Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 14:51:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kirk Landers <ilj4ever44@yahoo.com>
Subject: Dating and the Single Life- part 18

Copyright and Disclaimer:
1. This is a fictional story with fictional
characters.
2. No one is to steal this story under any
circumstances.
3. This story deals with relationships and not sex, so
if you're looking for a story with a lot of sex in it,
this isn't the story for you.

Welcome to season 2 of 'Dating and the Single Life'

episode 18 titled "The Fire"

"THE FIRE"


    David slowly regained consciousness, he opened his
eyes slowly and everything was blurry.  He couldn't
see much but he smelled smoke and heard the crackling
sound of fire.  When his vision cleared up he saw
smoke and flames through the door of Kyle's apartment,
as quickly as he was able to he got up and looked
around for Kyle, but didn't see him anywhere.

"Kyle!" David shouted looking around hoping that Kyle
was out of the apartment, but then he looked inside
and saw a body laying in the living room on top of the
broken coffee table.  David tried to get a better look
through the smoke and when he did his heart sank when
he saw that it was Kyle.  David quickly rushed through
the door and made his way towards Kyle, as he was
getting closer a piece of burning debris came down
towards him, but he jumped out of the way in time.  He
then rushed over and kneeled besides Kyle.

"Kyle, baby, can you hear me?" David asked shaking
Kyle, hoping he would regain consciousness, but Kyle
didn't react.  David quickly got up and picked up Kyle
and made his way towards the door, but as he was about
to a burning bookcase crashed down in front of him
blocking his exit to the door.  David tried to look
for another way out, he went to the window and looked
down, but saw that the drop was too far and with Kyle
unconscious he wouldn't be able to get him out safely.
 David began coughing from all the smoke and looked
around as the flames got bigger and bigger.  He stood
in horror holding Kyle in his arms and watching
helpless as he was being surrounded by flames.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the street Randal's car
was totaled, the truck driver who hit them from behind
quickly got out and rushed to the other cars.  The
drivers in the cars that hit Randal's car from the
sides got out and checked to make sure everyone was
okay.  As they approached Randal's car they saw both
Randal and Stanley unconscious and bleeding on the
sides of their heads.  The truck driver quickly got
out his cell phone and called for an ambulance.

Driving in a different part of town Tyler drove
slowly, thinking about Jake and the future they could
have had together if he had just talked to him and
forgiven him, he knew Jake was sorry for what he did
and he knew that Jake really loved him, and he really
loved Jake, but his pride prevented him from letting
Jake back in, and now he was alone.

'What am I going to do?' Tyler though to himself, 'I
may have just lost the love of my life and now I'll
end up alone.'

Tyler then thought of how he could possibly get Jake
back...

"I'll go to New York," Tyler said out loud.  With that
he turned the car around and headed back to the
airport.

Back at Kyle's apartment the fire has spread to the
entire building, and fire trucks were rushing to the
place and trying to put the fire out.  David was still
inside starting to pass out from all the smoke.

"Help!" David shouted as loud as he could, "Someone
please help us!"

With that final plea David fell to the ground still
holding Kyle and blacked out.

The police, firemen and paramedics arrived to the
scene of the car accident and proceeded to try and get
Randal and Stanley out of the car.  With the other
cars jammed against the doors they had to tear the car
apart in order to reach them.  When they finally pried
the car apart they tried seeing if they were
conscious.

"Sir, can you hear me?" one of the paramedics said to
Randal, but Randal laid there motionless, not reacting
at all.  They checked for their pulses and saw that
they were both still alive, but the pulse was faint.
Carefully they got Randal and Stanley out of the car
and rushed them to a hospital.

At the airport Tyler got a ticket for New York that
left in an hour, he paced himself up and down the
airport waiting for the flight.

'This will work,' Tyler thought, 'It has to.'

Back at Kyle's apartment David and Kyle were both put
into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital.  On the
ride there Kyle woke up slightly, everything was
fuzzy, he looked over at David and saw an oxygen mask
on him and the paramedics surrounding him.  A couple
of paramedics looked down at Kyle and saw that he was
conscious.

"Can you hear me sir?" one of the paramedics asked.

