Krista

As someone in the medical field, at least in my specialized field I know. I know when I am lied to. I don't appreciate the lies, I don't really ever say, "I know you're fibbing..." I just rebuild my whole approach to compensate for those little fibs they all think they've gotten away with.

Yeah, Lisa Benton is risking the total implosion of her family. She's already lost Joel, despite Joel saying that he still loves her. I think he does, but he doesn't respect her anymore and that tends to cause more harm. If you no longer respect the person in front of you, you no longer see their value as you once did. Love can remain, but not trusting them, wanting them, etc. She's lost him and maybe one day she may need him and he won't show up. Or, she may come to her senses, but he is too far removed from her that he doesn't want to put the effort in rebuilding a bridge that she destroyed. I don't know. But yeah, she is risking all of that, unknowns and all. At this point my "Bullet Point" document may be longer than my three-ish page character sheet. Not a bad thing. Roy didn't leave Fletcher willingly, his parents forced him to because of Jonny and the near miss of sharing a prison cell with him, waiting to be bailed out. Having the, "drug dealer' reputation, one that doesn't fit him as he was mostly just along for the ride... accomplices are still charged, mind you. He might as well have been a drug dealer just by being there. That probably made him more willing to leave Tempton, so maybe it was a little of both. Roy and Joel were sort of mirrored in that they both were a bit segregated from the student body as a whole. Joel because he was afraid.. and Roy, because of his loyalty to the asshole Jonny that I feel a lot of people would have avoided. Guilty by association. They both needed a bit of a reset. I guess I'm happy that I was on the fence about "Joy," and gave that to Roy. He deserves it, that soft smile and brown eyes proves it.

Thank you for sticking with it and enjoying the story.

You will be punished for this. Especially for 12. Doubly punished for that.

You are so brave!

Thank you for reading and enjoying the story. All good questions. I can't answer them... but they are good questions. Weighty questions, for which some of them do have hints as to how they can go. Also, Joel's character and how he may handle things may come into play. But yeah, I still can't answer those, but I'll need to make a document for the questions in my own mind and some echoed in these comments for the off-chance that I can put them to good use. Thank you for sticking with this story.

If it wasn't, the thought of just Westley coming for family dinners, etc... it needed to be eye opening. Dad Benton definitely saw that writing on the wall, I'm thinking. As a parent it would wreck me if I even thought I could be harming or pushing away any one of my children. If I was doing it, I sure as hell wouldn't want my husband being a willing 'bystander' just because I've somehow forced him to fall in line somewhere along the way. Those dynamics feel so tragic to me and it would break my heart. So writing a character like her, even in the limit ways that I did, has been interesting. I don't know if I could do it if she had the same words put to paper that Celia had... it would be a heavy burden for me to work through in the writing. But, still I think it would be interesting. I don't know if y'all would have put up with it though. She hasn't changed her mind with Joel out of the picture, knowing everything she was told. I doubt she'd change if he was still living under that room. But yeah, she lies better than anyone else in the story. Celia tried to call her out on those, but she didn't budge much. Joel is done with lies. Probably for the best, he wasn't the best liar to begin with.

How about, instead of a sequel I just entertain y'all and do a Q&A. Although if y'all have some non-spoiler general questions y'all wish to ask, I'll be open to answering. But noooo.. I can't do that. No. And I am so uncultured that I don't know what Superfriends are.. lol. But that does sound interesting, asking a lot of questions. Pointing towards the writing later explaining them. And all of these are good questions. That I can't answer. For obvious reasons. Although as forgetful as I am, I probably do need to make a bullet point in the very slim, around one percent chance that I will be starting any sort of sequel. Because I didn't for Ridley and now I'm wishing I did... not because I am of the mind to do a sequel for that story either, but just in the off-chance the information stays there. Maybe remind me.

