Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:24:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jo Jo <crossingboi2004@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Living Years Chap. 27 "On Every Occasion"

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 27


Chapter 27 "On Every Occasion"



"It's, and I'm completely serious when I say this, every freshman's
absolute worst nightmare," Zoey spoke.

Zoey, Grace, Trey and Noah stood staring at a flyer advertising the
impending Parent-Student weekend. The flyer had been so alluring and
captivating to them that it was causing them to temporarily forgo feeling
like their body parts were about to fall off, as it was mid February and
the coldest it had been since it had snowed earlier in the winter.

The world was in motion all around them but they were all trapped in their
moment, staring at the sign wondering what was to come of it.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad can it?" Grace asked.

"Just in case you thought you could escape it, the school mailed the forms
out early last week, before these flyers went out. They actually rented out
the local hotels just for all the parents they're expecting, oh and they're
expecting a lot," Zoey replied.

"Like how much a lot?" Grace asked.

"Well, last year there were about 120 girls on my floor. Of those 120, 98
were freshman. 85 of them had their parents here that weekend."

No one said anything but they were all thinking the absolute worst thoughts
after hearing that because they all knew their parents.

Trey's mother was working two jobs and renting out the upstairs apartment
in their home just to afford to send him to college, and that was on top of
him taking out financial aid loans. He knew as hard as she worked, if given
the chance to see how he'd been doing in school so far, she would readily
jump on it.

Noah knew his father didn't expect much of him in college. Even though he'd
made pretty good grades in high school, he knew his father didn't hold high
enough esteem for him as a person and would definitely want to see if all
his money was being put to good use.

Grace's mom would take any excuse she could to get away from her demanding
job as a teacher. Even though she wasn't a freshman classification wise,
this was her first year at the school and she knew that still made her
eligible for the weekend.

Essentially, the three of them were inwardly panicking.

"What does this mean then?" Trey found himself asking aloud.

Zoey turned to face him. She was obviously having fun with the idea that
her friends were going to be put through the same kind of torture she'd
been through last year and had absolutely no idea of how bad things would
be for them.

"It probably means that since none of us are turning out to be what our
parents wanted us to be, we're screwed," Noah sighed, leaning against the
wooden shack like object that held all the flyers.

"How you know that boy? Maybe I'm exactly what my mama wanted me to be,"
Grace spoke, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, because I'm sure your mom wanted you dating a drug dealing loser who
cheated on you and almost killed one of your friends," Zoey said.

"That's in the past," Grace spoke. "I got Josh now."

Realizing there was nothing left for them to process regarding the flyer
itself, the four of them started walking, no particular destination in mind
even though the four of them each had separate classes they needed to head
off to.

"So how are things with you and Josh, by the way?" Zoey asked, locking arms
with Grace as the two of them walked side by side.

"I don't think I ever knew what a boyfriend was," Grace replied. "This
guy's opening doors for me, pulling out chairs for me, pays for everything,
actually listens to me when I talk....it's like-"

"He's the perfect guy the rest of us want to steal from you?" Zoey finished
to Grace laughing.

"One way to put it, yeah," Grace replied.

"Great, so while you have the perfect guy and Noah and Trey are the perfect
guys, my own boyfriend is too wrapped up in his latest project to remember
I exist," Zoey spoke, instantly causing Trey, Noah and Grace to want to
laugh but forcing them to hold them in.

To this day, a good 6 months after meeting her, no one had ever seen Zoey's
boyfriend. No one could remember ever hearing his name and those were just
the most obvious things. Besides that, all that existed about Zoey's
boyfriend was what she told them.

But they had all pretty much decided they were no longer going to pick at
the subject, as they figured if there was a reason Zoey wasn't so
forthcoming regarding her boyfriend she would have told them about it.

"Nobody's stopping you from breaking up with someone who ignores you,
Zoey," Noah commented.

"I know that's what it probably seems like, mostly because you don't know
him," Zoey started, Grace actually having to turn away as a smile cracked
on her face, Trey following suit. "But believe me, it's more complicated
than you think."

"So un-complicate it," Noah spoke. "Life's too short to spend most of your
time unhappy. Believe me, nobody knows that better than I do now."

"Right," Trey agreed, holding onto Noah just a little tighter.

"Well, you guys might be right, but I'm not ready to give up on him just
yet," Zoey replied.

Every time Zoey said `him' each one of them wanted to ask who she meant but
each one of them was afraid to for fear that they'd already been told
Zoey's boyfriends name and had just simply forgotten, even though they knew
it probably wasn't the case.

"Well, you tough, girl," Grace spoke, bumping shoulders with Zoey. "You'll
work something out."

"Yeah," Zoey replied. "Of course, I have it easy compared to what you guys
are gonna have to face this weekend."

That statement had once again trudged up all kinds of doubts and worries
among Grace, Trey and Noah.
*****************************************************************************************

Chamomile, lily and a slight twinge of a smell that reminded him of a man's
cologne. This was the smell that Jesse had most frequently used to identify
his mother. Only the best for his mother, and apparently only the same,
every day, all the time.

His mother was a very interesting person now that he was thinking about it.

She and his father had been married all of fifteen years before his mother
had decided that she wanted to go younger, like 16 years younger in another
man, and divorced her father. Because she was doing the divorcing, his
father had been left completely blindsided and unfortunately unprepared for
such an event, as when they got together, he wasn't the same billionaire he
was when they divorced, meaning there had never been talk of a prenuptial
agreement.

In other words, his mother walked away with fifty percent of everything his
father had at the time. She got control of their mansion, their estates the
world over and 100 million British pounds as pocket money. Of course, his
father only took that loss and used it to make about 400 million more
pounds than that, but things had never been the same after that.

His father and mother went their separate ways and Jesse saw his mother
even less than he saw his near non existent father.

The one thing that he managed to hold onto as a constant was her scent. It
was one of a kind and easily distinguishable over all other scents.

"It's nearly nine thirty! Shouldn't you be off to class?"

And it was presently in his room, just like he had the sneaking suspicion
it was.

Jesse's eyes shot open. Instead of seeing his mother however, he was
treated to the shockingly bright blue eyes of a guy he'd never seen before,
just mere inches away from his face.

It was so startling to him it caused him to scream out before shooting up
and out of his bed and flying to the other side of the room dragging his
sheets with him.

"Mother!?"

"You have better taste than this, Jesse David Yorkshire. Of all the God
awful places I happened to lay eyes on since arriving, this campus is home
to some of the worst," his mother said. "Why aren't you at Oxford or
Cambridge like your father and I agreed you would attend?"

Jesse's eyes darted between his mother and the strange man smiling at him
on the other side of the room. He had so much he wanted to say, scream,
rather, but wasn't sure where to start first. Even though he was feeling
more than upset and surprised at the current moment, he was also feeling
happy to see his mother. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen
her. Since going public with her new clothing company she'd been in almost
every country she could possibly get to, promoting and establishing new
chains. She'd been just as busy, if not busier than his father. The only
difference was, he never knew where in the world she was while his father,
at least, was usually in London.

