Date: Sun, 15 May 2011 22:03:30 -0400
From: Jade <phantomscorpio77@gmail.com>
Subject: Gay/High School : In the Shadow of Our Lives - Wings of Tomorrow 2

Copyright © 2011 by Jaden Lane, All Rights Reserved.  No part of this book
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This story is a work of fiction.  Any resemblances to any person, place, or
written works are purely coincidental.  It may contain consensual sex
between young men.  Do not read if you find that objectionable or if it is
illegal for you to view this content for whatever the reason.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated @ phantomscorpio77@gmail.com :)

>>).:.(<<


In the Shadows of Our Lives Part 2 - Wings of Tomorrow II ~ Time Has Come ~


"You must be dreaming, or going out of your mind, ('Cause) there's no way
of changing the world over one night."

Wings of Tomorrow, by Europe


>>).:.(<<

PAUL

"Change 'em up ladies," Coach Ramsey bellows to our all-male gym class
before lacing into Tim Matthews, "Matthews, what in the name of hell was
that?"

As coach is yelling, Tim, who knocked me on my butt as I was going to the
net in our basketball game, lends me a hand to help me up off the floor,
"Sorry Hunter."

"Go get changed Matthews," Coach Ramsay shouts, sticking to his policy that
if you take someone out of gym class, you're out for the class too.

The contact wasn't that bad, it's just a charley horse in my hamstring.  I
try to smooth it over, "It's fine Coach, I can walk it off."

Coach Ramsay turns to Tim, "Help Hopalong-Hunter to the locker room on your
way."

The gravity of his social circle at school no longer pulls at me now that
I'm not playing baseball, and it's been years since we've been what I would
really call friends.  Managing just fine under my own power to the locker
room, I brush off Tim's attempt to help, "I'm good, thanks."

Tim apologizes yet again along the way, "I didn't mean to hurt you Hunter.
You sure you're okay?"

I repeat, "No problem.  I'm fine."

When I'm down to my boxers in the change room, I notice Tim is staring at
me.  More specifically he's staring at my boxers.  It doesn't surprise me
that I begin to chub up, knowing that he's sizing me up.  He's not my type,
I prefer the slim frame of Jon much better, but if a guy like Tim hoped
into my bed, let's just say I wouldn't kick him out.  Okay, honestly; I'd
be putty in his hands.  Speaking of putty in his hands, I better hurry up
and hide the one-eyed-monster under another layer before it's too late.
Rather than acknowledge Tim's appraisal of my body, I just reach for my
cargo shorts that are hanging off of a wall hook.  Stepping into my shorts,
he makes it even more obvious that he's staring, never taking his eyes away
from my lower body even as I do up my belt.  Aw shoot, even with my cargo's
on, something's damn obvious now.

Tim closes the distance between us and clasps a hand to my shoulder, "Yo
Hunter, just between us, is it true?"

Even though I saw it coming a mile away, I still somehow hoped to escape
the inevitable.  A cold chill runs up my spine as my body instinctively
tenses and I get a strange tingling in my neck.  With a practiced calmness
I act confused, "Is what true?"

I know exactly what he's asking about.  Am I gay.  We used to be close
friends when we were younger, and technically we're still friends now I
guess, just not close anymore.  Yet it wouldn't matter if he were my best
friend, I'm not telling him.

I just can't figure out why he was staring at me so openly.  I know he's
living with Jon Farrows now, and I am insanely jealous of that.  I wish I
could move in with Jon, go to bed with him, wake up with him, and do other
stuff in bed with him in between those two!  Then it dawns on me and my
jealousy hits a new extreme; he's gay too, and he and Jon are together.
I'll be damned, that's got to be it!

I've heard the snickers and latest gossip; that Tim Matthews has moved in
with his boyfriend Jonathan Farrows, but I passed it off.  I know what the
truth behind the whole living arrangement is, or at least I thought I did.
Yet it is high school after all; everyone gets their chance to star in the
guess who's gay this week rumours, but who knows, maybe the rumours are
right for once.  Maybe, just maybe, this rumour has some teeth to it.
Maybe the cutie I'm obsessed with is getting the loving from Tim that I
wish I could bring myself to offer him.

