Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:28:39 -0800
From: h.schreiber@hushmail.com
Subject: Chapter 19 of Val 'n Tyne by Hans Schreiber and Flip McHooter

Warning!  This story is a work of fiction written by a legal age adult. Any
similarity between the fictional characters and any live person is purely
coincidental. This story contains fictional descriptions of sexual activity
between consenting minor youth. If you are under the age of 18, and/or if
you are offended by this content, and/or if it is illegal in your
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responsible for your actions. Please, always practice safe sex; no
momentary thrill is worth your life.

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be transmitted or reproduced
in whole or in part in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system without the written permission of the Author or Publisher,
except where permitted by law. Copyright (c) 2012 by Hans Schreiber and
Flip McHooter. This work is a collaboration between Hans Schreiber and Flip
McHooter.

Please send your comments to Hans at h.schreiber@hushmail.com and to Flip
at 1977.flip@gmail.com

				Val 'n Tyne

				Chapter 19

		       Can't We All Just Get Along?

	"Tyne what happened back there?" Noah asked as he turned onto Amber
Way.

	Tyne didn't answer. He couldn't. His throat was swelling and his
face was burning hot with anger and embarrassment. His stomach ached as his
intestines twisted themselves into a giant knot.

	"Tyne, it's me baby. Talk to me. Pour it out."

	Tyne shook his head slowly and said haltingly, "Take me home. I
just want to go home."

	"How long have we been friends, Tyne?" Tyne didn't respond. Noah
pushed on, "Since we got out of diapers, that's how long. Well, since you
got out of diapers, I still wear them sometimes when I'm in a mood." He
glanced over expecting that to make Tyne crack a smile, but there was
nothing. Just a blank stare. Tears trickled slowly down Tyne's cheek and it
broke Noah's heart.

	Noah sighed and stared silently out the windshield. There was a
mile of silence before Noah couldn't stand it any longer. "Tyne, dammit
girlfriend, talk to me. This is unacceptable." Noah swerved to the curb and
slammed on the brakes. Tyne shot him a scowling glare. Noah shut off the
engine and folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not driving you one more
fraction of an inch until you spill it."

	"All right." Tyne knew he was being unfair to Noah. "Val wasn't
home."

	"So? Why is that such a big deal? Where was he? Did he go to see
the doctor? Is he back in the hospital? Is he dying or something? Why are
you so upset?"

	"I wish he was dying. I wish he was already dead." Tyne started
crying. Noah reached over and threaded his fingers through Tyne's thick
golden locks and twisted his head so he could look into Tyne's aqua marine
eyes, swimming in teardrops. Tyne swallowed a wad of mucus and stammered,
"He went out with Sylvia. He isn't sick at all. He lied to get out of our
date so he could go be with her. His mom came right out and told me he was
with her. Oh god, Noah, I've lost him. I've lost him to that ... that
girl." He spoke the word 'girl' as if it were a dirty word.

	Noah couldn't help it and started to cry along with Tyne. He pulled
Tyne's head to his and they sat there forehead to forehead shedding tears
together. A crack of thunder broke up the melancholy moment and they sat
back in their seats. Noah reached over and took Tyne's hand in his just as
heavy raindrops began pounding on the rusty sheet metal of Noah's
ride. "I'm sorry Tyne. I truly am. It was bound to happen and I hoped for
your sake it wouldn't, but now you have to move on." Tyne grimaced and
shook his head slowly in acknowledgement but didn't speak. There was
another crash of thunder as Noah started the car and pulled slowly from the
curb.

	When they pulled in the driveway, Tyne cursed under his breath. "My
mom's not home. I didn't think she was working tonight. Fuck, I'm always
alone, I hate it. I need her now. I just fucking hate it."

       Tyne burst into tears again and tried to get out of the car and run
into the empty house, but the door on Noah's piece of shit car stuck and
Tyne had to shove his shoulder hard against it. On the third battering, it
finally flung open, spilling poor Tyne headlong onto the driveway. He stood
up and slammed the door shut and rushed to the porch. He fumbled with the
key, trying to get it into the lock when he felt Noah taking it from his
hand. Noah unlocked the door and led the way into the dark house. He slid
his hand along the beige wallpaper until he found the light switch to light
up the room, then went around turning on every light he could find. Tyne
followed him into the living room and dropped onto the couch. He grabbed
and hugged a brown throw pillow to his chest and blubbered about Val and
his dead father and his absent mom and then Val again. There was a brief
incoherent section about Val's sister, Vi and then it was back to Val. When
Tyne started debasing his own self-worth and questioning the value of his
life, Noah started to boil. Noah sat across from him and listened as long
as he could stand to.

       Suddenly, Noah stood up and walked over directly in front of the
blubbering mess that was his best friend in the whole world, put one hand
on his hip, which was cocked sideways in a way only Noah could do, and
pointed a long, skinny finger at Tyne. "Okay. Enough. Now let me tell you
something mister man."

                                   **##**

	"Val, wake up." Val's mom shook her son's broad shoulder and Val
woke up with a start.

	"What?"

	"It's 8:00 and we need to leave in half an hour if we're going to
be there on time to get a good seat at Sylvia's church. You still want to
hear her sing, right?"

	"I'm not sure I want to go after last night and all," Val
grumbled. "And she can sing anytime. It's no biggie."

	"Well, I'm sure we're going to see her and listen to her
song. We're all going, even your father, if you can believe it. So get your
lazy butt up and get ready now. We leave in 25 minutes. No argument."

	Val recognized the tone of her voice and knew he had no real
choice. "Okay." He sat up and tossed the covers off his naked body. His mom
watched him from the doorway until he was definitely vertical and then she
left. Luckily he didn't have a raging piss hard-on; it was just sort of
chubby. He stretched out his arms and legs and then fumbled around until he
found some clean boxers out of the laundry basket to pull on. He'd failed
to put away his clothes as usual. The chosen pair had characters from that
stupid Family Guy show on Fox on them, and they certainly weren't his
favorite ones. His great Aunt Sophia gave them to him a year or so ago. She
was pretty old and they never really saw her all that much. He had no idea
how they were related, but she always brought presents when they did. It
seemed weird she would bring him boxers of all things, but he guessed his
mom probably suggested it. They certainly were better than the Sarah Palin
t-shirt she brought when he was twelve. Anyway, the fly was too short and
tight and it was hard to fish his big dick out through the pee hole to take
a wiz.

        He rushed to the bathroom only to find Vi in there primping and
preening. "Leave, shortstack, I gotta shower," he said with a disgusted
sigh.

       "No way doofus, I have to do my hair still. Use Mom's bathroom if
you're in such a big hurry."

       "Uh-uh. I'm older than you so get lost. Geez. Girls and their stupid
hair. I don't have time for this. Just look away." Val resigned himself to
her being there. He could have easily physically tossed her out, but it
wasn't worth all the resulting drama when she cried to their mom about
it. So he just turned his back to Vi as he slipped off his Family Guy
boxers he'd just put on. He stepped into the shower spray, which wasn't
quite warm enough yet, and yelped from the shock of the tepid water. Vi, of
course, was staring intently at his hot body and even caught just a glimpse
of his dangling balls and long dick between his taut buns as he spun around
out of the cold shower spray and closed the frosted glass door with a hard
slam.