Still, his mother had never ceased to amaze him and had never failed him
when it came to things he needed, which was why he preferred her to his
father.

Despite the strangeness of the situation, all Jesse could think was how
much he wanted to hug his mother. Of course, he realized that it was more
or less a fleeting instinct, as emotion for himself and emotion for his
family was just something that didn't exist. At least, it didn't seem like
it did.

"Maybe we should let him get dressed, Victoria," said the man with no name
in the corner of the room.

Instantly Jesse noticed the lack of an accent which pointed to the simple
truth that his mothers...companion, wasn't British.

"American? Mother-"

"Oh come off it, Jesse. Despite what your father wants you to think, there
isn't anything wrong with the American's or America. I got my modeling
start in New York for heaven's sake."

"I'm Andrew, by the way," he said, holding his hand out for Jesse to shake.

Jesse, still holding just a simple sheet and pillow to his frame, stared at
the hand then his mother before deciding that they both needed to go to
give him some time to process the entire situation.

"I think I'll take...Andrew here's advice and get dressed," Jesse
started. "So, you can wait for me out in the lounge."

"Surprisingly enough this flat does have one, yes," his mother
replied. "I'm going to see about getting Kors on the mobile. Second rate
interior isn't very fitting, now is it?"

Jesse waited for his mother and Andrew to leave his room and waited for the
door to shut behind them before doing anything. It took him a few moments
to realize that he was holding his breath and let out a deep sigh before a
slight gasp for air.

He looked around his room, almost as if it were foreign to him before
feeling like it was spinning. He felt like a headache was coming on and
rushed over to the small black table next to his bed, opening the lone
small drawer it had and taking out a bottle of aspirin.

This particular headache felt stronger than usual which he felt called for
more than the usual dose. He poured five or six of the small white pills
into his hand and threw them to the back of his throat, swallowing them as
best he could before heading to his bathroom to wash them down with some
water.

As much as he wanted to see his mother, his mind just wasn't up to
indulging in the entire situation and the strangeness that accompanied
it. At least, not so early in the morning.

Which was about when an idea occurred to him. He looked over to his
window. Despite the fact that it looked colder than the inside of a freezer
outside and he'd just awoken after a night previously spent enjoying the
company of a trio of lovely ladies from overseas.

Just thinking about how intense things had gotten prompted Jesse to pop
back another couple of aspirin before grabbing the shirt and pants he'd
worn the previous night and heading towards his window.

He really wasn't up to playing building jumper but at the risk of dealing
with the alternative he was going to risk it.

All he could think as he climbed out of his window and onto the fire escape
was that even though he was half naked, freezing, medicated and dangerously
navigating the stairs on the side of an 8 story building, it was all
definitely worth it.
*****************************************************************************************

The day's classes had come and gone and in that time everyone, including
Trey had pretty much been wafting through the day without much thought
given to the things going on around them.

Their thoughts lied solely on what was to come. Or more specifically, a
certain weekend to come that they knew they should fear because they
already knew things couldn't possibly go as well as they would like to hope
they could go.

"It's like some big unavoidable disaster, right?" Dylan asked, quickly
bringing everyone's moods back to Earth, "How are we supposed to get out of
this?"

"We can't," Grace replied. "We accept it, and move the hell on."

The fact of the matter was that all of them had been spending their time
thinking of all the possible ways they could get out of it and having it
said out loud was only making the entire thing seem more contrived.

"It's high school, right?" Noah asked. "I mean they can't force us to have
our parents here if we don't want our parents here. Right?"

"Yeah, maybe Jesse's ass or somebody else rich that ain't gotta worry about
they parents not paying for school anymore," Grace said.

"They wouldn't do that. I mean, you honestly think our parents would stop
paying for us to get an education just because they didn't get to come up
here to see it happen?" Noah asked.

At that point, no one responded most likely because they weren't entirely
sure what their parents would do. Which was just another thing they had to
worry about.

"Well, I'm just glad that I'm not going through all of this again," Zoey
spoke. "My parents got enough of me the first time around."

"Speaking of that, though," Grace started. "What was it like for ya'll last
year? I mean were you your folks' girl or did you have to put on Amber slut
lipgloss and pretend the world was full of constant sunshine?"

"Something like that," Zoey responded. "But hey, I'm sure your weekend
won't be anything like mine."

"Yeah, go ahead and make fun of our little downfall Zoey so you and your
new best friend Mr. Gloat can get in more jabs at our expense."

Zoey laughed at Grace frowning at her while Trey and Noah barely exchanged
glances. There were many words they knew needed to be exchanged between
them regarding their families and that was only the least of what needed to
be discussed.

But neither one of them wanted to be the first to burst what up until that
morning had been a perfect little bubble for them.

Grace had started to talk about something that had happened in class to her
earlier that day but her words quickly faded once a panicked and paranoid
looking Jesse threw himself into a chair next to her and leaned over the
table.

"Help me!" he spoke at a level barely above a whisper.

"Boy, what is yo problem?" Grace asked, leaning towards Zoey to get a
better look at Jesse.

Jesse looked around before leaning in further. He was about to speak but
stopped, looked everyone over and leaned in again. Everyone exchanged looks
before promptly realizing Jesse wanted them to lean in as well. Humoring
him, they all obliged, doing their best to keep from laughing at his
current state.

"You lot have to save me from my mother," Jesse whispered.

"Well, that's a new one," Zoey mumbled.

"Is anyone in your family sane? First your brother now apparently your
mother..." Noah added.

"Think what you will of my family lineage, the point that matters is that
my mother is currently traipsing around this campus in the hopes of
locating me."

"Wait, your mother is here? Already?" Zoey asked.

Jesse sat up with a rather confused look planted on his face.

"What do you mean `already'?" Jesse asked.

Once again everyone exchanged looks before Zoey decided to be the one to
speak up.

"Parent Weekend is this weekend. Where every freshman's parents and
immediate family gets to come up to the school to publicly humiliate them
and ruin the rest of their freshman year," she said.

Jesse looked between Grace and Noah before sitting up even further.

"How would she even know about something like that?" he asked.

"Letters, boy. They went out to everyone's family a long time ago," Grace
replied.

Jesse just stared at no one in particular trying to digest the information
he had just heard. While the reason his mother was in town seemed to make
much more sense to him then it had before, it still didn't change the fact
that she was here at all, out of the blue without informing him she was
coming. And if the parent thing was supposed to be over the weekend, she
was about 4 days too early.

"Well, still, my mother isn't exactly very formal when it comes to this
sort of thing," Jesse responded. "She's here with some 25 year old Yank
that more than likely wants me to call him `daddy'."

"Well you don't have to worry about that, right?" Noah asked. "I mean, your
own father should be coming this weekend if your mom is already here
right?"

In that moment, Jesse suddenly felt like he'd had an epiphany. It was like
Noah had said something that triggered a wealth of ideas off inside his
mind, one in particular seeming to be the most obvious course to take in
his current situation.

"My father," he started. "I'll just phone him, tell him mother dearest is
in town. She's always been my father's biggest weakness."

