Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2002 04:33:42 EST
From: XYwyldchylde@aol.com
Subject: The Dance (part 10)

The Dance
(c)2001 Mychyl Kime (KimeNet Corp.)

	OK, there's been a slight change to the disclaimer, so read on if you
actually care about this part... if not, feel free to skip down to the
story at your leisure...

	This is a work of fiction, depicting teenage males in romance
and/or sexual positions. The people depicted in this story (to the best of
the author's knowledge) do NOT exist... in the rare case that they're based
on real people, the names HAVE been changed... not so much as to protect the
innocent as to spare the poor people listed within the unnecessary fame this
story might bring to them... not that I'm saying lots of people will read
this, or even people in my hometown, but there's always a slight chance...
And these events are, for the most part, all the imagination of the author,
although I've seen the events depicted many, many times. And by the way, the
town does exist, and is easily as evil as depicted...

	If you are under 18 years of age (or whatever the legal age in your
area is) you must leave. Of course, I can't very well make you leave... but
if you choose to stay, DON'T GET CAUGHT! It is neither my fault, nor the
fault of this wonderful site, if you get caught running around here.

	Also, if you are repulsed by the concept of homosexual romance
and/or sex, please feel free to leave at any time. In fact, now would be a
good time. But hey, it's your call, of course... I can't make you leave,
either... but if you choose to stay, feel free... who knows, you might even
change your mind!

	Please feel free to email me with your comments/suggestions. My
email is: XYwyldchylde@aol.com.

	And now, without further delay:


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


*Chapter 10*


	The next morning, me, Jacob, and David all got up early- well,
early for us on the weekend, anyways- to go to the mall, quite possibly one
of my favorite passtimes...

	OK, I know the stereotype, and while I'm not saying it's
necessarily true, I guess that, for me, it is. I love going to the mall,
even if I can't buy anything, just to look around, see what's for
sale... but when I can buy something, it's truly the best
thing... especially this day, since we were ridiculously loaded with money,
since I had a 'little' money from my surrogate parents (in other words,
Jacob's parents), and we were getting, among other things, some new clothes
for tonight, our first gay club... and in 'The City', no less... and in
Northern California, there's only one place people call 'The City', and
that's San Francisco itself, home to the nation's first openly gay
community that actually encompassed an entire neighborhood...

	We all jumped into David's car- a BMW, in case you're wondering-
and got on the southbound highway, Christina Aguilera in the system and
cranked up, going about 70 down the highway... on a 55 MPH highway, mind
you, although I think they finally got around to changing it to 65, but I
digress...

	The highway was usually fairly dead at this hour of the morning on
a Sunday...  not because most people were at church, since in California,
most people believe in doing their praying at home, but because most people
would normally be in bed or at work... but today, the road was pretty busy,
something that almost never was true on this stretch of 101. I mean, I
could understand all the people out and about if it was a holiday weekend
or something... like, say, Memorial Day, which was a couple of weeks off,
or Easter, which was last weekend, but this weekend should've been quieter.

	"What's with all these cars?" David asked, annoyed, as a car pulled
in front of us, nearly hitting us.

	"I dunno," was the best response I could come up with.

	"Well," Jacob offered, "maybe it's just such a beautiful day that
everyone decided they had to be out and about..."

	"Yeah, fine, I'll buy that, but why on the highway? Shouldn't they
be at, say, a park or something? Or in someone's yard? Anywhere but
driving!"

	Another sidenote: David's not real big on driving on busy highways,
which is why Jacob and I were both pretty shocked when he offered to drive
us down to the mall... I mean, it's only to Santa Rosa, which is the
nearest mall, and the highway between the two was usually not too bad, but
once inside Santa Rosa, David sometimes tends to panic from all the cars
pressing in close around us, especially California drivers being what they
are: fast and egocentric.

	"C'mon, David," I pleaded, "it's not all that bad... and it's only
a little ways to Santa Rosa... and when we get done at the mall, we can
always still go home and switch cars, so Jacob can drive us down to SF
tonight... I mean, we'll have plenty of time still."

	This seemed to calm him down some, and we all just sat back and
enjoyed the rest of the drive...


