Lisa

Shit, Horn was right. Thank God Jamie/Cody was at Jesse's party. Jesse needs to get in contact with Ace or Sarge or somebody! But I agree with your other reviewers: TJ will be the one to save the day and save Erik. Everyone will be super pissed at Devon but in the end they will accept TJ b/c he saved one of their own. Well, sorta becoming one of their own. lol I loved Jesse's birthday dances with Dylan. They were so sweet (the dances), and the boys are so sweet together. Jesse is one mature barely-sixteen-year-old. He knows that satisfying their physical urges isn't as important as letting their emotional bond grow. He knows that neither one is ready for that big step and he didn't want to 'do it' just to 'do it' and cross if off his list. Especially when they would feel rushed b/c Dylan's folks were out. Excellent chapter, Andrew! Now please write the next one fast!!!! Before something horrible happens to Erik! =)

Wow, I just read Horn's response and it totally gave me chills. I didn't put two and two together. I guess Cody would be eighteen, I kept thinking he'd be a little older, but I guess not. Shit, I hope Horn's wrong. I hope Dylan recovers quickly and gets his appetite back. He is losing way too much weight. I was surprised at Ace's reaction. For someone who said his best friend can tell him anything, I guess Devon didn't realize 'anything' came with stipulations. Ok, the suspense is killng me - I gotta read the next chapter. lol Excellent chapter, Andrew! As usual!

Mmmm, yeah, me too, Thorn. I open up the package of those yummy cupcakes and take a big whiff before I chomp down. lol Then I take a big whiff of the cream before I devour it. Yep, dem cupcakes sure smell goodly! lol

Never mind the Twinkies, I miss my fucking cupcakes!!!! lol And Yodels, and Ring Dings (woops, those are Drakes!) Damn...not that I eat these mind you...it's for the kids, yeah, yeah...

Amazing video. When my oldest (he just turned twenty-one), was born, my ex (well, not my ex then), developed a really bad case of OCD. No tics or anything, just major germaphobia. We practically showered in Clorox every day b/c Clorox kills 99.9999999% of germs. And I had the CDC on speed dial. So I can certainly relate to the guy in the video. And let me tell you something, what he did in the end, leaving the door unlocked, leaving the lights on, that was so brave. That could literally drive a person with OCD crazy. I hope he did get the girl back, but honestly, living with someone who has OCD mentally exhausts you. You try to reason with the person and tell them that whatever they're worried about is impossible b/c of this, this, or this and it can't happen because of this, this, or this. No amount of explaining or common sense will get through to them b/c all they have in their head is if they don't wash 10,000 times a day, or if they throw out that one thing in their car that is preventing them from DRIVING said car, something catastrophic will happen to them and/or their family. So since this woman never knew him BEFORE his OCD, there's a good chance that she walked away and never looked back.

One stupid question, Zandra: the Cal who Tim is cheating on Seth with, is NOT the same Cal who is with Cody on the ranch, right? I mean, that would probably be physically impossible, right? lol One rule of thumb in fiction writing: don't have two characters with the same name. It gets confusing. lol Poor Seth. Tim's a lying, cheating ho and the sooner he gets that scum out of his mind, the better. He's lucky to have a dad like Max. Another question I had, well, actually two: first, the word 'ya' - does that mean 'yeah', which is slang for 'yes'? I've just never heard that word before. I've heard it in Russian before, but I think it's spelled 'ja'. lol Is that the way cowboys speak? lol I listen to a hell of a lot of country, but I've never heard that word used before. If that's the way the people out in the midwest speak, then you can certainly tell me to shut the fuck up and stop picking on you. =) Also...set/sat - Max made HIMSELF (not him), a cup of coffee and he set down on the chair. You mean he SAT down on the chair and SET the coffee cup on the table, right? Do you see the difference? Ok, English lesson over, but I ditto Louis' comments about the tense changes. Anyway...I'm glad I got a glimpse into Seth's life. (I'm another one of your readers who love the name 'Seth'. ) I feel badly for him and I hope hanging out on the ranch will be just the thing to get him back on track. =)

Seth seems like a sweetie. I'm looking foward to hearing about his past and his horrible, cheating ex. I think Sam's an ass. Why is he moving rooms? is he afraid Hunter and C&C might hit on him? What's his problem? This was a good chapter, Zandra. I look forward to the next one.