"Yeah, well, best of luck to you then," Noah spoke, imagining Jesse's
father being much worse than Jesse himself.

Jesse had already stopped paying attention to everything else that was
going on and stood up to go make his call, leaving everyone else with their
individual thoughts.

"He may be one of the most annoying people I've ever met but I think I'm
starting to see some positive aspects to him," Noah spoke.

"Which would be?" Zoey asked.

"He leads an interesting life," Noah replied.

"Yeah, one that the rest of us somehow always get caught up in," Grace
replied.

Grace and Zoey started talking about something that Noah and Trey couldn't
quite hear, leaving them completely open to discuss what they needed to
discuss.

Trey felt himself unable to even look Noah in the eye. His eyes were glued
to the table in front of him for the longest time before he looked up at
Noah ready to finally talk.

"I think-"

Trey had opened his mouth, words had come out of it, but his eyes quickly
diverted to a slight commotion that was going on behind Noah's head.

Behind them all a few tables away stood a tall blonde woman and younger,
equally attractive man asking the students at the table something he
couldn't quite make out. What he could make out was their distinct no's and
the shaking of their heads to indicate as much.

It looked like it was their turn next as the woman and man made their way
over to their table.

Trey surveyed both of them. The woman was tall, probably an inch or two
taller than Noah's 6 feet. She had long blonde hair that was slightly
curled and placed just-so over her shoulders. There was a pair of rather
large Dolce sunglasses atop her head holding it away from her face. She
looked like she had just the right amount of makeup on to compliment her
skin tone and the right amount of jewelry on to accent her outfit. Which
was comprised of a white and brown mutli colored dress that came just past
her knees and a fur coat that was more of a scarf than it was anything
else. He also noticed she was holding a small white dog in her arms.

The guy seemed like he liked to keep things simple. He had dark black hair
that seemed gelled back on his scalp but actually just looked that way. His
face was a milky white that showed no evidence of scars or acne and his
eyes were a nice shade of green that seemed to bring out his darker green
long sleeved sweater even more. He was wearing dark brown slacks and bright
white sneakers that looked brand new.

The thing that stuck out the most between them was that even though they
were more than likely a couple, they were both two of the most attractive
people Trey had ever seen. He wanted to say like a mother and son combo but
the truth was that the older woman, while obviously older, still looked
like she could get more play than anyone half her age, which is exactly
what the guy standing next to her looked; half her age.

And apparently, they had business with them all.

"Excuse me, do any of you happen to know a beautiful, beautiful young lad
called Jesse Yorkshire?" Jesse's mother asked. "I can't possibly seem to
fathom why it is no one here has ever heard of the famous son of a bastard
magazine publisher."

"Hun-"

"I'm calm, I'm collected," Jesse's mother spoke, taking in a few breaths
before looking everyone over and, for whatever reason, deciding to have a
seat.

"This place wouldn't happen to have a spa anywhere around, would it? My
feet are absolutely killing me!"

Grace and Zoey turned to face each other, both obviously amused with the
situation but willing to humor everyone involved.

"Hi I'm Grace. This is Zoey and that's Noah and Trey over there," she
spoke. "Yeah we know Jesse. He's around here, somewhere."

"Oh that's fantastic," Jesse's mother spoke. "All this walking around and
not making money while I was doing so was beginning to grate."

They hadn't been in her company more than two minutes and everyone could
already tell that the woman, regardless of what they wanted to believe, was
definitely Jesse's mother.

"You're all mates of Jesse's?" his mother asked.

"Something like that," Noah mumbled, noticing Jesse appearing behind him
out the corner of his eye.

Jesse had been expecting a lot but the last thing he expected was for his
mother and male friend to find and corner him while he was trying to do
something so simple as complain to his friends about her. When she was
continents away, it was fine because he knew he could miss her without
actually having to see her. Now she was here, unannounced no less, when she
wasn't supposed to be.

It was grounds for him to feel like pulling out his own hair. The thought
made him reach into his pocket and take out a spare aspirin he'd brought
with him, quickly swallowing it dry as he pretended to be shocked his
mother had actually found him and that he was happy to see her.

"Mother? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be out shopping or
something of the like by now?" Jesse said, taking a seat next to his
mother.

"Hey, Jesse," Andrew said cheerfully.

Jesse pretended not to have heard him.

"You've met all my lovely friends, have you?" Jesse asked.

"Oh yes, I was just being properly introduced to them before you came," his
mother replied. "Certainly not like the usual riff raff you gravitate
towards."

"Oh mother, always the charmer," Jesse spoke with a nervous fake
laugh. "Come along, shall we mother? We don't want to bother my friends
with our impromptu little family reunion."

"Oh nonsense, Jesse," his mother replied. "I want to see you in your
element, with your mates. Do you always each lunch together?"

This was the part where Jesse panicked. While he was fond of the two girls
and two guys sitting before him, he'd never once been willing to call any
of them his friend. Now that it came time he actually needed to call them
as such, even if for just appearances sake, he hesitated to do so. He felt
like he needed a favor and knew that none of them owed him one.

"Oh yeah, breakfast, and dinner too," Noah, of all people, was the one to
speak up. "We're a real ragtag bunch."

Jesse looked over at Noah, mouth wide open and too shocked to respond.

"Well that's just wonderful," Jesse's mother spoke before turning to
Grace. "You have excellent complexion and a graceful figure. Have you ever
considered modeling?"

"Modeling? Me?" Grace asked, obviously thrilled at the thought.

"Mother, I'm sure my...friends, would love to finish their food-"

"Shut up boy, me and yo mama talking bout modeling," Grace spoke
quickly. "So um, which side do you think would be my best side? My left or
my right?"

As Grace and Jesse's mother continued a conversation that also included
Zoey, the guys sat around looking at each other.

Jesse felt like he was at a loss. He didn't know what to do so he just sat
there.

"You look sick," Trey said. "You're not sick are you? You can't be sick
around me. I have a Spanish exam this week."

"Jesse's not sick, he's just...taking it all in right?" Andrew decided to
chip in.

Jesse turned and looked over at Andrew, feeling the stress of the entire
situation quickly turning to anger.

"Just who exactly do you think you are offering input on my affairs?" he
started.

Andrew looked briefly over at Noah and Trey before looking back at Jesse.

"You're right, I don't know what I was thinking-"

"She's 41, my mother is. What are you 25? Actually don't humor me with a
response because I find myself not really caring. What are you the male
version of a goldigging whore? Or are you just a whore, around for the
physical pleasure you assume you can provide my mother?"

"Uh..."

Noah chuckled to ease the tension.

"That best friend of mine, always telling it like it is or in this case,
isn't, probably," he said. "Come on best friend. Let's go get some ice
cream."

"Did anyone say anything about wanting any ice cream you-"

Jesse's last words were cut off as Noah pulled Jesse up and put his arm
around his shoulders as if to remain casual before walking with him in no
particular direction.

"You looked like an idiot back there," Noah spoke. "You don't say that kind
of stuff in front of your mom's guest."

"He's a plaything, probably purchased on yet another insane whim of my
dearest mother," Jesse replied. "And since when are we friends?"

