
better boyfriend far outweighed the ridiculous prices of the food on any
menu any day.

Trey smiled at Noah again to which Noah returned the smile, staring deeply
into his boyfriend's eye before noticing that someone was calling his name.

He wasn't sure he'd head the name right. Maybe it was something else. Maybe
it was another Noah. When he heard it again, this time the voice
accompanying the name sounding familiar as well, every part inside him sunk
so far into himself that he felt like he'd melt right in his chair.

Not here, he thought. Not now.

He decided that he'd just pretend to ignore it while figuring out how to
get himself and Trey out of the restaurant as quickly as possible.

"You know what, you're right. This is a little much. Why don't we go try
JoJo's down the street."

Noah had only managed to fold up his napkin and stand, Trey halfway there
as well before he felt a hand on his shoulder and a presence behind him,
already knowing who it'd be before he turned around.

"Baby bro, what are you doing here man?" came the overly loud greeting of
his older brother Bryce.

Trey, a little confused forced a smile as he looked between Noah, the guy
who was obviously Noah's brother and the girl he was with.

Noah sighed and turned around to face his smiling brother, who took a hold
of him and hugged him tightly.

"This is awesome huh? Us here at the same time. What are the odds?"  Bryce
spoke.

Apparently against him, Noah thought as he forced a smile.

"Oh, this is Sara. My date," Bryce spoke as Noah put out a hand for the
obligatory handshake. He already knew without further introduction that
Sara was the latest in a long line of `date's Bryce had racked up since
graduating. It was always the same. Find someone rich that can pay your way
through life so you don't have to work. Those were words Bryce had actually
spoken to him. Words he'd uttered while he was still in high school. Some
motivating role model his brother was.

"Who's this?" Bryce asked a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Nobody, a friend...look, we're done here so we're just gonna go-"

"There's no plates. You haven't even ordered," Bryce spoke, looking over
the table. "If you're short on money, I'm sure Sara could lend you some."

"No actually I think we're just gonna go," Noah replied, motioning for Trey
to start towards the door. "But it was nice to meet you Sara. Uh...good to
see you Bryce. See you around Easter, or something."


And that was all Noah would allow out of the situation as he started
towards the exit wishing that he'd never even thought to have a date night.


"It's like a bad dream I keep on having," Grace started.

Now suited comfortably in her pajamas and in the comfort of her own dorm
room, Grace and Zoey were sitting atop Grace's bed, bowls of untouched ice
cream in hand and the gorgeous faces of McDreamy and McSteamy dominated the
television screen in front of them.

"We have sex, I end up with some nasty ass STD and that fool ends up with a
video of me getting the STD for the world to see," she continued. "I don't
tell Sherry this you know. She's too nice. Too happy. It makes me wanna be
nice and happy but it don't make me wanna talk about this stuff."

"Which is what we've been trying to get you to do," Zoey spoke
comfortingly. "We all can tell how stressed out you've been. I mean, taking
over the Pink Panthers and plans to build a house for charity..."

"Are good ideas," Grace finished. "Just because something terrible almost
happened to me doesn't mean I have to let it get to me. I ain't dead or
anything. I can do this shit."

"I know you can, I just think you should slow down some. Don't let it get
to you as much."

Grace sighed and looked down at her melting ice cream.

"When I saw myself on that television, I thought, that could've been me,
you know? It's not scary that it almost happened. It's scary that I almost
let it happen. I thought I was smart, you know?"

"Grace, you know you're smart. Look at you, a sophomore in college in your
first year. Six classes a semester. 3.9 GPA last semester. You're
definitely on your way to becoming somebody. And I have to say, this house
building thing, not such a bad idea."

"Really?"

"Demanding, tiring and almost impossibly insane, but it'll be worth it once
we get it all finished. Plus it's gonna look good on a resume."

"Hey!"

"You said it not me," Zoey laughed.

Grace turned her attention to the television.

"Ugh, please tell me I didn't just come off as being as whiny and self
absorbed as that bitch," she asked. "Shit, don't nobody care about her. I'm
cuter than her."

"And just as damaged," Zoey replied before catching a pillow in the face
from Zoey.


"And the look on his face was priceless!" Shawn spoke as he paced shirtless
around Ben's room.

"So is this gonna be our new routine?" Ben asked from his computer desk.
"We go work out and you come back and go all Days of Our Gay Lives on me?"

"What?  I have problems, you're my best friend. It's called listening."

"I'm a guy. You want somebody to listen to you go find a chick. Or better
yet go find a boyfriend or something. Me? Not really into the whole let's
make this guy jealous scenario."

"But you agree, I made Trey jealous today right? I mean, you saw the way he
was looking at me today right?"

"I think you're missing the entire point of our friendship.  Remember
vagina? Pussy? Remember how I'm into that and you're not?  Remember how I'm
NOT Mandy Moore?"

"Fine, whatever," Shawn chuckled before finally tossing himself back on
Ben's bed. "I can't believe we're building a house."

"I can't believe I agreed to join a gay club. The things I do for my best
friend."

"Because you love me," Shawn chuckled.

"Baby steps man. We'll get there when we get there. In the meantime I think
you should save this entire conversation for somebody who gets it."

