Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 13:04:47 -0400
From: jaden.scott@adelphia.net
Subject: Lover's Lane Chapter 9

This story is a work of fiction.  It depicts a romance between two
consenting adult males and may contain some descriptions of sexual acts,
again between two consenting adult males.  If you are not of legal age to
read this kind of story, please leave now.  If you reside in an area where
reading stories that include sexual situations between two consenting adult
males is illegal, please leave now.  This story is for entertainment
purposes only.  Any similarity to any person(s) living or dead is simply a
coincidence.  The author retains all rights to this story.  It cannot be
reproduced in any form without expressed written permission from the author
(me).  Please contact the author for any requests. Copyright 2005.

Feedback (and criticism) is ALWAYS appreciated and welcome.  Please respond
to this story at: jaden.scott@adelphia.net I look forward to hearing from
all of you and I will respond if you write to me.  Thanks to all of you who
have written so far with your encouraging words.  I have appreciated every
one of them.  Jaden

**Please watch for changes in POINT-OF-VIEW.  They will be coming more
frequently, so I want everyone to be prepared and pay attention.**

LOVER'S LANE

by Jaden

>From the end of Chapter Eight:

I wasn't sure what was going to happen between Jaden and me.  At this
point, the only thing I knew for sure is that I had no one but myself to
blame if it turned out badly.  After all, I was the one who approached him
and started this whole thing.


CHAPTER NINE:  SUSPICIONS IN THE HOUSE / SETTLING THE BET

**PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS NEXT SECTION IS BEING TOLD FROM LANE'S POINT OF
VIEW.  I WILL CLEARLY INDICATE WHEN WE SWITCH BACK TO JADEN'S POINT OF
VIEW**

I arrived home soon after leaving the Student Union.  As I walked up the
driveway to my house (located on Riverview Drive), I thought once again how
lucky we were to have found this place.  Actually, it was my roommate Tim
who had been the one to bring this house to our attention.  By the end of
our sophomore year, Nick, Tim, Clint, and I had decided that we wanted to
get out of the dorms and live together during our junior year.  We didn't
have anything specific in mind--in fact, I thought we would end up in some
type of apartment.  Tim had a friend from his hometown who had been one of
the occupants of this house.  He and his other roommates were all
graduating that year so Tim asked him to hook us up with the landlord.  The
landlord was an older gentlemen in his late fifties or early sixties.  Upon
the recommendation of Tim's friend, he let us look at the house.  To be
honest, the biggest selling point (for me at least) was the rent--only
$1000 per month.  Split between the four of us, living expenses would be
dirt cheap.  It was much cheaper living in the house than it was living in
the dorms.  The house was in decent shape--nothing spectacular, but for
four college students it fit our needs perfectly.

Nick and I lived in the two bedrooms upstairs and shared the full bathroom
located up there.  Tim and Clint lived in the two bedrooms in the basement
and shared the full bathroom located down there.  We had to go through a
period of adjustment as we all got used to living with each other.  By the
middle of the first year we lived in the house, we had written up and
established a set of rules that we all agreed to abide by.  The rules were
nothing unusual, just stuff like each person was responsible for doing
their own dishes and cleaning up their own messes.  We also came up with a
list of overall house chores that each of us were assigned to.  Thankfully,
everyone followed the rules and did their chores.  We had a couple of
disagreements from time to time, but nothing that ever threatened our
friendship.

The house itself was large.  The main floor had the kitchen, the dining
room, the living room (or, as we called it, the "TV/Game Room"), and a half
bathroom.  The upstairs contained my and Nick's bedroom and bathroom and a
large closet in the hallway.  In addition to Tim and Clint's bedroom and
bathroom, the washer and dryer were also located in the basement.  We had a
small wooden deck on the back of the house that you accessed through a
sliding glass door in the kitchen.

My favorite part was, without a doubt, the huge wooden porch located in the
front of the house.  It was screened in to keep all of the bugs out.  I
could spend hours out there doing homework or taking a nap.  By going to a
few garage sales around town, we had found and purchased a cheap couch and
four lazy-boy chairs that we put on the porch.  The porch was a place you
inevitably ended up migrating to if you were wasted.  We all enjoyed
drinking a few beers (especially after a long week of classes), but none of
us were regular heavy drinkers.  While I had been drunk before, the only
time I got really wasted was on the night of my 21st birthday.  On those
few occasions that one or more of us did drink heavily, it seemed that
person would end up sleeping out on the porch--at least during the fall and
spring months.  It was a little bit too cold to do that during the winter
season.