"Since I realized that having you owe us something is like having the
president owe you a get out of jail free card," Noah replied. "And don't
mix it up, you do officially owe us. Your mom thought you actually had
friends."

"I'll have you know-"

"Save it," Noah cut Jesse off before stopping and moving away from
him. "Now, take a minute to cool off or something. Wouldn't want your nice
old mom thinking were some kind of bad influence on you."

Jesse watched as Noah walked back over to their table, leaving him to think
about the mess that had brought itself into his life as of late, which only
further stressed him out. He was glad he had a pocket full of more aspirin
to help him cope. He knew he was going to need it.
*****************************************************************************************

No one had done anything to acknowledge the fact that come today, their
lives were officially over. It had actually become some sort of rule
amongst them. None of them were allowed to talk about their parents
coming. Except for Jesse, who's mother hadn't left and was still eschewing
herself into his life.

In that respect, they'd all pretty much did all they could do for him. None
of them treated him like he was the annoying jackass that he was, which was
a hard feat to accomplish considering the fact that Jesse's mother being in
town had done little to change his actual attitude. But they dealt with him
and they dealt with his mother for the time being and it had managed to
keep their minds away from their own similar fates.

Which were now here, ready to overtake them.

Trey had been busy making and remaking Noah's bed, trying to make sure that
it looked just right, even though it had reached that point the very first
time he'd touched it.

"Trey, babe, what are you doing?" Noah asked, trying to wrap his arms
around Trey's waist from behind and moving with him as he made over the bed
once again.

"My mom called me last night. She didn't even say anything about me not
telling her about the weekend. She just asked me where she could meet me,"
Trey replied.

"Well, we knew it was coming," Noah replied.

"Ah, the dreaded freshman family weekend," Jeremy spoke, swiveling around
in his computer desk chair. "I'll tell you, if I ever wanna hear anyone
call me fat to my face, I can always count on the good ol fam."

"I take it your weekend didn't go so well?" Noah asked.

"Well if by that you mean I missed a once on a lifetime free goods raining
from the sky event in Warcraft and spent more time outdoors in two days
than I had in the past two years, then yeah the bad weekend we all knew
we'd have was a success."

"Still, weren't you happy to at least see your family?" Noah asked. "You
seem like you get along better with yours than I do with mine."

"They're your typical family. You know, everyone plays a sport so everyone
is in shape. Everyone is married or dating so everyone is trying to set me
up. It's a long list filled with plenty of `why aren't you more like' and
very little `congrats on not skipping out your first year of college like
your first a McDonalds grunt then a pro baseball player older brother
Jack."

"Ouch," Noah responded before turning his attention to Trey, who'd started
trying to make up the bed yet again.

"Babe, the bed is fine," he replied.

"Some rooms have three people, right?" Trey asked, sounding panicked.

"I'd say a lot of rooms have three people after the fire," Jeremy
replied. "We're just our own little mixed race, mixed sexuality family
here."

Noah turned Trey around who sighed and looked down.

"What?" Trey asked.

"Relax. Your mom isn't gonna find out you're gay because you're not gonna
tell her and I'm not gonna tell her, just like we talked about," Noah
replied. "No one is going to tell her."

"I know," Trey replied. "It's just since I'm not ready to tell her I don't
want it to be worse if she somehow finds out on her own. Besides she's
strict on a lot of stuff and I don't wanna disappoint her."

"Trust me, when family and 48 hours are involved, you'll definitely do your
fair share of disappointing," Jeremy spoke before everyone tensed up to a
knock at the door.
*****************************************************************************************

Shawn was officially bored. He was in Ben's room, doing the same thing he
usually did when in the afternoons after he and Ben had eaten lunch. Ben
was working out, or more specifically doing pushups shirtless next to his
bed. Shawn was laying on top of Ben's roommates bed, tossing a football
over his head doing his best not to let his mind wander to what it normally
wandered to when he let it.

"It's Friday," Shawn spoke, tossing the ball above his head. "Are we gonna
get out and do anything?"

"I checked around," Ben spoke, breathing through the push
up's. "Everybody's busy with stuff. A lot of family stuff going on, it was
weird."

"What that people don't have weird dads they actually want to spend time
with?" Shawn asked, thinking about how awkward he felt every time he was
near his father.

"Just be glad your mom isn't a pregnant hormonal wreck," Ben spoke. "I'm
telling you I'm not warming up to the whole stepfather thing."

"You probably never will," Shawn replied. "I know what you're like."

"We can trade dads then," Ben spoke. "I don't have a problem with your old
man."

"That's because he treats you like the son he wish he actually had," Shawn
replied.

"You don't spend any time with him," Ben replied, now turning on his back
to do sit ups. "You think he's weird."

"He is weird. And simple. We're two people other people would never expect
share the same genes," Shawn replied. "And you wanna talk about gay, how
gay is it we're even talking about this right now."

"You opened the door, I just entered," Ben replied.

Shawn sat up.

"What does that even mean?"

Ben continued doing his sit ups as Shawn sat in a state of suspension not
really sure what his next move would be. Apparently that thought was being
answered for him when there came a knock at their door.

Shawn looked over at Ben who didn't seem to care someone was knocking at
the door, even though it was his dorm room, but being as bored as he was,
Shawn practically jumped at the door and chance for some new company.

"Welcome to...what the hell?" Shawn mumbled, not at all expecting the
company he had apparent company he had gotten
*****************************************************************************************

Jesse had done well to ditch his mother, however temporary the situation
was. She was, of course doing some shopping, which Jesse had managed to
escape by pretending to be sick. He was in fact sick. Of her.

She'd had spent the week driving him absolutely insane. From all the plans
she apparently had to move to America to be closer to him to talk of an
impending wedding between her and the 26 year old near stranger she'd
brought with her.

Then there were all the personal questions. The one's that included talk of
a steady girlfriend, whether or not he'd gotten anyone pregnant like Nick,
and whether or not he planned to give Oxford or Cambridge a try for his
sophomore year.

To their credit, Noah and the others had done well to play their part as
his pseudo friends. He'd had to endure going shopping with them, seeing bad
American movies with them and even attending a campus bonfire, much to his
chagrin. All of which involved, in one way or another indulging his
mother's content fantasy that he was the perfectly happy son she'd always
like to assume that he was.

His mother was a constant burst of energy that seemingly only ever died
down when it came time to turn in for the night. She was his mother and he
loved her, but the sooner he rid of the latest family member to cause him
grief, the better.

He'd pretty much spent the entire day avoiding people by staying in his
apartment. He'd been channel surfing and had managed to find something
interesting to watch. An E! True Hollywood special about his father. He'd
had an idea to go pop some popcorn so he could treat the event for what it
was but found himself getting up to answer his door rather than getting
popcorn.

He wasn't sure why he was, but he was surprised to find that his mother was
on the other side of it. He was tempted not to open the door but realized
that as much as his mother annoyed him, he'd never want to treat her so
outright unfavorably.