I try to sound calm as I play off old rumours, "Look Tim.  Whatever Andy
said, or Neil, or anyone else; I'm really not gay."

"Too bad Hunter," Tim says to me as he reaches out and slaps my chest.
He's such a baseball player; he just can't get it out of him and call
people by their first names.  It's always last names with him.

His remark does catch me off guard, however.  Is he hitting on me?  I spit
out, "What?"

"Nothing man, sorry.  Look, whatever, I really don't care.  I just know a
guy that has it bad for you so I was doing a little recon while it's just
you and me.  Forget it," He says.

I want to know who!  Who's he doing the recon for?  A guy?  Is the guy
himself?  Is he with Jon, and cheating on him?  He sure checked me out long
enough for me to question his sexuality.  Is he asking for Jon?  Could it
be?  Could it?  No, it doesn't matter.  The plan, remember the plan!

"Sure, yeah.  Whatever.  Thanks for thinking of me, but I don't have time
for a girlfriend, man.  Belinda's the only girl I have time in my life for
right now," I answer, hoping he catches my stress on girl and girlfriend.

Tim scratches his crotch through his school-issue gym shorts, "That's cool.
You don't want to talk about it, I get it.  So what are you up to this
weekend?  There's that beach party out at Virginia Point.  Nat's
threatening to play her fiddle at it.  Farrows and I are probably going to
check it out with her, Anderson, and Tania.  You going with Wilson and
Potter?"

"Yeah, Jackie and Wayne are going to go.  Trust me, Natalie won't play,
there or anywhere.  She swears she's playing this Thanksgiving at the fall
carnival, but she won't.  She gets too nervous; she'll back out.  But I get
to miss out on that fun 'cause I'm playing a couple sets every day with
Daddy.  And this weekend's a bust because I can't ditch Belinda for a bush
party anymore," I reveal.

"Oh yeah, you and your guitars!  I heard you're pretty awesome too, Nat's
always telling me how good you are and that I should catch you play some
time.  I remember you, your dad and brothers always had a guitar handy.
Maybe we'll check you out, your music that is.  I'll leave it to your
secret admirer to check the rest of you out," Tim says with a double pat of
my butt and surprises me with a good squeeze before exclaiming, "Damn, nice
ass Hunter.  Just don't grow a hairy back!"

And just like that, Tim drops it.  Once we're changed and sitting on the
bleachers in the gym, for the rest of the class we talk about Belinda a
little, about him staying with Jon, and his hopes of getting drafted by a
college.  We call it getting his ticket punched.

I can't let it go though.  As we talk, all I want to know is what the heck
that was back in the change room.  I never thought he was gay too.  Damn,
how does Jon do it and get away with it?  Maybe a threesome?  Just one
little romp with him and Tim?  Tim is hot.  He's no Jon, but if I weren't
sticking to my plan I'd...ah, never mind.

Later in the evening, while at work, all I can think of is my earlier
exchange with Tim.  The powers that be at Wal-Mart and my
store-manager-slash-Dad would no doubt not be happy if they knew how many
customers I'm managing to piss off while acting like a jealous,
lovesick-airhead teenage-cashier.

This morning I woke up with a smile on my face and hope that maybe I'd run
into Jon, or we'd actually talk to each other in the weight room or
something.  Maybe share a spaghetti noodle for lunch like Lady and the
Tramp and kiss or something.  You know; the usual, because things like that
happen every day.  Then Tim has to rub it in my face that he's getting what
I want, and even worse, I'm pretty certain no one really thinks Tim's gay.
Basically, Tim has everything working out for him just like I wish I had,
while I feel betrayed by my inability to even hint to Jon about my interest
in him.

By the time I go to bed, as jealous as I've become of Tim, and as mad as I
am getting at Jon for not being mine, the thought of them together is a
little hot.  Oh, to be the condom between those two!  Even with Belinda
sleeping soundly, I'm too defeated tonight to do anything but lay awake in
bed, over-thinking my life until well past three in the morning before
sleep finally takes me away from my anguish.

Running off of only two hours and change of sleep, by the time I head to
gym class I find myself there before I remember I wanted to skip off.
Tim's broad smile and slap to my chest when I walk into the change room
take me from my daze.

