Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2005 14:48:21 EST
From: DomLuka@aol.com
Subject: The Log Way Chapter 10

If you are offended by male/male relationships, or male/male sexual
relationships, then you shouldn't be here in the first place. If this
conduct is illegal in your area, you must EXIT NOW.

This story is not to be copied or posted elsewhere without permission
from the author.

If you are interested in a story about gay teenage males, then please
take your time and enjoy. Feedback/comments/suggestions and even
complaints are welcome at DomLuka@aol.com <mailto:DomLuka@aol.com>

Chapter ten: surprise

"I can't believe you didn't tell me you were going to the dance. I
mean, no one goes to those things! Lemmings do, but real people like us,
do not attend school functions." This was Adam, shouting loud and clear
through the portable phone as I lay upside down on my bed, Friday night,
waiting for Aiden to finish with his shower.

"It wasn't exactly something I was planning, Adam." I retorted, "but I
swear, the next time I become a lemming, I'll ask your permission
first."

"You'd better." he laughed, "So are you really going with Lacy Chapman?
She's hot."

"I just met her, but we're only going as friends." I assured him, "And
why don't you and Shane ask a couple of girls and come too? It should be
fun, so I hear."

"No way!" Adam sounded completely disgusted with me, "Besides, Shane's
coming over anyways, we'll probably just hang out."

"Have fun then."

"You too, lemming."

"Hey, don't get smart." I retorted. I looked up as my cracked bedroom
door opened wider and Aiden walked in with a towel around his waist.

"So I'll see you at school on Monday?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, I'll see you then. Bye, Adam." I hung up the phone and went to my
dresser to pull out a clean pair of boxers, and then offered them to
Aiden. "I doubt you want to walk back downstairs like that." I remarked,
glancing down at the towel around his waist, albeit momentarily.

"Thanks." Aiden replied, taking the shorts and turning his back to me as
he dropped the towel. It was probably a good thing he turned around,
otherwise I may have been caught staring. His skin was still damp from
the shower and his hair was down and messed from the towel. Small drops
of water cascaded down his back, over the round globes of his ass between
two narrow hips. I wondered if he knew exactly how hot he was. I
couldn't remember anyone having the effect on me that Aiden did, not
even Nicky.

My eyes snapped back up to the back of his head when I realized that he
was speaking to me.

"Owen, um...did you, uh...did you mention to Adam that I was here?" he bent
down for a moment to step into the boxers and my eyes wandered again, but
as he turned back around I plopped down on the bed and pulled a pillow
into my lap, suddenly needing to hide my bulging problem.

"No." I replied cautiously, because I wasn't sure why he was asking that
question, "Should I have?"

He turned to face me with a wan smile.

"No." he sighed, "I was just wondering. I guess I just thought if Adam
knew, then Janie might find out and..."

"Trouble in paradise?" I teased, leaning back on the mattress.

"Ha, Ha." Aiden rolled his eyes as he sat next to me and leaned back,
folding his hands behind his head, "No. Really, I just feel like she's
sort of smothering me lately. Like today, I never told her that I'd go
over to her place. She just-then decided it when she told you at the
mall."

That got my attention.

"Then why..."

Aiden held up his hand before I could finish asking.

"Why didn't I go out with you tonight?" he smiled wistfully, "I thought
you guys could use some family time, you know? I planned on stopping by
tonight anyways, and it's not like I won't be able to celebrate with
Tony and Chris tomorrow, with the party and all. That's why I didn't
say anything at the mall. But afterwards, when Janie's mom came to pick
her up, I told her I'd see her later. I didn't say when, you know?
Well, I ended up over at Jake's, we were calling around to make sure
everyone we invited to the party was coming - they are by the way - and
then, when Jake brought me home, I found Janie on my doorstep practically
in tears."

I turned on my side to face him better, taking the pillow with me.

"Was something wrong?" I asked.

"That's what I thought." he said, "but no, nothing was wrong, other than
the fact that she called my house over thirty times and when I wasn't
there she rushed over because I didn't tell her where I was." he was
becoming agitated, his voice raising, "I mean, can you believe that shit?
And don't get me wrong, I love Janie, we've been friends for as long as
I can remember. But lately it's like someone flipped a switch or
something and I can't stand her."

I turned back onto my back and stared at the ceiling.

"She likes you." I said.

"Well, yeah, I like her too. We're best friends."

"No." I smiled, "I mean, she really likes you."

Aiden fell silent for a moment. I knew that Janie wanted more than a
friendship with Aiden. Actually everyone seemed to know it except Aiden,
and that was funny to me. It also annoyed me to no end that he could be
so naïve.

And I didn't exactly like being the one enlightening him, either. I was
suddenly wondering if this new information would cause him to see Janie
in a different way. Who knows, maybe they would even end up together. I
hated the thought.

I was jealous, of course. I hated to admit it, but it was the truth. I
had been convincing myself that although I was attracted to Aiden, we
would only ever be friends. The truth of that thought now seemed very
aggravating.

"No." Aiden finally said, "That can't be right." And he was completely
serious. "I mean, we're friends, Janie knows that." now he sounded like
he was trying to convince himself. "And even if she did like me-which she
can't because she knows we're just friends- I could never feel the same
way about her, even if I tried. Shit, she's like my sister."

"Well, I could be wrong." I shrugged. But I knew I wasn't. "Anyways,
I'm sure it will work out for you. And hey, you can hide out here
anytime you want."

"Hmm." He sighed, and then turned his head to look at me. "Maybe I'll
take you up on that, at least until you get sick of sharing your bed with
me."

"That's not going to happen." I laughed. If he only knew how much I
liked having him in my bed.

"You really don't mind?"

I smiled at him, but it faded when I saw the serious expression on his
face. He looked sad, almost. Like, he really needed me to convince him
that it was all right for him to be there. I wasn't sure what to say. If
he was straight, like I thought he was, it might not be a good idea to
tell him exactly how I didn't mind. But, if I played it off as a joke,
and he wanted reassurance because he felt safe here, I might offend him
and he'd never stay the night again. I decided to be as honest as I was
ready to be.

"I don't." I said, looking away because I was having trouble looking
into his eyes at the moment. My voice came out a little softer than I
intended, just above a whisper. "I kind of like it...it's nice, having
someone so close. I think I sleep better that way."

"I know what you mean." Aiden replied after a moment, and then we fell
into a silence for a while, not necessarily uncomfortable, but still a
silence.

I felt the bed shift and looked to see Aiden was getting up, a smile back
on his face, and I found my own mouth curling up in the corners. When he
smiled, all seemed well.

"We're you serious about that run tomorrow?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," I grinned, reaching to set my alarm.

"Then we'd better get some sleep." Aiden pointed out.

And as usual, while I crawled under the covers, he turned off the light
and a moment later I had my arm around him, his hand firmly over mine,
but my butt pushed back and my hips away from him, and we drifted off
into peaceful sleep.

...........

I have five different settings on my alarm, each ring louder than the
next. I usually set it on the second setting, it's loud enough to wake
me up, but not so loud that it sounds like a damned fire drill, that's
what the fifth setting is for.

I must not have been paying attention the night before when I set the
alarm because I woke to the sound of high-pitched ringing. I shot right
up in bed.

Aiden woke equally unnerved, and when we both disentangled and sat up all
at once, we bumped heads, none too lightly. We both groaned, held our
aching sculls, and then burst out laughing, which seemed to put us in a
good mood after our less than happy wake up call.

No more than an hour later, after Aiden had run downstairs and changed
into some jogging shorts and a sweatshirt, and I put on my normal running
gear, and after we had literally tore a sleepy Ryan away from his bed, we
were jogging circles in the park.

Aiden had kept up rather well, which wasn't a complete shock, he was in
great shape, but he still didn't like to run the way I did, and by the
time we were on out eighth lap around the park, I could tell he was
growing tired.