"What, have you gone off and bought half the entire country?" Jesse asked,
eyeing the five bags his mother alone held. Her companion in crime, Andrew
seemed to be holding the bulk of them which looked to be about ten or so
bags at least.

"I figured your flat could use a bit of sprucing up," his mother replied,
walking right past Jesse and into the apartment.

Jesse looked over at Andrew as if to help with his difficulty in holding
the bags up and as soon as Andrew held out a hand to release some of the
bags to Jesse, he shut the door on him and turned around to see where his
mother had gone off to.

"Just some simple interior, we'll have to work on the renovation on
Monday," his mother spoke, setting the bags down, giddily reaching into one
and pulling out a set of sofa pillows. "Aren't they lovely?"

"Yes, very," Jesse lied. "But I paid good money for the designer I wanted
to come and-"

"Rubbish, Jesse, let your mother help you," his mom spoke. "That is after
all what I've come for."

"Really?" Jesse asked. "I thought it was because my school mailed you a
letter without my knowledge."

His mother was looking over a small painting that cost a small fortune
before looking around and realizing something.

"Where has Andrew gone off to?"

Jesse was about to make a comment along the lines of his more than likely
leaving her but didn't get to as he realized Andrew had found his way in.

"Door must have shut behind you Jesse," Andrew lied with a friendly smile
on his face as he struggled with all the bags.

"No, I believe I shut the door on you," Jesse replied, knowing full well
that his mother wasn't even paying attention.

"Andrew put the bags down, I want to show Jesse my new car," his mother
spoke.

"What?" Jesse asked. "Mother, a car? I thought you were just visiting!"

"No, I told you I'd like to stay if at all possible. Besides, we were on a
shopping roll. I couldn't stop myself."

Jesse sighed as his mother rushed past him and over to the door. All he
could do was look over at Andrew, for reasons unknown to him.

"Believe me, I know," he offered.

Jesse just sighed before noticing his mother backing into the living room,
as if backing away from something. A moment later Jesse saw exactly what
she was backing away from.

"Thomas!"

"Father!" Jesse exclaimed.

"What on God's earth are you doing here Victoria?" Jesse's father asked.

Jesse saw his father and his mother and quickly did a look-around for any
sign of his demon brother. Fortunately, he was nowhere around.

"I came to visit my favorite son, something I do much more than you
Thomas!" his mother shouted.

"Who are you trying to pull the wool over? The boy LIVES with me!"

"Yes, but how often do you see him? I bet you didn't even know he was
here."

"Actually that'd be you. I'm the one that sent him here!"

"To live in poverty halfway across the world? Yes, that does make perfect
sense to me. Do you see the see the size of this place? And what is this
school anyway? I've never heard of it!"

"That's because you bypassed the entire university experience for modeling,
if I recall correctly. And who needs school when you can mooch off your
rich boyfriend?"

"Like I needed to mooch off of you, I had a career. I was someone! You were
no one and would still be no one if it weren't for me helping you get a
foot in the door!"

Jesse realized that this was essentially a repeat of the way things were
shortly before their divorce. All the arguing and fighting. His father
hadn't even acknowledged him personally. Just came right in and started
fighting with his mother.

He just slowly walked to his room and shut the door behind him, taking a
seat on the edge of his bed as he tried not to think about the arguing. A
moment later, there was a short knock at his door and Andrew let himself
in.

"That sucks, huh?" was all he said as he leaned against the door.

"Try that out there being your life for 19 years," Jesse replied. "Then
we'll talk."

"Believe me, I know all about it," Andrew replied. "My dad's a general in
the military. I see him maybe once a year, maybe. My mom...we'll I've never
really been sure what she is but if you can see anyone less than once a
year, that'd be me and her."

Jesse looked up and actually at Andrew. It was almost like he felt
connected to him in that instant. The fact that Andrew wasn't much older
than he was and seemed to know exactly what he was going through was a
little unsettling for him. He didn't like it.

He reached into his pocket and took another aspirin.

"Well at least neither of my parents were ever out for the other's money,"
he replied, coldly, before deciding once again that he was going to be
sneaking out of his room. This time from both parents.

"Can I come with?" Andrew asked.

"I believe you American's have a saying here...it's a free country," Jesse
replied, halfway out his window. "Do what you want."

As long as he was away from his parents, he didn't care who else was with
him.
*****************************************************************************************

"So somebody set your room on fire and they mandatorily placed you here
with your friend Noah and his roommate?" Trey's mom asked, trying to grasp
the reason why three people were sharing a single, quite small room.

"I sleep on the floor!" Trey found himself blurting out.

Trey's mom looked over at Noah briefly.

"You do?" she asked.

"Well not all the time," Noah thought he'd chip in. "Sometimes we switch."

"And sometimes, I actually leave this chair," Jeremy thought he'd add.

Trey's mom looked over at Jeremy briefly as Noah and Trey exchanged glances
before Trey's mom looked back over at her son.

"Boy, why didn't you call and tell me about the room?" she asked.

"Because I didn't want you to worry," Trey replied, sincerely. "And I knew
you'd probably tell me to come home and just commute."

"Home ain't that far away boy," his mother replied. "But you worked things
out so I guess I'm satisfied."

Trey smiled. He felt so tense with his mother here with him. He felt like
he could make one wrong move that would expose him as being gay and things
would be over for him. He wouldn't have her support for anything anymore
and Noah would probably be mad for getting himself outed as well. He
figured either way, he couldn't win. Which was exactly why he was just
trying to take things as carefully as he could.

"Well, you ain't gotta worry about a 4th person trying to cram in here,"
his mother spoke. "I have a room nearby at one of the hotels the school
rented out."

"That's good," Trey replied.

"So, boys, any one of you want to show me around?" Trey's mother asked.

Trey jumped up, accidentally knocking into Noah causing him to knock his
chin into Trey's head.

"Oh, oh Noah, I'm sorry I-"

"It's cool Trey. It's just a tooth. I think I have some more in there."

All Trey wanted to do was tend to Noah's wound but he didn't want to look
too concerned so he just playfully punched Noah in the arm.

"As long as you're cool," he chuckled, nervously.

"Should we get some ice or something-"

"No, mama, he's fine," Trey replied. "Come on."

Trey's mother didn't seem as convinced as Trey wanted to think she was but
he was doing his best to lead her towards the door. He figured if he was
away from Noah, he wouldn't have to worry as much about saying or doing the
wrong thing.

Trey's mom was looking back at Noah as Trey reached and opened the door. He
looked back at her, as she'd stopped before started out of the door while
looking back at her, accidentally bumping into someone that was instantly
familiar to him.

"Hey, I know you," Noah's father spoke.

"What?" Noah asked, standing up.

"Uh, no you don't dad," Noah's brother, Bryce spoke up. "I told you, senile
people get put in homes."

"You put me in a home and I'll put you in the street," Noah's dad spoke.

All Noah wanted to ask was what his parents and brother were even doing
here but he immediately remembered exactly what they were doing here and
realized that it was now his turn to panic.

"Oh, you must be Noah's family," Trey's mom spoke. "I'm Wanda Jackson,
Trey's mother."