He's completely unaware of how deeply his revelation yesterday has irked
me, "Hunter, just the guy I need to see.  Mickey and I are trying to break
in two new kids on first base.  No one's worked that corner for us as good
as you.  Can you maybe watch a practice tonight for us and give them some
pointers?"

The bastard stole my boyfriend; I'm not in the mood for Tim today.  And yet
his easy-going smile wins me over despite my resolve.  I say what first
came to my mind, only not nearly as harshly as I first thought it, "Yeah,
but by now they both probably know you two are assholes.  What more can I
point out to them?"

A few heads turn at my comment.  Tim pushes me back a step and then changes
his mind.  Thing is, knowing Tim, I know he wasn't going to hit me anyways.
To anyone behind him, it looks like he was ready to haul off and hit me.
To me, it looks like he was going to try and whisper something to me.
Letting me off the hook, he shrugs his shoulders for the rest of the guys
in the change room and playfully pinches one of my nipples, "Yeah, I guess.
When you're right, you're right."

The only other time Tim says anything to me for the day is when we are
finishing a five mile run.  We've been pacing each other even though I
think he's been taking it easy.  Getting right beside me a block away from
school he starts talking to me, "Hunter, think about what I asked you
earlier.  Grab some gear from home and come back.  You might just see
something you like if you do.  Someone with a huge crush on you will be
happy to see you in pinstripes again.  Just sayin."

I don't even get a chance to answer.  Turning the corner to the street our
school is on, Tim picks up the pace and leaves me in his dust.  Yesterday I
thought he was coming out to me and letting me know Jon is his.  Now I'm
wondering if either Ryan Chen or Dan Morton, the new sophomores now on the
varsity team, is gay and somehow told Tim he's into me.  One thing for sure
is that Tim made it clear it's a guy that's into me.  I'd almost think it's
Jon, but he doesn't play baseball so he won't be at practise.  If it's not
his eyes appreciating me in my pinstripes, I don't care to be at practise
either.  I'd catch up to Tim and tell him so, but I've struggled to stay 30
feet ahead of him the whole way to this point.  I have no gas left in the
tank.

Instead of changing in the change room, I grab my clothes off the hook,
toss my homework-laden backpack onto my shoulders, and head for my car
before Tim has a chance to ask me again.  I love when gym is my last class
of the day, and last class of the week.  Another week is in the books.


>>).:.(<<

JON

Luck would have it that I don't have a single class together this year with
Paul Hunter.  No.  One class together with Tim, two of my four classes are
with Neil, two with Tania, one with Nat, one with Jackie, and of course I
get to spend American Literature together with big-mouth Kevin.  All pretty
much par for the course.

What is weird this year is the shift at lunch.  When we went to the
cafeteria, instead of sitting with Neil, Tania, Stacey Smith, and Kevin,
Tim dragged me to a table with Train, Nat, Jackie, his friend Wayne, some
guys from the football, baseball, and basketball teams, as well as other
acquaintances that are not necessarily sports-related.  Neil and Tania are
just more drama that Tim has patience for, and he's been very tactful about
it.  If they could go more than a couple days without bickering at each
other they'd probably be mad at him and me, but instead they just accept it
and blame each other.  At least that's what I think.  I don't see their
logic in staying together for the year to be honest, but I have my own life
to deal with so I live and let live.

A fixture at our new table, hanging off Drew Butler this year is Debbie Van
De Berg.  I'm loathe to admit it, but she is all of a sudden not as
unattractive as she used to be, and seems to have developed an almost
likable personality.  I still can't stand her guts for trying to spread
rumours about Daniel and I, but talking to her was better than the
alternative.

The alternative of course was staring at Paul Hunter all lunch.  I've had
to buy some oversized rock tee-shirts from the music store that hang loose
and down to my crotch, so that people can't easily see the reaction I have
to him.  I don't care where the girls rank him on their silly lists; he's
my clear-cut number one this year.  Yeah, Tim is no longer 1a or 1b.  Paul
stands alone in my eyes.  Of course, in my mind's eye he's not standing
alone.  I can see him standing with me in my shower, us together in the gym
locker room, us together in the back seat of his car, in my bed, in his
bed, in a cheap motel room, under the bleachers at school, on the beach at
Virginia Point.  You get the picture...