My room was very standard.  I had a queen-sized bed, a large desk, and a
matching dresser and nightstand.  I wasn't too big on decorating, so the
walls in my room were bare for the most part.  I painted my room blue soon
after moving--not because I love painting, but because the previous
occupant of my room had apparently decided that neon orange would be a cool
color to paint the walls.  I was so glad to cover up that color--it was
nauseating.  As for the rest of the house, the best word to describe the
decor would be eclectic.  All four of us had brought various pieces of
furniture and other things to fill up the house and decorate it.  Nothing
really went together--but we really didn't care.  As long as we had
someplace to sit, a TV to watch and play video games on, and food to eat we
were as happy as pigs in shit.  Video games were very important in our
house.  Both Tim and Clint were huge video game fanatics.  Between the two
of them, they had a Playstation 2, X-Box, Gamecube, and TWO Nintendos.  At
(almost) any given moment of (almost) any given day, you would find one or
more of us playing one video game or another.  Nick and I weren't as
obsessed as our other two roommates were, but I did find it very addicting
once I sat down and started playing.  I will admit to missing at least
three classes because I was too involved in the game I was playing at the
time.  My mother would KILL me if she ever found that out.

Since our first year together was so successful, we decided to rent the
same house for our senior year.  The landlord kept the rent the same, which
made me very happy.  The bottom line was that we were comfortable living
there, and that is all that really mattered.

I walked into the house through the front door and found Nick and Kelly
lounging on the couch in the living room watching a game show.  They had
started to get really serious about their relationship toward the end of
the semester during the last school year.  Ever since then, Kelly had
become a permanent fixture in our house--she practically lived here now.
When she wasn't here, she spent time at the house she paid rent to live at.
That house was located on Walvern Blvd., only two streets away from us.
She shared that house with 3 other girls, including Chrissy (Tim's
girlfriend), Stephanie (our friend Stu's girlfriend), and Kaylie, the
slutty one of the group (hey--every group of girls has at least one!!).
Kaylie had tried to sleep with all four of us at one time or another.  When
I told her that I was gay, she really didn't care.  I think I could have
told her I like killing kittens and it wouldn't have fazed her.  She wanted
what she wanted when she wanted it.  I only escaped that night because Nick
came to my rescue.  As far as I knew, out of the four of us, only Clint had
given in to her.  That happened before he met his girlfriend Angela, who
I'm sure would have kicked the living shit out of Kaylie if she had tried
to put the moves on Clint after he and Angela were together.

"Hey guys", I said to them after I entered the house.  I walked over and
sat down in on of the big chairs that we had in the living room.

"Hey Lane," they both replied simultaneously.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes watching the game show.  We were
an exciting bunch, can't you tell?? :)

When a commercial came on, Nick raised his head off of the pillow he was
laying on and looked over at me.

"Where were you this morning?  I didn't think you had class until Noon."

I wasn't sure what to tell them.  Since the first day that I had laid eyes
on Jaden at the student gym all of those months ago, I had kept it my
little secret.  I hadn't told anyone--even my family--about Jaden.  I knew
that I could tell Nick anything.  Over the last year as Nick and Kelly had
dated, I had started to feel the same way about Kelly too.  They were
definitely the best friends that I ever had.  I loved Nick to death, but
sometimes he tried to push me into doing things that I wasn't sure I was
ready for--ESPECIALLY in the area of relationships.  I cut him alot of
slack because I knew that he really cared about me and just wanted me to be
happy.  He wanted to KILL Zach after he dumped me, for which I will always
be grateful.  Even though I had told him a thousand times that I wasn't
ready to start dating again, all I had to do was mention a guy's name and
the questions started.  Questions like: 'Who is this guy??  Where did you
meet him??  How do you feel about him??  Did he ask you out on a date??
Why don't you call him and talk to him??  Why don't you invite him over to
hang out??' and on and on and on.  I wasn't prepared to have him asking me
those questions about Jaden.  When I first saw Jaden, I wasn't sure of my
own feelings so I didn't say anything to Nick.  I was afraid he would try
to push me into talking to Jaden before I was ready.  And now, after
finally talking to Jaden, I still wasn't prepared for his barrage of
questions.  I was still figuring out the answers for myself.  I decided to
not say anything about Jaden, at least for now.