Kyle just slightly nodded and then passed out again.

Over at the state prison Marcus was sitting across
from Thomas.  Marcus' heart was pounding, his hands
were beginning to sweat as he held the phone tightly
as he looked through the class at the man who had
tried to kill him and had loved him at the same time.

"So, um...how are you?" Marcus asked, not sure how to
start out.

"I'm in jail, how do you think?" Thomas retorted.

"It's not as if you didn't have it coming," Marcus
shot back gaining courage.

"Why are you here?" Thomas asked coolly.

"I came because I can't move on with my life if I
don't let go of what happened," Marcus replied

"Do I haunt your dreams?" Thomas asked with a slight
smile.

"What happened to you?" Marcus asked, trying to get an
understanding of what Thomas is all about. "You never
showed any side of you like this when we dated."

"You'll never understand," Thomas replied.

"Try me," Marcus answered.

Thomas just starred blankly at Marcus, debating
whether he wanted to tell him or not...

"All right," Thomas replied, "I'll tell you."

Over at the hospital Randal woke up slowly and looked
around taking in the surroundings.

"Where am I?" Randal asked confused.

"Hospital dear," an older female nurse replied walking
into the room.

"What happened?" Randal asked.

"Car accident," she replied. "My name is Olivia and
you're Randal Brody correct?"

"Yea, how'd you know?" Randal replied.

"We had to look through your wallet," Olivia replied
pointing to his clothes and wallet that were all
folded and set on the counter.

"Where's Stanley," Randal asked starting to get
worried.

"He's right there next to you honey," Olivia answered
pointing to the bed next to his.

Randal looked over and saw Stanley asleep.

"Is he all right?" Randal asked.

"Well, he's unconscious," Olivia answered, "It can go
either way I'm afraid.  He had a worse hit to the head
then you did."

"But there's a good chance he'll wake up right?"
Randal asked.

"Yes, of course there is," Olivia said trying to calm
Randal down. "All you have to do is just have a little
faith.  I'm sure he'll be fine, we've had patients
with worse injuries walk away just as good as new."

Randal just starred blankly at Stanley hoping and
praying he would be okay.

"Now I have a couple other patients to tend to so you
just try and relax, I'm sure everything will be fine,"
Olivia said exiting the room.

Randal laid back down and looked over at Stanley,
"Come on babe, you can do it."

Olivia walked down a few doors and entered the room of
her other patients.

"All right, so how are my other patients doing?"
Olivia asked walking in.  One of them awoke, and
answered.

"I feel like crap," he replied.

"It's just the smoke in your system still, you'll get
it out," Olivia replied, "Now do you remember your
name?"

"David Ford."

"Very good sweetie," Olivia said writing it down on a
clipboard, "We didn't have a name for you and your
friend there."

David looked over and saw Kyle still asleep.

"He's fine right?!" David asked worriedly.

"Yea, he's fine," Olivia answered. "He's just
sleeping.  He woke up for about a minute, but fell
back asleep before he could answer anything."

"Thank God," David said relieved.

"Now what's his name?" Olivia asked.

"Kyle Garrett," David replied.

"All right, thank you sugar," Olivia said writing
Kyle's name down. "Now is there anyone we can contact
to let them know you boys are all right?"

"Yea, can you try and call Randal Brody, his number
is-" David began, but Olivia cut him off.

"Excuse me? Randal Brody?" Olivia asked.

"Yea, why?" David asked.

"Funny, that's the name of another patient here,"
Olivia said more to herself then to David.

"Wait, there's a Randal Brody here?" David asked
concerned.

"Yea, but I'm sure it's a different Randal," Olivia
replied.

"Is he about 6 feet tall, brown hair, green eyes?"
David asked.

"Well, I'm not positive about the eye color but he
does have brown hair and is about 6 foot," Olivia
answered.

"Um, did a guy named Stanley Owens bring him in?"
David asked.

"He was brought in with Randal," Olivia replied.

"Oh my God, what happened?" David asked worried.

"They were in a car accident, but Randal is all right,
he's awake, Stanley is unconscious however, but I'm
sure he'll pull through," Olivia said.

"I need to go see them," David said getting up, but
Olivia settled him back down in the bed.