       She returned her attention back to her hair and started wishful
thinking that she could find some nice boy at church who looked like Tyne,
maybe, to make friends with and help her forget about Danny. She didn't
expect anything like that, though. It was church, after all, and all of the
guys were probably married to Jesus and wore those stupid chastity
rings. She wished she was older or Tyne was younger so he'd be interested
in her. She had such a crush on him. She'd give up her V card in a minute
to him, Val's lectures be damned.

       Val rushed his shower and shut the water off quickly, barely getting
all of the Axe washed off his body. When he opened the door and found Vi
still there, he rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh. Won't she ever get
lost, he thought to himself? She got a full on frontal view of her big
brother as he reached around for his towel and slid the glass door quickly
closed behind him. "Get the hell out of here," Val growled. "You're pretty
enough."

       "It's not like I haven't seen one of those dangly thingy's before,"
she snapped. "I even touched one, remember?"

       "Yeah, well, I'm not interested in you seeing mine. And you're
definitely not gonna touch it. You're my F'n sister for god's sake. That's
just so freakin' weird. So get the F out before I have to throw you out."
Then he added, "I need to fix my hair," in a fake falsetto.

       Vi grinned and left, slowly, pulling the door shut behind her with a
bang. Val finished drying off, and then stepped up in front of the mirror
and quickly combed his hair and smeared some pit wax under his muscular
arms. He bent down and pulled Stewie and family up over his privates and
then hustled back to his room. He found some clean jeans and a collared
shirt that wasn't too wrinkled. He even sported a skinny black Sacramento
Kings tie and black dress shoes instead of his regular Air Jordan's. He
came out just as his mother was coming to get him.

       "Now what?" he asked when he saw her.

       "Jeans? Really? Shouldn't you wear the slacks we got you for your
cousin's wedding last month?"

       "Nobody my age wears slacks to church. Trust me. And they look
stupid. Plus, she didn't even care what I wore to her stupid wedding and I
was overdressed compared to the other kids there. She just wanted to open
up all of her wedding gifts so she could go get laid by that tatted up
freak she married."

       He followed his mom, who was rolling her eyes at his comment but not
arguing with it, out of his room to find his father dressed up in his best
clothes, which was something he rarely did. He was tugging at his collar
and wouldn't stop complaining; he was bitching like a fifty-year-old
getting his first colonoscopy. Polly was used to his bellyaching and was
totally ignoring it. Buford asked why he had to wear a stinkin' suit if Val
could wear his dress jeans. Val found that so ridiculously funny that he
was using him as an excuse to try and get out of something. Usually it was
Val saying things like that. Like when he asked, "How come I have to be in
at eleven if Nick can stay out past midnight?" What was really funny is
that his mom gave the old man the same answer he'd gotten, namely, "Because
I said so!" Dad, son, both totally whipped! Val made a silent promise right
then and there that he'd never let another woman control him like that. It
just wasn't right.

       They piled into the car, the two guys still bitching and moaning,
and once on the road to the church no one said much else. When they finally
turned the corner at First and Main, they saw the Virgin Hills Redemption
Church marquee positioned in the middle of the half-dying weedy lawn that
read, "The Bible is a Thriller. It will scare the HELL out of you!" Val
read it out loud to everyone who all snickered, albeit quietly.

       "At least the pastor must have some sense of humor," Mrs. Hardcastle
said. "I've heard he's very young. I guess we'll see."

       They filed in the huge warehouse-like room and found a dusty vacant
pew about three rows from the center front. The ones in the back were
already mostly full with early-birds or full enough that they couldn't sit
without climbing over a few people. Val wondered why nobody wanted to sit
up front. Since they didn't know anyone, it was a little uncomfortable to
sit up there, and when they did, they all hunkered down together, somewhat
self-conscious. Val had entered first, then his mom and dad with Vi sitting
on the aisle, squeezing in next to the wooden arm rest.

       Once situated in their seats, and after looking all around, Buford
leaned over to Polly and whispered in her ear. "They must have had some
sort of rock concert in the chapel last night. They didn't even bother
cleaning up their beat up old equipment for the Sunday service," he whined,
with a tone of disapproval. He was referring to the ancient Ludwig drum
set, cheap guitars and beat-up microphone setup on the right side of the
chapel. Val smiled to himself, hoping that the guys would play some tasty
licks and make this at least somewhat bearable. He always wished he had
learned to play an instrument.

       Vi glanced over and caught a young, Nordic-looking blond boy across
the aisle who had nicely styled hair sweeping way down low over his
forehead, sneaking a peek at her over his shoulder. He looked quickly away
when he got caught by Val, making Vi blush. Sometimes she really hated her
brother as much as she loved him. She shot Val a dirty look and mouthed the
words, "Stop it." Val didn't really care or even know that the kid was
checking out his sister. Val was actually staring at and creeping out over
the grotesque statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, up on the wall right behind
the kid. It made him shudder. It looked like she was staring right through
him and scowling like she knew what was on his mind.

       The young, blond boy's dress shoes hung down with just the toes
touching on the cold, marble floor, which was strange since he wasn't all
that short. The pews seemed to be abnormally tall, and he guessed that they
made them that way so the parishioners would be too uncomfortable to sleep
during the pastor's sermons. After looking all around, he saw Vi blushing
again at the blond kid who quickly turned away, while Vi looked back down
at her program. He followed her sight-line, and looked hard at the cute
little dude who was dressed super sharp in a crisp, Oxford shirt and a nice
striped tie. He started noticing how throughout the service the two of them
stole secret glances, occasionally making eye contact. It was apparent to
Val that Vi had more interesting thoughts in her head than Jesus and the
sermon.

       At the beginning of the service, the four or five twenty-something
band members filed in quietly, one behind another, shoulders slumped like
they'd rather be playing downtown at Pike's. One of the three long-haired
guys, who had big gauged earlobes, picked up his electric guitar, slung it
hard over his shoulder and after a few seconds of tuning it, ripped into a
thundering riff. The tall and skinny dude to his left, with slightly
greasy, cranberry-red hair, was playing an ancient bass, but adeptly
followed the guitarist's lead, while the rest of the band kicked in
seamlessly one after the other. Their reverberating wail bounced off the
sterile walls of the building and made the congregation come fully to
attention. Even the most die-hard church-goers had to admit this band was
good, even if they didn't all like the way they looked.

       Buford looked like he'd been struck over the head with an electric
guitar when they started playing a lively gospel rock song about standing
up for truth and defeating Satan's horde. The audience started clapping
along and soon the choir members started to file in, single file along both
sides of the concrete church walls. Sylvia was searching the congregation
frantically and smiled wide when she finally caught Val's eye, who himself
was looking all around for her. He gave her a shy little wave and she
cracked a radiant smile. Val noticed that she had done her hair and makeup
nicely again, while Vi asked her mom, "Doesn't Sylvia look nice? We really
showed her how to look pretty." Mrs. Hardcastle agreed with a curt nod of
her head and they both beamed with satisfaction. Once in place on the loft,
the choir sang a lively song about Angels in a Cadillac along with the
band's accompaniment. Buford sat there totally mystified.