"Nice to meet you, Wanda," Noah's mother spoke.

"We allowed to smoke in here?" Noah's dad asked, pulling out a cigarette.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Jeremy exclaimed, rushing over to Noah's father and taking the
cigarette.

Everyone stared blankly at him.

"Smoke sets off the sprinklers. I don't have 4,000 bucks for a new
computer," he replied simply, before quickly zipping out of the room when
there was an uncomfortable silence that followed.

"Please tell me that idiot isn't your roommate, son," Noah's father asked.

"Dad," Noah spoke, feeling embarrassed.

"So, you just meeting here or-"

"Oh no," Trey's mother answered Bryce. "Trey's been staying here with Noah
after the fire."

"Fire? What fire?" Noah's dad asked.

"Trey's been staying in here? With you? And the two beds?" Bryce asked,
inquisitively.

"They take turns sleeping on the floor," Trey's mom responded.

Bryce just shook his head slowly, feeling like he was piecing things
together.

There was another silence in the room, neither Trey nor Noah knowing
exactly what to say to either of their families. It was like they were
stuck, waiting for someone to save them.

"This what I'm paying 690 a month for?" Noah's dad asked, looking around.

Everyone took a moment to look around in that moment.

"They have nicer places around here, I'm sure Noah," his mother spoke.

"Yeah, well I stay here, so..." Noah spoke.

"With Trey," Bryce spoke up.

"And Jeremy," Trey added.

"And you," Bryce replied.

Trey didn't speak after that.

There was another silence, this one even more awkward than the first one.

"Someone gonna show me around?" Noah's dad asked.

"That's what I was wondering," Trey's mother added.

Trey and Noah exchanged glances.

"Right," Trey spoke. "Come on mom."

"Well, since we're all here, why don't we all go together?" Trey's mom
asked.

"I think that's a good idea," Bryce spoke. "That way I can get to know you
better Trey."

"Don't you already know him?" Noah's dad asked as everyone started out of
the room.

"Oh dad. Retirement home's like two miles from here," Bryce spoke.
*****************************************************************************************

"So you burned down YOUR room and now you're staying in here, in Ben's
room," Shawn's father asked.

It had been both his parent's and Ben's mom and stepfather at Ben's door
and now they were all holed up in a room just barely big enough for two
people, all sitting either in a chair or on one of the two beds in the
room.

"Me? I never said I burned anything down," Shawn replied.

"Frank, don't with this, okay? He clearly said the entire floor was on fire
and it wasn't his fault," his mother spoke up for him. "Don't be
difficult."

"You could have told me," his father spoke, not even looking at Shawn.

"I kinda figured you'd find out when you didn't have to pay my rent for two
months," Shawn replied, trying to lighten the mood.

"We prepay," his father replied.

"Oh," Shawn spoke, feeling sorry he even opened his mouth. "No refund
check?"

"I'm just surprised you two aren't actual roommates," Ben's mother
spoke. "Who stays in here with you, Benny? Redd Foxx?"

"Actually, that's my side," Ben spoke, sheepishly. "Sorry about that mom,
I'm kinda busy with the fraternity and all, you know?"

"And you didn't join a frat either, did you Shawn?" Shawn's father asked.

Shawn looked over at his father's smug look, the same one he had whenever
he was around Shawn. They'd never gotten along and it seemed like they more
than likely never would.

"What exactly DO you do with your time?" Shawn's father asked.

Shawn felt like he didn't even want to be in the same room with the man let
alone answer his question. The only reason he'd ever put up with his father
was because he got the feeling that his father was the kind of person that
would very easily stop supporting his own son if he pissed him off
enough. The last thing he wanted to do was get himself ousted from the
family in front of everyone in the room.

"Anytime I need to find this guy, he's at the library," Ben thought he'd
step in. "It's kinda scary actually."

"Yeah we saw what all that time in the library did for his grades," Shawn's
father replied gruffly.

The debacle regarding Shawn's grades had been something that he didn't want
to remember but wasn't surprised that it had been brought up, and by
whom. The entire thing with Trey had left Shawn not really caring about
trying to do well in school like he'd done before when he was trying to
impress Trey. As such, his grades fell and he just barely passed most of
his classes.

He was in a better position this semester because he'd had a lot of free
time to himself and boredom had led to many hours spent in the
library. Still, he didn't appreciate his father's belittling of him.

"Speaking of libraries, someone should probably show you where it is,
right? I mean do the whole campus tour deal," Ben once again spoke in an
effort to relieve the tension.

Everyone looked around, no one really sure what to say before Shawn's
mother spoke up.

"Well I for one would love to see the campus," she said. "After all, that
is what we came for right? To experience the college experience."

"I came so I wouldn't have to cook for two days," Ben's mother
replied. "That and the baby needs to be around her brother before she comes
out thinking she's an only child."

"The baby that's like, still in there? That baby?" Ben asked, obviously
confused.

"Let's go then," Shawn's mother spoke.

Truth be told, Shawn really didn't want to go anywhere with his father. He
always felt so defiant when he was around him but he'd already come to the
conclusion that he was actually more afraid of his father than anything. He
could tell that somewhere deep down that his father did love him, but at
his surface he seemed like a highly unpredictable man. A nature of which
Shawn had grown accustomed to.

"You at least have any decent friends?" Shawn's father asked as everyone
was getting ready to leave.

And at that moment all Shawn could think about was how everyone else was
faring with their own parents and whether or not they were having as
terrible a time as he was having.
*****************************************************************************************

Trey had always been really comfortable being around his mom. He had never
been ashamed of her or anything that she'd ever had to do for him. Up until
he started college, she was his best friend.

But that was what was so different about things now. He was in college and
he actually had a best friend. Several of them in fact. Being around his
mother with his boyfriend and his family was more than a little
uncomfortable, to say the least.

That was probably the reason there was so much tension. Or at least, he
felt tension. His mother and Noah's parents seemed to get along quite
nicely, despite the fact that Trey knew what kind of people they were
behind closed doors.

It was less about the parents and more about Noah's brother. Trey had
recently had mad the unfortunate mistake of seeking him out to find out
more about Noah's past. Not only had he found out more than he wanted to
but he'd also come to the conclusion that Noah's brother knew more about
their relationship than he was letting on.

Of course he'd been highly paranoid all week long because of the parent
weekend and was also susceptible to believing any terrible thing was a
possible outcome from all of this.

Trey's mom and Noah's parents had more or less taken it upon themselves to
show themselves around and were walking ahead of Trey and Noah who were
directly behind them and Bryce was walking directly behind them.

Trey had pretty much been walking along without saying much, only speaking
up whenever his mother asked him a question, which had been less and less
the longer they walked along. Noah had been pretty silent as well, looking
pretty nervous every time Trey looked over at him.

Trey felt Noah bumping him slightly to his left and turned over as Noah
leaned in a little.

"Are we gonna tell them?" Noah asked.

"I thought we decided-"

"Actually you decided," Noah whispered. "I don't care enough about what my
family thinks of me for them to know or not but it just seems like this
would be a perfect time to tell them with them all here."