"Well, I worked out this morning, then I came home and showered.  I decided
to walk up to the Student Union and grab something to drink.  It's such a
nice day today and I didn't want to waste it".

As I thought about what I had really been doing this morning, I quickly
smiled to myself.  Nick noticed my smile and it raised his suspicions.

"What's with the smile??  Is there something you're not telling us??  What,
did you meet somebody or something?"

Upon hearing Nick's questions about my smile, Kelly turned her head and
looked at me too.  NICK!!  Crap--he was too smart for his own good.  I
needed to come up with something quickly and it had better make sense.
Nick can usually tell if I'm lying to him and I don't feel like facing an
interrigation about Jaden right now.

"No, nothing like that.  I was just remembering this poor freshman I saw
wandering around the Student Union.  He looked so...lost.  And scared.  I
hope I never looked like that when I was a freshman!!"

I started holding my breath because I was so nervous, all the while trying
to maintain a calm appearance.  Wait for it.  Wait for it.  COME ON
NICK--AND KELLY.  That was a plausible explanation!!  They both studied me
for another long second, then seemed satisfied (FINALLY!!) with my answer.

"OK", Nick said.

He lowered his head onto the pillow and Kelly turned her attention back to
the TV.  I promised myself I would talk to them about Jaden soon.  I really
valued their input, even though Nick tried to smother me sometimes.  I
needed to sort through my thoughts and feelings and get a better grasp on
how I felt.  There was no sense talking about it when I was so confused
about how I was really feeling. Nick turned his head and looked at me
again.

"I talked to Tim and Clint.  They still want to play tomorrow.  I also
spoke to Stu--he said he would try to find someone at his house so we could
have 6 players."

Nick was referring to our weekly 3 on 3 basketball game.  We had started
playing every Saturday since the beginning of our sophomore year.  Stu
Fisher was another friend we had met in the dorms that regularly played
with us.  He had rushed and joined a fraternity during the second semester
of our sophomore year.  He had started living in his frat house at the
beginning of his junior year.  Otherwise, he would probably be living with
us at our house.  Our regular 6th player, a kid named Jeremy Williams, had
graduated at the end of last year, so we were looking for someone to take
his spot.  Alot of students went to the football game on Saturdays, but we
never attended anymore.  Nick and I had gone to all of the games during our
freshman year.  The team won only one game that year--and that was a road
game!!!  I truly loved football, but our team was so horrible it was
painful to sit in the stands and watch.  They had only won five games
combined during the last three seasons.  Some local sportswriters had
predicted they might not even win one game this year.

"Sounds good.  If worse comes to worse, we can play 2 on 2 and everyone can
rotate out for a little bit."  That wasn't the ideal situation but we would
figure something out.

I thought that I could ask Jaden if he wanted to play with us but I decided
not too, at least for this week's game.  It might be too much, too soon.
He had already agreed to be my work-out partner, which meant we would be
seeing each other almost every day.  I didn't want to push my luck and
scare him off by asking him to play b-ball too.  I figured if things went
well this coming week I could ask him to play in next Saturday's game.
Hopefully I'll have my feelings for Jaden sorted out by then, or at least
in time for the unavoidable onslaught of Nick's questions.

I decided I needed to leave Nick and Kelly alone before I said or did
anything else that might make either of them suspicious.  I got up from the
chair and went upstairs to my room.  I needed to get prepared for my class
that started at Noon.

""WE ARE NOW SWITCHING TO JADEN'S POINT OF VIEW.""

The rest of Friday passed by uneventfully and I was very thankful.  I
attended my classes and came home.  I ate dinner and did what little
homework I had been assigned.  It was only the second day of classes and
none of my teachers had given out alot of homework--just some light reading
to do.  George and I took a walk later in the evening.  I was in bed fast
asleep before midnight.