       The next song that they played really hit home for Val and made him
squirm all around in his seat so uncomfortably that he thought he was going
to have to run out of the hall to get away. He didn't know what the name of
the song was, or who it was by, of course, but it sounded like some sort of
country/ rock/folk/indie mash-up. He liked the tune, and he was way feeling
the thundering bass and the bitchin' guitar lead, but when he caught a
section of the lyrics, it made him shudder - a deep, drilling down feeling,
yawning hard into his bones. The lead singer with the droopy 'lobes and the
shiny wa-wa guitar, plus the skinny girl with the shiny black hair on
keyboards, started to sing:

	From across the great divide, in the distance I saw a light
	Of Jean Baptiste's - he's walking to me with the Maker
	Oh my body, my body is bent and broken by a long and dangerous
sleep
	I can't work the fields of Abraham and turn away
	I'm not a stranger in the hands of the Maker

	That was exactly how he felt when he woke up out of his head injury
in the hospital, not knowing whether he was dead or alive, comatose or
aware and in or out of his unmoving body but only wanting to reach out for
Tyne to save him. "TYNE", he thought, "His one and only. Oh my God. What am
I going to do?" He slunk as low as he could into the hard church pew, his
knees uncomfortably pressed against the pew in front of him, eyes closed
with his knuckles shoved hard into them to keep from crying.

       The band drilled to a loud and garish finish to the song, and then
the youngish but pudgy pastor came out at the end of the tune to welcome
the congregation, hands flying all around in the air like he had too many
cups of Starbuck's coffee or he was trying to land a jet fighter on a
flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Then he told everyone to take their
neighbors' hands in their own while he led them in a loud and boisterous
prayer.  After the head-scratching prayer finally ended, Buford leaned over
to Polly and said, uncomfortably loud enough for those immediately around
to hear, "What the hell is that about?  Rock music in church? That's just
plain wrong. Uncle Bartholomew, that crazy Baptist preacher back home in
Tennessee, would be rolling over in his grave right about now. And that
prayer! What the hell was that all about?"

       "Shhh," Polly scolded him with her finger to her lips while giving
him the evil eye. Vi didn't notice what was going on with her parents
because she was too busy checking out the cute young blond kid again, who
smiled and blushed whenever they caught each other peeking. Val missed all
of the amusing family business because he was busy picturing Sylvia naked
underneath her pretty choir robe. Disturbingly, his thoughts morphed to
Tyne being in the choir with Sylvia and also being naked underneath the
purple satin robe. His little fantasy ended with what he'd like to do to
him if he could sneak up underneath the cloth and fondle his holy candle
and bells. What a crazy thought that was. He shook his head hard to clear
it out.

       The pastor welcomed everyone and told them to take their seats, and
then introduced another choir number and Sylvia's solo. The song was
beautiful. It was titled My Life is in Your Hands. Sylvia sang a beautiful
Alto solo on the chorus. It struck Val hard when she sang in that angelic
voice:

	Oh
	I know that I can make it
	I know that I can stand
	No matter what may come my way
	My life is in your hands

	It felt like she was singing directly to him and it made him
uncomfortably nervous once again. He didn't want anyone's life to be in his
hands and certainly not hers. He was way too young for that kind of
drama. He reflected on the scolding he'd gotten from his mother when she
warned him about Sylvia and Tyne both having experienced enough loss in
their young lives. But so had he - and recently, too. He'd lost his sport
and his truck and his pride and his dignity and his balance. But from the
loss had come some gains too, he had to admit. But unfortunately, the gains
were so complicated.

       He smiled thinly back at her as she stared at him after the song
ended from up on the center of the choir loft. Then the preacher tore into
a rousing, but quick, sermon on the importance of having faith and keeping
it even through adversity and hardship. It barely registered with Val as he
was too preoccupied with his problem with Sylvia and Tyne. He had to
honestly admit he had feelings for both of them. Finally, the pastor put a
cork in it and announced a 'cookies and Kool-Aid' mix and mingle event on
the back lawn behind the chapel. Suddenly, the rock band ripped into
another swinging bluesy-gospel ballad while the ushers passed around the
collection plate. Val's dad, Buford, commented loudly again as he tossed a
Jackson onto the plate that it felt to him like he was buying a concert
ticket rather than donating to a church. It seemed more like seeing a
Rolling Stones cover band down at the local bar when all he really wanted
to do was have a quiet drink. The pastor said another quick prayer of
Thanksgiving and then thankfully climbed down from the dais and disappeared
quietly out the back door while the choir sang an upbeat closing number
about heaven in the clouds. It seemed to the Hardcastle's that this church
was incredibly heavy on song and extremely light on inspiration. Val
wondered what Jesus would do if he popped down from paradise for a minute
to check this place out.

       Sylvia made her way down out of the choir loft and caught up to the
Hardcastle's climbing out of the pew and into the crowded aisle. She
convinced them to go out on the back lawn so she could introduce them to
some of the congregation and church elders. In reality, all she really
wanted to do was show her hot boyfriend off to her church friends. Who
could blame her? She grasped her choir robe on either side and pulled it
upward, off over her head and Val momentarily reacted to it with
shock. Then he realized her being naked underneath was just his little
fantasy. She was nicely dressed in a pair of jeans and a soft beige top.

       Val winced inside and tried not to show his displeasure outwardly as
she introduced him to person after person as her new boyfriend. He
reconciled that he was a 'boy' and he was her 'friend' and didn't bother to
correct her. There was really no polite way to do so anyway. It did
punctuate his growing problem over what to do about her and Tyne,
though. Everyone commented on Sylvia's new look and gave Val a wide-eyed
'OMG - how did SHE get YOU' look. That unspoken, shallow attitude sort of
pissed Val off. He started getting more affectionate toward Sylvia, holding
her hand and smiling at her lame jokes and even giving her an occasional
peck on the cheek, just to make a statement.

       Over by the pergola, Mrs. Hardcastle found a woman she had served
with on the PTSA board at Vi's grade school and they struck up an excited
conversation, catching up on the latest dish. Completely ignored, Buford
peppered the woman's husband with questions about having a rock band in a
church service. Vi kept peering between her parents to see if she could
spot the cute boy with the sweeping, long blond hair like Tyne's and an
adorable freckled nose.  He was nowhere to be seen. Then suddenly, she felt
a nudge on her shoulder and turned to find the shorter version of Tyne
standing there balancing two cups of Kool-Aid and a couple of flimsy paper
plates filled with cookies.

       "Umm, excuse me," he said. "My name's Tim. You're new here, right?"

       "Yeah, it's our first time at this church," Vi said demurely. "My
brother's girlfriend is in the choir."

       "Oh, that's cool. Well, umm, my mom thought it would be nice if I
brought you a cookie and some Kool-Aid, like as a welcome thing, you know?
Would you like some? It's good. It's purple flavored." He held one of the
two plates out so she could see the chocolate and vanilla
cookies. Mrs. Hardcastle immediately drifted from her conversation with the
school mom and smiled at the exchange going on between Vi and this cute
young man. Tim was spit and polish clean in a starched, pale blue, Oxford
dress shirt, blue and green striped tie and navy blue slacks. The pants
hung perfectly and were professionally tailored over a pair of highly
polished, expensive, black, wing tip dress shoes. Vi thought he was totally
fly.

       Vi had a wickedly funny thought pop into her head when he told her
his name. She had to really struggle to stay composed and not giggle. "He's
Tyney Tim," she thought to herself, with a muffled snort, which she covered
up like a fake sneeze after he said his name. He was shorter than Vi by at
least an inch, but he probably hadn't hit his growth spurt yet judging from
his parents and two older brothers that he had been sitting with. They were
all tall and striking, and very well dressed. Vi accepted the drink and
cookie and gratefully accepted his invitation to introduce her to some of
the other church youth kids that were milling about. Partly because she
wanted to get to know Tyney Tim better, and partly because she wanted to
get out from under her mother's big, snooping ears and potentially
dangerous mouth.

