Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:52:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Meyers <johnmeyerz36@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Tragedy of Daniel and Jake Chapter 2

The Tragedy of Daniel and Jake
Chapter 2
Written by John Meyers

	Disclaimer: You know, I was half thinking of just copying and
pasting the same disclaimer from the first one to this one, but I decided
that didn't have enough personality in it, or something... Anyway, uh,
yeah. The stuff in this story is not real, it is a made up by yours
truly. If anyone in the story looks like anyone you or someone else may
know in real life than that is just freaky isn't it? This story shows
teenage guys doing teenage guy things (Psst. That means having sex.) with
eachother. If this offends yo- oh forget it, you're not reading this story
if stuff like this bothers you. Ah, my favorite part again, if you are
reading this and you are not 18 or this stuff is not legal where you are
then leave. Yeah, that's right. Go ahead and click little Mr. X and think
about what you've done. All right, all right? You're not leaving are you?
Oh well, can't say I blame you. Anyway, now that that's done, on to the
story... But before I do, I would like to extend my thanks to all the
wonderful people who e-mailed me about this story and let me know how much
they wanted to read more, oh and yes, to the person who asked if Jake
showed up later, you know who you are, he shows up in this Chapter. I would
also like to state that I do not own any of the artists, or songs mentioned
in this chapter, I do not own the rights to any of the artists or songs,
and they are under copyrights by the individual record companies that are
in charge of them. AnYwaY... oN to tHe STorY...

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Daniel's POV

	"You love flaunting it, don't you?" Mark asked while shaking head
and smiling.

	"I think you're just mad because I can get away with so much more
than you. For instance, I can wear pink whenever I want, I can do yoga
without being ostracized, I have every girl at school wanting me to go
shopping with them, I can use tanning beds, lotions, scented bath salts,
wear anklets and bracelets, pull off any kind of fashion with ease,
actually 'match'." I looked him up and down at his plain white tee and
bootcut jeans, and his boots.

	"What?" He glanced down at his clothes.

	"Oh nothing, you actually match fine I just knew that would get
you." I smiled my best shit eating grin.

	"For your information I could do all those things if I wanted too."
Mark stuck his tongue out at me.

	"If you wanted to be called gay." I rebuttled. "Face it, the life
of a straight guy is vastly limited when compared to that of a gay one." I
waited patiently for his rebuttal, oh how I loved the witty forte. Mark
thought for a second before looking at Miranda and smiling.

	"I can think of a few things that straight guys can do that you
can't." He wagged his eyebrows at Miranda and she giggled and blushed.

	"That doesn't count." I said simply.

	"Why not?!" He protested.

	"Because you can only use examples that both parties can or want to
do. And of course, since I'm gay, that example is null."

	"Well then you can scratch off about half the crap you just said
too."

	I smiled my smug little grin and slid his keys to him from across
the table. "Let's just get going." I walked over and turned off the kitchen
lights and grabbed my phone, iPod, and key off the counter. Mark and
Miranda were already walking out to Mark's truck so I locked up and walked
over, feeling the chilly January air bite at my exposed forearms. Miranda
rolled down the passenger side window.

	"I'm riding shotgun today Danny." She stuck her tongue out at me
and giggled up a storm. "Hop your ass in the back." She rolled up her
window while I climbed in the back of his red Dodge Ram. Mark comes from
wealthy parents, so they can afford a brand new truck for his first car.

	"I vote we go eat first." I said as I pulled the seatbelt over and
buckled it.

	"Why eat first?" Mark asked while backing out, turning around in
his seat to see out of the back. He'd never been able to use the rearview
mirror.

	"Well for starters I didn't get to eat breakfast and there won't be
any movies this early." I tried using the rearview mirror to check my hair,
leaning over and pulling a few strands this way and that.

	"Well it's all about you isn't it." Mark replied sarcastically. The
car sped up in reverse a little bit.

	"Mark!" Miranda shouted. The car lurched to a stop and I was flung
back in my seat. We just barely missed the neighbors car.

	"What was all that?" She sounded a little pissed. I'd learned a
long time ago that riding with anyone other than her parents made her
nervous, no idea why though.