Saturday started like every other morning with George licking my face to
wake me up.  It was the first morning that I woke up wishing someone other
than George was doing the licking.  Wow--I just woke up and the first
thought to cross my mind was about Lane!!  He really had made quite an
impression on me (and George) yesterday.

I shut off my alarm clock before it started to go off.  I wondered why I
even bothered to set the stupid thing anymore.  I have a four-legged alarm
clock--and he has never missed a day yet.  Seriously--what is up with my
dog??

A shiver ran down my spine as I thought that I would be meeting Lane in a
little while to go running.  This guy has had an effect on me unlike
anything I had ever experienced.  As I remembered yesterday's events, I
thought how both real and yet surreal everything seemed--and felt.  A part
of me wondered if I had dreamed up meeting Lane.  He definitely seemed too
perfect--he had to be a fantasy!!  I quickly dismissed that idea becuase
I'm sure I would never dream that my own dog would find someone he liked
better than me!!!  I had really started opening up to Lane, which was
something I wasn't sure I was ever going to be able to do with another
human being.  As much as I had enjoyed meeting and talking to him, I was
glad when we had parted ways because I was finally able to start processing
all of the various thoughts and emotions that he had invoked in me.  After
having a chance to reflect on everything that happened, I realized part of
the problem I had yesterday was that he had caught me off guard.  After a
good night's sleep, I felt more calm and collected this morning--maybe the
best way to say it is that I felt PREPARED.  I was better prepared
emotionally to face him this morning and handle any conflicting feelings I
might have.  I had decided that I wanted to have this guy in my life--but
just as friends, at least for now.

I went through my morning rituals and soon as I ready to leave.  As the
prospect of actually leaving hit me, I felt a few butterflies start
fluttering in my stomach.  I walked over to the mirror attached to my
dresser and took a good long look at myself.  Speaking aloud, I said,

"OK, Jaden.  You are going to meet Lane and then go running.  Everything is
going to be OK.  It's not a date or anything.  He's a nice guy.  Remember,
you WANT to become his friend.  Just go with the flow and try to remain
CALM."

I felt a little bit better after I finished my little pep talk.

"Let's get going George."

George ran over to me, bringing his leash with him.  I attached his leash
and we left.  It was a beautiful morning.  The sun was shining and it was
reflecting off the dew still in the grass.  I could hear birds chirping as
they went about their activities.  The world seemed so full of life and
suddenly I felt full of life.

It wasn't a very long walk to the track.  The college campus wasn't very
big, so everything was within a reasonable walking distance.  As George and
I approached the track, I felt a tug on his leash as he tried to run ahead
of me.  I looked over the fence that surrounded the track and finally saw
Lane standing by one of the gates that gave access to it.

I have a very good memory.  In some instances it was a great thing, like
when I had to study for a quiz or a test.  Sometimes it sucked having such
a good memory, like in the case of "IT".  I could remember so much of what
happened during "IT"--most details in almost perfect clarity.  I remembered
the way the bed felt that I was laying on--the mattress was so soft and
gentle, nothing like Leon's treatment of me.  The tightness of the
handcuffs around my writsts.  The clothes he wore the day he kidnapped
me--blue jeans and a blood red t-shirt (or was that my blood that had
stained his shirt??).  The way his breath smelled, which reeked of alcohol.
How heavy his body felt as he lay on top of me.  The overwhelming pain in
my butt as he raped me over and over and over again.  The sound that was
made as his fist made repeated contact with my body and my face.  The
feeling of my jaw breaking and of my teeth getting knocked loose.  The
taste of blood in my mouth.  The one memory that haunted me the most from
my ordeal was the look Leon had in his eyes as he assulted me.  The look
was a mixture of happiness, satisfaction, and horror all at the same time.
These memories had never left me, no matter how hard I tried to forget
them.

Like I said, I had a great memory, but the images I had of Lane in my mind
paled in comparison to the vision of seeing him standing by the gate that
remarkable morning.  I was riveted to the sight of him as George and I made
our way over to where he stood.  I COULD NOT TAKE MY EYES OFF OF HIM.  I
was screaming at myself (internally) to look away from him, but I couldn't
do it, no matter how hard I tried.  I finally gave up and started praying
that he didin't notice me staring.