       Vi was happy to be quickly included into the group of younger church
kids. They all seemed friendly and happy to include her into their
circle. On the other side of the lawn, Val pulled Sylvia aside for a quiet
chat. He was sick and tired of meeting everyone Sylvia could possibly
introduce him to - she even introduced him to the church's
custodian. Finally alone, he looked her hard in the eyes while she gazed
dreamily back up into his big chestnut eyes, making his resolve melt. "I
hate to take you away from all of your friends, but I need to talk to you
about last night."

       "Oh Val, I told you not to worry about it. It's fine. I love you. It
was really no big deal. Well, it was big, but you know what I mean. We can
do it again sometime and you won't be so nervous then," Sylvia
interrupted. Then she added, "I've never been so happy since before I lost
my mother. You've transformed me. You and your family together have changed
my life so much. I love you and I'm so glad you all came today. I'm a very
lucky girl."

       Val drew in a deep breath and smiled at her. Then against his better
judgment, he leaned down and kissed her. "Better go, I guess. Your song was
beautiful by the way."

       "Thanks. I love to sing that one. When can we get together again?"

       "I don't know. Tuesday, I guess. Isn't that your night for homework
or are you on for tomorrow? I forget. My head's starting to pound
again. But you know, I can't wait to go back to school, headaches or not."

       "Neither of us was assigned Monday's. You gave Tyne Tuesday and
Thursday and I got Wednesday and Friday, but no one is doing Monday. Guess
you forgot. So, I'll just go ahead and take care of it because I can't wait
clear until Wednesday to see you again." She smiled, and gave Val a hard
peck on the lips. Then they walked hand in hand over to Val's family and
Sylvia thanked them all for coming. Afterward, they all parted for home.

       Once inside his house, Val headed straight to his room to change. He
was sitting on his bed in only his jeans with his ear buds plugged in and
spacing out to some new tunes when his mom walked in and sat next to
him. Reluctantly, he pulled the ear buds out. "What?" he asked. He was in
no mood for one of her crazy interrogations.

       "It looked like you and Sylvia were still a couple at the mix and
mingle after service. I thought you were going to talk to her about last
night and your concerns."

       "Mom, I tried but she just kept dragging me around introducing me
and it was like ..." Val paused, then restarted. "I'm not saying this to be
all braggy, all right? But it was like all those people were kind of amazed
that I was with her, you know. Like I was too good for her or something and
that got to me, because I'm really not good enough for her. So I just
couldn't rain on her parade there. You know?"

       Mrs. Hardcastle took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I get
it. But it's never going to be easy to do. Eventually, you are going to
have to hurt her, or Tyne. It's better sometimes just to rip the Band-Aid
off quickly and get it over with. But I will agree with you that church
really wasn't the place for that."

       "Okay. Just let me sort it out. I promise. I'll take care of it when
I know the right thing to say and the right place to do it. In the
meantime, I promise not to do any sex stuff with either one of them. Right
now, I have to figure out how to apologize to Tyne. I really blew it with
him."

       "Yes, you did."

       "Will you pull the door shut when you leave, please?"

       "Is that your way of telling me our conversation is over?" Val's mom
asked.

       "Pretty much." Val smirked.

       "Sure." Val's mom kissed his cheek and left pulling the door shut
behind her.

       After his mom slipped out of his room, Val stripped to his boxers,
snuggled deep down into his messy bed, pulled up his Kings quilt over his
head and took a long nap. He tossed and turned uncomfortably and didn't
really feel all that rested once he fully woke up in the late afternoon. He
didn't even feel like fondling his man-bits, which he always liked to do
when he first woke up - in fact, his boner wasn't even sticking out of
Stewie's big mouth. The twilight, late-winter sun cast a gloomy, tangerine
glow through his dirty window, making him feel even more hopeless and
melancholy. His stomach ached, and he almost felt like he was going to be
sick. But the urge never took over and so he stayed there wrapped up in the
blankets, tight like a mummy and seemingly safe from his overwhelming
problems. His mind spun like a bad car-chase phone app and for a long while
he just lay on his back and glowered at the bumpy, cottage-cheese ceiling,
following the faint shadows and making out imaginary shapes and images in
the shadowy patterns, while trying to sort things out. Next to the shadow
that resembled a turtle, one popped out at him of Tyne frowning. He rolled
over and buried his face deep in his Angry Birds pillow.

       He still had no idea how he was going to apologize to Tyne for
ditching him and he wondered why this was so F'n difficult for him. If it
was anybody else, like Nick or even his goofy sister, he wouldn't be
getting all worked up over it. His mind told him that it was simple,
really, just something better had come up. No big deal. So what if he made
up a little white lie so he could go out with Sylvia, and maybe get some
action?

       But for some reason, Tyne had some kind of mystical hold on him that
he just didn't quite understand, and while he had told him a lie, it wasn't
white, nor was it little - at least not to him. Whatever was going on, he
was sure that he couldn't go on very long without making up to Tyne. He was
positive that it would drive him crazy. In the few short weeks that they
had known each other, Tyne had captured a special place in his mind. Or was
it his heart? He wasn't sure which. "God, what's going on with me?" he
thought. "I think I'm truly in love with this dude."

       He thought back to church earlier, when he was hopeful for some kind
of answer or direction to his problem with Tyne and Sylvia. Unfortunately,
going to church had done nothing for his psyche, and in fact, it had made
him feel even worse. The pastor of the church seemed too self-absorbed to
really care about the parishioners, and instead, seemed more interested in
gossiping with the church ladies. He had heard somebody say once that going
to church didn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage
made you a car. He wondered if maybe that wasn't true. But then, there was
that faith thing, and while he didn't quite grasp all of it, he did know
there was a lot more to this church and faith stuff. Plus, Val was
completely annoyed at Sylvia for trotting him around out on the back lawn
like a prized thoroughbred at Belmont.

       As a family, they had never really gone to church all that
much. They usually just attended for the usual holiday stuff at Christmas
and Easter at the big old church downtown, and a few other times during the
year. But when they did go, he always felt uplifted and he completely
enjoyed it, taking motivation and encouragement from the old, gray-haired
Pastor's comforting and encouraging words. He liked it best when the old
dude went off on a wild tangent, telling an eloquent story that had meaning
for today - and not some thee, thou, and whatever from a book written
two-thousand years ago. That inspirational feeling stayed with him for days
and he always liked to think that he was all the better for going and
sharing a special sermon with his family. This time was way different,
though, and instead of inspiration, all he came away with was
confusion. And pain. His head was starting to really hurt, so he got up
shakily, wobbled slightly across the room and dry-swallowed another pain
pill. His dad was right - rock and roll didn't belong in church and Virgin
Hills Redemption Church was scary. Being with Sylvia was both enjoyable and
miserable. Sort of Ying and Yang. Maybe he should check out being a
Buddhist, he wondered.

