Krista

Is my comment section a classy place? I surprise myself with how many times I say Fuck in writing, because I very rarely do in real life. I think it is a very dirty and heavy-handed word to use that I just don't use. Here though? Flies free and easy all over the place. I don't name chapters. I am lucky enough to name my stories. Lol. Some people are far more creative than I will ever be. I don't want to stress myself out trying to come up with a definitive and appropriate title to things.

Dumb? Or buzzed and desperate?

You say all that, but Golf is a sport... come on now. And I will die on the hill that Baseball uniforms are the hottest uniforms in all of sports.

Joel is lucky, he landed on the bridge and met the one guy that does have the honest and true patience of a saint, yes. But, it takes that sort of person to do what Trace did and continues to do. There have been a few hints at him not being as patient. So, maybe Trace will get comfortable enough not to be? If that's an odd thing to say. Maybe some of their patience is Joel-centered, and the kid gloves will start coming off after more time has passed and he's settled in more. They're parents, they're going to have to end up parenting him eventually, if anything, to make it more fair for Lacey and Colt who do get their fair share of parenting. But yes, he's rich on that. And it is possible his new teammates could forget all the trouble he's caused their school since he put on a Tiger uniform. Is it possible for Joel to forget causing it though? It is easy to be welcoming if you're the one standing to gain a lot from it. His batting average is on their side, as Gavin hinted. It would be nice to have a few home runs on that side of the scoreboard. But, that is not Joel's gain, it is a bitter truth. That if he plays, he's going to be possibly inflicting the pain he gladly inflicted on the Warhawks. Weird frame of mind to be in, really. A Baseball scholarship would help him, a lot. Poor Joel can't seem to escape double-edged sword scenarios, can he?

Is my weak titling game coming back to show itself out again? Likely. Oh come on! Horses aren't that bad unless you fall off of them. And even then, is it really their fault? It is something I miss, I used to ride a lot in my younger years. Went to horse riding camps and everything. Did some shows, events, etc. Horses are too high maintenance for us at the moment, or I'd probably still own them.

Yeah, they were significantly unprepared and disorganized for such a night. Tsk tsk tsk. And it was Joel's first taste of a "camping trip," with them and look at the mess they made of the whole night. You would have thought they would have put more of an effort into such a thing, since it was apparently what Colt wanted.

I do have a story, much longer than this one... and the love interest is a total blond. If that helps keeping some of my laces safe. Ones that I don't have, mind you. You may need to read the screen shots of all the times I've threatened @wildone when he tries to invite himself over. I get rather creative sometimes. Yeah, Colt has a girlfriend. Her name is Sierra. I wish I named her something else, because I would have much rather used her name in a different story that I've started. But I also have used Gavin like 4x times in my stories, so what's another Sierra? The fistfight I think surprised people. The writing, arguably leans on Joel being a bit timid, out of the way. But this was a bit of a hint that maybe he's not so timid. (Yes, I can hear some of you snorting from here).

And we didn't have these 15 mph zero-turn death mowers growing up. And yes, when your mother insisted on only marrying a guy with mostly girls as well as only popping out girls until you're old enough that mowing the lawn is a chore, you mow the lawn. I actually at one time knew how to drive a tractor and I did not grow up on a farm or ranch. It is just something you learn down here, I guess... for fun. Like riding ATVs, I know how to do that, manual and automatic shifting. I also am the biggest girl ever though (I'm female I can say that about myself), I don't like mud, I don't like bugs, and I don't like any of that stuff... but you still do it, because here that's a small majority of what you 'can' do to pass the time. Colt's in these chapters was me more or less introducing him, because he hadn't truly been introduced in comparison to the rest of his family. We knew a lot more about the dogs (aside from their names, because I forgot them and instead of running to my character sheet, I mostly just referred to them as the dogs), but yeah. Colt needed words and I gave him some. It got me more Colt theories so win/win? The Falls are some of my favorite sections of the early story. Kind of wish I played the writing out a bit more in those sections.