And that was what Shawn suddenly realized. Sure he was a popular guy with
plenty of people he talked to but not any of them were truly his
friends. His friends had been Trey, Grace and Zoey and now with things so
weird between himself and Trey, it was almost like his only friend was a
guy who embodied everything he used to be in every sense of the idea.

He really had no one else to talk about these things with and it disturbed
him so much he felt a shiver run down his back.

It wasn't for lack of trying, however. He wanted to put his life in order
and had to try repeatedly with Ben but he finally reached an understanding
with his best friend. Which gave him hope for things to come regarding
himself and Trey.

Of course, things to come weren't things now. And right now he wished that
there was at least one other person he could talk to about what he was
going through.


"Soo..."  Trey started.

After what seemed like endless moments of silence between them, which
started after Noah's rushing the two of them out of the restaurant and out
into the streets of downtown, Trey finally decided that some talking was
better than nothing.

"Wanna go see a movie?" he asked, trying to sound as upbeat and happy as
possibly.

But it was almost like speaking to a brick wall for him. He knew that
obviously there was some serious family history between Noah and his
brother. He just didn't want to be shut out. The last thing he wanted were
more excuses as to why the two of them shouldn't be together and boyfriend
with some serious baggage was starting to look like it'd make it's way
pretty high up that list.

Noah hadn't responded. When Trey looked over at him it was almost scary to
see the look on his face. He looked angry enough to push someone into the
way of a car speeding down the street if they got in his way and even that
probably wouldn't make him feel any better.

Trey wanted to help but he literally hadn't the slightest idea how to go
about trying to help with the absolute lack of information he had regarding
the situation.

So he decided that just walking downtown along with his boyfriend was fine
for the time being and took a hold of Noah's arm, clenching it tightly and
resting his head on Noah's broad shoulders. He knew absolutely no one he
knew would be around to see him and even if they were, chances are those
people already knew he was gay.

That was the thing he loved about the place. There wasn't the slightest
chance that he'd have to worry about running into someone he knew since he
didn't know enough people to count with both hands.

Almost immediately after the thought had simmered into his mind did he feel
like wishing he could zap it from his mind completely once he saw one of
those few people he happened to know. One that he had hoped to never see
again in his entire life.

Trey decided to do some fast thinking and without alerting Noah whatsoever,
he turned the both of them around and started them in the opposite
direction, without any comment from Noah regarding the entire incident.

It was what Trey wanted. No questions, so that he could sink out of the
place and be on his way home. Hopefully the potential nightmare that could
arise from the situation could be avoided.

Of course it was his hoping for the best that seemed to get him into
trouble once again as he soon heard his name being called behind him.

Trey ignored it and Noah hadn't seemed to hear it so the two of them kept
walking. They kept walking about as much as they could before there were
promptly two tall hulking figures standing in their way.

And this seemed to be the thing that brought Noah back into the world of
reality.

"You two assholes wanna get out the way?" Noah asked, gruffly.

"Naw, naw sure thing. Wouldn't wanna interrupt your date," Dro directed his
comment exclusively to Trey, looking only at Trey.

Noah looked between the two guys he'd never seen before and his boyfriend
before pulling Trey closer to him.

"That shit is fucking messed up dog," the one Trey had never seen before
spoke. "They gay ain't they."

"Naw man, cuz we do that shit all the time huh?" Dro spoke.  "Course these
is some punk ass faggots."

Noah started towards Dro but Trey held him back.

"Let's just go," Trey spoke, for some reason almost in a whisper.

"What I don't get an introduction to the boyfriend?" Dro asked. "I thought
me and you was boys man."

Once again Noah looked between Dro and Trey, this time more confused than
cautious.

"Trey...what's going on?"

"Bet mommy don't know about you over here getting ass fucked by some white
ass cracker do she?"

Trey was going to see exactly how long he could get away with pretending he
didn't know Dro before the entire situation blew up in his face before he
realized that it was too late and the entire situation had already become
way out of hand.

"Look, just leave me alone alright. I don't want any trouble," Trey spoke
in a low growl.

"I don't want any trouble," Dro mocked. "This ain't about you boy. I ain't
concerned with you and yo shit, even though it is some interesting shit."

Even though Dro had left him for dead once before, the thing that worried
Trey the most at the current moment was what Dro had seen and how big a
mouth he had.  The last thing he wanted to do was break his mother's heart.

"Dro-"

"Dro?  Grace's Dro?"

"Please, just go away," Trey spoke, this time more pleadingly.

Dro chuckled before rubbing his hands together and looking Noah and Trey
over.

"Aight," he responded. "I got business to take of anyway."

Trey didn't resume breathing until he could no longer see Dro or his
friend.  He didn't even look over at Noah even though he knew Noah was
staring at him, waiting for some sort of explanation.

"As in the guy that tried to kill you, Dro?" Noah asked, once again
sounding highly pissed. "Explain please?"

"You first," Trey retorted, feeling a bit fed up as well.

Noah started but stopped and sighed before looking back over at Trey,
crossed arms, foot tapping and all and looking away at the brightly lit,
pedestrian covered streets.

"Looks like we have some issues to work out," he spoke simply.

"Yep," Trey replied, neither bothering to look the other in the eye.



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Copyright 2007