	"Sorry, I uh, just got distracted." His face turned scarlet and he
avoided both of our gazes. I settled back into my seat and continued fixing
my hair in the mirror. What? I've got a small narcissistic personality
disorder. Just about my hair though.

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Mark's POV

	I turned around in my seat, slowly backing my truck out of Daniel's
driveway. Daniel leaned over beside me, fixing his hair in my neglected
rearview mirror by the looks of it. He was literally a few inches away from
me, I could feel the heat coming off of his body, I could make out every
detail of the skin on his neck. I found myself leaning closer almost
subconciously, yearning to get closer to my Daniel. I smelled his amazing
cologne, becoming enraptured (and incredibly turned on) by the amazing boy
in my back seat. Then,

	"Mark!" Miranda screamed in my ear. I slammed on the brakes feeling
the truck jerk as I did so. The blood rushed to my face in embarassment and
I looked away to try and hide it. "What was all that?" I turned to see the
combination of anger and fear in her eyes and felt guilty for scaring her
as I became reminded.

	"Sorry," I mumbled pathetically. "I uh, just got distracted." I
steeled myself mentally, berating myself for getting distracted by
Daniel. I hated myself for this, I thought as I pulled out of the
subdivision driveway. I hate myself for the act I have to put up with
Miranda, not that I don't love her, I guess it's just not in that way. I
hate myself for enduring this torture. Most of all though, I hate myself
for being too scared to do anything with Daniel. For years he's been there,
a more than willing, gorgeous boy. Even if he'd only came out a few months
ago, there's some things you just can't fail to notice when you're best
friends with someone, like how he hadn't had a girlfriend since the seventh
grade, or that he never joined in the talk about what he would 'do' to any
of the girls around school. If I'd acted before, maybe I'd be in a
relationship with him right now, but I just never got the balls to try
anything.

	As I was driving down the road I heard Daniel's phone ring.

	"Hey Jake." His voice rang out, answering the goddamn
phone. Jake. Slimy little ass. I hated Jake. He burned through a different
girl every two weeks, always claiming that all of them were, "stupid tramps
that wanted nothing more than a dick in their pussy", please! He could
complain all he wanted but everyone knew that he was more than willing to
oblige all of their requests, then dump them the second he'd had his
fun. He's on the football team with me, wide receiver. I'm
linebacker. Don't get me wrong, he's a great football player, hell, I may
even be able to forgive all the man-whoring he does, if it weren't for
Daniel. Now, he may be as straight as they come, but that didn't change the
fact that he and Daniel had grown pretty damn close. Daniel and I haven't
gotten to hang out as much in the past 2 years because of Miranda. Not that
I resent her for that, but it bothers me that they're so close. It feels
like Im losing my best friend to that ass.

	"Nah, we were just heading to the mall, you coming?" Ugh, I could
swear Daniel likes Jake, and I mean like in that way, yes. I mean, yeah,
he's pretty damn good looking, but that didn't mean he wasn't a huge
ass. To me, personality won out over looks. "Oh, just Mark, Miranda, and
I." I could hear Jake through the receiver. "Of course Zack can come. Okay,
see you in what? 15 minutes. K. Bye." Ass.

	"So I guess Jake's coming?" I asked, my hands tightening on the
steering wheel.

	"Yeah, that's okay right?"

	"Yeah, fine." I reassured him quickly. Daniel didn't know I didn't
particularly like Jake. How I didn't know though. He was usually so
perceptive about this kind of stuff. Regardless, I suppose it didn't
matter.

14 minutes later...