"Noah, my mom is happy enough that I have friends. If I tell her about us,
she'll never speak to me again. I actually do care what she thinks of me."

Noah was a little frustrated with Trey. The only reason he was doing what
he was doing was for Trey. He'd made his intentions and motives clear for
Trey but he couldn't quite understand exactly what it was that Trey was
afraid of. He seemed perfectly fine with everyone else knowing. Yet, his
own mother, the person he knew to be the most important person in Trey's
life, was completely in the dark.

That was pretty much why he'd been silent the whole time.

He had no idea what Trey's excuse was.

"So," Bryce started, jumping in between Trey and Noah suddenly. "You two
share secrets and stuff?"

Noah, annoyed, pushed away from his brother before responding.

"Bryce, why are you even still here? Go find a co-ed or something-"

"The girls around here are alright but none of them have enough money for
me," Bryce replied, placing his arm around Noah's shoulder and hugging him
tightly. "Besides, it's family weekend. All about spending time with the
big bro."

"With the big loser, you mean," Noah replied. "You aren't normally this
weird. What's wrong with you?"

That was when Bryce looked over at Trey, who quickly looked away to nothing
in particular. That was just one more thing that had Trey on edge. Just
knowing that his brother possibly knew about the two of them but definitely
knew about him visiting Noah's home without him knowing about it was almost
enough to have him pulling out his hair.

Instead, he opted for silence. He figured if he didn't open his mouth, he
couldn't accidentally talk about something he didn't want to talk about
because he felt threatened or put on the spot.

"I have to say, for all this place is costing us, they sure do live up to
the price," Noah's father spoke.

"It really is a beautiful campus," Trey's mother added, looking back and
smiling at Trey, who sheepishly smiled back.

"Hey what's that?" Bryce asked, stepping ahead which stopped everyone as he
pointed to a sign a little ahead of them that was sticking out of the grass
on the side.

It was a sign advertising the big family dinner they were having in the
coliseum. There wasn't a specific time listed, however.

"The coliseum huh? Didn't we just pass that?" Noah's father asked.

"No, it's all the way-"

"Yeah we did," Bryce spoke, completely cutting off his younger
brother. "And I'm hungry, so let's eat."

Trey's mom looked down at the silver watch hanging loosely from her right
wrist.

"It is about that time," she replied. "Baby, you hungry?"

Truthfully, food was the furthest thing from his mind. As a matter of fact,
his sheer anxiety over the entire situation was causing to have quite a
lack of appetite.

"I haven't shown you everything yet, mama," Trey replied.

"That's what the weekends for, right?" Bryce asked, placing his arms around
both Trey and Noah, a broad smile on his face. "Let's eat."

Noah and Trey exchanged glances, each simultaneously wishing for the end of
what was already becoming a terrible weekend.
*****************************************************************************************

Jesse hadn't really known what to do or where to go. All of the people he
knew were busy dealing with their own families and his family was too busy
being a dysfunctional mess to operate. He was on his own and had no idea
what to do with himself.

He'd pretty much just walked around, surveying the families of the other
students, realizing how normal they were compared to his own. The entire
time he was doing that he kept wishing that he could have a more normal
family. That he could have had a more normal childhood. It was rare that he
wished for such a thing and tried not to dwell on it but being surrounded
by the very thing he wished he had wasn't doing anything to keep him from
thinking about it.

Of course his mother's new plaything had tagged along. He said a few things
here and there to which Jesse promptly and purposely ignored. He was too
busy with his own thoughts to even begin to deal with what he thought about
Andrew.

All of his wandering had led him to what he believed was the coliseum of
the student campus, the place where all of the hockey and basketball games
were played. It was a rather large place and at the moment was also rather
crowded with family after family all helping themselves to the tables upon
tables of catered food.

As he walked along, taking everything in, his mind began to wander again
and he found himself bumping into several different people, completely
unaware he was even doing it until after the fact. He decided he'd better
take a seat before he bumped into the wrong person and started something he
was in no more to see play out.

"Ugh, did you follow me here?"

That came from a person Jesse particularly didn't want to see in that
moment.

"Amber, how unfortunate for me this happened to be the table I took a
chance on," Jesse replied. "And they say luck's brilliant."

"There's no luck when it comes to you Jesse Yorkshire. Just stupid, stupid
and more stupid!" Amber shouted.

Jesse sighed, a little too enthralled with the moment to consider leaving.

"Have you considered the possibility that maybe I'm just here for the same
reason as you, I believe?" Jesse replied before finally realizing that
Amber's parents, who he'd had the unfortunate displeasure of meeting just a
few months earlier, were nowhere to be found. "Don't tell me you're little
orphan Amber now."

"Annie, Jesse. It's Annie," Amber replied simply.

Andrew leaned over to Jesse.

"Are her parent's cousins?" he asked as her parent's themselves approached
the table.

"For your information Jesse, my parents are just fine thank you very much,"
Amber replied. "Now shoo. We're trying to enjoy dinner here."

"Yes this mush. Looks absolutely tasty," Jesse replied.

"I know you. You're the kid that's gonna get my daughter pregnant," Amber's
father spoke.

"Sir, I can assure you that something like that happening would be the day
you and I both turned into women," Jesse replied.

"Why can't you ever tell us when you're still dating someone, Am?" Jesse's
mom asked. "This was the cute rich one."

"Yes and now you've seen him and now you don't," Jesse spoke standing
up. "I wish I could say it's been enchanting meeting you again, but your
daughter makes anything difficult to imagine."

"Isn't she a handful?" Amber's dad spoke.

"Dad! Chill!" Amber replied.

Jesse raised an eyebrow before deciding that yes, Amber's parent's were in
fact cousins, he could see exactly what she came from, and that it was
definitely time to go.

He had just about turned to leave when he felt someone pulling him from
behind. He struggled to regain his balance as he started walking along,
realizing it had been Grace who pulled him away.

"You gon have to help me," Grace said. "My mama is driving me crazy!"

"Thank you for that, by the way," Jesse spoke, regaining his composure. "I
believe a moment more with that and I'd have had an aneurism."

"Yeah well I'm bout to have one if my mama don't get up out my face with
her new man," Grace replied. "She crazy if she think I'm bout to sit around
and be happy for her and Jethro the Tub of Lard."

Grace and Jesse maneuvered through the tables and people to no particular
destination as they continued to talk. Meanwhile Shawn and Ben were already
in the midst of enjoying dinner with their families. Or at least, one of
them was enjoying it.

"This is where they play the hockey and basketball games no one goes to,"
Ben spoke. "Here its football, or nothing."

"Just like it should be," Shawn's father spoke. "I think you could use a
college sport in your background, Shawn. If you ever want people to notice
you once you get out of here-"

"What about volunteer work? I am helping build a house with one of the
clubs on campus, dad," Shawn spoke, trying to defend himself.

"Oh really? Which one?" his mother asked sounding highly interested.

"It's called-"

"There is no name," Ben started. "Uh, it's really just something the frat
put together on the side to make us all look good."

Shawn flashed Ben a peeved look who flashed him one right back.