Ryan liked running even less, not to mention he was hung over from the
night before, so I took up the lead, keeping a steady pace at least five
paces ahead of Aiden, and Ryan was three behind him.

"We do realize that it's Saturday morning, don't we?" Ryan remarked,
"You know, the one day a week it should be like, a rule to sleep in?"

"You could have stayed in bed." Aiden reminded him, "As it is, we almost
left you there."

"Two more laps, and I'm done." Ryan swore.

"What are you doing today?" Aiden asked him. "You will be at the party
tonight, wont you?"

"I'll catch a ride with Leo." Ryan replied, "What time is this thing
again?"

"Jake said that people should start showing up around six." I explained.

"Cool." Ryan nodded.

We continued on our trail around the park, passing a few cyclists and
more joggers. We had just finished another lap when Ryan suddenly spoke
up.

"That's it." He huffed, "I'm done."

Aiden and I stopped another five paces away as Ryan's decision to go two
more laps went out the window and he plopped down on the grass outside of
the trail. He laid back to catch his breath and looked at us.

"You two go ahead." Ryan breathed, "You can pick me up on your way back.
I'm taking a nap."

Aiden and I laughed and jogged back to him, each of us taking a seat on
either side of Ryan.

"I'm done too." Aiden smiled, stretching.

I could have kept going, but found myself laying back against the grass
and staring towards the sky as I caught my breath.

"You guys wanna come over?" Ryan asked. "My mom's home. She should be up
by now. I bet she'll love to cook us breakfast."

I already had my answer. It was an immediate `no.' I wasn't opposed to
spending more time with Aiden and Ryan, but I wasn't about to spend my
morning meeting someone's parents.

"That would be cool." Aiden grinned, "I haven't seen Angie in a while.
How is she?"

"You know her." Ryan shrugged, "She misses you, though." And then he
looked at me, "You're coming too, right?"

"Ah, actually..." I started.

"Come on." Aiden insisted, "Ryan's mom's a great cook. You'll really
like her."

"I should really go see how Jake's doing." I insisted. "He's thrown
together the whole party, and I want to make sure he doesn't need any
last minute help."

"I doubt he will." Aiden replied, "Besides, you have all day to get over
there."

I noncommittally shrugged my response, but when Ryan gave me a firm pat
on the back, and pulled both Aiden and I to our feet, I knew I was going
with him. I had left my truck at Ryan's house anyways. The walk from the
park was all the time either Aiden or Ryan needed to talk me into staying
around for breakfast.

Meeting parents makes me nervous. I think they're all like animals. Only,
I never know if I should keep my head down and avoid eye contact, like a
confrontation with a gorilla, or if I should look straight ahead and show
no fear. But, I've already explained my issue with parents, haven't I? I
was afraid of them.

However, Ryan's mother, Angie Sader, was not someone to be afraid of. I
don't know what I expected, but it wasn't her. She was one of those
round women. She wasn't fat, but she just looked soft, the kind of woman
that looked comfortable enough to cuddle with. She had a bright smile,
and the same dimples that Ryan had. All in all, she seemed very
approachable at first glance.

Of course, that didn't mean that she didn't have the ability to put me
on edge. She greeted Aiden even more warmly than she had her own son, and
then just about backed me into a corner when she greeted me in a big hug,
before Ryan even got the chance to introduce me.

Angie Sader's actions confused me. Not even my own mother hugged me for
no reason. I wasn't sure what to think of this behavior. It put me on
edge, but at the same time, it gave me a sense of security in an
unfamiliar home.

It didn't take long for Angie to have breakfast on the table, and she
sat down with us, not seeming to mind that we were three, sweaty, smelly,
teenage boys, all in desperate need of a shower.

All through breakfast, Angie ran the conversation. She stuck to safe
topics, like school, which only put me more at ease. But, she kept
filling all of our plates before we asked for more. I noticed that Aiden
took it all in stride, but he never did finish his second helping of
food. He'd obviously done this before.

I however, tried to be polite, despite being full, and I finished off my
plate twice. It was on the third helping when I realized that Angie would
try to feed me as much as she could until I stopped eating.

Ryan just ate whatever she placed in front of him, until the food was
literally gone. I'd bet he never went hungry.

While we all waited for Ryan to finish eating, Angie reached over and
took Aiden's hand.

"Now, where have you been?" she all but demanded, "You never come over
anymore."

"I'm sorry," Aiden sheepishly shrugged, "I've been sort of busy."

"Well you start making time, mister." Angie grinned, "I miss my boys. Leo
and Ben never come over anymore, either."

"Leave him alone mom." Ryan smiled, "He's doing me a favor by staying
away. You appreciate me so much more when there's no one to compare me
to."

Angie narrowed her eyes on her son and then pinched his shoulder. Ryan
winced and started to curse, but shut his mouth with one warning look
from his mother.

"I appreciate you just fine." Angie informed him. "And you know you miss
Aiden too."

Ryan looked at his mother with something resembling mock disgust, and
then laughed and smirked at Aiden.

"She's right." He said, "You should come over more." And then he went
right back to his food, and Angie looked in my direction.

Uh-oh. I suddenly felt like I had Angie's undivided attention. I didn't
like it.

"So, Owen..." more trouble. Sentences starting with, `So, Owen,' were
dangerous coming from parents. It meant questions were coming. The hard
questions. The ones I didn't want to answer. "Ryan mentioned that you
live with your brothers."

"Yes, ma'am." I replied.

"It's just you and your brothers?" she asked. She was digging. It was
time to excuse myself.

"Yes, ma'am, just the three of us." I replied dutifully.

"Chris and Tony own that club." Aiden said, "the `Shadow,' Leo goes
there all the time." was he trying to change the subject? I smiled at
Aiden. But, Angie Sader was still staring at me.

"Where are your parents, Owen?" she asked.

That was the question I didn't like to answer. I never knew what to say.
To make matters worse, Ryan had put down his fork and he was looking at
me too now. So was Aiden. I had never told either of them anything about
why I was living with my brothers. I didn't want to do it now, not at
the breakfast table. Not in someone else's home.

"Yeah," Ryan said, "you never did say where your parents were."

I didn't really notice the way I was hesitating and fidgeting, or the
growing silence. I was too busy trying to figure out what I wanted to
say. If I mentioned my confrontation with my father, like I had to Adam,
Angie Sader would likely want to know why it happened. I had yet to tell
anyone but my brothers exactly why it happened.

In all honesty, if this confrontation had come up with just Aiden and
Ryan, I doubt I would lie to them. But, the idea of coming `out' to
another parent didn't set well with me, no matter how nice she was. I
wasn't going to do it and I wasn't going to let her corner me into
doing it.

"My parents aren't in the picture anymore." I replied shortly, hoping
that it was answer enough for now.

There was a silence after those words, but Angie Sader was looking at me
expectantly, as if she expected me to say more. She could forget it. It
wasn't going to happen.

I wasn't looking at anyone around the table, except for a few quick
glances. I couldn't look at Angie, but Ryan looked confused, maybe a
little uncomfortable. Aiden was just looking in my direction, seemingly
impassive towards it all, until he cleared his throat.

"We should get going." Aiden said to me, and then smiled at Angie. I felt
relief as soon as he said it. "Sorry, Angie. There's a party for Tony
and Chris tonight. I think Owen had some things he needed to do before
then."

After another moment, Angie smiled and stood up to give Aiden a hug. I
got up and said goodbye to Ryan, grateful we were leaving. I was also
grateful that Ryan said goodbye to me as if nothing out of the ordinary
or awkward had happened.

Angie Sader gave me another hug. I was probably more rigid than I was
when she gave me the first one. I wasn't comfortable, but she was kind.
She invited me back and then informed Aiden that she required him to
bring me with him the next time that he came for supper.