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Jake's POV

	I walked through the huge automatic doors to the mall. Our mall was
awesome. I hadn't been to a lot of other places but, seeing as how we don't
live in the most.... I don't know how to say it, modern? I guess. Anyway,
seeing as how we didn't live in the most modern state in the U.S.,
Arkansas, for those of you curious, I suppose it worked pretty well. I
walked into the atrium, Zack trailing behind me, txting something into his
phone. Probably to Samantha, I thought inwardly. Zack and Samantha had been
dating for, oh, about 6 months now. Hell, that beat out all of the best
records I'd had with a girl. My longest lasting relationship ended about an
hour ago. Bitch. Racheal, was probably the most evil, insane bitch on the
planet, but, I being an idiot decided she was worth the trouble. Five
months and a few of my pay checks worth later, she decided that 'I' was no
longer worth the trouble. Bitch. Daniel had said that they'd be around here
somewhere. I'd imagined they'd be here waiting for me. I looked around the
enormous room, glancing at all of the other people hanging around. I was
just about to go look for them when I saw them walking out of the
electronics store. Daniel looked up and saw me. Instantaneously I felt
elated. Danny had that effect on people. It was like he had a little happy
gun hidden behind his eyes that he fired everytime he looked at someone. He
waved at me, drawing Miranda and Marks' attention as well. He had a bag in
his hand, obviously examining a game, or cd, or dvd of some kind.

	I turned and tapped Zack on the shoulder, seeing as he was still
absorbed in his message, his fingers firing across his phone at lightning
speed. I swear he could probably type 200 words a minute on that thing. He
looked up and saw them and smiled. Told you, happy guns. Anyway, we walked
over.

	"Watcha got there?" I asked peeking around to see what was in
Danny's hand.

	"Dragon Age 2. I just got it, I played it at Zack's house a few
weeks ago and it was awesome.

	"That's the understatement of the year." Zack piped up, finally
tearing himself from his txting. "Happy birthday by the way. He played that
game all night. Couldn't take his eyes off the tv. Went total zombie fest
on me." Zack laughed before his phone buzzed and he groaned and pulled out
his phone and went away at lightning speed again.

	"What? I can't help it that it was an amazing game! Anyway, I
didn't get to beat it so I decided I'd go ahead and buy it with some of my
birthday money." He started reading the little manual that comes with all
of the games. He's the only person I know who reads all the manuals to a
game before he plays it.

	"So what all are we going to do?" I was hoping to get the show on
the road. Anything to distract me from the whole crap with Racheal. I
looked over and saw this little arcade looking place. Then it dinged! "This
way." I told them as I began walking over to it. I knew for a fact that
they had one, and there it was, visible right through the window... A Dance
Dance Revolution Game.

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Daniel's POV

	I couldn't be more humiliated, I thought to myself as I was pushed
onto the platform. Jake put some quarters into the machine and the screen
started lighting up.

	"I can't do this." I said, I am far to shy to do this kind of crap.

	"What happened to all the stuff you could get away with that I
couldn't?" I think it was the smug smile, or maybe I wasn't as shy as I
thought, but I turned back around and picked my song. The beat started up
and I began dancing.

	"Party Rock!" I heard the machine say. "Party Rock is in the house
tonight!" I just watched the guy on the screen and let my body do the rest,
a little cheesy I know, but, oh well. "Everybody just have a good time! And
we goin' make you lose your mind!" I could feel them staring a hole in my
back but you know what I thought? All gay guys are great
dancers. "Everybody just have a good time. Party Rock is in the house
tonight, everybody just have a good time!" I barely saw the screen, I just
saw the arrows, and saw what I needed to do to get those perfects that kept
popping up on the screen. "And we goin' make you lose your mind. We just
wanna see you... SHAKE THAT!"

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	I stepped off the platform signifigantly hotter than when I had
gotten on. I took the second to look at Mark.

	"That!" I pointed at the game. "Is what happened to all the stuff I
could get away with that you couldn't." I shot him my shit eating grin and
high fived Jake, who looked absolutely delighted with how that had went.

	"That was awesome!" He said, beaming.

	"Alright, your turn." I said gesturing to the game.

	"Oh no. I don't dance." He said, backing away quickly.

	"You do today. Get up there." I grabbed his arm and pulled him up
to the machine. He trudged up there, looking crestfallen. He went to pick
his song, but I stopped him. "I want to pick." I said, my shit eating grin
flashing for the second time in two minutes. "Turn around, I want it to be
a surprise."

	"My luck you'll pick something Lady GaGa-ish." He said as he turned
in place. I picked the song and I told him to turn back around.

	"Whenever you're ready." Then he started.

	"It doesn't matter if you love him... Or capital H-I-M!"

	"You've got to be kidding me!"

	"Just put your paws up... Cuz' you were born this way baby!"