Well, I see that you've read well past the next chapter, so I'll double you up on that zero. Or would that be considered insider or fixed betting? 😮 And yes, he's already letting another dude sleep with him. But not in that way, gosh. I think if you ever take the time to read some of my other stories, you'll learn that I do like a good platonic bro-cuddle here and there between characters. And they don't ruin it by saying silly things like: No homo bro, in the process. You were also not the only one concerned with the lack of Colt in the story. I think that's what organically fed a lot of the ongoing Colt theories. You have dared to say, about Davin to be specific, what others haven't said though. I won't tell you what that is, but you've said it.

It is Cia that has the big burly husband of a man at 6'10... mind you my husband is 6'3" or my height. But, I am the scary one in day to day life. And I don't think I have a single pair of shoes that have laces.. lol. Laces are soooo 2000s, come on now. I wish I could talk guys with you all. Because I have tea that I can't share. And don't worry, Joel also can't always match their names with their faces at this stage of the writing, if I'm remembering correctly. You will also find though, that I only give small hints to physical appearances in back and fourths within dialog, and in sentences. There's a few times where I outright describe characters, but for Joel, he's not going to explain himself to himself, it will be done by observations fed back to him and by him comparing him to other people, likely his brother, mother, father, etc where his genetics come into play. But yeah, no staring into the mirror and describing him back to himself as he "appreciates" or "worries" about the reflection. Whichever route he'd go. Unless there's a plot or reason for it, like if he's lost weight due to depression, but he'd describe the hallowing out of his face, or darker circles under his eyes, etc.

Yeah, because about every one of my responses are major spoilers to anyone who gets too nosy. But that should be a known fact for online fiction reading... the comments are dangerous, only read them if you're able to overlook them and scroll back up to start reading. lol

Now I'm doubly worried. But, nice title. I do regret that I didn't ever sit down and mock-up a helpful (at least within my self-taught fashion) response about First Person POV, then mull over it and post. I think I tried to cover that in very snarky tones in the - you know where - talk that you were sucked into when the POV discussion was born and devolved the way it did. But I also was very much seething at the time and I know a lot of my points weren't the most clear. lol And you will come to see that although I try my best at this writing thing... that I am just little ol me writing my stories, flawed as they are. Oh.. and I've also wanted to write a story in the form of Journal and/or writing letters back and forth. There's an entire genre about that, and I've been interested, but too timid to make the attempt.

Yeah, I think part of him going back was for evidence in firm convictions, despite what Joel said. He wanted to face them and he wanted Joel to as well. And yeah, if a kid doesn't want to go home or are 'that' scared of home they'd rather put their safety in strangers, maybe that should have been a hint of how it was going to go. Maybe it was Joel's age, almost eighteen. If Joel were any younger, I don't know if he would've made Joel go back, not the next day anyway. In this early writing I wanted Phil to have some questions on him based on how that scene played out. Would he grow to stand up for himself and Joel eventually? What that could look like... and to what extent. He did show at least some emotions that weren't in line with the rest of them. I'm glad to see that you too fell into the web of Colt theories. And, I'm glad I am sooo sneaky to answer your question in the very next chapter. You'd be surprised how bad I am at being this sneaky, truly.

Oh goodness. They can't touch if they've gone through the wash, surely. I'm a mother of twins. Mind you, female and male so they do not have too similar of faces and their names and attitudes are polar opposites. lol. As far as the twins, I've tried to make them similar and distinct somewhat. I think 1 gets answered. But it still a bit of a stretch to be fair. But, I've found my way on roads that are out of the way, mostly due to my GPS taking me there after my usual route isn't available. You'd be amazed how far out of the way some alternative routes can become. I almost called my husband and told him that I had absolutely no idea where I was, but them BAM! 3 miles down, it tells me to turn onto a street that I recognized and all became well. lol. I guess they're just good people with the means and self-confidence in being good people... and are doing what genuinely good people do, if they're good people. Because! 😮 😮 Dogs are precious! Cats are demons, but I still mostly like cats too... but dogs, except when you walk in on them wiping their anal glands on your carpet/rug/blanket, are generally precious. Because dang it, I suck at titling things. And maybe, you will find out that the boy does lie... maybe.