When he did see us, another one of his famous smiles appeared on his face.
I could get used to seeing those smiles on a daily basis.  As much as I was
trying to remain calm, just seeing him standing there was causing me to get
very nervous again.  I could feel myself starting to shake a little bit.
DAMN!!!  I was hoping to remain calm, cool, and collected today--I wasn't
getting off to a very good start.

"Hey Jaden.", he called out.  George and I were about forty feet away from
him.  I felt myself blushing, just from him speaking those two simple
words!!  There was nothing even remotely flirtatious about what he said and
it wasn't like he used a sexy tone of voice or anything like that.
Regardless, I was blushing!!  What happened to the calm feeling I thought I
had when I woke up this morning??

"H-Hi."  W-O-W, what a response.  I had said one word--ONE WORD--and I was
stuttering already.  Great, just great.

By this time, we had reached him.  George immediately ran over to Lane.
Lane squatted down to greet him.

"Hey buddy!  How are you today?", he asked George while scratching him
behind the ears.  George's tail was wagging really fast.  The word
"ferociously" came to mind when thinking about his tail.  I was becoming
certain that my dog liked Lane better than he liked me!!

"How about you??  Doing good??", Lane asked me as he looked up at me from
his squatting position.

"Fine.  You?"  At least I got those words out without stuttering, I thought
to myself.

"Excellent."

For a brief second, I imagined him adding the words 'now that you're here"
to what he said.  I blushed once again, but Lane didn't seem to notice.

"Um, have you been waiting long?", I asked him.  "I don't think we're
late."

"You're right on time.  I just got here a few minutes ago.", he responded.

"Cool.  So, have you stretched out or warmed up yet?

"Nope.  I was waiting for you to get here."

There was a part of me that was afraid of Lane, that did not want this to
turn into a relationship, that wanted to run away from this....hunk.  But
the other part of me, the part that also scared of Lane but willing to take
a chance and get to know him better--that part of me exploded with
encouragement after hearing what he just said.  I realized I was putting
added meaning to a statement that, in reality, was very straightforward.
It's just that in my deepest thoughts, in my most secret fantasies, I hoped
and prayed that I might find someone who would be willing to wait for
me--wait for me to get comfortable with my sexuality and to finish dealing
with my issues regarding relationships and (especially) sex.  Even if he
didn't mean those words in the same context that I wanted them to mean, it
still made me feel good actually hearing him say them.

"OK, let's get started."

We took about ten minutes to strecth out and warm up our muscles.  It
doesn't feel good to pull a muscle when running.  I also believe in
drinking some water before I start to work out.  I don't want to be
cramping up--especially in my legs.  Nothing feels worse than a charley
horse in your calf muscle.

After we finished stretching, I pulled off my sweatshirt and sweatpants
that I had worn over my running clothes.  I had on a tank top and a pair of
shorts to run in.  It might have been my imagination, but I thought I
caught Lane staring at me as I removed my outer layer of clothing.  That's
just wishful thinking, I told myself.  Anyway, I wasn't 100% sure I WANTED
him to be looking at me like that.  Plus, there was still the issue of his
sexuality.  I had no idea what it was, but it was more than likely that he
was straight.  'OK--STOP!!', I shouted at myself in my head.  You are going
to drive yourself crazy with these thoughts.  Just go out there and run!!.

Lane had arrived in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and it looked like he
was ready to go.

"I was thinking that we'd start out with 6 miles today, since you haven't
run that much.  Does that sound good to you??, I asked him.

"Aren't you scared that if you shorten the distance I might have a better
shot at beating you??, he asked me, a cocky grin forming on his face.

I flashed him my own cocky grin (or at least, I tried too--I had never made
a cocky grin before!!).

"Nope.  In fact, my guess is that I'll lap you at LEAST once, if not
twice.", I shot back at him.

"Hmmm--it seems we have a big talker here.  Let's get started--you need to
put your money where your mouth is."

"Fine.  Oh--and Lane??  My mom gave me her recipe for Lemon Chicken when I
came to school.  I'll let you borrow it if you need too."

Lane couldn't suppress himself anymore and laughed outloud.  I'm making him
laugh again!!!  That made me feel soo good.

"OK, OK.  Seriously, let the best man win, alright??", he said.