       Val picked up his phone and scrolled to Tyne's contact line. He
stared at the word, 'Mobile', and tried to will himself to push it. He
wavered and he dithered. He wondered and he pondered. If he did call him,
what he would say? Just saying sorry seemed so inadequate. Could he tell
him that he loved him? He didn't think so. That would seem so phony and
bogus. He didn't know if he should say it, even if he felt like he
did. Wasn't it too soon to be saying something like that to anyone? And
yet, Sylvia had said it to him when they were naked. Did he say it to her?
Had he said it to Tyne? He couldn't remember. Maybe some people recognize
love earlier than others, and kudos to them. But shit, true, really true
love shouldn't be like that. He always felt that when he met the right
person, it would be instant and immediate for both of them. And yet, he'd
always read that you had to work for it.  He wondered if his dad had fallen
so easily for his mom as she said she'd fallen for him. The more he thought
about it, he kind of did fall quickly for Sylvia, but he'd also felt
instantly excited over Tyne. Neither relationship was forced or strained
like with Lizzy or the other girls he'd dated. He stretched his neck from
side to side to work out a kink from laying on it wrong while he
contemplated whether to call and what to say.

       Stretching his big arms out and waving them around the room trying
to fully wake up, he was startled by his phone ringing. He thought he
really needed to get a new ringtone badly because he was so over that song
by Fun that had been played to death lately. It had been a fun thing to do
with Tyne putting it on their phones together, but he'd grown tired of it -
the ringtone, not Tyne. His friends, for the most part, had abandoned him
recently, and he was afraid the caller was either Tyne or Sylvia. He just
couldn't deal with either one of them right then. He didn't know what to
say to Tyne and he didn't want to talk to Sylvia at all for the moment. But
looking down at the display, he was surprised to see that it was Tyrell
calling. He smiled and answered it.

       "Hey, dude, whatsup? Long time no hear."

       "I know, I know. This is a lame excuse, but that Sheena girl has me
totally pussy-whipped. But I don't mind too much, she's got one helluva
fine pussy to whip me with. She's got a family thing going on tonight so I
caught me a break. My balls sure do need the rest, man, let me tell you! So
what's up with you, bro? How you feelin'? When you coming back to us?"

       "I'm good. All good. Every day a little better. Going F'n crazy
though. It's so boring hanging around the house all the time. My depth
perception keeps improving, so that's a good thing. I think I get to go
back to school a week from tomorrow." Then Val added, "So did you just call
to brag about all the fine black ass you been getting or did you have
another reason?"

       Tyrell laughed out loud. "Nah, man, I didn't call to brag, I don't
need to do that shit! I was just thinking about my fly homey and wondered
if you needed some bro time. I heard you can't drive yet, so howz 'bout I
pick you up and we chill at the mall for an hour or two? Bet you'd like to
get out. Evan and Carlos are gonna be there - they just texted me. Maybe
some others. It's the usual end of the weekend hangout crew. We're gonna
meet up at the food court at The Commons to switch it up from the
mall. Besides, we heard Sunday nights are usually babe-a-licious over there
from yer homey Dane who works at the Subway. He said if we came over, he'd
hook us up with some 'buy one get one free' sandwiches. You down with
that?"

       "You're on, dude. I'm totally down to get the hell out of here and
hang with my ballin' crew. Hey, I thought Carlos was still doing community
service?"

       "You've been outa the loop too long, bro. That girl recanted and his
sentence got waived. Can you believe they still hang out together? I'd kick
her fugly ass to the curb so fast her tits would pop and splatter all over
the sidewalk. I can't stand peeps that lie. Know what I'm sayin'?"

       "Um, yeah, I do," he said quietly, feeling guilty all over again
about what he did to Tyne. "So Carlos is really dating that ho that sold
him out with a lie? What's F'n wrong with him?"

       "Pussy power, dude, pussy power! They fuckin' get us by the balls
and your brain goes to mush. I swear, Sheena just drags me around by my
boner all day long. I should just get it pierced and attach my dog's leash
to it and let it hang out of my fly to make it easier for her to tug
around. But then all you short white boys would be jealous."

       Val laughed. "Dude, leave me off that list. You know I'm a mile
bigger than you. But yeah, women definitely mess with your head, or heads,
I should say. Give me fifteen and I'll be outside. Thanks bro, I appreciate
you getting me outa here."

       "No problem. I'm just glad you're getting back to your old
self. Laterz."

       Val bounced around his room, the pain pill kicking in and happy to
be going out and meeting up with the guys from his team. It would give him
some much needed distraction from all of the crunk he was dealing
with. Maybe this was just what he needed - straight bro time.

                              **##**

       On the other side of town, Tyne was rocking restlessly back and
forth in his creaky faux-leather computer chair, pounding his keyboard and
surfing around on the net. He wasn't really finding anything that
interested him all that much and he was starting to go barmy, like his
e-mail friend from down under always said. Even his favorite sites like
Nifty and IOMFATS and Ponyboysplace weren't doing much for him this late in
the afternoon, even though there were some really good stories there. He
checked out a new site called Saberpeak he'd heard about from some Facebook
friend. Sometimes it took him a few tries to wade through the muck to find
a story he really liked, and usually he found something that hit close to
home or made him super horny and happy. He needed to escape into a fantasy
and leave his fucked up, lonely life behind. But not today.  He realized
he'd been reading the same damn paragraph for ten minutes without
comprehending any of it and just clicked the red X. No, today, he was
fucked, totally fucked and not in a good way.

       He had gotten over being pissed at Val after Noah took him home once
he'd delivered his famous chicken soup to Val's front door and gotten the
Sylvia nuclear bomb dropped on his head. Val's mom was totally clueless at
covering up for her son. And Val's creepy little sister, Vi, kept winking
at him, and sticking out her little boob-ettes, making him totally
uncomfortable and grossed-out. Yuck and double-yuck! He wondered what her
deal was, because she seemed really strange and not like Val at all. What
the fuck was up with her anyway? They didn't even look the same, now that
he thought about it. Even though the anger and borderline hatred was
passed, he still didn't want anything more to do with Val or any of the
other Hardcastle's.

       Tyne reflected on how once they were alone and safely inside Tyne's
house with the lights all on, Noah had royally ripped into him big time
about falling for a straight boy. He really, really, busted his chops, like
pulled-pork about to be shredded into a killer sandwich at the greasy-spoon
diner on Main Street. At first he was really pissed and angry at him, but
after almost 20 minutes of Noah's non-stop histrionic verbal assault,
bordering on an Academy Award worthy performance, Tyne had to keep himself
from busting out and laughing his ass off at his BFF.

       Tyne loved him so much, just like he knew how much Noah loved him,
so he just couldn't be pissed any longer. He never could stay mad at Noah
for more than a minute. Anybody who would stand there in his living room,
waving his arms around and screaming obscenities into the air in his best
friend's hour of need, well, it just worked and finally wore him down. He
knew that, without a doubt, he and Noah would always be there for each
other. Forever and ever, even when their lives took them different
places. They just seemed to be soul-mates. He pictured them 90 years in the
future in some crazy, computer-generated, modern town-house sitting in
robotic wheelchairs while they overlooked Central Park from the 318th
floor, reminiscing over the shit they were going through right then as
bewildered teens. With husbands or not, they'd be best friends forever.