It hurts too.  He's such close friends with Wayne and Jackie that they
touch each other all the time.  Playful punches, high fives, hands on
shoulders.  I get jealous, seriously jealous.  I don't understand the laws
of attraction; a full month into the new school year he's cut away the
bleached tips of his hair and again looks exactly like he did last year,
but I find him even more breathtaking this year.  Maybe having his hair
slightly shorter changes the angles of his face or something.  Staring
doesn't help give me the answer, no matter how much I catch myself staring!
It got so bad that Tim started taking me to the gym with him every lunch.

That was great for a week back there in September, right until the whole
baseball team decided it was best to work out together.  Even though Paul
isn't on the baseball team, Jackie practically drags him to the weight
room.  Every day my guard is up for when Tim is going to turn his back to
me with a smile and call out, `Yo, Wilson, Hunter, one of you spot Farrows
here while I go talk to Coach,' or some other devious way of getting me and
Paul close together.  Every day I tell you!  And if it's not Tim, then
Jackie is unknowingly doing it too.

That said, I do wear a couple retro Def Leppard shirts to work-out in
because I know Paul listens to them.  I see him look at the shirts.  If
only I could manage saying something smooth like, `like my shirt?  I want
you to fuck my brains out.  My turn to stare at you.  I mean spot you, yeah
that's it, spot you....  You know, lifting weights kinds spot you, not
stare at your crotch or belly button when your shirt rides up or at your
legs or anything like that.  And also most definitely not spotting the
waist band of your boxers every chance I get because I have a thing for
other guys' underwear, and yours just happen to be extra special to me
because I want you so badly.'

Argh!  Even in my fantasies I get tongue tied around him!  Ah well, it
looks like Tim's practise is winding down.  I have no clue what I was
supposed to come and look at today.  I got the idea it was a guy.  He's up
to something and my best guess is he's trying to play match-maker.  Only,
he knows how madly in love I am with Paul and there's no Paul to be seen on
this baseball field.  With no Paul, the only person I would stare at is
Tim, and I was not about to do that.  Instead I got a jump some homework
while waiting in the bleachers for Tim to be done.

Getting into Tim's car I comment, "Damn you smell good!"

Tim takes a whiff of his sweaty armpits and disagrees with a smirk.  When I
look away he grabs my head and pulls / pushes it towards his crotch, "You
probably think I smell even better there!"

Sitting up and putting on my seatbelt so he can't try that one again I
casually agree, "Naturally.  If you'd give it up to me you'd see.  Anyhow,
so what was I supposed to see today?  You scratch your crotch and ass a
bunch of times and even blow kiss at me the one time?"

Tim smiles, "No, but you loved that one didn't ya?"

"Uh, really, what was I supposed to see," I press.

"Something.  It didn't work out today.  I guess I have to work a little
harder to make this happen.  Don't worry, you'll like it when I do," He
answers.  I know if I try to push the issue he won't tell me so I drop it.

I change the subject, "Oh, Lacey's probably coming over for dinner tonight
or tomorrow.  Apparently she's not so cool with me being, you know, but she
promised Ma she'll be civil.  I know you'll sense the tension right away
and try to mend the bridge, but believe me, there's never been a bridge
there to begin with.  She and I just never clicked, so please spare me?  I
like it better when we stick to hi and bye."

"Yeah, you've told me all about it a bunch of times."

"Uh, yeah.  I know, but if she's there and she sees me trailing you in, all
sexy and whatnot in your baseball uniform, she's probably going to say
something mildly offensive to me," I suggest.

"It's your home you know?  She's the guest now.  It's not my place because
so am I, so I'll bite my tongue for you, but don't take any crap from her.
At least you like good looking guys like Hunter and me, not the freak she's
with!"

"You're so gay Tim!"

"You wish Cheesedick," He says and we leave it at that.

As soon as we get home Tim takes a shower and I take Bandit for a walk.
Dinner is as awkward as I knew it would be.  Ma and Lacey are talking while
Tim, and I talk.  Larry is on an away game with the football team so he
can't ease the tension.  Tim and I bolt from the table the first chance we
get and head out to spend the evening with Nat.  When her twin Jackie gets
home from working at the music store I manage I try to nudge Tim for us to
leave.