Once we were in the truck, I felt fully relieved, but I was also nervous.
There was an awkward silence between Aiden and I. I wished that I knew
what he was thinking. Maybe he was curious about my parents. Then again,
I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew some of it. After all, Tony
went through the same thing I did. Aiden probably knew about that. I
wondered if Aiden knew the truth about me too. It wasn't like he wasn't
smart enough to figure it out.

"I hope you didn't feel ambushed." Aiden said, interrupting my thoughts.

"What do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"With Lacy. " Aiden replied. Lacy? I thought he was talking about Ryan's
mother. It took me a moment, but when I realized what he was doing, I was
grateful for the change in topic.

"What about Lacy?" I asked.

"I don't know. I thought you might have felt ambushed at the mall."
Aiden shrugged. I glanced over at him, and I don't think the sudden look
of guilt on his face was my imagination.

"Was that your idea?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, not exactly...sort of."

Aiden glanced out the window and then back at me. He looked like he
wanted to smile, but he also looked like he was nervous about something.

"I mentioned to Ryan that I asked you to go this dance, but you weren't
really into the idea." he explained, "Well, the next thing I knew he's
asking me if you had a date. I sort of did some thinking out loud, you
know, mentioned that maybe we could get you to go if you had someone to
go with...I wanted to run it by you first, especially when Ryan announced
that he wanted to introduce you to Lacy, but then when you showed up at
the mall...I'm sorry Owen, I really didn't want him to ambush you like
that."

"I did feel a little ambushed." I admitted, "But you don't need to
apologize. After meeting Lacy, I'm sort of looking forward to it."

"So...you hit it off with Lacy?" Aiden actually sounded as though that was
the least likely thing in the world.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I? I think she's really cool. You know, I did try
to get out of it when Ryan left us alone together, but she practically
told me to shut up and ordered me to go with her." I laughed, "But, once
we decided that we would go as friends and just have fun, it actually
sounded like an okay idea."

"Oh." Aiden sighed, "Yeah, Lacy is pretty cool. I don't know her very
well, but she's been friends with Ryan forever."

"Yeah. So...you actually wanted me to go to this thing so bad that you
conspired to fix me up on a date?"

I thought I detected a blush creeping into Aiden's cheeks.

"Um, yeah." He admitted, "I don't really like these school things. I
don't even have to be at this one for the yearbook. The only reason that
I'm going is because Janie begged me, and the way she's been acting
lately...well, I figured it would be more bearable with a friendly face,
and I figured that we could do something afterwards...I mean, if you want
to go out afterwards. You never did answer me."

I gave him a smile that clearly told my answer.

"What did you have in mind?"

Aiden seemed to perk up at that.

"Leave it to me. I swear if you don't have fun at the dance, whatever we
do afterwards will make up for it."

"Deal." I replied, "As long as you don't go getting me wasted. I don't
know if I could handle another night like the last one, especially having
to deal with school the next day."

"Don't worry, it will be nothing like that." he insisted, "but we will
have fun."

I didn't doubt that, and knowing that when the dance was over, I'd be
with Aiden, made all the difference.

By the time we got back home it was nearly noon. I was going to ask Aiden
if he wanted to come up for a while, but before I could, he stopped in
his tracks and looked towards the bottom of the stairs, where an older
woman was waiting.

She was at least five foot seven, and thin. She had dark, long hair;
hanging to her waist without a hint of gray. Dark, narrow eyes, an olive
complexion, full, red lips and high cheekbones. She was actually very
attractive, other than the fact that she looked like she hadn't slept in
days. The resemblance and the way Aiden's whole body seemed to go rigid
when he saw her was all it took to tell me that she was Aiden's mother.

Wordlessly, she began to move towards him in a controlled way, like she
was resisting the urge to fly into his arms. Aiden seemed to think about
it for a second before he met her half way, and as soon as she was close
enough, she wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. Aiden hugged
her back, but I couldn't help noticing that it was reserved.

She whispered something to her son, while I stood there, wondering if I
was intruding and thinking about just walking up the stairs to give them
their privacy, but then Aiden turned to me and spoke in a subdued voice.

"Owen, this is my mom, Karen Knightly."

"Hello, Owen." She replied with a smile that looked a little forced.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Knightly," I said, shaking her hand.

"Please, call me Karen," she said, before she went back to staring at
Aiden.

"Hey, Owen," Aiden sighed, "I have some things to do. I'll see you
tonight?"

"Sure." I smiled, "I'll see you later. Um, I'm leaving around
five-forty-five, so if you need a ride, come on up."

"Thanks. I'll see you later."

I left then, going up the stairs to leave Aiden with his mother. She
seemed nice enough, and I wondered what it was about her that caused
Aiden so much pain. Then again, my mother seemed nice enough, and then
she watched while my father beat the crap out of me and actually ended up
lecturing me about bleeding on her floor. I guess you could never tell
what kind of mother a woman was by just looking at her.

I just hoped that Karen Knightly wouldn't be causing Aiden any more
pain. I decided that I should mention that I saw her to my brothers,
remembering that Chris had told Aiden to call when his mom came home. I
would probably feel better, knowing that my brothers new about it
anyways.

Tony wasn't home when I went inside, but it was no surprise that when I
told Chris about seeing Aiden's mom, he went downstairs in a hurry. I
hoped that I did the right thing, and I hoped that Chris was doing
something to help Aiden.

Chris going downstairs was also a blessing. It meant that he wouldn't be
at the club when I went to talk to Jake, and I could avoid suspicion. And
I wanted to talk to Jake. I needed to thank him. He had been getting the
whole party together, and I had done practically nothing. Aiden was
helping him with the guest list, but the rest was all Jake.

After a quick shower, I headed over to the club, and wasn't surprised to
find Jake upstairs in the party room. It looked great. It was lit up and
everything was ready for the band he had talked into playing.

When I walked in, he was working behind the bar and when he looked up he
seemed surprised to see me, but a smile slowly made its way over his
face.

"Owen, I didn't expect to see you until later."

"I came to see how you were doing." I replied, "And, it's probably
stupid to ask now, but, do you need help with anything?"

Jake laughed and waved me over as he came around the bar and perched on a
stool. I took the one next to him and looked around the room. Tables had
been pushed back for dancing and the bar was stocked. I figured that the
room could hold about sixty people, and from what I heard, there were
about fifty guests. It would definitely be crowded tonight.

"I think we're all set." Jake smiled, "Do your brothers expect
anything?"

"I don't think so." I shrugged. "They're too preoccupied anyways."

"Right." Jake nodded, "I figured Chris wouldn't be coming by until
later, with Aiden's mom coming home today."

I looked at Jake and raised my eyebrow, wondering if Aiden talked to him,
the way he talked to my brothers. I felt a sudden pang of jealousy,
wishing that Aiden would talk to me. But, I quickly shook it off,
remembering that we were friends and I should be there for him whether he
wanted to tell me his secrets or not. But Jake saw my confusion and
laughed. He really looked great when he laughed. I was beginning to see
why Tony couldn't take his eyes off of him when they were in the same
room.

"Don't look so surprised." Jake said, "I know a lot of things."

"Oh." I smiled. "Does Aiden talk to you?"

The smile left Jake's face for a moment and he took on a far away look.

"No, not Aiden. I've been friends with your brothers for a while, Owen.
Tony knows how to keep it together, taking care of everyone else. But,
even he needs to talk sometimes. I only recently learned about what Aiden
was going through."

I wanted to ask exactly what Aiden was going through, but bit my tongue
instead. Besides, something else caught my attention. Jake seemed to go
from talking about my `brothers' to Tony, pretty fast.

"Tony's always been like that." I replied, "For as long as I can
remember. When we were kids, this one year, we all got new bikes. I
wrecked mine the first time we took them out. My dad was so mad that he
didn't even want to get it fixed. So the next time we went riding, Tony
let me use his, and he walked...I think he wants to make sure the people
around him are happy, before he worries about himself."