Ben pretended to drop his napkin on the ground and leaned under the table,
Shawn following suit.

"What did you do that for?" Shawn asked.

"You weren't thinking. I know you think your dad hates you but do you
really think it's a good idea to start shit with him now of all times?"

"What? I wasn't going to-"

"Telling him you're a member of a gay club called the Pink Panther's is
only gonna lead to the big reveal that I'm not really sure you want to deal
with right now."

Shawn sighed and looked away from Ben who sat back up, Shawn following suit
a few seconds later.

"The least you could do is find a job," Shawn's father said, clinking a
fork to his plate. "Instead of sitting around all day doing nothing after
class."

Shawn had a wealth of things he'd have liked to respond with but decided
against it. He'd already made up his mind that he was going to be having a
terrible weekend and his father was doing his best to made sure that it
lived up to his prediction. He was trapped.

And now jealous was something else he was feeling like once he happened to
notice that Trey was in the room having dinner with his mom and Noah and
his family.

"There sure are a lot of families here," Trey's mom spoke.

"Yeah," Trey replied, nervously.

It wasn't something that he was outright trying to do. He just felt like he
was walking on eggshells and that everything he was saying was somehow
being analyzed by his mother. He was pretty much choosing all of his words
extremely carefully.

"How many of these kids do you know, Noah?" his father asked.

"Uh..." Noah strayed.

"Probably that guy," Bryce spoke, pointing to a guy with pink hair, a pink
jacket, tight fitting pants and an obvious twist to his walk as he passed
the table.

"Don't fuck around like that, Bryce. Noah's a man, not a woman," Noah's
father replied.

"Ooh, lord I know what you mean," Trey's mother started. "They banned gay
marriage here and I had to go thank the lord."

"Awww, no, some gay people I'm sure are nice people. Maybe you know a
couple," Bryce spoke.

Noah looked over at Trey and Trey could tell that he was looking over at
him but all he could do was stare at the table right in front of him.

"I try not to get too involved with any of those people," Trey's mom
replied. "They may be nice but they're wrong in the eyes of God and that's
all that matters to me."

"Definitely agreed," Noah's father replied. "Hey, where's that bottle of
wine they said was coming around to all the tables?"

"I'll go check on it," Noah spoke, quickly standing up and not wanting to
be left alone with his mother, Noah's parents or brother, Trey stood as
well.

"Yeah, we'll be right back," Trey said.

"I'll come too-"

"No you stay," Noah spoke in a way that only his brother would be able to
grasp entirely. The two brothers glared at each other, Bryce wondering if
he should test Noah before ultimately deciding against it for the time
being. There was still plenty of time left for him to get his way.

"I'll be back mama," Trey spoke.

"Okay baby, don't worry about rushing back," his mom replied. "I'm enjoying
getting to know Noah's family."

And even that hadn't eased Trey's mind. If anything that had made him feel
even more nervous. The last thing he wanted right now was for his mother
and Noah's parents to be so in sync that they put two and two together
because of it.

He was so deep into his thoughts Noah had to actually lightly pull him away
as the two of them made their way away from the table in no particular
direction. All they knew was that they needed to just get away.

The two of them happened to pass Shawn's table just a couple of tables away
from them, without actually noticing him as they continued walking.

As Shawn sat continuing to listen to his father complain about pointless
things and watching the people around him react in such a way that said
they didn't care one way or the other all he knew was that he needed a
break. If this was how he was going to spend the entire weekend he needed
some time away from them. There was no way he could spend that much time
with them without taking a break.

"You know what? I think I'm gonna get some air," Shawn spoke standing.

"Everything alright, honey?" his mother asked.

Shawn looked over at his dad who had stopped his conversation with Ben's
step father to look over at him. They just locked stares each one probably
wondering what the other was thinking.

"Hey, you catch that game on Wednesday night?" Ben asked after flashing
Shawn a look that told him to get away while he could.

Shawn's father, obviously interesting in anything other than his son,
turned to face Ben to respond to his question. Shawn was thankful for the
distraction as he quickly hurried to see if he could find Noah and Trey.

Noah and Trey continued walking until the two of them were past the stands
and out of the main dining area. They had reached the halls of the stadium
which held the restrooms and exits. They were just going to head straight
outside and take a walk but stopped when they noticed Grace, Zoey and Jesse
sitting on the steps the led to the stands on the outside of the hallway.

"At least you don't have to contend with your mother's new shame being only
7 years older than you. I mean, Andrew could be her child for Christ's
sake!"

"I'll take that over can't move his ass out the way of incoming traffic!"
Grace exclaimed. "I mean, people could hit him with they car and he'd just
turn around and ask who threw something at him!"

"Hey guys," Trey said, joining his friends.

Grace looked up at Trey sat down next to her.

"Let me guess, yo family is driving you up the wall too?" she said.

"More like getting along with Noah's family a little too well," Trey
replied.

"And the problem with that is?" Zoey asked.

Noah took a seat next to her.

"Trey wanted to keep us a secret to keep his mom from having to deal with
him being gay right now," Noah replied. "But my weird and overly annoying
older brother who wants to be the younger brother is practically outing us
himself."

"You don't think he knows do you?" Zoey asked.

Trey looked over at a poster on the wall nearby, not wanting to share a
gaze with any of his friends. He still hadn't told Noah about his visit to
his home and practical pry into all of his secrets and he didn't want to do
anything to jeopardize his relationship with him by telling him now.

"Who knows," Noah replied. "This family deal sucks."

"Tell me about it," Grace replied. "Now I see why ya'll don't ever wanna go
home on a holiday."

Things grew silent among them all for a few moments before Jesse suddenly
spoke up.

"I wonder if my parents have killed each other yet."

"Ooh, naw boy don't say that around me. Cuz if they have I don't wanna have
to lie to the police when they question us about you."

"I haven't gone off and hired a hit man if that's what you're on
about. Although locking them away in some remote corner of the world
wouldn't be such a bad idea."

"Yeah," Trey, Grace, Zoey and Noah all agreed.

Things were silent among them all once again before they noticed some
commotion coming down the hall that sounded like it was headed fast in
their direction.

"Funny your fat whale ass is the one that gets the last piece of chicken!"
Sierra exclaimed.

"I got what was left cuz you had all the rest you retarded blimp!" Amber
exclaimed.

The two girls were arguing to each other while simultaneously trying to get
away from the other before Amber tripped and fell into Jesse's arms
unexpectedly.

"Oh god," Jesse mumbled before dropping Amber onto the ground.

Shawn finally found everyone and turned the corner to see Amber lying on
the ground.

"So not cool Jesse," Amber spoke, getting up.

"I disagree," Sierra spoke.

"Shut up bitch!"

It was a certain kind of chaotic element that only they could adapt to and
understand. They were all there in that moment for a reason, Trey realized.

And suddenly his own problems seemed like the furthest thing from his mind.

"It's gonna be a long weekend huh?" Shawn asked, looking over at Amber and
Sierra arguing once again.

Trey looked over at him for a few moments before deciding to respond.

"Yep."

*************************************************************************

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