       Tyne stopped thinking about the previous night at the Hardcastle's
and started to think about Noah's advice. Noah wanted - no - Noah demanded
that Tyne drop Val "like a used condom in the toilet and get it going on
with the copper-haired, yummy-boy Dane", to use his exact words. Tyne
feared that he had drug his feet with Dane far too long and that it was
probably too late, and the cute point guard wouldn't be interested in him
any longer. Tyne felt resigned to spend the rest of his high school days
alone, without a boyfriend. He started down the same self-pity path from
the night before, but then Noah got in his skull again. His words from last
night slapped him upside the head. "Stop it right now, Tyne," Noah had said
while wagging his finger at him. "You are not worthless or unlovable. You
are very, very special. Your dad didn't abandon you, he died and he loved
you. Your mother is struggling herself but she loves you more than you
realize. And god dammit, you better know that I love you. You are NOT
alone. I will always be there for you. I swear."

       His mind said that was all okay and good, but his heart pined for a
hard male body to go to the prom with. And his dick, well, it pointed to
all the hot jocks at school. But going to the prom? With another guy? Like
that would really happen. But anyway, a boy could dream, right? Maybe there
was something to what Ms. Harris was trying to accomplish in her
Contemporary Lifestyles class. Tyne wondered if someday in the future there
could be enough tolerance for boys like himself and Noah to live free of
the prejudices that abounded them in high school. Would it ever be
acceptable to go to a prom with a same gender person? It was allowed
already, of course, because it wasn't required to have a date and any
combination of guys and girls could attend together. But the social stigma
was always there and the fear of retaliation was very real. Tyne was fading
into another dark funk when he thought he heard a car in the driveway. He
checked the time but it was too early in the afternoon for his mom to be
home. He listened carefully but when he didn't hear anything more, he
dismissed it.

       His phone chirped that insidious Fun song and he was going to just
ignore it, but for some reason he reached over and looked at the
display. Surprised at who it was from, he read the text message from
Dane. "I no u arnt interest in me but pls pls give me anothur chance :-(. I
really like you :-). Lot's & Lot's. Let's grab dinner and just talk. No
prssur. Pls? Im not a bad guy. I get off Subway at six. Come over & cme!!!"

       Tyne let out a sigh, half of relief and half or despair. It amused
him that even Dane's text messages were wordy. Finally, the swirling images
in his head solidified and he yelled out into the empty house, "Fuck you,
Val! If you don't want me then you can go suck yourself! Your loss!" He
squeezed the phone and texted back to Dane, "Yeah, I would like to. I DO
like u, just wanna go slow, K? But, I got no wheels. Another time???"

       Tyne waited for a reply, but none came. His heart sank, and as fast
as his spirits had lifted, they crashed down again all around his
feet. Suddenly, there was a knock on the front door. Tyne stuffed his limp
dick back into his jeans and pulled himself together. The internet sex
story thing hadn't worked out and the little guy had lost interest in the
whole self-pity muck Tyne had been wallowing in. Tyne trouped through the
quiet house and opened the door to find Noah standing on the porch in his
new black Utilikilt that he had wanted for so long. It was an interesting
sight to behold, because the kilt, paired with his old black Doc Martens,
actually made him look rather butch. Tyne could only roll his eyes and
shake his head. "Was I expecting you?"

       "No. Spur of the minute emergency. I need your consulting
advice. Nicolito and I have agreed to exchange gifts to show our commitment
to each other. We're getting gold chains and we're exchanging at school
tomorrow. I need your help to pick one out. It has to be delicate and
rugged at the same time to fit his personality. Throw some shoes on and
let's head out. I want to go to The Commons to get it. While we're there,
we can swing by and let King know the car wash is off."

       Tyne flashed with a sudden burst of annoyed anger. "Who says it's
off? Just because Val chose Sylvia over me doesn't mean I don't still care
about him and want to help him out. Besides, I'm responsible for him
rolling his truck. The car wash is NOT off. Got it?"

       "Okay, chill, baby. It's not off." Noah bobbed his head back and
forth and waved his hands around.

       It took only a nanosecond after Noah's little retraction to get
Dane's reply on Tyne's phone: "AWESOME!!! Cant wait 2CU! Maybe u cud get a
ride from Noah or Nick!! Cum over 2nite pls pls pls."

       Tyne had to laugh. He eyed Noah suspiciously and asked, "Did you put
him up to this?" Tyne held the text out for Noah to see.

       "Who me?" Noah feigned denial, "Just coinkidinky, that's all." He
smiled.

       "This is why I love you - and hate you." Noah was a sweetheart, but
sometimes he could just kill him and what a cutie Dane was, even though he
wasn't sure he was up for it. But, this other hot jock had the hot's for
him just like Noah tried to tell him, and the best part was that unlike
Val, he knew exactly what his sexuality was all about and he didn't make
any bones about it. Well, maybe bones wasn't the correct word, since Tyne
hoped Dane did get some bones over him. His spirits were instantly
uplifted. His mind slipped, and he wondered what Dane's bones looked
like. He pulled Noah in and hugged him, hugged him hard, and trotted to his
room, stripped off his clothes, threw them into the laundry basket in the
corner and ran down the hall naked into the bathroom for a quick
shower. Once he got out, he took special interest in drying and styling his
long blond locks into a perfect swirling mess. He thought twice about using
Noah's womany pheromone spray that he'd given him, and instead put on a
quick spritz of his favorite, Fierce. A real gay boy wouldn't be attracted
to a woman's scent. Tyne's little mijo between his legs pudged up a bit.

       Taking a second to text his mom at the hospital that he was going
out for a couple of hours, he headed out the front door following Noah and
they headed to The Commons. Tyne and Noah actually did do a little shopping
and Noah picked out a nice gold chain from the jewelry counter in
Nordstrom's for his lover boy. Tyne had to veto three or four before Noah
settled on a simple Cuban link, twenty-eight incher.  To Tyne's
astonishment, Noah, who was usually tighter than a Jewish cantor boy in
Alaska, shelled out three Jacksons for it. Then they headed over to Subway
to find Dane, who would be getting off work in a few minutes.

                                 **##**

       Over at The Commons' tiny food court, located deep in the quaint,
multi-story Spanish building's bowels next to the tired old Macy's that
nobody would be caught dead shopping at, Val was shifting restlessly at a
big table with Tyrell, Evan, Carlos and Matt, all guys on his basketball
team. They were alternating between watching the hot girls giggle at them
and observing the haughty rich MILF's and even richer GILF's on insanely
high, spiky heels and tight-assed jeans stroll by while the boys shoved
pizza and wings into their gaping pie-holes. Occasionally, they'd spy some
unfortunate geeks headed into the nerdist colony across the concourse
called the Dragon's Lair, where you could actually still get into a game of
Dungeons and Dragons in the back room. Those kids became perfect fodder for
abuse and derision by the table full of jocks. The funny thing was, these
geeks were probably going to be next year's zillionaires, while the jocks
would all end up working at Burger King. Val found he'd lost interest in
all the people watching sports. It all just seemed so trite, rude and
unkind instead of funny like it used to be. Tyne had cured him of that kind
of attitude about other people.

       The conversation had been so easy and free-flowing when they all had
first met up, but as the night wore on it became super-strained and
awkward. Val scrunched up his Subway trash and walked it over to the trash
bin and stuffed it in. At least this mall cleaned out the garbage every
half-hour, he noticed. It was always overflowing at the Hartsdale Mall food
court and that bothered Val a lot. He hated germy stuff. He walked over to
the Subway counter and got a refill on his Diet Coke from Dane, who looked
surprisingly relaxed. "You about to get off? I need a real human like
yourself to talk to. The troglodytes are getting boring."