Damn, Andy is even making Thomas and Randy uncomfortable. I have a feeling that when Monday comes, the four of them will not be happy. Especially since they already know the asshole coaches aren't going to do much to stop the idiot kids from opening up their stupid mouths. At least the varsity coach won't stop them. Hopefully the JV coach will. I can certainly see where Andy didn't want to go to their old stomping ground - b/c that's where he and Dillon went. He thought he was in love with Dillon and he feels betrayed and used. Of course he's not going to want to go there. Great chapter, Uplifted! I look forward to the next one.

This was a great chapter. I like the chemistry (strictly platonic, of course), between Matilda and Ben. She's seems like a really nice lady, someone who Ben could be good friends with. I'm glad Ben told Mark about the picture. B/c you know Mark would get the wrong idea and feel all this anxiety over nothing. Which brings me to this point: I understand what Mark is saying when he says Skyping and hearing each other's voices over the phone would make it really difficult to focus on your normal day-to-day activities. But coming from an insecure person such as myself, I would want to see the person (even though I personally don't have Skype, never Skyped myself (my kids do it all the time)), and definitely hear their voice over the phone, b/c you can tell by seeing/hearing the person if something is amiss. You know what I mean? Emails can hide so many emotions. Loved the tweet comment. I tweeted something once. I have no idea where it went b/c I never saw it again. lol Looking forward to the next chapter, Thorn.

My heart goes out to Siggi now. His "father" (I use that term loosely, b/c in my personal opinion, parents don't beat their kids and do horrible things to them - that's not parenting, that's just abuse), was a monster. I can't believe how cruel he was to Siggi, and for what purpose? No wonder Siggis so cynical and sarcastic about things. He's just a product of his upbringing. And what the heck happened to him now?

At least with all the mess about the missing cattle, Butch and Cisco getting hurt and Hunter getting shot at, Hunter has some eye candy to look at now. lol I had a feeling Ed's friends were all partnered up b/c he put two in a room and the way he said the partners sounded like the guys were "together, together", not just together, you know? Did that even make sense? lol I was pleasantly surprised about Cal and (shit, I forgot his name, sorry. I know it begins with a "C" also...), so now Hunter doesn't have to feel alone. Now that I'm all caught up, you need to update Zandra!

Just in response to Delaneym, instead of Hunter did this, Hunter did that, etc., you could say the rancher did this...or the _____-eyed man did that (fill in the color of his eyes. Of course if you do that, you need to give descriptions of the characters so the readers know, lol). Well, thank God Boss-man ran Mike out of town, but now the boss is going to take matters into his own hands - that could be more dangerous for Ed and his cowboys.

Shit, you know MIke didn't stop with hurting Cisco and Butch. I love all the detail you gave when the cowboys went to look for Butch. Your writing is getting better - still a few issues with the tense changes here and there and a few misspelled words, but it's getting better! Ok, I see I have two more chapters to go to catch up. lol

Wow, I was happily stunned at what Ed and Martha said to Hunter. I'm so glad Ed ordered Mike to go take a hike! Good for him! Mike's such an ass. I'm glad he got the boot so to speak. I'm just nervous about what his revenge will be b/c you know he's going to try something. Although it's good that Ed and Martha (and Tom), knew about Hunter from that guy Robert, it wasn't Robert's business to go blabbing to others what should have been private between Hunter and his asshole "parents". I use that term loosely, b/c any real parent is supposed to love their child unconditionally and toss them out if they don't like something about them, especially something the child has absolutely no control over. Ok, on to the next chapter.

Wow, I have some chapters to catch up on! This chapter was much better, Zandra. Just at the end when Mike was planning to talk to Ed, you swtiched to present tense. There were also two misspellings: incidents, I think you meant innocent and fills, I think you meant feels. Otherwise it was great! So Mike wants Hunter to be his bitch now, huh? Good luck with that! Ok, on to the next chapter!

This was such a great chapter, Cole! I was cracking up with Dylan's inner dialogue and how he was thinking all these thoughts but when he opened his mouth something completely different came out. lol I think Chuck is so sweet and kind and Dylan just likes being with him, despite the fact that Chuck 'isn't his type'. Maybe by the end of the story Chuck will be his type. One thing I need to point out to you that was driving me crazy: the chapter started in Dylan's pov, but you did have Chuck's thoughts interspersed throughout the chapter. I don't really think you needed to single out Dylan's pov. Also...very important: when you start with Dylan's pov and the first word is "I", keep it in the first person. You kept switching from "I" to "Dylan" to "we" back to "Dylan" and sometimes the "I" and the "Dylan" or "the waiter" were all in the same sentence. I was getting dizzy. lol I wanted to let you know about this b/c it took away a little bit from the flow of the chapter. You've got a great story here, Cole, and the dialogue is great and the character's thought processes are great and the story flows well.You're a good writer, Cole, you keep me coming back for more. Just be more careful with the pov's. =)

Oh man, Slade got me all choked up too. What a romantic! I'm so glad they could confess their feelings for each other before Aaron has to move away. This was a beautiful chapter - very sweet. Just be careful of the tense changes; you kept switching back and forth throughout the chapter.