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	Jake hopped down, smiling so wide I was half afraid his face would
split open.

	"See now that wasn't so bad was it?"

	"Not funny." He said. He wasn't that bad of a dancer. "You're turn
Zack." Zack, smiling to himself, got up on the platform without another
word and looked at me.

	"You want to pick?" I smiled.

	"You asked for it." I picked his song and no sooner did we hear,

	"Hiya Barbie!"

	"Hi Ken!"

	"I hate you." Was the only thing he said before he gladly made a
fool of himself, singing along, "I'm a barbie girl" and pulling out all of
the oldest, most embarassing dances I've ever seen. We got the full
ride. He fit the robot, the running man, the worm, the 'Night at the
Roxberry' head bob, the cabbage patch, that disco move, you know the one
with one hand reaching up while pointing, the mash, the twist, the
macarena, and so many other nameless oddities into his dancing, that
neither Mark nor Miranda wanted to follow him.

	"You are such a dork." I high fived him while he acted all cool. Oh
look, he's Mr. Big&Bad now.

	"Alright Mark, you're turn." He got up there.

	"Take this for good luck." Miranda walked over and kissed
him. While she did that, I picked his song. He stood up, ready.

	The opening beat played and we heard a woman. "OooOoo
yeah.. yeah.... I got a pocket got a pocket full of sunshine! I got a love
and I know that it's all mine!" He struggled to keep up, having been caught
off guard by the sudden start. It was hilarious watching him flail around
up there, but he deliberately smiled and sang along and pulled out the
biggest and best gay act he's ever done.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Miranda was the only one left so we thought about what to pick for
her. We knew how much of a prude she was so we finally decided on...

	"Nah Nah Nah Come on! Nah nah nah Come on!" She was up there
smiling wider than any other person was, her braces showing off prominently
as she had her head back cackling most of the time. It was quite
comical. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite
me!" When she finally got done we headed over to another, slightly older
means of entertainment... The karaoke machine.

	I went first, and of course, I didn't get to pick my song! I heard
them saying, "He loves Maroon 5, pick a Maroon 5 song!" Yes! There wasn't a
single Maroon 5 song I didn't know. They picked a song and looked up at me
as a signal. I saw the words appear on the screen in front of me, but I
didn't need them. I knew this song like the back of my hand, having sung it
into my hairbrush many number of times.

	"I wake up with blood shot eyes, stuggled to memorize, the way it
felt between your thighs, pleasure that made you cry!" I sang better than I
ever had and closed my eyes, clearly demonstrating my knowledge of the
song."-Try to get you back!" I loved this song. By the end of it they were
all staring at me, mouths agape. "You were spot on with Maroon
5. Best. Band. Ever. In my opinion anyway. Miranda, you're turn." We all
knew that Miranda had a wonderful singing voice. She won the talent show
last year for singing a Taylor Swift song. We were all by the machine,
trying to pick a song that was funny and worth hearing, and then it hit
me. And they loved the idea, of course. And I picked it.

	There were some birds chirping and some wind chime music
playing. Miranda cracked up before singing.

	"Lo-oving you... Is easy cuz' you're beautiful! Makin' love with
you.. is all I wanna do!... Lovin' you... is more than just a dream come
true.." She continued on, deliberately screaming when that really high note
came around. By the end, we were all hunched over from laughing. Zack's
turn came around and he said that he already knew what song he wanted to
do, and that we definitely weren't going to be disappointed. Something in
his voice said that we weren't. He got up on stage and in the deepest voice
he managed...

	"I'm... to sexy for my love! Too sexy for my love, love's going to
leave!" He started doing little catwalk walks around. "I'm too sexy for my
shirt, too sexy for my shirt, oh so sexy it hurts. And I'm... too sexy for
Milan, too sexy for Milan, New York and Japan." It was only during this I
noticed Jake recording everything with his camera. Zack continued without
realizing.

	"How much have you recorded?" I asked, smiling devilishly.

	"Everything since you danced." He said. "Hello Facebook."

	His song finished, and after much applause, it was Mark's turn. We
all whispered, thinking of what to get him to sing. And then, like all the
others, it hit me. I found it, and picked it. The words showed up while a
voice carried the introduction.