"Now you just take it easy honey and get some rest,"
Olivia ordered, "You can visit them later.  I'll be
back later to check on you and Kyle."

Olivia left the room, as soon as she did David got up
and headed out to look for the room that Randal and
Stanley were in.  He walked down and looked through a
few different rooms, finally he found them.  He walked
in and saw Randal looking over at Stanley.

"Hey Ran," David said getting Randal's attention.
Randal looked over and saw David dressed in a hospital
gown as well.

"David, what happened?" Randal asked.

"Long story, I'll tell you later," David replied
coughing a little, he went over and gave Randal a big
hug.  "What happened?"

"There was a car accident," Randal said, "I'm not even
sure what happened exactly, all  I remember was
Stanley and I driving together talking about
re-decorating the apartment, then the next thing I
realize I hear some honking and then I wake up and I'm
here."

"Well thank God you're all right," David said giving
Randal another hug.

"But Stanley," Randal said looking over at his
boyfriend. "What if he doesn't make it?"

"The nurse said he should be fine," David encouraged.

"Yea, but what if she's wrong," Randal replied.

"Just have faith in him," David said. "He'll come
through."

"Excuse me," Olivia said poking her head in the door.
"I believe I told you that you need to rest.  You can
visit later.  Go back to your room honey and get some
sleep.  You've been through a lot today."

"I'll talk to you later," David said as he headed out
of the room.

When David got back to his room he looked over and saw
Kyle slowly open his eyes.

"Kyle," David said making sure Kyle was awake enough
to respond.  Kyle looked over at David giving a slight
cough.

"Hey," Kyle replied groggily.

"Thank God," David sighed as he hurried over and
wrapped his arms around Kyle tightly. "Are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm okay, I just feel a little weak," Kyle said
holding onto David.

"I was so scarred," David said. "I woke up and the
whole place was on fire, I saw you in there
unconscious and then when I went in after you I got
trapped, I didn't think I would be able to get you out
safely then I just passed out from the smoke."

"I woke up in the ambulance and saw you with an oxygen
mask on, I tried to see if you were okay but then
everything just went black," Kyle said. "Did you tell
the police about Brett?"

"No, I've only been awake for a few minutes," David
replied.

"Do you think they caught him?" Kyle asked.

"I don't even think they know he did it," David
answered. "But I don't want to think of him right now,
I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, and I'm so glad you are too," Kyle replied
still holding on to David tightly. "You okay?"

David sat there silent for a bit, thinking over
everything that happened.  He remembered the
confrontation with Brett, then the next thing he
remembered was waking up to the fire and seeing Kyle
lying there helpless as he was about to be engulfed by
the flames.

"David," Kyle said snapping David out of his trance,
"Are you okay?"

"Not really," David said shaking his head slightly.

"What's wrong?" Kyle asked, "It's over."

"This is all my fault," David sighed.

"Don't even start that," Kyle said quickly. "You have
no blame in this at all.  You didn't know that Brett
would snap like that."

"But he did, and it almost cost you your life," David
said. "What if he killed you?  I would never be able
to live with that."

"He didn't, and don't forget you could have been
killed to," Kyle reasoned.

"I don't care about me, you're what's most important
to me," David replied.

Kyle smiled, touched by what David said and saw how
much he was loved and cared for. "David, just don't
think about that, it's over.  You and I are both okay
and we're still together."

"I just realized how close I was to losing you and it
scared me more than anything," David said.  As much as
Kyle tried to calm him, David was still very shook up
as he kept thinking about the incident more and more.

Later that day Tyler finally arrived in New York, the
new state that Jake now calls home.  But now Tyler was
stuck with the difficult task of finding one person in
a place like New York City.  He tried calling Jake on
his cell, it rang, but got no answer, either Jake
didn't hear the phone or he heard it and saw Tyler's
name on the caller ID and didn't pick up.

"Come on Jake, don't do this," Tyler said trying to
call him again.  With no answer again he decided to
call Randal and let him know what was going on.

Back at the hospital Randal was still lying in bed,
all his attention was transfixed on Stanley.  He then
heard his cell phone ringing on the counter.  He
reached over and answered.

"Hello?" Randal asked picking up the phone.