Over the course of the next hour I marvel at how Nat and Jackie are brother
and sister, and still really good friends.  I wish my mom had used whatever
fertility drug their mother was taking to get pregnant with them.  Maybe if
she did, Lacey could have come out more friendly to Ma, Dee, and me.

>>).:.(<<

Saturday night after getting home from work I can't sleep.  With an early
bus ride to a game in Galvaston tomorrow morning, Tim hit his bed at the
unthinkable hour of ten.  I figure to do the same and actually manage to
get to sleep for a bit.  With Ma and Larry playing Euchre next door and
thinking I'm asleep, I hear Tim move around a bit.  It takes me a couple
minutes to clue in that he's not walking and talking in his sleep, rather
that he's having a hot talk with some girl on the phone.

I know I shouldn't listen, but I still am in love with him too, so of
course I'm going to eaves drop on him!  He's another one; for being a
virgin and supposedly a chicken, he sure knows how to compliment the girl's
body and makes me wish I had boobs, the way he longs to play again with
this mystery girl's.  The phone call lasts less than ten minutes when he
says his calling card is about to run out of time.  About a minute after he
hangs up I can tell he's enjoying himself; being quiet, but not that quiet.
A few minutes later he's snoring away and I am now very sexually
frustrated.

By midnight Ma and Larry are back home and asleep too, and I am wide awake.
My plan is to find a good clip of some hot guy getting it from another hot
guy and them both really making love, not just having sex.  About a good
fifty clips later I still haven't found what I want when Duncan comes
online.  Yet another high school senior home on a Saturday night.  When I
comment on it, he says he and his `girlfriend' Yvonne are babysitting while
he'd rather be out shooting some pool with friends from his waterpolo team
or catching Hockey Night in Canada, whatever that is, with either his
brother or his regular group of friends.  So in the end it looks like I'm
the only looser with nothing better to do than be home before midnight on a
weekend after all.

So as you know, a couple months ago I came out to my best friend Tim.  He
is all supportive on so many different levels but when I need to get
personal, I turn to the internet.  I mean sure, I could talk with Chris.
It's just that it's awkward to me, talking to my last boyfriend about the
guy I borderline stalk.

Talking with my friend Duncan in Vancouver is just easier.  Dunny sure has
fun at my expense, but I can handle that.  Everything he suggests I do with
Paul, are all things I want to do with Paul!  And quite honestly, he has a
damn good imagination; coming up with things I wouldn't think of on my own.
He blames it on his parents not having a clue as to the amount of porn he's
watching over the internet.

I can't help but tell him about Tim's self indulgence earlier, and Duncan
gets on my case about why I let Tim dominate me so much.  This eventually
leads to him giving me a hard time for not stopping Tim from calling me
Cheesedick yet.  Somehow Duncan gets me to the point that I sign off and go
up to Tim's room to wake him and talk about it.  I don't know why I have to
do it right now, but it just seems like the right time.

When I open the door to his room I wake him.  He's rubbing his eyes and
yawning as he jokes, "Needed to cuddle did ya?"

"Um, yeah, sure!  If you're offering," I answer, letting it hang there to
see if he's really offering.

"No funny stuff Cheesedick; keep it like you used to when you were
pretending to be straight," He says while sliding over to the wall side of
his bed.

I toe off my socks, shuck my shorts, and fling off my shirt before I say
anything more.  Getting under his thin sheet I find him and make sure to
give him space.  This close to him, I find it tempting to wrap our bodies
together but I don't.  If he wants to get any closer it's his move.  Taking
a deep breath I blurt it out, "Tim, why do you still call me Cheesedick?
It's not flattering and it's starting to catch on.  I'd rather not be known
at our high school reunion as it, 'kay?"

"This again?  What do you want me to call you?"

"I do have a name you know," I suggest.

"In case you never noticed, I don't do first names, They're not my thing,"
He says, his voice going for irony.

"I know you don't call me by my last name like you do everyone else because
it invites people to add the f-word to it," I point out.

"I guess that was obvious," He agrees.

