Krista

Yeah, the "box of just junk," is finally gone. He's still unsettled by the big room that will 'never' be filled with his stuff. He might think he's found a roof over his head with people that genuinely love him... but does it feel like home yet? Is he still thinking of an escape route after Graduation? He's not thought about that for a bit... he still has decisions to make. Seeing that box in his hands probably did do Trace a lot of good too. "The boys finally settlin' in..." might have crossed his mind. I could see him telling Celia that during their nightly talks, because you know they're the type that will always have those in the privacy of their bedroom. All giddy and such... aww. And yes, Lacey I think would genuinely miss him. Celia is 100% all in on Joel, if she was a christmas sweater knitting sort of person, Joel would totally be getting one. and, Gavin was shocked... a few chapters ago, hearing that Joel was missing practices... called them questionably legal. So, maybe Tempton might not be completely playing by the rules. But, to be fair.. I don't think a lot of them do.. lol. Edited to add: I noticed and laughed at the dig about the pacing.... and I may or may not have a defense for that what-so-ever.

Designated driver? Maybe? Or, he just saw another Teenage guy and thinking, "damn this house is boring..." and didn't want Joel cooped up on one of their waning weeks of freedom. I know it seems rare, Colt thinking about more than just himself... 😮 but maybe some of Celia's raising has taken hold inside that blond head of his? We can hope...

Sounds like a lot of prime ingredients for a mess to be sure. Add in Teenage hormones and short-sighted thinking, and it is pretty much a well baked mess of a cake. There's a lot of things Joel has to sit and open his eyes to. He never saw being kicked out coming, but it happened. He never saw not finishing his senior year out at Tempton, but he seemingly has made that decision. He never saw him having to leave his younger brother behind before he was settled on College, where it was a more natural break... Every thing that he has coming up... he never saw coming, unfortunately. It has to feel like being stuck in the sand and having wave after wave of ocean water smacking you in the face. Not all of them have been bad though, so there's that.

I've slept in a few pick-up beds. It is kind of a tradition. And no, it was not that kind of "sleeping..." I'm a lady. But yeah, it's not so bad if you have comfy thick blanket/sleeping bag and/or air mattress and a nice breeze. It was also when I was a lot younger. Now my idea of "camping" is a cabin or resort with views, air conditioning, and a couple months of credit card debt to pay back just to "get out of the house" for a few days. My husband complains, mind you. "We're just spending money to drive 5 hours away and live in a house we don't own for a few days..."

I mean honestly, it is the least they could do... if they're sending him out without a roof over his head, money, truck.. and he had to fight for his clothes/shoes... it would be a real cruelty to become a roadblock for him as well. We don't know how much of a struggle it was for Trace as well. Probably depended on who answered the phone.

As far as Joel knows, only Trace knows the magnitude of how he found him. Celia hasn't brought up anything in their conversations. I think Trace 'would' tell her what he brought home. It would be unkind of him not to, as it would leave her ill-prepared on how to deal with something that is now literally sitting under her roof. So, if she 'does' know about the gun and the interrupted possible suicide, it shows a lot of grace in her that she absorbed that and never pressed that back in Joel's direction. I think Trace kept his promise about Joel's sexuality though. I think the weight of the gun and the sadness outweighed the rest. I also don't think Colt is annoyed or was ever 'put out' by Joel. He just has his own life and expectations, and desires... I guess you can call it indifference. Joel also was proven out not to be a narc or a wet-blanket that he has to babysit or keep tabs on... busted knuckles and temper tantrums aside, of course.