"Yeah." Jake sighed, "I've noticed that too."

He looked sad. I began to wonder just how much Jake noticed Tony's
ability to put off his own wants and needs. Maybe Tony was denying
himself Jake, because he was too busy trying to take care of everyone
else around him. Like me. Something about that made me feel guilty. For a
second, I thought Jake might say something else, but instead the forlorn
look disappeared from his face, and sitting up straight, he smiled again.

"Thirsty?" he asked, getting up and walking back around the bar.

"Sure." I shrugged.

Jake grabbed a couple of Pepsis, Tony's drink of choice, I noticed, and
came back around the bar again. He placed a bottle in front of me and
went to sit down, his elbow knocking a napkin holder from the bar.

"Shit." He cursed, "I'm such a klutz today."

He bent down to pick up the napkin holder and I watched as a black box
fell from his shirt pocket and slid across the floor. Jake didn't
notice, so I left my seat and went to retrieve it, finding that on closer
inspection, it was a rectangular jewelry box.

When I stood again, Jake was staring at me, or more specifically, the box
in my hand. I couldn't resist. I snapped it open and looked down at the
gold, chain bracelet, and then back at Jake. For a second he looked
embarrassed, but then he just shrugged and held his hand out for the box.

"Tony will love it." I said as I passed it back to him.

"How do you know it's for Tony?" Jake smirked as he placed it safely
back in his pocket and we reclaimed our stools at the bar.

"Isn't it?" I smiled."

Jake took a sip of his soda and I watched as his fingers absently traced
the box through his shirt.

"I just wanted to get him something he'd like." Jake sighed, "But it
probably won't make a difference."

"He'll like it because it's from you." I insisted, as if it were the
most obvious thing in the world.

"You're a sweet kid," Jake rolled his eyes, "But you wouldn't
understand."

That was probably a polite way of telling me to mind my own business.

"Fine." I smiled, "But there's not much to understand; you like Tony.
Tony likes you. You should tell him how you feel. I don't think you'll
regret it, Jake. It's true, that Tony likes to take care of everyone
else, but he deserves to take care of himself too. Something tells me
that you're the one who can get that through to him."

Jake sighed, and a few moments passed. I thought that he was going to
change the subject, but he surprised me instead. Jake started talking. He
started talking about Tony, what he liked about him, what annoyed him.
Jake told me how they used to be really good friends, he even told me
about the case of mistaken identity that Ryan and Aiden had mentioned,
and how horrible he felt about kissing Chris.

He started to talk about how he and Tony started talking again only
recently, after I got into town, and how every time he thought there was
something there between them, Tony would pull back.

By the end of it, I was annoyed with my brother for not taking advantage
of a great guy like Jake, who was right in front of him, and I told Jake
so. I also insisted that Jake talk to Tony before they drive each other
crazy. I'm not sure if anything I said helped Jake or not, but we talked
for over an hour, and when I finally left the club, I couldn't help
being hopeful that Jake would be giving Tony more for his birthday than a
gold bracelet.

Maybe I was just being presumptuous, but I had a feeling that somehow,
things would work out for those two.

......

When I got home it was already three o'clock. Chris was still downstairs
at Aiden's, and Tony's car was downstairs but Tony wasn't home, so I
could only assume that he was with Aiden too. I just hoped that Aiden was
okay. There was no screaming coming from downstairs, so I took that as a
good sign.

By the time Chris and Tony got home, they had to rush through their
showers and get ready for their individual plans. Lucky for them we had
two bathrooms.

While they rushed to get ready, I sat back, trying to act casual and
looking at my watch, wondering if I'd have enough time to get ready. But
keeping a straight face around my brothers was difficult when Chris left,
and then Tony came out a few minutes later dressed in the sweater I had
given him for his birthday. The reason I had trouble not laughing was
because Chris had just walked out in the same exact sweater. They hated
to match where their clothes were involved, unless they were trying to
pull one over on someone. I was going to look forward to the looks on
their faces when they showed up to their party in matching outfits.

Once both of my brothers were safely out of the house, I changed and got
ready to go out, wondering if Aiden was going to come over. He never did
say whether or not he would need a ride. I kind of hoped he would though.
He didn't look happy when he went home with his mother, and not knowing
if he was okay was driving me crazy.

It was almost five thirty when there was a knock on the door. Before I
even opened it, I knew that it was Aiden. I was glad to see that he
looked happy enough. At least, he didn't seem depressed. He was smiling
and had his camera all ready to go.

"Ready?" Aiden asked, leaning in the doorway.

"Yep." I grinned, "Tony and Chris are already out, so everything's going
right so far."

I grabbed my jacket and after locking up, I followed Aiden down the
stairs. It wasn't a very long drive to the club, and by the time we got
there, the party room was already filling up. By the time Chris and Tony
arrived, the band was already playing and the place was packed.

Chris and Tony were definitely surprised, and after they both stopped
bitching about their shirts matching and stopped complaining that they
had no idea that a party was being planned, everything ran smoothly.

For the first part of the night, I seemed to be a constant fixture under
Chris's arm, as he dragged me from one person to another, making
introductions. Chris was definitely in his element, and I was just happy
that he was having a good time.

When Chris was drunk enough to be leaning on me, I left him at a table
with Leo, Ben, and the girl that he had arrived with before I looked
around and spotted Ryan, he was following Aiden around, as Aiden took
pictures every few seconds. They waved, so I started heading over, but
stopped when I spotted Jake.

Jake had been behind the bar all night, until recently when Chris called
someone up from downstairs to take over and told Jake to join the party.
I was glad that Chris did it, because after organizing the whole thing,
it didn't seem right that Jake shouldn't get to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, Jake didn't seem to be enjoying much of anything. He was
still at the bar, only now he was in front of it, not behind it, and he
was burning a hole in the back of my brother's head with his eyes. I was
just glad that this time he had the right brother.

Tony was standing in front of a table, talking to a few friends, laughing
and smiling. I could practically see Jake's feet itching, wanting to
walk over there. When Tony glanced over his shoulder and looked pointedly
at Jake, it was only for a moment, but I had the feeling that the smile
on Tony's face was one only reserved for Jake. It was also enough to get
Jake moving.

Jake lifted the jewelry box from his shirt pocket and I watched as he
headed towards my brother. I'm not sure why I was suddenly so interested
in their relationship, but I felt a little bit like a fan, standing
there, silently cheering them on. I mean, I hadn't known Jake for very
long, but it just seemed so obvious to me that he belonged with Tony. I
just wished that Jake and Tony could see it.

Jake was almost there when another guy appeared and started talking to
Tony. I don't know who this guy was, but his presence caused Jake to
freeze up, less than a foot away from my brother, and Tony was so
absorbed in talking to the other guy that he didn't seem to notice Jake.

I had to resist the urge to rush over there and shoo the other guy away.
I had no idea who he was, but his very presence annoyed me. I decided to
avoid being rude, though. Instead, I walked over until I was behind Jake,
and shoved him forward with my shoulder, hoping that it would seem like
an accident.

"Oops, sorry." I mumbled as Jake fell forward, directly into Tony's
back.

Tony caught himself and spun around in time to grab Jake's arm and help
him catch his balance. The jewelry box fell between their feet and they
both looked down on it before Jake glared back in my direction with a
look that was clearly meant to kill.

I put on my best innocent face, shrugged, and then retreated without
waiting to see what was going to happen next. I figured that I had done
enough meddling for one day.

I was just about to go look for Aiden and Ryan again when a familiar hand
dropped down on my shoulder and I turned to see Aiden standing in front
of me, clutching his camera to his chest and giving me an accusing look.

"I saw that." He remarked, "When did you become a matchmaker?"

"I'm not." I stated, "I was just..."

"Giving Jake a helpful shove in the right direction?" Aiden smiled.