"Just a little bit.  But Cheesedick is just about as bad as calling me a
homophobic slur," I relate.

He pretends to scoff, although I can sense he really is a little perplexed
by my poor timing, if not mildly put-off by it, "Where's the middle ground
then?  What do you want me to call you?  Moody?"

"No, I've outgrown that one too, thankfully," I say with a roll of my eyes,
not that he can see it.

"I don't know about that.  Yesterday with Lacey would say otherwise.  If
not Cheesedick, then what?"

I dunno," I answer honestly.  I've put some thought into it and I really
don't know.

Tim props himself up on his elbows, "What else do people call you?  Jonny?"

I protest, "Oh God no!  Ma just stopped calling me that this year.  And at
school it too easily becomes Jack-off Jonny or Jonny Jack-off."

"What did Blondie call you?"

"Chris calls me Babes," I quietly say, thinking aloud.

"Well that doesn't work!  If I'm your current boyfriend I need to call you
something better than your last one," Tim says with a good laugh.

"Not really, no.  I wasn't asking you to call me that.  I haven't fully
thought this one through now that I think about it now.  Uh, Daniel called
me his Tigger," I say with some hope in my voice.

I can feel he's shaking his head just by the movement in the bed, "Can't do
that either.  If I have a pet name for you, it needs to be a little
less...something a boyfriend would call you."

Then it hits me.  I exclaim, "Duncan calls me Jiffy."

"Jiffy?"

"Yeah, I called him Dunny one day, so he took my initials and turned it
into Jiffy.  It's harmless," I relate.

"Jiffy?  I'll sleep on it," Tim says in a mulling-it-over kind of voice.

"Kay, thanks," I say, patting Tim and getting out of his bed.

"Not going to stay and snuggle?"

"Nah.  If I sleep with you I'll get more attached to you and that's not
fair to you, and it'll just be a huge distraction from Paul.  If he's gay
like me, well, you know how I feel about him," I say, sounding dreamy near
the end.

"He gives you boners!"

"Uh, duh!  Imagine if you're right and he really likes me too!  I'd never
stop smiling!"

Tim agrees, "Could be awesome!  Just don't rub it in when you're getting
some action and I'm not."

"Goodnight Tim," I say as I open his door to leave.

"Sweet dreams Jiffy," He answers back as he rolls back to his initial
placement on his bed.


>>).:.(<<

PAUL

October turned out to be an interesting month.  It started out with Tim
Matthews checking me out in my boxers.  Let me correct that; it started out
with Tim purposely causing an incident in gym class that would see both of
us sent to the change room early, so that he could check me out in my
boxers one-on-one.  Since then he's been mildly hitting on me in private,
and being a little flirtatious when we're in gym class together.  As soon
as Jon is around, like when we are in the weight room together at lunch
with most of the Juniors and Seniors on the baseball team, it never
happens.

I want to tell Jon that his boyfriend is going to stray, but there are a
few problems with that.  I could be wrong about the whole situation.  It's
not my place either way.  And of course, I don't know why Jon keeps picking
other guys over me.  If only he knew the anguish he's caused me all three
years and change that we've gone to high school together.

 On a Saturday afternoon I'm standing at the end of my aisle, counting down
the minutes until my shift at work is over when I spot Tim heading towards
the check-out lanes in Wal-Mart.  I can see him scan the lanes for the best
line, only to realize that three of the five of us in the blue smocks don't
even have a customer.  When we make eye contact he smiles and angles
towards me.  As I turn to head to my register I swear he almost hesitates
and tries to hide what he's buying behind his back.

I greet him, "Hey Tim, how's it going on a sunny Saturday when I wish I
were out there rather than in here."

It's just too good, Tim is starting to blush as he puts a handful of items
on the belt.  Trying to act casual as I grab the pack of socks first, he
places a tee-shirt over two packs of underwear.  Haynes and Fruit of the
Loom, both XL, which I think are a little too big for him.  The tee-shirt
by contrast is a medium.

"Oh you know, Hunter.  The usual.  I forgot you work here," He says,
reaching for a candy bar and placing it on top of the shirt.

I look to my watch after scanning the peanut butter cups, "One hundred and
four minutes to go."

"Huh," He asks while trying to hide the underwear I've just uncovered on
the belt behind his hand.