"Randal, it's me Tyler."

"Hey Tyler, what's up?" Randal asked.

"I'm in New York?" Tyler replied.

"What?!" Randal asked in shock. "What are you talking
about?"

"I'm in New York and am going to bring Jake home,"
Tyler replied.

"Randal are you sure you want to do this?" Randal
asked.

"Yes, I have to," Tyler replied. "I love Jake, and I
won't lose him."

"Tyler, you know we all love Jake, but we also don't
want to see you get hurt again.  What if Jake doesn't
want to come home?" Randal asked.

"Then at least I know that I tried," Tyler answered.

Randal knowing that Tyler was really sincere and
really hopeful about all of this decided to stop
trying to be the voice of reason and just give Tyler
encouragement and hope that his love for Jake will
reunite them.

"You go bring him home," Randal said encouragingly.

"Thanks, I will," Tyler replied. "I'm sorry for
unloading all this on you right now, were you busy?"

"No, just in the hospital," Randal answered.

"What?  Wait, what happened?" Tyler asked concerned.

"Car accident, I'm okay, but Stanley is still
unconscious," Randal replied.

"I'm so sorry," Tyler said. "I'm sure he'll pull
through though.  Are you going to be okay?"

"Yea, I'll be fine.  David and Kyle are in the
hospital also," Randal said

"Wait, what?!  All four of you are in the hospital?"
Tyler asked in shock.

"Yup, I don't know what happened with David and Kyle,
but I think they're both all right," Randal replied.

"Oh my God," Tyler sighed. "Well, I'll hopefully be
home with Jake soon and we'll be with you guys right
away."

"Thanks, just hurry and go get Jake and come home,"
Randal said.

"I will, are you going to be okay?" Tyler asked.

"Yea, we'll be fine, just be safe okay?" Randal
replied.

"Will do, talk to you soon, love you bro," Tyler said.

"Love you too," Randal replied before hanging up.

"I hope you're not cheating on me," Stanley joked
weakly as he slowly woke up.

"Stanley," Randal said smiling.

"Hey you," Stanley sighed smiling back.

"Thank God you're okay," Randal said getting out of
his bed and going over to Stanley to give him a hug.

"Yea, I'm fine, just a little weak is all," Stanley
replied. "Are you okay?"

"I'm a lot better now that I know you're okay," Randal
said giving Stanley a kiss.

"Hey guys," Kyle said poking his head in.

"Kyle!" Randal said happily, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Like-wise," Kyle replied. "What are the odds of all
four of us ending up in the hospital together?"

"Seriously," Randal agreed.

"How are you doing Stan?" Kyle asked.

"I'm good...well, a little sore, but nothing's broken,"
Stanley replied.

"I'm glad you guys are all right," Kyle said giving
them a hug.

Randal's phone then rang.

"Hello?" Randal asked answering.

"Hey, it's me," Marcus replied.

"Hey bud, what's up?" Randal asked.

"Well, I visited Thomas today," Marcus replied.

"Oh that's right," Randal remembered, "How'd it go?"

"It actually went well," Marcus replied. "I think
that's just what I needed to get full closure."

"I'm glad Marcus," Randal said.  "So you're all
right?"

"Yea, I'm great actually," Marcus replied.

"Good, well I'm really happy it all worked out,"
Randal said. "You'll have to tell me all about it when
we get together."

"Sounds good, when did you want to hang out?  How's
tonight?" Marcus asked.

"I don't know," Randal said. "I might not be able to."

"Got plans?" Marcus asked.

"Not exactly," Randal replied. "I'm in the hospital."

"Whoa!" Marcus gasped in shock. "Are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine," Randal answered. "Stanley and I got
in a car accident, but we're okay.  Kyle and David are
in the hospital too, but they're okay."

"Wait, what?" Marcus asked.

"Don't worry," Randal replied. "We'll all explain it
more to you later okay?"

"I'll be there to visit you guys in a little bit,"
Marcus said.

"All right," Randal said. "Looking forward to seeing
you."

"I'll see you all in a bit," Marcus replied hanging
up.

"Marcus is on his way," Randal said hanging up the
phone. "He just got done visiting Thomas."