"Something like that." I shrugged. "It's not like he didn't need it.
Besides, if my brother doesn't figure out that Jake's interested soon,
I'm liable to strangle him. I hate people who don't take note of the
obvious."

Aiden cocked his head at me with a measuring look for a moment. The way
he was staring made me wonder if I had anything on my face, but then he
just smiled.

"Mmm-hmm." Aiden hummed, "You want to go outside for a few minutes? All
of these people are making it feel a little hot in here."

"Sure." I shrugged.

Aiden led the way through the crowds of people, down the stairs and back
out behind the brick building. It was a colder night, and the air stung
my face, but it seemed refreshing after being in a hot, loud, crowded
club for so long.

I watched as Aiden slid down to sit against the wall and then I sat next
to him and looked out into the parking lot, just enjoying the peace and
quiet.

"Tony and Chris are having a good time." Aiden said, "So I guess it
worked out."

I hummed my agreement. I was suddenly feeling tired and closed my eyes
for a few minutes, until Aiden nudged my shoulder and I looked at him.

"Getting tired?" he asked, glancing at his watch, "It's one o'clock."

"Yeah." I nodded. "After getting up early this morning, I could use a
nap."

"How about going to bed?" he smirked, "Are you ready to go?"

"Are you?" I asked, "We can go if you want. It doesn't make a difference
to me, either way."

"I'm kinda tired." Aiden admitted, "but I don't mind staying if you
want to. I mean, it is your brothers' party."

"It's okay." I insisted, "They won't even miss me. You want to say
goodbye and then head out?"

Aiden nodded and hooked my arm with his. We helped each other up and then
went back in. We were able to find Chris, and we said goodbye to Ryan.
Tony and Jake were nowhere to be found, but I took that as a good sign.

The ride home was a quiet one. I was tired, but Aiden seemed lost in
thought. I thought back to his mom being home again. I really hoped that
he worked things out with her.

But, when we got home I noticed that he seemed hesitant about going
inside. He just sort of stared at his door. He seemed tired. A lot more
tired than he had been a few minutes ago. I walked up behind him and
dropped a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you want to come up?" I asked. I didn't think he would, but I
thought that I could at least make the offer open to him. If he didn't
want to go home, I certainly wouldn't mind having him in my bed.
Actually, I wanted him in my bed, with me. I seemed to sleep better
whenever he was close like that.

Aiden looked back at me and smiled, but it was definitely forced.

"Nah. I'm gonna get to bed. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure." I smiled. I gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze, but I didn't
go anywhere until Aiden was safely inside. Walking up the stairs, I
suddenly felt alone. I wished that Aiden were walking up them with me. I
wondered how well I would be sleeping without his warm body next to mine.

...........

I dialed Lacy's number Sunday afternoon, and we casually went over our
plans again. She would be getting a ride with Ryan and everyone else and
I would meet her there with Aiden. Of course, that didn't stop her from
breaking her promise about not trying to dress me. When I mentioned that
I'd `throw something together,' she took it upon herself to demand my
address and then she said she'd be over in ten minutes.

Funny thing about school dances. They can say `casual dress' but
everyone always seems to feel like dressing up anyways. Before Lacy
decided to come over, my way of dressing up involved combing my hair, and
if I felt like it later, I might have put on a cleaner shirt.

Instead, I had Lacy Chapman digging through my closet while I stood by
trying not to look as bored as I was. It wasn't every day I had a girl
in my room trying to dress me, and there really was no appeal in the
idea.

But, despite being a little annoyed, I couldn't help noticing that I
felt at ease with Lacy. It reminded me of when I was dating Anna Crossle.
We had been so at ease with each other back then. I'd be lying if I said
that I didn't miss the friendship. But, even thinking about Anna and the
way she betrayed me to my father hurt.

In the back of my mind I wanted to be wary of Lacy, but she was just too
damned easy to be around for it to have any effect. She seemed to make
herself completely at home wherever she was, and the confident way that
she was digging through my closet; you'd think that it was an every day
occurrence.

"Don't you have anything that doesn't swallow you alive?" Lacy asked,
snapping me out of my thoughts. She still had her head in my closet, her
arms stretching to see what was hanging in the back.

"What you see is what you get." I shrugged, "Are you hungry? I'm gonna
make some lunch."

"Owen, I'm always hungry." Her back was to me and her voice was muffled
in the closet, but I could hear her, "And, just because you feed me,
doesn't mean that you're going to distract me into leaving you alone."

"I thought you said that you didn't care what I wore." I argued, "You
know, I could just back out of this whole thing, I'm sure that Ryan has
any number of guys who would be lining up to go with you."

Lacy turned around and narrowed her eyes on me.

"Don't get smart." She stated.

"Stop trying to dress me then." I smirked.

"Don't think of it like that," she smiled, obviously picking up some of
the contempt in my voice, "Just think of this as two friends trying to
get to know each other better, and, one friend giving the other a little
fashion advice."

She had walked up to me between her words and now she was gripping my
shirt, pushing it back, tight against my chest.

"I mean, you're a good looking guy Owen, why hide it?" she put her hands
on my sides and suddenly spun me around. The girl was stronger than she
looked. Must be all that food she could shovel away.

"Hey!" I objected as she suddenly grabbed my ass, "We are not getting to
know each other that well!"

Lacy giggled as I spun around again, protectively covering my butt with
my hands.

"Sorry," she grinned, "it's just that, there's so much of you hiding
under those clothes."

I looked down at my black jeans and t-shirt. I felt so comfortable in
them, whether they swallowed me alive or not. Which they did. I could
hardly remember the days when I cared about what I looked like.

"The hair is good." She continued, "Before you got it cut I couldn't
even see your eyes."

"You didn't even know me before I got it cut." I reminded her.

"That doesn't mean I didn't notice you, Owen." She rolled her eyes,
ignoring the indignant look I was throwing at her "Now, we just need to
find you some clothes...I think a trip to the mall is in order."

Mall? Huh? Me? It was embarrassing enough having Lacy Chapman in my
bedroom, going through my clothes, and grabbing my ass. There was no way
I wanted her to do any of that in public. When she picked up her purse
from where she had dropped it on my bed, I started getting worried.

"Lacy, wait." I insisted, "Let's not make any shopping trips just yet,
okay?"

"Look, Owen, I'm just trying to help..."

"I know." I replied, kneeling down in front of my bed. Lacy stepped back
as I pulled out the old trunk that had been collecting dust since I got
to town. "You can look in here."

Lacy curiously opened the trunk as I sat back, watching her go through
all of my old things. My old life. Maybe I shouldn't have thought of a
bunch of clothes that way, but it was hard not to. My physical image and
self-image had changed so much in the past few months; I wasn't sure how
comfortable I was with going back to the old me.

But, I was the one who made the decision to let Lacy look in the trunk. I
don't know, maybe I wanted to change. Maybe I wanted to go back to the
way things used to be, where I wasn't in the shadows, when people would
look at me and acknowledge me, where I looked at who and what was around
me, instead of the ground. Nah.

I didn't need any acknowledgement. I had my brothers, and the beginnings
of a few good friendships. Even if one of those friends happened to be
making a mess of my room at the moment.

I thought about telling Lacy that I changed my mind, that I'd dress
myself and I didn't need her input. But she seemed so happy when she
found a pair of jeans that would actually fit me and an old red mesh
shirt that she swore would match her chosen dress, that I found myself
agreeing to wear them.

After Lacy was satisfied with my wardrobe, I made her lunch as promised,
and we spent a few hours just hanging out and talking. I guess as long as
there was no threat of her grabbing my butt again, I was okay.