***


	About an hour later, we pulled into a parking space at the mall,
which looked like it was still pretty much deserted, and got out of the
car, locking it behind us.  We walked up to the doors, still not seeing
much of anyone around... then suddenly, as we got nearer the doors, I could
make out a sign:


			NEW MALL HOURS
			  9A-10P M-F
		    12P-8P SAT AND SUN


	"Shit!" Jacob swore, kicking the door. "Kyle, what time is it?"

	I glanced at my watch: 11:30. Not too much of a wait, but a wait
nontheless, and when it came to the mall, waiting wasn't something any of
us really liked the thought of.

	"It's not that bad," I told him. "Only half an hour... it could be
worse, right? They could've been closed for repairs, or something like
that, but they're not.  We've just got to wait a little bit, and they'll be
open then..."

	In the meantime, I knew there was a diner nearby... one usually
pretty dead at this time of day, where a lot of teens hung out later on
during the night, so I suggested we go get something to eat while we
waited, and they agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly. So we climbed back into
the car and drove over there... but just as we pulled into the parking lot,
the car started to sputter and choke, and died as David coasted it into the
nearest parking space.

	"Damnit!" David yelled, startling an older couple headed out of the
restaruant.  "What the hell's wrong now?"

	"Um... I think it's just outta gas," Jacob suggested.

	David checked and, sure enough, the tank was completely empty... it
was a lucky thing the car didn't break down on us on the highway, and that
there was a gas station just up the road a few blocks.

	"I'll go," I offered. "You guys go ahead and go inside, and I'll
get some gas."

	"No, I'll go with you," Jacob insisted. "I'm not all that hungry
anyways. You gonna sit here, David? Or you wanna come with?"

	"I'll come, too... after all, it's my car, and I'm the one who
didn't watch the stupid gas gauge..."

	So we all started walking up the road, leaving the car sitting
there, to the station which, predictably, was also closed... but luckily,
the one across the street from there was open, so we got our gas and walked
back, not talking much the entire way.

	Once we got back to the car and put some gas in, it was almost
noon, so we decided to go ahead and just go to the mall now rather than
wait here, so we all jumped back in the car and drove back, still not
saying too much. Finally, I broke the ice.

	"You know," I hazarded, "all this doesn't bode too well for our
day... or our night, for that matter."

	"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, curious.

	"Well, all this... you know, the mall being still closed, then the
car running outta gas, then the one station closed..."

	"No, not that... I got that part... I mean, what do you mean,
'doesn't bode well'?"

	OK, I admit, I'm superstitious... you know, black cats and all. It
felt like someone was trying to warn me that my day was spiraling
downhill... like maybe, just maybe, we should change our plans, do our
clubbing another night instead, but I wasn't about to be the one to say
that... especially since, knowing these guys (and myself, for that matter),
if we didn't go out this time, we wouldn't go out ever.  So for me to call
it off was definately beyond me, but I still couldn't shake that cold,
warning hand on my shoulder, trying to tell me something.

	"Hey, you know me, I'm superstitious," I lamely finished, then let
the conversation drop as we got to the mall and found it still pretty much
empty, albeit now open to the public... namely, at this moment, us.

	We went wild, going into each and every single shop, buying
something, then moving on to the next one. We wound up making three trips
back to the car through the entire affair, we bought so much. At the end of
it all, I was shocked to see how much stuff sat in the back seat... more
stuff than I'd ever bought in the mall before, and easily half of it
clothes...

	"Ohmygod," I sighed, slumping into the seat, causing half the bags
to fall onto my lap. "We outdid ourselves this time, you guys..."

	That got a few laughs, but for the most part, the eerie feeling I'd
mentioned earlier still hung over the three of us, following us as we all
got back into the car for the long drive back to Ukiah, so we could try out
our new clothes and get ready for the night ahead...


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


	Well, I know, I screwed up and took too long again. I guess I'm
losing the steam I had going into this project, but alas, it's not over
until the fat lady sings!  But seriously, I came down with the flu, which
severely hampered my ability to write anything worth even being trash, let
alone put up here for my readers... so I figured it better to wait until my
writing ability was back up to par before doing this chapter.

	At any rate, the next chapter (11, right?) will be out... soon
enough, I suppose... thanks again to all my wonderful fans for writing and
keeping my on the job... if it wasn't for you guys, I'd have given up
writing this about 24 hours ago, when all I could make come out right was
"*Chapter 10*"... LOL

	xXx Mychyl xXx