       Dane laughed and leaned over the counter, "I didn't know you had
such a vast vocabulary. Yeah, about that. I'm actually not going to come
hang with you guys after all. I'm meeting up with someone else."

       "Oh, you serious? Damn. Someone special? It's not that I almost
crushed your wrist when I pulled you off of Nick in the locker room is it?"
Val inquired as he sipped the Diet Coke.

       "No. Not that. I can hold my own. I'm trying to forget that whole
thing ever happened. But I think it might be someone special who I'm
meeting with instead of hangin' with you guys. I'm hoping, at least," Dane
said with a toothy grin.

       "Good for you. She's a lucky girl. Tell her I said so." Val turned
to head back to the Flintstone's table that was basically silent, save for
a bunch of burps and a couple of farts. Val thought to himself how simple
that had been for Dane to cancel his plans with the guys for a better
offer. It was totally no big deal, and he was a bit annoyed that it had
become such a big ordeal when he had basically done the same thing with
Tyne.

       Tyrell tried to pick up the slack once Val sat down, but it was
obvious that the easy banter just wasn't there anymore between Val and all
of the other guys. Val figured he was just out of the loop for too long, or
they were secretly pissed at him for not being at practice and thereby
ruining their chances in the playoffs. Or maybe some of the guys still
thought he was actually gay. If that was the case, they could all go and F
themselves, he thought.

       So after a while, he stopped following the conversation and instead
started thinking again about his way overdue apology for Tyne. He still had
no idea what he was going to say, or where and when he'd say it. He wasn't
surprised that Tyne hadn't even called him today. After all, it was all on
Val to make the call and he hadn't found the words or the courage yet. His
little 'straight bro' outing was turning into a 'straight bore' outing and
he missed his new group of friends. They laughed easily and talked about
real things that mattered like politics and science and the national debt
... and sometimes, quietly, sex. In just the last week, not only had Tyne
and Sylvia helped him with his homework and get him more excited about
learning, he'd helped Tyne and Noah script, film, direct and edit a short
film documentary about American's lack of fitness for their Video Arts
class. Noah almost creamed his pants filming Val doing bench presses on his
garage weight set wearing only a tank and shorts. Val also assisted Sylvia
in making posters for her presentation on nuclear fission on one of her
visits. He'd started learning math and science and history like never
before with both Tyne and Sylvia's amazing tutoring and all that was at
risk now.

       He not only felt bad over all of it, but he knew he would miss the
cute little dude with the fly hair and sparkling eyes most of all. He was
so fun to talk with and so easy to be around. He left Val feeling good
about himself and about life in general.

       A couple of times, he thought he'd seen Tyne down the concourse a
ways with what looked like Noah in a dress with him, but when he took
another hard look around, he didn't see him again. He just thought his mind
was shitting on him once more, or maybe the guilt was really hammering away
at him, hard now. He worried that maybe his brain was swelling again and
that thought scared him. He had to fix this boy/girl problem - and F'n
soon.

       He was picking at the Sea Salt chips and lazily pulling on his Diet
Coke while listening absently to Evan as he blathered out some lame story
about this freshman girl in his homeroom class who dyed her hair magenta
one too many times and now it was falling out in big patches. When he zoned
out of the story, he looked up for a minute and saw a couple of guys taking
seats at an empty table way on the other side of the food court. This time
he knew he wasn't imagining it, because he was positive one of the guys was
Tyne. He could tell by the beautiful and sexy blond hair, and just for a
second, he caught a glimpse of those awesomely gorgeous azure blue-green
eyes. A third unmistakable figure was Noah standing by the table and
speaking in his animated way, flipping his hands all about, with his cell
phone in one of them and a package in the other. Amazingly, even for Noah,
he was actually wearing some kind of weird skirt! Val just stared in utter
disbelief.

       The bile quickly rose in the back of his throat in a putrid rush
when he realized that the other guy he was seated with was Dane. "Why the F
would Tyne be with Dane?" he wondered. "Dane's not gay. Or is he?" He felt
like he was about to go out of his mind and melt down right there in the
mall's food court. Dane's words about meeting someone special at the
counter earlier slapped Val hard in the face. At the very least, he was
sure that he was going to puke all over the table any second now.

       "Hey! Isn't that Dane over there?" Matt asked loudly, jolting Val
out of his funk. "Why isn't he sitting over here with us? Is he embarrassed
to be with us? And who are those guys he's with? Or is ... what the fuck is
that next to them? A guy or a fugly girl? "
       "I don't know. I can't really see them from here," Carlos
said. "Maybe it's a couple of co-workers. You know, his sister just had
that big litter so she probably can't work in the Subway anymore. Maybe
he's helping interview more helpers. Tyrell, you should apply. You need
some bank to keep up your condom habit. You must run through them like
candy, or do you recycle?"

       "Stuff it, asshole. You're just jealous. But, yeah, I do
recycle. Need to borrow a couple for you and your boyfriend?"

       "NO fucking way, Dude. Gross. I'm not gay, and I'm not jealous of
you being all pussy whipped either."

       "Hey, Val? Isn't that your friend, Tyne, he's with? The one got
naked on the mountain with and you came to the Val 'n Tyne dance with and
his freakish little friend?" Evan asked, sarcastically. "I think he's
two-timing you, dude."

       "Shut the F up. It doesn't look like him. Besides, why would he be
here with Dane of all people?" Inside, Val was seething. He liked Dane, but
if Tyne was pulling some kind of stunt to get even with him,
well.... "Besides, I don't own him. He can do whatever the F he wants, if
that's even really him." That last part sounded sick and came out wrong, so
he quickly added, "And you know, we're just classmates. Just doing that
stupid assignment in Creative Lifestyles class."

       "Well, I like Dane, and that kid Tyne seems like a good guy, too. I
used to give him and that Noah kid shit in junior high and I've never
apologized for it. He and his faggy friend sure were fun at the dance. I'm
gonna go over and tell them to hang with us," Tyrell said, and before Val
could tell him not to go, he was up and out of his seat and walking across
the food court.

       On the other side of the food court, Tyne and Dane had just settled
into their seats and were beginning to dig into their Kung Pao
Chicken. Noah was excusing himself on some pretense that he had to go home
and was leaving Tyne stranded with Dane for a ride home. Not that Tyne
really minded all that much. They were having a good time together and were
talking about the different songs that they liked, pretty much ignoring
Noah. Dane was raving over a band called Slightly Stoopid, while Tyne was
commenting on an obscure 80's performance artist his dad liked named Laurie
Anderson. He was trying to tell him about her song called Let X=X, but Dane
just didn't get it. He'd have to play it for him sometime.

       "Hey, boyz, whassup?" Tyrell said, interrupting the two teens as he
slid smoothly into an empty chair across from Tyne and Dane.

       "Hey, Ty. How's it going?" Dane said, unfazed to see his hunky black
and super-straight classmate. "You guys enjoy the subs?" He didn't act the
least bit uncomfortable being seated next to Tyne with Tyrell there. Tyne,
on the other hand, could only squeak out a shy and quiet, "Hi," completely
freaked out. Noah, being his curious self, put off his escape, just stood
there silently and waved at Tyrell. Tyrell looked Noah up and down and just
nodded back.