I was actually surprised at how much I seemed to have in common with
Lacy. At least, I had one thing in common with her. She had identical
twin siblings, sisters. I told her all about my brothers and she told me
about her nine-year-old sisters. We both decided that it could be fun to
have twins in the family, but equally annoying. But, unlike my ability to
tell Chris and Tony apart, Lacy didn't have the same gift with her
sisters. She said the only way that she could tell them apart was because
one's hair was cut shorter than the other.

After a slow afternoon with Lacy she left to go home and get ready, and I
began to wonder about Aiden again. Neither of my brothers were home.
Actually, neither of them had been home all day.

Chris had ended up staying at a friend's house the night before and had
called me earlier to say that he was working, but I hadn't heard from
Tony at all. I took that as a good sign, considering that the last time I
saw him he was with Jake. But, with no brothers around to talk to, I
seemed to have plenty of time to think. Aiden just happened to be the one
topic that I couldn't get out of my head.

I hadn't heard from Aiden all day, but as far as I knew our plans
hadn't changed. I was driving him down to the school at eight o'clock. I
decided to kill as much time as I could, getting dressed and flipping
channels. At eight o'clock I went downstairs to knock on Aiden's door
and was pleasantly surprised when I found him waiting at the bottom of
the stairs for me. He hadn't bothered to dress up, but he looked just as
good as ever. Only, instead of a camera he had a duffle bag thrown over
his shoulder.

I had almost forgotten that I let Lacy `dress me,' until I got closer
and Aiden literally looked me up and down, from head to toe. I swear I
blushed, and worse, I wanted to run back upstairs and hide, especially
when that cocky grin spread across his face.

"Wow, new you?" he asked.

"Old me, actually." I mumbled, and then before he could ask any more
questions, "Come on, lets go." And I headed to my truck. Aiden got in on
the passenger side and tossed his bag behind his seat before he buckled
up.

"So I hear Lacy came to see you." He smiled as I started to drive.

"You heard about that, huh?"

"Ryan called me." Aiden shrugged, "He suggested I go up and rescue you."

"And you didn't?" I asked incredulously.

Aiden just chuckled and shrugged, and maybe I didn't see it right
because I was driving, but I swear he looked me over again, right before
he said, "If Lacy did that, I'm not going to complain."

Okay, that had me blushing all the way to the school, and confused to no
end. Maybe guys complimented each other all the time, but something about
the way that he was looking at me felt like...I don't know. My brain
couldn't wrap around it. But one question kept popping into my mind. Was
Aiden hitting on me?

I didn't have much time to think about it. Before I knew it, we were at
the school.

The sun had just started to set when we arrived and the parking lot was
already packed. I really hadn't been expecting so many people to be
there, and I wasn't sure I liked the idea of a huge crowd, but I found
myself following Aiden in anyways.

The gymnasium was decorated with corny streamers and glittered floors,
mostly low budget stuff, but there was a DJ, and although the music
wasn't great, it could be danced to. As we walked in through the crowd
of people, Aiden reached back for me without looking. I smiled to myself
and moved so he could grab my arm, as he always seemed to do, so that we
wouldn't get separated.

I realized that he was looking for our friends, so I did the same.
Unfortunately, the first face I made eye contact with was Dennis
Gordon's. He was looking at me like it was a capitol crime that I even
showed up for the dance. I decided to pretend I didn't see him and
continued to scan the crowd.

I caught sight of Ryan first. He was over at the refreshment table eating
cookies that someone had volunteered to bring in, with Heather under his
arm. Lacy was right next to him, also stuffing her face. But Janie
wasn't anywhere to be seen, not that I was heart broken over it.

I tapped Aiden's shoulder and when he turned back to look at me I
pointed out Ryan. Aiden smiled and we made our way over. Ryan greeted us
in Ryan fashion, handshakes before he threw his arms over us.

"About time you guys got here." He smirked.

"Where's Janie?" Aiden asked, obviously concerned that she wasn't
there. "Shit, Ryan, please tell me you picked her up, if you didn't
she's gonna..."

"Relax." Ryan interrupted, "We picked her up alright, and I'll tell you
right now, that's not an experience I'd care to repeat. She complained
about everything the whole way here and then she disappeared into the
bathrooms."

"I went to check on her a while ago." Lacy added, "She was reapplying her
makeup and sort of gave me the brush off."

Aiden sighed and shook his head.

"I better go see if I can find her." he said, "I'll catch up to you guys
later."

"Good luck." Ryan rolled his eyes.

I watched after Aiden until Lacy appeared in front of me and I forced
myself to turn my attention to her.

"You clean up nice." She smiled.

"Oh?" I replied, "I hope that doesn't mean you're gonna grab my ass
again."

Ryan gave me a questioning look, raised eyebrows and all, but Lacy just
giggled and swatted my arm.

"I might." She remarked.

I shook my head, hoping that she was joking.

"You look nice." I told her.

"Thanks. So, I believe you said you could dance?"

I smiled and offered her my arm. She took it and we headed for the dance
floor after I waved over my shoulder at Ryan, but I don't think he saw
me. He and Heather seemed to be connected at the face.

Lacy and I danced a few fast songs and even some slow ones, and I
actually liked dancing with her. We seemed to fit each other well enough
on the dance floor, and I was having a lot more fun than I thought I
would have.

I spotted Aiden three times the whole time I was dancing. The first time
he had found Janie, and she was slow dancing with him to a fast song.
Poor Aiden looked suffocated. The second time they were still dancing,
only a little further apart, and seemed to be in the middle of some heavy
conversation. But the last time I saw him, Janie had drug him off to a
dark corner and it looked like she was screaming her head off while Aiden
just stood there, looking somewhat dejected.

Lacy saw where I was looking and rested her head on my shoulder. It was
another slow dance.

"God, that girl is such a bitch." she remarked.

"Janie?"

Lacy looked up at me with raised eyebrows.

"Who else? Don't get me wrong Owen, my mother taught me to always look
for good in everyone, and after meeting Jamie's brother, I tried to like
her. I mean, Adam is so sweet. Who would have thought his sister could be
such an ice queen? I mean, she puts on a friendly face, but none of it's
real, and if you're on her bad side, she lets you know it. I think
she's the reason why I never got to know Aiden better. I mean, Aiden and
Ryan are like, best friends, but every time Ryan brought Aiden around,
Janie would show up just to make sure I stayed away from him, I swear to
god that's what she was doing."

For some reason, that just wasn't difficult to believe.

"Anyways, she's always been a little possessive of him, just not as bad
as she's been this last year. A lot of people know Aiden, I mean, he's
always everywhere with that camera of his. A lot of girls like him. Of
course, I'll be the first to admit that the guy's hot, but honestly, a
lot of girls just want to be his friend because he's so sweet. But when
Janie's around, she runs practically everyone off."

"I know what you mean." I nodded, now thinking about all of the dirty
looks that Janie had given me lately. It was beginning to make sense.
Aiden and I had spent a lot of time together recently, especially after
the camping trip. I was beginning to wonder if Janie was jealous of the
time I'd been spending with him.

I glanced in Aiden's direction and saw that both he and Janie seemed to
be arguing now, but then Aiden suddenly turned and walked off with Janie
following after him, obviously perturbed that he had walked away. I let
go of Lacy as soon as I saw it, and when I realized I had stopped dancing
I looked at her apologetically.

"Go ahead." Lacy smiled, "I'll even hunt down the queen bitch for you
and at least distract her long enough for you to talk to Aiden."

"Thanks, Lacy. " I smiled. I liked her even more after that.

I made my way through the crowd, moving in the direction Aiden had gone.
I thought I saw him head for the restrooms and realized that the men's
room was probably the one place where he could go to get rid of Janie,
not that I'd put it past her to follow him in there.

I moved into the bathroom where a group was just coming out. By the time
I entered, it was quiet. I looked under the stalls at two different pairs
of shoes, but neither of them were Aiden's boots. When I realized he
wasn't in there I turned to go, but then I stopped cold.