"What?" Kyle asked shocked. "I didn't know he was
doing that."

"Yea, he wanted to see him so that he could get some
closure on what happened," Randal responded.

"So, how'd it go?" Kyle asked.

"He said it went well," Randal answered settling back
into the bed.

"Well, I'll talk to him more when he gets here," Kyle
said. "I think I'm going to go back to my room.
David's not doing so good.  He's blaming himself for
what happened."

"What actually did happen?" Randal asked. "David
didn't really explain it."

"Brett attacked us," Kyle replied sighing. "He's
wanted to kill me so David would live a life alone
with out me.  He knocked out David and then him and I
fought and got knocked out.  I guess there was a fire
of some sort and I woke up here."

"Fire?" Stanley asked.

"Yea, apparently he set fire to my apartment, but I'm
sure it's not that bad," Kyle replied hopeful, not
knowing that the entire building was on fire and that
his home was destroyed. "Anyway, I should get back to
David.  I want to make sure he's okay.  I'm glad you
both are okay."  Kyle gave them both another hug and
headed back to his room.

"You know, we still have to decide how we're going to
re-decorate the apartment," Randal brought up, wanting
to talk of happier things.  "Want to discuss how we
should go about it?"

"Sounds perfect," Stanley replied lightening up at the
thought of moving in with Randal. "I'm thinking we do
everything in shades of pink and purple."

Randal suddenly lost the smile he had and turned to
Stanley unsure. "Are you serious?"

"Yea, don't you think it'll be great?  Pink walls and
purple furniture," Stanley said with a smile. "I can't
wait."

"Um..." was all Randal could spit out before Stanley
gave a laugh.

"I'm just kidding," Stanley said hitting Randal with a
pillow.

"Oh thank God," Randal said relieved giving Stanley a
kiss. "You scared the crap out of me for a second
there."

"Please, you think I'm that gay?" Stanley asked
laughing.

"Well, you are obviously the girl in this
relationship," Randal joked.

"You jerk! That's it, we're over!" Stanley mocked
insulted, but couldn't hold in the laughter.  Randal
just wrapped his arms around Stanley and laughed along
with him.

Over in David and Kyle's room, David was laying in his
bed thinking over everything that happened, as much as
he tried he couldn't shake the fear he was still
holding in, in some ways he's still worried for Kyle.
He had come so close to losing him and just the memory
of seeing Kyle laying helpless in his burning
apartment sent chills down his spine.  What if he
hadn't woken up in time to save him?  What if a piece
of burning debris had fallen on Kyle?  Before David
could feel guilt over the whole situation even more
Kyle walked into the room.

"Hey babe," Kyle said giving David a kiss.  David just
gave a slight smile as Kyle sat next to David on the
bed. "What wrong?"

"I'm still shaken up over everything," David replied
sighing. "Kyle, I think you're not really fully
grasping everything.  You could have died.  You were
almost burned alive."

"David, I know you were scarred, but everything's
okay.  We're alive, we're not hurt, I'm sure the
firemen saved my place from being destroyed-" Kyle
began saying to calm David down, but then David
snapped from his emotions.

"You don't get it Kyle!" David snapped, "You don't get
it!  You're place is destroyed Kyle, everything, the
whole apartment complex was on fire.  It wasn't just
you're place, it was everywhere, you're place is gone.
 You were almost killed in that huge fire!  I saw all
the flames and saw you laying there helpless and I was
so scarred you were going to die.  What makes this all
worse is that the reason you were in that situation
was because of me and my past relationship with Brett.
 So don't tell me that everything is okay Kyle,
because it's not.  Because of me you lost everything
in the fire, because of me you lost your home, because
of me you almost lost your life!"

Kyle was overwhelmed by that explosion of emotions
from David and just looked at him carefully, almost
afraid to say anything for fear he might lose it
again.  He then saw David's eyes fill with tears and
he buried his face in his hands.  Kyle gently wrapped
his arms around David and held on to him tightly.
"David, you think that I don't get it, but it's you
that doesn't really get it.  I may have lost my
clothes, my apartment, my furniture, but I hardly lost
everything.  I still have the most important
possession in my life.  It's you.  I could end up
broke with out a cent to my name, but as long as I
have you, then that's all I need."