"Sounds like a good idea.  By the way, it's 24 laps for 6 miles."

"I'm in an IVY LEAGUE COLLEGE!!  I think I can do some simple math in my
head.", he said sarcastically.

I held up my hands in a defensive position.

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure you knew, that's all."

"Well, I know this much--GO!!!", he shouted.

All of the sudden, Lane took off running.  It took me a few seconds to
realize what was happening.  THAT LITTLE BASTARD!!!  He's getting a head
start!!  Lane was at least 50 feet down the track before I managed to
recover from the shock of his sudden action.  I started to run after him.
George had taken off after Lane and was already running faithfully by his
side (I had removed his leash before we started streching).

As I started running, I remembered to start my stopwatch.  After that, I
took off at full speed to catch Lane.  I wanted him to know who was king of
the track.  After about 5 seconds of running at full speed, I realized
something---running BEHIND Lane was GREAT, at least for the view I had,
which was excellent.  The sight of Lane from the back was just as enticing
as seeing him from the front.  There was NOTHING wrong with this guy!!

I slowed down and started running at my normal pace.  Lane was still
running pretty fast, but I figured he wouldn't be able to keep that pace up
for very long.  Sure enough, after a few minutes I noticed he was slowing
down and by the start of the fifth lap I had caught up to him and George.
I was sad that my great view was gone, but that didn't concern me TOO
much--I had a bet to win!!!

I slowed down and ran at Lane's pace for the next twelve laps.  I had been
keeping track of our times and Lane was doing a great job.  He was
maintaining a seven-minute mile pace.  My normal pace was six and a half
minutes per mile so I knew that anytime I wanted to I could speed up and
win this thing.  After the 16th lap, I decided that it was time to show him
who was boss, so I started to run at my normal pace.

"Hey!!", Lane yelled at me through deep breaths.  He started to speed up
and try to keep up with me, but that lasted for only about 100 feet.

"George!!  Let's go buddy", I yelled back at my dog.

George listened to me this time and caught up to me.  With only two miles
left to go, I figured that I wouldn't be able to keep my boastful promise
of lapping Lane, but that was fine with me.  Just as long as I won the
bet!!

I finished all six miles easily in first place.  My time was 40:29, which
was a bit slower than I normally would have run, but I did run 3 miles with
Lane at seven-minutes per mile.  After I finished, George ran back to Lane
and continued running with him.  Lane finished up with a time of 42:12.  He
had averaged 7:02 per mile--nothing to be ashamed of, especially
considering that he didn't run very much.

After Lane finished he stood for a five seconds with his hands on his hips
and he was breathing really hard.  He walked over to the middle of the
track and collapsed on his back.  I quickly made my way over to him.  He
looked up at me.

"Lane, you really should try to walk this off.  If you lay down, your
muscles will stiffen and you'll be incredibly sore tomorrow.", I said to
him in between my own deep breaths.

I extended my hand down towards him.  He reached up and grabbed my hand and
I helped pull him up.  As with yesterday when I tried to shake his sweaty
hand, I didn't have any reaction to touching him.  We were both kind of
gross at the moment.

"I usually walk one lap while I cool down.  I really think it helps to keep
your leg muscles loose."

Lane just looked over at me and nodded.  He was still breathing pretty
heavily.  He hadn't said a word since he had finsihed running the six
miles.

We started walking (with George, of course!!) along the outer edge of the
track as there were a few other people running along the inner part of the
track.  As we walked, I noticed Lane's breathing start to return to normal.
He didn't start speaking again until we had walked about 1/2 way around the
track.

"Two things.  One, and I hate to admit this, but that kicked my ass.  And
two, congrats.  I guess you win the bet.

"Thanks.  I can taste that Lemon Chicken now."

"You were serious about that??  Would this be a good time to tell you that
I have problems in the kitchen??  I mean, boiling WATER is almost too
complicated for me!!  I'm not sure you really want me to be cooking for
you."

"Amazing, it's been five minutes and you're ALREADY trying to get out of
having to pay up.  Sorry, man, but a bet is a bet.  If I were you, I'd be
calling your mom for some cooking tips.  I don't want to be eating any
burnt crap."