Aha! I read your mind, or you read my mind, and you confirmed that I read yours? Makes sense, yes? About the POV I mean. And it sucks that Trace and those like him are more fiction than not. But, I am glad your Trace was just delayed in the finding of you and you them.

Also, I see I've not been as good with the comments as I thought I've been with this story, as I've missed a lot of these. I can't remember what or why that would be aside from work drama going on around that time, but that's no excuse. Woops. Sorry.

Oh gosh... I don't know, I'm a little scared, as it is firmly in 1st person... lol. 😮

and, it would look really nice on a uniform, mind you. Just not in Maroon, apparently.

I have no interest in Star Trek what so ever. Apparently there's a lot of Slash fiction around some of the characters. But the craze missed me by a decade or so. *whistles* and I never got into the show. But! What television show hasn't been a disappointment of late? Bridgerton - Season One was okay. You have to overlook all the historical inaccuracies though. Some people can't, I'm not a true purist, because the show never set out to be that in any form. If it did, it would have made it more of a failure. Every season after the first though, gets progressively worse and I'm not even sure I'll watch the next one. Especially since they're not touching Benedict's apparent Bisexuality they crafted throughout seasons 1 - 3. Or I've not seen evidence of it anyway. The Summer I Turned Pretty - Season 2 and 3 were awful. Sorry, they were. A lot of unnecessary writing and stupidity in both seasons. A lot of scenes that didn't give anything to it. I know a lot of that was in the source material, but them amplified to higher importance for the sake of screen time, but i wanted to skip ahead to the parts of the episodes that progressed the writing. A lot of the character acting fell apart in the later seasons as well. It is like they knew they had a "hit" and didn't feel like they still needed to handle it all with care like they did the first season. Overcompensating - Ick. The final two episodes of the season were decent at best. I've done a review on that in a different topic, but the characters weren't believable and they were so base-level written that they get lost in the chaos of the writing. They weren't likeable in the least. I couldn't care less about them or what the story is attempting to entertain me with. Heartstoppers - Don't get angry with me. If you liked the cute little coming out and coming of age series, then fine. I liked the first season. It needed to end with that though. The other seasons just bogged down and detracted from the first. Sometimes you can mess up a good thing by not letting it sit and breathe a little. This series needed to be left alone instead of attempting continuing past where season one ended. Young Royals - Same as Heartstoppers. It was fine for a season one show. After that, it got progressively worse. It sort of redeemed itself towards the end of the last season, but it did a lot of character assassinations along the way that didn't need to happen. It made too many of the characters insufferable and I couldn't stick with it. ---- The list goes on, but I'll stop complaining.

I knew about 0, but I did not know about the others, strange. 17 is too common a number not to be used at the college level and the MLB. If he took it farther than Tempton baseball, he'd realistically have to change it. Logical sometimes doesn't align well with emotional though. Why Pie though? just an interesting number that would turn heads, or what's your reasoning behind that?

Would Davin get over his fear of riding a horse, just to get Joel up on one, just to get the chance of a happy ending.... oops.... full body massage? I know men are motivated when it comes to that, but....

I hope it goes as smoothly as it can, because it is never a simple thing.

I can see where his words could be taken there. But, I think the meat of what he said was that Joel could relax and be himself more, and if that led to him being brave enough to take that step, that he'd be there to help with whatever came afterwards. It is a lovely sentiment. One he obviously hasn't ever heard anyone in his life ever tell him. Team Javin wooo! Still can't talk boys with you all and it stinks. But I want to... so so bad.