"He's still out there though," David said feeling
better from what Kyle said.

"Yea, but once we give a statement to the police and
they put out a warrant for his arrest then I'm sure
they'll find him and it will all be over," Kyle said
confidently.

David gave a slight smile. "When did you get so
optimistic?"

"I realize that today I could have just as easily lost
you as you could have lost me, and realizing that made
me see how the important things aren't my clothes or
my apartment, but the people I love and care about,"
Kyle replied.

"Thank you Kyle," David said giving Kyle a tight
squeeze, feeling a lot better.  "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Kyle replied.

"You're right, we should try and see the positive
here," David began. "Maybe it's a good thing that your
place got burnt down."

"Well, let's not get too excited about that, I mean,
it does suck that I lost my place," Kyle quipped.

"I know, but it also means that you'll need to find a
new place," David suggested. "Maybe you can move into
my place."

"Really?" Kyle smiled at the thought of that.

"Yea," David replied. "Wouldn't that be awesome?"

"Better than awesome!" Kyle enthused. "It's perfect!"
David and Kyle shared a very happy moment with each
other, a moment that was well deserved after the hard
ordeal they went through.

Over in New York Tyler was searching high and low for
Jake.  Standing in Time Square he did a 360 degree
turn fully taking in the thousands of people that
populated the city, how was he going to find Jake
among all these people?  He had no idea where Jake was
staying, no idea where the office Jake will be working
at is at, he was essentially trying to find a needle
in a hay stack.  How can he contact Jake if he won't
pick up any of his calls?  That's when an idea struck
Tyler and he reached into his pocket and pulled out
his cell phone and called Randal.

"You find him?" Randal asked picking up the phone
after seeing Tyler's name on the caller id.

"No, I need you to do me a favor real quick," Tyler
said loudly, to try and over power all the noise in
the city.

"I'll try, but I'm still in the hospital so I'm not
sure exactly what I can do," Randal replied.

"I just need you to make a phone call," Tyler
answered. "I need you to call Jake."

"Yea, sure," Randal agreed. "Can I ask why?"

"He's not answering his phone, but I have a hunch that
he's not answering because he sees my name on the
caller ID," Tyler explained walking towards Central
Park. "And if that's the case then I need you to call
him and explain to him what I'm doing."

"Tyler," Randal began trying to say it gently as to
not hurt his feelings. "If Jake is ignoring your calls
then don't you think that's kind of a message that
maybe he wants to make a clean break."

"But he may change his mind once he realizes that I'm
here in New York looking for him because I want things
to work out between him and me," Tyler explained.  "So
please, can you call him?"

"Of course," Randal complied hoping that Tyler was
right. "I'll call right now."

"Thanks, I'll talk to you later," Tyler said.

"All right, bye," Randal replied before hanging up and
then dialing Jake's cell phone.

Tyler found a bench to sit on and prayed silently that
his plan would work out.  Unaware that just on the
other side of the park Jake was walking slowly
thinking over what he left behind and hoping that he
made the right decision by moving to New York.  He
hated ignoring the phone calls from Tyler, but he
didn't want to hear a goodbye from him, it would just
be too much for him.  He'd rather have things left the
way they were, he couldn't take a goodbye from someone
he truly felt was the love of his life.  As all these
thoughts raced through his mind his phone rang.

"Please, don't be Tyler," Jake prayed quietly reaching
for his phone.  He looked down and was surprised to
see Randal's name appear on the caller ID.

"Hey Randal," Jake said happy to hear from a friend.

"Jake, hey bud, how's New York?" Randal asked.

"It's big," Jake replied. "I don't know what to think
of it yet, it's so different from home."

"Well, maybe you won't have to get used to it," Randal
hinted.

"What do you mean?" Jake asked not sure what Randal
was getting at.

"I have a message for you from Tyler," Randal started.
"He was trying to get a hold of you, but he thought
you were ignoring his calls.  Were you?"

"Yea," Jake sheepishly confessed. "I didn't do it to
be mean or anything.  I just wanted to make a clean
break from him and thought it was better to leave
things the way they were instead of say things to each
other that would only make it harder."