While I was happy that I won, I was having mixed feelings about this
'dinner' that Lane was supposedly going to prepare for me.  Did I really
want to spend any time alone with this guy??  I wasn't sure.

"Maybe I can ask Kelly.  She's a really good cook.  I'll bet she can help
me.", Lane said aloud.  It sounded like he was speaking outloud to himself,
not really talking to me directly.

Wait a minute, wait a minute--WHO IN THE HELL WAS KELLY??  KELLY??!!  I
knew it, I just knew it, he has a girlfriend.  Or, at least, he's sleeping
with her.  I mean--come on.  He's stunningly handsome, he's got a great
body, he has a great personality, and he's a senior in college.  He's
probably slept with half of the girls on campus by now.  THIS IS NOT
SUPRISING NEWS.  I figured he was straight.  Just because I was secretly
HOPING he was gay wasn't going to make it true.  Seriously--what had I been
thinking???  Lane approached me in the gym because he wanted a WORK-OUT
PARTNER.  Suddenly, I'm creating this fantasy world where not only is he
GAY, but he's INTERESTED in me.  GET A GRIP ON YOURSELF, JADEN!!!!!!!

This is a GOOD thing.  Now I can stop obsessing over whether he is gay or
straight.  I know now--he's straight and THAT'S OK.  I wasn't ready for a
relationship anyway, so why am I so disappointed in the news??  No, I am
not disappointed, just...well I'm not sure how to feel about this.
Actually, I do know how I feel--it's a huge relief.  If he's not a romantic
possiblity, then I can relax around him.  I'm already feeling much more
calm than I was earlier.  We are going to be working out together.  After
awhile, I'm sure we'll have to become friends--I still want to do that.  I
wasn't thrilled that the black cloud of doom had been correct about Lane,
but I wasn't going to dwell on that fact.  Let's concentrate on becoming
his friend.  I will be satisfied if I can do that.

Jaden and Lane--good friends, maybe best friends.  I like the sound of
that.

TO BE CONTINUED

Please stay with me---I know it has been slow going, but I really want to
establish a solid foundation for our characters.  It wouldn't make any
sense if they suddenly hopped into bed with each other.  They will get
there, but each of them has issues to work out before they are ready for a
deeper relationship.

**FALL TELEVISION ALERT**

After having enjoyed a relatively television free summer, I am anxious for
a couple of TV shows that will be returning over the next few weeks.  I
don't watch alot of TV, but I urge everyone to check out these 4 great
shows.  You won't regret it--it's not an hour of your life that you are
losing, but rather an hour that will enrich and fulfill you.

1.  LOST on ABC.  Excellent, excellent, excellent.  What is down that
f***ing hatch, anyway??  I am completely involved in the mystery of the
island.  Where are they??  I can't decide who is hotter--Jin or Sawyer??
And--Sayid is easy on the eyes too.

2.  EVERWOOD, on THE WB. Interesting, involving, and even heartbreaking
storylines that always suprise you.  Some of the best acting out on
Television right now.  Seriously, how can you NOT love Bright?  Previews
I've seen for the new season indicate a really hot new guy will be added to
the show, possibly as a love interest for Amy.  I know I'll be watching.

3.  VERONICA MARS, on UPN.  Perhaps the best written show I've watched
since Buffy and Angel.  I have to admit that I am completely in love with
the actor who plays Logan.  Hot!!  Not alot of people watch this show--I
urge you to give it a chance.  You will NOT regret it.

4.  THE AMAZING RACE, on CBS.  The best and only reality show I watch (I've
given up on Survivor).  I even let my character of Jaden love this show in
my story.  Quite simply, it's perfect.  I love the fact that they are
having FAMILIES compete in the next edition.

I know the summer is basically over, but the only show I followed this
summer was RESCUE ME, on the FX network.  This is Denis Leary's show about
firefighters.  If you haven't seen it, check it out, or buy the DVD when it
becomes available.

I love reading and writing, but I make time in my life for these shows.
Thanks for reading through my little presentation, now back to the story.

Be on the lookout for Chapter 10 coming soon!!!

FEEDBACK, FEEDBACK, FEEDBACK---this is lifeblood for us writers, so please
drop me a quick line.

Remember, I have a new e-mail address.  Use: jaden.scott@adelphia.net
Thanks, Jaden.