Dennis Gordon was between the door, and me. And from the way he was
looking at me I was pretty sure he wasn't in there to take a shit. He
had actually followed me in. Asshole. I was not in the mood for this.

"What do you want, Dennis?" I asked in my most neutral voice.

He took a step closer, but I stayed put.

"I don't like you." he said.

"Well, thank you for that touching revelation, now, if you'll excuse
me..."

I moved to step past him, but he stepped in my path, putting us
practically nose to nose.

"What do you want?" I demanded. I was loosing my patience quickly. I did
not like feeling trapped, especially by someone like him. When he shoved
my shoulder I had to clench my fists to keep from punching him right
then.

"Do. Not. touch me." I warned, straightening and holding my ground.

"You think you're tough, boy?" Dennis continued, obviously ignoring me.
I could feel my face getting red, and it had nothing to do with
embarrassment.

For some reason, this guy brought out the worst in me, and it was almost
sickening how much he reminded me of my father. "You think since you got
a few sucker punches in on me, you think you're a tough guy now?"

"I don't assume anything." I replied, "Now get out of my way."

I was starting to feel a little shaky, the same way I felt before I
exploded the first time I'd attacked Dennis, and if he had any
intelligence whatsoever, he would have noticed it and backed off. He
didn't.

Dennis shoved me again, this time with both hands, causing me to take a
step backwards, and I still didn't hit him, but the idea was definitely
more appealing to me than it was five seconds ago.

"You think I'll let a faggot get the better of me?" he shouted. His
words seemed to startle me. I was gay, but in my head I knew that there
was no real way Dennis had of knowing that, and he seemed angry about the
idea, like having a gay boy kick his ass was unthinkable, "Is that what
you are?" he demanded, "Are you a queer, Dovan? Is that why you hang
around with Leo Sader? Are you a little faggot?"

He went to push me again but this time I stepped into his face so fast
that his shove didn't really do anything.

"Don't touch me again." I glared. Of course, I knew he wasn't going to
listen to me. For a moment it looked like he was going to attack me right
there in the bathroom, but the sound of movement gave us both pause. We
had forgotten about the other two guys in there, and we waited it out,
glaring at each other until they left. I could just picture whoever had
been in here drawing a crowd, and another week of suspension didn't
sound appealing to me. "If you want to talk, I'll be outside." I said.

I brushed by Dennis before he could do anything and walked out, and then
headed to the nearest exit because I knew that he was following me, and
I'd rather deal with this being just him and me. There was no need to
drag either of our friends into it.

I ended up outside of the gym, on the other side of the parking lot. I
took a quick look around to make sure no one was there, and without
looking back I started to talk to Dennis, because I could practically
feel him behind me.

"Look Dennis, I don't want any trouble with you, and I won't fight..." I
really shouldn't have turned my back on him. I barely turned around
before his fist connected with the left side of my face. I stumbled
backwards but prevented myself from falling. "Damn it!" I looked up to
see that Dennis was all puffed up and ready for more.

"Come on bitch!" he shouted, "Lets see what you've got."

I straightened and turned around to glower at him.

"What are you, stupid? I don't want to fight you, Dennis. And I'll even
let that slide," I said, touching my bruising face, "But try it again and
I will defend myself."

"God, you really are a fucking queer!" he was getting worked up, "You
won't even fucking fight me!"

"No, I wont. But I will apologize." Well, that threw him. "And don't get
the wrong idea about that either, I don't like you, and the next time
you go after one of my friends I will fight. But I owe you an apology for
the way I went after you before. All that `lashing out' wasn't meant
for you. But if you keep this shit up right now, the next time it will
be."

"Do you think I'm afraid of you? Of a faggot?"

I had not yet confirmed or denied being gay, but I was beginning to
notice things about Dennis. Like, why he reminded me of my father. When
he mentioned `faggot' or `queer' his voice cracked, like he was
really afraid of something. I wasn't about to question him about it; I
just wanted to get out of there.

"I don't really care what you're afraid of," I replied, "You think what
you want Dennis, but I won't fight you."

That was about the time the door swung open. I expected to see principal
Johnson, coming to suspend us again, not Ryan. And then Aiden came into
view and I suddenly remembered why I had gone into the bathroom in the
first place. They took one look at my bruised face and one look at
Dennis, right before they charged towards him.

"You son of a bitch!" Ryan hissed. Dennis looked so pissed I wouldn't be
surprised if he was stupid enough to try to take both of them, but I
never gave him the chance.

I got between Dennis and my friends and shoved Aiden and Ryan back
somewhat forcefully, because it was the only way that would have worked
at the time.

"Knock it off you guys, we were just talking."

"Your face tells a different story." Ryan replied indignantly.

"It's over." I told him, "Let's just get out of here." I glanced back
at Dennis, "It's over."

Ryan looked unconvinced while Aiden looked both concerned and angry as he
placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Are you sure?" Aiden asked.

I nodded, and then happy that they both seemed to accept my answer, I
pushed them towards the door, but they both glared back at Dennis until
we were safely in the gym. But none of us were in the mood to dance
anymore.

I ended up in the parking lot, sitting on the tailgate of my truck next
to Ryan, while Heather stood in front of him, cuddled up to his chest
with his arms wrapped around her. We all looked up as Aiden walked
towards us with Lacy. Aiden handed me a bag of ice and I thanked him
before bringing it to the side of my face.

"Where's Janie?" Ryan asked, "Couldn't you guys find her?"

"She said to let you know that she found another ride home." Aiden
replied, and then before Ryan could ask any more questions, he turned to
me, "You okay?"

"I'm good." I replied.

Lacy stepped up next to me and guided the ice away from my face. She
looked at the bruise forming at the corner of my eye, leading down my
cheekbone and winced.

"I guess you're wishing you'd stayed home tonight." She remarked.

"Na." I smiled, "It was fun, and I think I found my official dance
partner."

She flashed a spectacular smile and lifted herself on her toes to kiss my
uninjured cheek.

"Thanks for coming Owen. I'll see you in school." then she looked at
Ryan. "Can you take me home, Ry? I called my mom and said I'd be there
soon."

"You guys gonna be okay?" Ryan asked, looking between Aiden and I.

"Yep." Aiden smiled, "We'll see you tomorrow."

Ryan pointed at me.

"Bright and early?" he asked, meaning the workouts we had been doing
every morning.

"I'll be early," I smirked, "But you can forget about bright."

There seemed to be hugs all around as Ryan and the girls prepared to
leave, and as they walked off Aiden hopped up next to me on the tailgate.

"Are you still up for going out tonight?" he asked. "It's already nine
thirty, and if you plan on working out with Ryan in the morning..."

"I'm fine." I insisted, "And yeah, I still want to go. I figure if I get
in late enough I wont have to explain the black eye to me brothers. But,
you're driving so I can hold the ice, and besides, you haven't told me
where we're going."

Aiden smiled as he took the offered keys.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

When Aiden and I decided that we could both eat, I figured we would go
through a drive though and head off to wherever Aiden had planned to go
that night. I was more than confused when he parked the truck in front of
a pizza place that I had only passed by every once in a while. And I
wasn't surprised because of the pizza, pizza sounded good, it was
because the restaurant was closed. But Aiden got out of the truck so I
followed him.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

He smiled back at me as we reached the entrance.

"Getting dinner."

I just shrugged and waited as he knocked on the locked door. A moment
later an older woman with graying hair and a big smile appeared behind
the glass, opening the door and pulling Aiden into a big hug, which he
fully returned.

"Aiden, it's good to see you."

"You too Shelly." He replied, "thanks for doing this for us."

"It's no problem." Shelly insisted, handing Aiden a key, "You just make
sure to turn off the oven and lock things up."

"We will." Aiden insisted, "Shelly, this is Owen. Owen, Shelly used to
baby-sit me when I was a kid, she owns this place."