"I understand that Jake, but there's something you
need to know," Randal said. "Tyler's looking for you."

"What do you mean?  He knows I'm in New York," Jake
replied.

"No, you don't understand.  He knows you're in New
York, he's there also, and he's looking for you,"
Randal said.

"Wait, you're telling me that Tyler is in New York?"
Jake asked making sure he's understanding Randal
completely.

"He's in New York and he's looking for you, so just
call him," Randal said.  "Now I have to get going, but
I'll talk to you later okay?"

"All right," Jake said.

"Okay, Bye" Randal replied.

"Wait Randal," Jake said quickly.

"Yea?" Randal asked putting the phone back up to his
ear.

"Thank you," Jake replied.

"Anytime," Randal answered before hanging up.

Jake then took out his phone and called Tyler.  As the
phone rang he looked around with the hope that maybe,
just maybe he might see Tyler walking around
somewhere.

"Where are you?" Tyler asked picking up the phone not
wanting to waste anytime with small talk.

"I'm in Central Park," Jake replied. "Where are you?"

"I'm-" Tyler began, but then a beep interrupted him
and then the phone went silent.

"Hello?" Jake asked not hearing anything.

"Jake?" Randal asked.  He then looked at his phone and
saw that it had shut off.  He tried turning his phone
on again, but then the low battery warning came on and
then the phone shut off again. "You've got to be
kidding me!"

"Oh come on," Jake said as he tried calling Randal,
but just got his voice mail with out even a ringing
first. "Dammit!"

Tyler then went off in search of a pay phone to call
Jake from.  Meanwhile, Jake went off walking around
with the hope that he might miraculously find Tyler
among the many people.  He walked around the park
looking around and saw someone who looked a lot like
Tyler.

"Tyler!" Jake yelled out running towards the person.

As Tyler was walking he heard a faint yell, which
sounded like someone calling a name, his name.

As Jake ran to the person he thought was Tyler he was
disappointed to find that it was no one he knew.

"Sorry," Jake said patting the guy on the shoulder, "I
thought you were someone else."

Tyler quickly turned from looking for a phone to
looking for Jake, because he could have sworn that he
heard someone call his name and if that's the case
then he knew that Jake was somewhere close, he could
almost feel it.

"Jake!" Tyler shouted out, hoping that Jake will hear
him.

As Jake walked around he heard a faint call that
sounded like his name.

"I knew it," Jake said quietly with a smile. "I knew
you were close."

He took off running through the park and looked all
around him.  Tyler too began to run not wanting to
slow down his search.  Then as he turned a corner he
saw someone running towards him, but it wasn't one of
the many people running in the park for exercise, this
person was fully clothed in jeans, shirt and jacket.
He looked closer and knew instantly who that person
was...

"Jake," Tyler smiled to himself and ran towards him.

Jake then saw Tyler running towards him and grew a big
smile on his face.  They ran closer to each other then
both suddenly stopped a few yards away from each other
and walked slowly towards each other.

"So, you're in New York," Jake said with a smile.

"Yea, I came here looking for someone special," Tyler
replied smiling.

"Tyler, I'm so sorry.  You have to believe me, I
didn't mean to do what I did and I couldn't feel any
worse for what I did.  It was a mistake that never
should have happened.  I love you so so much Tyler,
and when I kissed that guy it wasn't because I loved
you any less or anything it was just a moment of
weakness, which I know sounds stupid and I know is
inexcusable and I know that I can never make it up to
you, but-" Jake was about to go on some more, but
Tyler just went up to Jake and kissed him in the
middle of Central Park.  It was a perfect moment for
them, they kiss said everything they both couldn't put
in words, it was a kiss that apologized, forgave, and
rekindled a love that was never lost to begin with.

"You ramble too much," Tyler joked as he broke the
kiss.

"I love you so much," Jake said. "Do you forgive me?"

Tyler didn't have to say anything, he just leaned in
and gave Jake another kiss.  That was all the answer
that Jake needed.  They were back, and for the first
time in a long time they both felt complete again.

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

Well, hope you all enjoyed.  Please e-mail me with any
questions or comments at ilj4ever44@yahoo.com.  Thanks!