"I still have an hour and fourty-four minutes to go in my shift.  Time
seems to be dragging today," I say while scanning the tee-shirt.

"Oh.  Bummer.  Some days I wish I had a job," He answers as his face
blushes even more.

I first scan the Haynes for him and say nothing.  As I scan the Fruit of
the Loom he blurts out, "I'm normally a boxers dude, but Jiffy has me
trying these boxer-briefs things.  Took some getting used to at first, but
I kinda like 'em now.  Wow that really sounds...uh, damn...never mind.  Got
any plans for tonight?  I haven't seen you out and about for ages."

"Nah, you know me.  Work, work, work.  Belinda eats my paycheques and poops
on what she doesn't eat," I say as I take a credit card from his hand.

He again asks, "Huh?"

"Diapers," I say as a light goes on in his head.

"Oh yeah.  Sorry, I guess I'm just not with it today," He says as I look at
the credit card, adding, "It's my Dad's, for when I need something."

Man I wish I were you right about now Tim.  You still get to play baseball
here while your family moved away, you have your dad's credit card, and
you're buying underwear your boyfriend wants you to.  You even have a pet
name for him that you let slip to me!

As he signs the receipt he suggests, "You should hang out some time.  I
know Farrows and I aren't as exciting as Wilson and Potter, I mean heck,
we're almost like an old married couple.  but with Belinda and all, you
could just chill.  We don't party much and Nat says you hate it at home.
Just sayin'."

Hmm, hang out with the guy that made me realize for sure that I'm gay, and
his boyfriend?  Maybe not, "Nah man.  Queen B needs stability and I only
take her over to Nat and Jackie's because their mom helps me with her more
than mine does.  I hope Daddy doesn't see and hear that one on the
cameras!"

"Oh yeah!  You're playing next weekend at the carnival with him aren't you?
Seriously man, if you get bored or something, Farrows and I could chill
with you and Belinda at your place tonight.  He's normally done work an
hour after the mall closes."

Tim will keep trying to get his way unless I say no.  If I turn him down
with a reason he always backs off.  While I'd love to get closer to Jon, he
belongs to Tim now, so I blow him off gently, "Nah, can't.  Daddy wants to
me to make a few extra bucks playing a patio with him tonight, and it's
more practise for next weekend."

"Alrighty then.  Guess I'll just have to catch you play next weekend.  And
for the record?  As lame as it is running into you and laying it all out in
a Wal-Mart cash lane like I'm about to, I have to get it off my chest.
Sorry Hunter, you're just not my type.  We bat for opposite teams.  I mean
yeah, you're an alright looking stud-muffin, but in case you're wondering
if I've been coming on to you lately; no dude, sorry," He says, looking
away from me.

I don't even know what to say.  I mean to deny it but all I can manage in a
small voice is, "Yeah, sure."

Tim grabs my arm by the wrist as I reach to hand him his shopping bag.  As
our eyes lock he just keeps it coming, "Look, I'm just trying to hook you
up with my best bud who is madly in love with you.  So now you know.  You
can either step up to the plate and take a swing, or you can pretend you
don't want to play ball with him.  My lips are now officially sealed on the
subject."

Reaching his hand out and clapping me on my chest and shoulder before
walking away, he adds, "I've done all I can, and I'll still think you're a
good guy no matter what you decide.  Take it easy Hunter."

"You too," I offer, still not knowing just what to say in response to what
he said.  Shoot, still ninety-nine minutes of work to go, I have to get out
of here!  I just found out that Jon is free and wants me badly!  I can't
believe what Tim has done for his friend!  Ah shoot, it was so much easier
thinking he was together with Tim.  Now I'm back to pining over what I can
have.

[to be continued]

>>).:.(<<

Note to the reader:

Well, getting back to In the Shadows of Our Lives took a lot longer than I
expected.  Once again, I am sorry.  If you are still with me, I have a good
jump on the next few chapters and am now focused solely on this story.  You
will see Chapter 3 of Wings of Tomorrow before the end of the month and
possibly chapter 4 too.  From there I will maintain a decent pace of
writing and posting through to the end of part at least.  I promise!
Thanks for reading!

~Jade