	"Well now, we call this the act of mating, but, there are several
other very important differences between human beings and animals that you
should know about." The beat bumped and Mark recognized the song.

	"Sweat baby, sweat baby, sex is a texas drought, me and you do the
kind of stuff only prince would sing about! So put your hands down my pants
and I'll bet you'll feel nuts. Yes I'm Siskel and I'm Eiber and you're
getting two thumbs up!" He was totally rocking it out, halfway doing the
dance from the music video to this song. When it was over he handed the
mike to Jake. At this point, our singing had drawn a small crowd of fellow
mall goers who were taking pictures and recording us as well.

	"Well Jake, you're up!" Jake got up on the stage and we picked out
his song. The words popped up on the screen and he smiled for a second. We
all knew he hated Switchfoot.

	"Welcome to the planet! Welcome to existence!" You could hear the
mild frustration in his voice, but it slowly ebbed away, to be replaced by
the genuine effort anyone gave when singing anything. "Everyone's here!
Everyone's here!" He closed his eyes and surprisingly, still knew the
words. The effort disappeared, and it became effortless. "Everybody's
watching you now!" Was it just me, or did he have an amazing singing voice?
"Everybody waits for you now!" I felt entranced. I noticed how the light
fell on his face. I noticed how everyone had seemed to go still, this was
not some silly fun like what we had done. This was... Different. "What
happens next?!... What happens next?!" You could feel the power in his
voice. "I DARE YOU TO MOVE!" His voice erupted into the room. The karaoke
speakers didn't do him nearly enough justice. "I DARE YOU TO MOVE!" The
room had seemed to go dark except for the stage. Some people were doing
that thing where they hold up their phones and wave them slowly back and
forth. It suddenly struck me that I wanted to. Wanted to, but couldn't. "I
dare you to lift yourself up off the floor! I DARE YOU TO MOVE! I DARE YOU
TO MOVE! LIKE TODAY NEVER HAPPENED! TODAY NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!!" I was
drawn in. The others were too. I may have a pretty voice, but his was
demanding, spellbinding, forcing you to listen. Making you want to listen.

	 "Welcome to the fallout! Welcome to resistance!... The Tension is
here! Tension is here!" I felt it, all around the room. Tension. As I
looked up at him, I saw a pain in him that I'd never seen. It gave him
beauty, not that he hadn't always been hot, but this was beauty. Something
spiritual almost. "Between who you are and who you could be.... Between how
it is and how it should be!" He opened his eyes. I saw it, the pain. What,
I asked myself, could give him such pain."I DARE YOU TO MOVE!! I DARE YOU
TO MOVE! I DARE YOU TO PICK YOURSELF UP OFF THE FLOOR!" His amazing green
eyes were swimming with emotion. "I DARE YOU TO MOVE!! I DARE YOU TO MOVE!
LIKE TODAY NEVER HAPPENED, TODAY NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!" As he closed his
eyes and kept going I started noticing something. "Maybe redemption has
stories to tell! Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell! Where can you
run to escape from yourself?!... Where you gonna go?.... Where you gonna
go?... Salvation is he-ere!!" As though a heavy stone had been dropped in
my stomach. "I DARE YOU TO MOVE! I DARE YOU TO MOVE!... I DARE YOU TO LIFT
YOURSELF UP OFF THE FLOOR!!" And my heart had trouble beating, but got
faster still. "I DARE YOU TO MOVE!!... I DARE YOU TO MOVE!!" These were the
signs that I had felt before, towards other people. "LIKE TODAY NEVER
HAPPENED!! TODAY NEVER HAPPENED!!" Signs that only meant one thing. "TODAY
NEVER HAPPENED!! TODAY NEVER HAPPENED BEfore-e..." I had fallen for Jake.

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	Sorry this chapter took so long, I'm sure more than one of you
readers were starting to get mad, thinking I wasn't going to post another
chapter, well, I don't think I could do that to any of you. I'd like to
take this moment to once again thank all of you for your reviews, I
continue to appreciate them and they keep me going with this story. I'll
have the next chapter up ASAP. R&R to johnmeyerz36@yahoo.com