Hmm. I read an article about communication between males. How in-depth it can actually be. How people on the outside of those conversations don't get to see the weight of those conversations, because 1. Men don't broadcast those conversations, women tend to tell more than one "friend" about important conversations. Men usually don't. 2. They're far between, usually. They're big and important conversations and they cement and work through a lot during them, but they're not often. Where as women are more willing to have frequent 'deeper' conversations. and 3. Men will mix those conversations into hobbies on a more casual setting. Like say, the 8th hole in a round of Golf. It might just be an under five or ten minute talk, but they get so much out of it. Where as women tend to want to sit and talk face to face in a more focused setting. ---- And I don't know why I went into that much detail about 'talking' and important conversations. I just find it fascinating, as character studies and how to flesh out male characters vs. female and so on. And yeah, I guess the "maybe more..." is likely the important part of that comment anyway. 😮 Oh gosh.. 😮 We're not even sure if the guy has it in him to be a Warhawk, not a proper one anyway. It would suck if the Tigers treated him that way... he's given so much of himself to them over the years. They may see it as a slight, no word, no warning, no answers... And, we'll see where this story ends, won't we? 😮 I've been trying not to add more to it. I don't want to open that door, if I open it.. I'll continue to open it.. and then we'll be 500k and 50+ chapters into something that was supposed to already be 1 chapter and 7700 words.

The mental switch, I would call it that, yeah. He finally made the mental switch. There's actually a "mental switch" in the writing. I'm wondering if anyone will notice what I did with that. It's subtle, so subtle that I might have slipped up a couple of times when I wasn't careful. But, it is still there, for the most part. I've not seen it commented here. It is a rather small "switch," and admittedly, we're just getting into the chapters it happens. I'll be watching to see if anyone has noticed or not. He'll likely leave telling Lacey to Celia and Trace's discretion. It would be very awkward for him to come out to a little girl he's only been living with for about a week and a half? And yeah, 'camping' is a very loose term when it comes to their use of it, we've seen that already.

They let me ride in silence back home, I had expected questions. I didn’t realize how in my head I was until I was jostled when tires hit the gravel road and I looked up to see the arch with their last name in black. The sun was hitting it, giving it a shine and I could clearly make out the four cows, one large one with horns, like a Longhorn, a smaller one next to the C in Connley, then on the other side two smaller ones. I knew it represented the four of them. Smiling up at it, I turned to see

ohhhh.. that sounds so fascinating. I used to watch a live "safari" where they equipped tour specialists with a film crew and filmed on location live. So it was 'like' you were on safari in the sense that, you got the toured experience and saw what the place had to offer that day. But, yeah nothing like actually being there.. the weather, smells, actual fear, and appreciation for all things there. I'm so jealous!

Yeah, this one does bother me. I wasn't going to post this snippet, because I don't know that I'll never revisit this idea. This is actually the second time I've attempted to write a "trip to Africa" story, because wildlife watching or going on safari in Africa is a dream of mine. I just don't think I can justify doing that yet... The issue with this story working against it the most is the fact that I've let so much time pass between writing this, then not touching it since. My writing style has changed slightly, and I have other ideas always floating around. Not knowing what exactly I wanted from this story hurts it too.

“What do you mean you can’t come down?” I asked as I held the phone up to my face as I ate a late dinner. Glancing around at my apartment, dark because I hadn’t turned on any lights after coming home. “I’m sorry Fin,” Brandon said as I placed my fork on my plate and pushed it away. It was delivery, Chinese, but it no longer held my attention. “We missed Christmas together,” I said and I grimaced at the sound of my voice. We had been doing this long-term relationship since graduating hi

Yeah, I think a lot of you were looking forward to Celia grabbing a handful of hair and dragging Lisa down the steps. Trace was prepared for the possibility. although, I don't know if grabbing her shirt would have held a determined Celia in place. She did go with words of advice though... doubt it did anything for Lisa, but she wasn't really there for her benefit. It probably did a lot for Joel, though.

Yeah, we're seeing the worst of Lisa Benton, consistent as that seems to be. It does make me think back with Joel, because by all accounts he had a very happy childhood and most of that was contributed to her. So she has it in her, she just decided to lead with the opposite. It will hurt Cody. It about ended Joel on the bridge. Trace and Celia have been rebuilding him since that night, he's been unwilling a bit, too scared and too wronged to feel the impact. There's still a lot of decisions he has to make, but at least one of the 'bigger' has come to pass. That's knowing where he stands with his parents, at least for certain his mother, and which roof he belongs under. And yeah, I would like to 'think' things have gotten a lot better about coming out. That the struggles and hardships from the ones back a few decades led to more understanding now. I only witnessed it. I felt the love for friends that were traumatized by it, but I didn't ever have to feel the impact of their struggles. There's a little bit of both of them in Joel. But here we are writing another somewhat-of-a-tragedy coming out story and it's not.. 'too dated' to function, unfortunately.