I smiled, finally understanding the connection and greeted Shelly as she
shook my hand. She didn't stick around very long afterwards and Aiden
led me into the empty restaurant.

It seemed strange, like we weren't really supposed to be there, but it
was exciting at the same time. I never would have pictured myself in a
restaurant, after hours just to make dinner. But Aiden seemed incredibly
familiar with the place. He led the way straight back into the kitchen
and began pulling things out of the walk-in cooler, giving me
instructions on the way.

"Did you plan this?" I asked finally, watching Aiden. He was wearing an
apron and going to work on some pizza dough. The question had been on the
tip of my tongue. He had never really said what we were doing, but out of
all the things I pictured, it wasn't this. To be honest, I had figured
that we'd end up at a party somewhere.

"Yeah." He replied. "I figured you'd be hungry after the dance, and I
did promise you fun...this probably wasn't what you had in mind. But
trust me, this place has great pizza."

"Well, it is original." I admitted, "You seem to know your way around
this place."

"I worked here a summer before I got the job at the supermarket." He
explained, "I still come back to help every once in a while." He stopped
and pointed to a small door, another cooler below the shelf we were
using, "There should be some sauce in there."

I obediently knelt down to grab the sauce and placed it on the counter.

"What else do you need?" I asked.

"Cheese should be under there too." Aiden replied, "and everything else
you can find in the walk-in. Go ahead and grab whatever you want on this
thing."

He had stretched the dough over a thin pan and was now spooning the sauce
on. I went to the walk-in and Aiden laughed when I returned with
everything I could find, not knowing what he would like. Once we decided
to put anything and everything on it, Aiden threw me an apron and let me
help top the pizza.

For such a simple task we sure had fun doing it. We were laughing at each
other the whole time, and we had the pizza topped as high as we could
possibly get it before it would have ended up ruined. When we were
satisfied with our handiwork, Aiden went to toss our creation into an old
brick oven and then we went about cleaning up our mess while we waited.

It didn't take long, and by the time the pizza was finished, I was
starving, so when Aiden began to box it up, I was a little more than
perplexed. He just smiled at the look at my face.

"Why don't you grab a couple of sodas." He suggested.

I went over to where the bottles were stored and did as I was asked. When
I moved back towards the counter, Aiden was already turning off the
lights.

"You ready?" he asked as he headed towards the door.

"Where are we going?"

"There's a place I want to show you."

Curiously, I followed him back to the truck. Aiden drove again, and
refused to tell me where we were going no matter how many times I asked.
I was definitely curious. We seemed to be heading up into the hills where
the larger houses were. I thought that maybe we were going to some sort
of party after all, and honestly, I was a little disappointed about that.
I felt like I had had a long night, but spending the last hour or so with
Aiden had me feeling better. I would have been happy with it being just
the two of us.

I seemed to get my wish when I realized that we had passed the
residential areas and the road had turned to dirt. When we finally did
stop it was up on hill, overlooking the town. At least, it would have
overlooked the town if it hadn't been for all the trees blocking the
view. But the area was peaceful and quiet, and it did have one view, the
stars seemed more visible from where we were.

Aiden was smiling at me again when he reached back and grabbed the duffle
bag he had brought earlier. I followed him out with the pizza and watched
as he opened the bag and removed a blanket. It was thin, but big enough
for both of us to sit on. I was suddenly feeling very amused. This was
definitely not what I was expecting, and it must have shown in my face
because he laughed at me again.

"I wanted to do something you wouldn't expect." He explained, "I figured
star gazing was safe enough."

"Stars?" I laughed. Honestly, no one had ever taken me to look at stars
before. Aiden just rolled his eyes at me as he plopped down on the
blanket.

"Get over here, I'm starving."

I dropped onto the blanket and placed the pizza between us, handing him a
coke. Aiden moved the box in front of us and moved to sit next to me as
we both dug in. For a while we just ate in silence, looking up at the
dark sky so generously flecked with white stars. It was a clear night,
but the air had gone cold, even under our coats we could feel it. Almost
absently I was leaning into Aiden's shoulder for a little added warmth,
and I began to notice that he was doing the same thing.

"This was really great, Aiden." I said after a while, still looking
upwards. "I'm glad I came tonight. Thank you."

"I'm glad you came, too." he replied, "But I'm sorry about what
happened with Dennis."

"Yeah." I frowned, "So am I."

"How did you end up out there with him anyways? The only reason Ryan and
I realized where you were, was because we overheard some kids talking
about Dennis Gordon and a fight. We didn't see you anywhere, so we sort
of put two and two together."

"Hmm." I sighed, "Actually I was looking for you. I just happened to run
into Dennis in the bathroom. Although, I'm pretty sure he followed me in
there."

"Why were you looking for me?"

"When I was dancing with Lacy we sort of saw you and Janie." I explained
"The plan was for Lacy to find Janie while I went to see if you were
okay...are you?"

Aiden was silent for a moment, and then I heard him sigh.

"Yeah, same old shit, you know? Anyways, I'd sort of like to forget
about it for tonight if you don't mind. Right now, Janie is the last
person I want to think about."

I smiled to myself, because I felt exactly the same way.

"Okay."

I turned my head to look at him finally, and became somewhat startled to
find that Aiden was staring at me. He had that look again, the one I
thought I had imagined earlier that night when he looked me over.

I seemed to keep placing myself in situations with him, where I would
experience these moments of absolute attraction, and then I'd trick
myself into thinking that there was something more than friendship
between us. I had always pushed these thoughts aside before. That kind of
thinking could ruin a friendship if I dwelled on it too much.

But never, any of those times before, had Aiden leaned forward and
pressed his lips to mine. It happened so fast I hardly realized that it
was actually happening. His lips were so soft, and the kiss was not at
all the earth shattering kind, it was just lips on lips, and my lips
couldn't even respond do to shock. But it lingered there for a moment,
before Aiden slowly pulled back, his mouth curled into a small smile, and
then he went back to looking at stars while I just gaped at him.

I didn't feel as surprised as I thought I should be, but my mind was
having so much difficulty wrapping around the idea of what had just
happened that it immediately went on the defensive.

The kiss didn't mean anything.

Relatives kissed each other like that; I'd even seen girls do it. Not
really two guys, especially one who was straight, but it could happen, it
was just a kiss of friendship, no different than a hug. When we had
jacked each other off on the camping trip, or I had held him in my bed,
it had been more intimate than that kiss.

And yet my mouth was suddenly dry.

"What was that for?" I managed to get out. I needed to ask, for my own
piece of mind at least. If I just brushed it off and ignored it, I knew
it would end up driving me crazy.

Aiden turned his head back towards me and shrugged.

"I thought I'd get it out of the way, is all." he smiled. I still
didn't get it, and it showed, "You know, that awkward first kiss at the
end of a date. It usually happens at the door, I think."

Sadly, it took me another few moments to catch on.

This whole night, Aiden asking if I wanted to go out. The pizza place.
Coming up here to look at stars on a picnic blanket. This wasn't
something I would have done with any of my buddies. Aiden had planned.
Hell, he hadn't even told me where we were going. He had treated this
like a date ever since we first left the dance.

And I still wasn't getting it.

"This is a date?" I asked incredulously, only adding to his amusement.

"Well, what did you think it was?" he all but laughed, and then, with a
sarcastic tone and a teasing grin, he threw some of my own words back in
my face, the same words I had used the night before when he accused me of
playing matchmaker between Jake and Tony. "God, I just hate it when
people don't take note of the obvious, don't you, Owen?"

Comments/Questions? Send them to DomLuka@aol.com <mailto:DomLuka@aol.com>

Author note: Thanks to everyone who as written me over the holidays! I
hope everyone had a great season. Chapter twelve should be up shortly,
and for anyone who is interested in more about Tony and Jake, I'll be
posting their story(hopefully) sometime this week.