I'm glad Aaron's mom waited to tell him what she has known for a year. I hope when the time comes his dad takes it just as well. Well, personally, I believe parents should love their children unconditionally. It shouldn't matter if they're straight, gay, bi, black, white, purple or blue. I'm glad she wound up "coming to terms with his sexuality", like it was some disease or something. She should be more worried about his health, never mind the gender of the person he likes. You would especially think that since they came so close to losing Aaron, they wouldn't care what his sexuality, or color, or whatever was. I am glad that Slade finally realized what an ass he was to Aaron. This is going to be one really sad departure. Ok, on to the next chapter...

What a great story so far! I feel so badly for Aaron and Slade. I wonder how they're going to handle the separation. It sounds like the boys live in the south and Boston's pretty far from the south. The only thing I want to point out to you is your tenses. You keep switching tenses. For example, (these aren't sentences from the chapter, just sentences off the top of my head): I run to his house. Then the next sentence would be something like: I grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hug. If you wanted to keep it present tense, the second sentence would read: I grab his arm and pull him into a hug. If you don't want it present tense, then the first sentence would read: I ran to his house. Do you see the difference? You kept switching between these two tenses. Ok, lecture's over. On to chapter two.

Wow, now I'm really wondering what put James in the hospital, paralyzed from the neck down. I noticed you wrote the first part, the epilogue, last May of 2012. Hopefully the next chapter will be updated sooner than this chapter. lol

God, I was shaking when I read this. Wow, you really know how to tell a tale. I'm so curious though: how did James wind up in the hospital, paralyzed from the neck down? Did it have anything to do with why the narrator is so upset with him? Besides the fact that James outed him and now the narrator's father is out to kill him... Ok, on to chapter two. Oh, this epilogue wasn't from another story, was it?

Wow, poor Carl is right! That was certainly not his week. Even though RT (love that - Artie, RT, so clever! ), says now Carl is free to go anywhere he wants and do anything he wants. He can sort of reinvent himself, let me tell you, that's probably the last thing he wants to do right now. It's such a scary thing thinking that the whole world is in front of you and you can do anything you want in it, but you're all alone doing it (for the moment anyway). It can be overwhelming. I mean, eighteen years with the same person is a long time, happy or not happy, it's still a long time and to suddenly be w/o that person is scary as hell. I look forward to reading more about Carl.

Nice chapter, Cole! I'm glad that Dylan went to apologize to Chuck, by phone and in the mall. Chuck must have had some bad experiences in the past b/c he reacted so badly to Dylan's offer for a drink/non-date. Hopefully the drink will go well.

As I'm sitting here petting my cat reading about Andrew's cruel, cruel father, I got so choked up. I can't believe this person is so inhuman. Does that make sense? He's just beyond cruel. I can see you want to hurt your kid (why, I have no fucking idea), but to take it out on an innocent animal? That's just beyond wrong. This guy should be shot and tortured. He's a monster. The ending was good, although I was kinda confused until I figured out what Andrew was doing. Instead of kiss, you wrote kill, lol. So I thought he was doing something violent to Brian. Glad I was wrong. lol I'm looking foward to the next chapter. Will we ever learn what happened to Andrew that resulted in him not being able to take gym or exert himself? And isn't sex exerting himself? lol And if all this was explained in earlier chapters, just yell at me. I didn't re-read the whole thing, just a few of the beginning chapter and chapter seven to re-familiarize myself with the story, so I don't remember if it was discussed.

I have no idea where the hell I was that I missed this update. You know, I was re-reading some past chapters just to get myself up to speed, and it just amazes me how Andrew's "father" would beat him like that. He knows that Andrew has physical problems and health issues. Why the hell would he go off on him like that? If he used to be worried about his health issues in the past, that means what? He doesn't care about them now, b/c now his son is somehow different? He may have lost Andrew in the past due to his health issues, but now he doesn't care about any of that, he'd just as soon beat him to death b/c he's gay. This guy's a real winner, eh? Tragic story about Andrew's childhood friend Brian. Really sad. I think he should have gone to visit him, at least when he got older. He's old enough now, he should visit him. I'm actually surprised they kept him on life support for all these years. Ok, on to chapter nine.