I was sooo bad at commenting and rewarding readers for too long. I wanted to start fresh with this story. I decided to approach it completely differently than my usual... habits? I lost so many of you guys for not paying attention, or being consistent with my chapter posting. It was more than a wake-up call. It put me firmly on the fence between leaving my writing at the end of, "The Best Year," or to make the attempt to continue and do things a lot more structured and differently. I didn't have a concrete story though, you can think @wildone for giving me this idea and allowing me freedom to run with it. If I can just get over all the new developing complexes that comes with changing my approach, that would be lovely. Oh, and not freaking out and posting the whole rest of the story all in one go. I do not think GA or Wildthing would forgive me if I did that, but know... it is a constant little devil on my shoulder.

I didn't know that, there's so many hidden functions with GA that I never find or frequent often enough to readily bring them up. I think in the writing we've also officially gone over half-way. I know I sped the pace up a bit with the last two-ish parts. So the story finally stood up and found its wee little legs. I've not sat down and wrote anything 'new' aside from a Character sheet and a first chapter (twice) for what I was hoping to be my next project. Let's also hope I don't fumble the hell out of this story in the second half.

I just noticed that we've went over 1,000 comments for this story. I am so thankful and beyond feeling blessed that y'all are taking the time out of your lives to read and comment on my little story.

Hmm. It would be rather boring if no drama came from Davin stealing that wee little kiss. And yeah, I don't think Joel was ready for a kiss. He had his world shrinking around him and he didn't know if that was for the better or not. So, the kiss was the final straw, I'd imagine, a final knock against frayed nerves. If anything, Davin is probably lucky there wasn't a knee-jerk not-thinking swing in his direction. Like me when I think there's a bug buzzing by my ear, no one will survive within swinging distance of all that mess. But, at least Joel did notice Davin's state of undress. Even gave him a helping hand.

She may surprise us and tell him to get a job, a roof over his head, and a future after messing up... would I have written that dynamic that way? No. But, if you're going to play pretend at being an adult... and you mess up... you should stop the pretend part.

Oh goodness... that's quite the body count.. 😮

I absolutely cannot stand people who use their children as leverage after a relationship falls apart. It is disgusting. It isn't fair to the children. It causes friction and long-term damage, not only to the parent leveraged against, but to that entire side of the family - so the kids may lose half of the support network they should still have. I'm sorry you had to go through that, especially as a man. It could feel like a very powerless and scary position with no good outcome. I'm glad you fought for your girls.

If I had Joel stay after the first chapter, I very much would have liked to really flesh out the Weasel dynamic with his parents. And yeah, I would have gone the route of oopsie baby with him, for sure. I don't know if I would have been motivated enough to write in such an atmosphere though. And, we wouldn't have Trace, Celia, Davin, Gavin, Lacey, Colt... and more... 😮 And... who could Joel possibly have found common ground with... I am a romance writer after all... we'd have to find the guy someone.

Hopefully he'll stay steadfast in what he wants. For Joel's sake and his.

I was always surprised at how perceptive all my children were, even when they were a lot younger than Cody. They do notice things. Their minds are sharp enough to work through and piece things together without us knowing. So, the bits and pieces and then putting it all together theory also is rather plausible. He's likely very determined to get to the truth of all this since it rattled and upended his entire world, the only difference being he's still living with the people that did that to him...

Yeah, parents need to be as united, unconditional, and seemingly open and fair as both Trace and Celia are. They're so centered. All kids born deserve parents such as them, I'm thinking. We're seeing them parent Joel through a traumatic event and his own personal hell, they're doing him some good and letting him decompress and come to his own with their support. They seem fair and a bit firm with Lacey. Colt is rebelling on them a bit, but it doesn't seem like they've been unfair or anything. Maybe Colt can take his own advice and tell them what he wants/feels. I'm sure they have their bad days and bad moments. I also think they're the types of parents that will look backwards and learn and not double down though.