       Tyne didn't really know Tyrell all that well, other than that he was
on Val's basketball team and that he had heard that he and his brother had
a thing for all of the hot, black chicks in school, sometimes double
teaming them. And he remembered, back in the day, that Tyrell bullied all
of the wimpy kids like Noah and himself calling the two of them Pinky and
the Brain. He had avoided him mostly in high school and from what he could
tell now, he wasn't much of a bully. But Tyne had to admit, he was a
sizzling hot and sexy stud, in a one-nighter kind of way. Not that he'd do
him, actually. He still wanted romance, after all. But he could still look,
right? Eye candy is eye candy, and Tyne definitely had an eye for the hard
bodies. Hot, athletic studs was his gay porn of choice when he did his
fantasy surfing at nights in his room.

       "Watcha doin'? On a date?" Tyrell asked, meaning to be funny and
looking all around the mostly empty, but spotless, food court and then back
at Dane.

       "Yeah, as a matter of fact, we are. We're having a three way later
in fact. Is that a problem for you?" Dane replied curtly and with just
enough vague inflection to make it impossible to tell if he was serious or
being sarcastic. Tyne almost gagged on the chunk of slimy, fat laden,
genetically-engineered chicken going down his gullet at the time. Noah just
giggled.

       Taken aback, Tyrell could only say, "Um, no, not really. Whoa, dude,
not a big deal. I'm cool with whateva, you know me?" He was totally
surprised this jock he'd known for so long was acting kind of gay all of a
sudden. He never saw any signs of it. Not that it mattered all that much to
him. He really was a live and let live kind of guy nowadays. He stared at
Dane for a while and tried to decide if he was serious or not. It was odd
he was hanging out with Noah and Tyne instead of the ballin' crew. He
thought about how Nick took a pic of him whacking the bishop in the locker
room bathroom. That was like the only thing he could even remotely think
about that was any sign of gayness and that wasn't really that gay. Before
Sheena, he'd pulled one off in there himself a few times. Whatever, he
decided. To each his own. Tyrell leaned back in the yellow plastic, swivel
chair and smiled.

       "Good then. So what's up?" Dane asked, shoveling another bite of
Chinese mystery meat between those luscious ruby-red lips.

       "Um, not much. All the guys from the team are talking about going to
Wetzel's for a cinnamon sugar pretzel. Wanna join us? You too, Tyne." Noah
cleared his throat and Tyrell quickly added, "Umm, yeah I guess you could
come too. Is that a dress you're wearing?"

       "No. It's a Utilikilt. They're great. Even big tough guys like you
wear them. It's the rage."

       "Mmm, don't think so." Tyrell turned his attention to Dane and
quickly sized up Dane's sincere attitude toward Tyne. Then he observed
Tyne's nervousness over his intrusive presence at the table. After putting
two and two together, and getting sixty-nine, he warmed up to the idea of
the hot point guard and the class geek. It was obvious that Noah was the
odd man ... no, make that the odd ... whatever out. They seemed to make a
good enough couple. It confirmed to Tyrell that Val must not be all that
gay after all. Things were getting weirder and weirder with the Hartsdale
Ballers.

       "Maybe later. We want to finish eating first," Dane said.

       "How's Val feeling?" asked Tyne. He just couldn't help himself.

       "He's all good. No worries," Tyrell answered, non-committedly.

       "Great," Tyne said, shoveling in another sporkful of chicken so Dane
wouldn't freak on him. "What a fucking mess," he thought. Then added in his
head, "Val, Dane - Dane, Val. What the fuck am I going to do?"

       His question was quickly shortened, sort of, when Val showed up at
their table, standing shyly behind Tyrell slightly. "Hey Dane; hey Tyne;
hey Noah. Tyne, can we go outside for a minute and talk? Something has been
bugging me and I need to talk to you about it."

       "Can't it wait? I'm kinda busy right now," Tyne said, taking another
bite of food and avoiding eye contact. "I'm with my friends."

       "It'll only take a minute. I just want to ask you something about
a... school thing," he lied. He wondered why he just kept digging this hole
even deeper. "Please, just for a second." He didn't give Tyne a chance to
respond and instead walked off towards the triple set of automatic doors
heading outside.

       Tyne didn't have much of a chance, so he turned his head around to
Dane, let out a sigh, and said, "I'll be right back. Don't let Tyrell eat
my food." Noah took Tyne's arm as he stood and gave him a glare that
communicated, "Don't you dare screw this up."

       "No worries, dude," Dane said. "But if you're not back in two
minutes, I'm gonna come out there and get you." Dane flashed that killer
smile again. Tyne could see that even though he was smiling, he was
completely serious. That made Tyne happy and so he quickly pulled free of
Noah's grasp, eager to get this over with. "Okay, be right back," he said
over his shoulder, with a quick smile. Then he followed Val outside.

       When he got there, Val was sitting on a low wall of a big planter in
the middle of a patio type area, staring at him. He had a strained look on
his face and Tyne couldn't help but feel bad for the big guy. Even though
he was still partially mad at him for lying the night before, he felt
pained to see Val looking so miserable. He just knew, somehow, that Val was
really hurting. "Hey, Val. You all right?"

       "No, not really. My life is so F'd up right now," he said, letting
out a long sigh. "Listen, about last night..."

       "Val, I'm so over it. I was really mad at you at first, but I'm over
it. I'm at fault too for playing along and pretending like we.... Just
forget it," Tyne said, hopping up on the wall, but not real close. "It's
not a big deal..."

       "Yes it is. I lied to you so I could go out with Sylvia. That was
wrong and I'm sor..."

       "Well look at all the pretty FAGGOTS sitting on the wall," a voice
shouted from over in the shadows, but walking quickly towards them. Neither
Val nor Tyne had heard anybody approaching up behind them. "Humpy and Dumpy
gonna have a great fall." He laughed sarcastically adding, "Don't Val and
Tyne look pretty? You should be on a fucking Hallmark card."

       "You know these two?" another male voice said. "I thought you said
we were going gay bashing. How the hell do you know them?"

       "Yeah, I know them real well," the first one said, coming out of the
shadows completely now and standing about 15 feet away, but out of the
direct overhead light. He slurred his speech slightly from obvious
intoxication. "The pretty boy over here is the one I told you about,
turning all the guys at school queer. The big one was first in line,
drooling to get hims some hard dick. He's the fucker that gots me kicked
off the team." To Tyne and Val's further shock, Lizzy brazenly stepped out
of the shadows along with the other guy they didn't know.  Then she slipped
her arm through Lukas's.

       "Shut up, Lukas, don't start something here," Val said, "I'm warning
you!"

       "What are you gonna do, faggot? Kisses me to death?" Lukas said,
sounding even more drunk than before.

       "Don't give him a chance, Lukas. He'll fuck you up the butt right
here," Lizzy said, spinning all around the group.

       "C'mon Val, let's go inside. We don't need a fight," Tyne said,
standing up and trying to avoid a bad scene. He wasn't so scared of
fighting as he was about Val getting hurt again. "Let's just go."

       "They sure are a couple of pussies, that's for sure," Lukas's friend
said. He had a big mouth, but Tyne could sense he didn't really want to
fight someone Val's size. He was sure they were underestimating him,
though. That was good because his training and past bullying experience was
telling him to be ready for something bad from Lukas.

       And that's just what happened.

                *****************************************************

	Special thanks to our editor Pablo.

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