I will miss how you jokingly diminish characters. I found it hilarious throughout this whole thing. And yeah, Joy would be the perfect name for a Roy/Joel ship name. It was almost a thing, as you know. But I wonder what two "soft" puppy type dudes would look like. Although Joel did beat up Jonny's face for him, and slapped around Jaxton a little bit... but other than that he was rather soft puppy. Roy is pure puppy though, I'm thinking. 😮 But yeah, I don't know how that dynamic would have looked if I took the Joy route and not the Javin. I wonder if Joel would even be the top in that relationship... since y'all all seem to think he can't be the top in any of the rest of the pairings y'all entertained. *whistles* Maybe I shouldn't start this debate again. And it is true, I gave you all more wet asses than I thought I would with this story... And you are to thank for Colt's... I won't give you credit for the rest of them though, calm down. Also, thank you.

Yeah, the nagging unresolved Cody issue. It took three reads for me to land on the issue though. But when it did, I knew I had to tackle that with more writing. I do hope that Dad Benton's character did show some hints that he wasn't okay with how Joel was being treated, how own thoughts not aligning directly with his wife... and that he was starting to become supportive. That it wasn't out of the blue. I thought there were tiny hints of it... but he went on full display. I don't think Mom Benton would have bent at all if not for that anyway. If anything she would have went the other direction entirely and disallowed Cody and Joel meeting.

I think most people wouldn't mind me making you out to be a liar for a third time. But I won't. See, I'm nice. I don't know why some people are afraid of me. The thing that I'll no longer acknowledge seems proof enough that I've lost my mean/scary credibility and to rectify that, I'll have to get creative.

Yeah, I'm not a sequel person. I think it puts a lot of pressure on a person to write a fully fleshed out worthwhile sequel. I don't want the original to be looked back on poorly, because I couldn't deliver on the sequel. Or I messed up the Joel we spent 32 chapters, two years of my life, and 300k getting to know... and y'all no longer feel the same way about 'both' stories that you did the original if the sequel never existed. It is something that will be a series of roadblocks for my mind to get over if I were to even open my documents and titled one.. "Learning to Live.." which sucks as a title, but Learned to Lie was a bit of a stretch, since we know Joel sucked at being a liar... and his true and honest story was that he was so afraid of living that he barely allowed himself to.

Aww, but Joel was the Turkey in the Thanksgiving dinner. If I continued, then we'd all be eating the sides... and if the Deviled Eggs are the unknown sexual dynamics between Davin/Joel... example: Which one is the bottom... since that seems a debatable topic. Then the meal gets less enticing. I'll need to cook up another Joel Turkey and put it on the table before it makes sense to write again. And I am so sorry about this analogy, especially since we're so far removed from Thanksgiving.

Thank you for sticking with me through this story as well. Edit: Aww the poor dear. But go me, I guess.

Thank you! I loved this story too. I was a bit worried in the middle parts, about it being too slow and a bit bogged down. Those chapters weren't the most easy on my paranoid nerves. Overall though, I am very fond of this story, characters, and theme. Sucks that 300k = Barely a Month of timeline... but here we are.. lol. I can beat a day to death, it seems. If nothing big happens to derail things.. I hope to start writing my next story soon. I don't know if it will be posting this year or next, we'll see.. depends on how it goes I guess. That's my fear with even entertaining a sequel. If I start on it now, I'll need to write it completely, because that's the writing style I've had to adapt to. I no longer have the time to allocate to writing a chapter, get it edited, and post it all in the same week. For a posting schedule that's easy to follow and smooth, I need to complete the project I'm working on before I begin to post. It took me a year to write, "Learned to Lie." A bit longer, because I was still working on, "The Best Year," and wrote "Ridley," and "Elias" whilst Learned to Lie sat and collected dust. I can't remember exactly when I started writing again... but it took a long time. And time doesn't wait... We forget things, we move on... so by the time I even entertain a sequel to this story, I highly doubt people would even want it. If people have to look back on 300k it is rather daunting of an ask.

Aww. Me too, me too.

It took me a minute on carpet crawlers, being children. Carpet crawlers.. lol. The hug was so nice, it was something I think they both longed to do for a month after the falling out. Dad working up and understanding his sadness, the role he played in all this, and the realization that Joel was almost just a 'memory' and no longer a person. Dead or alive.

Aww. I think Celia told Mom Benton that very thing. "You just don't turn it off..." when she was talking about being a mother and loving their children. But...

She did read immature this chapter, not going to lie. The, "well I'm not getting my damn way..." stomp her foot kind of thing. As far as this goes, I think she is handling it rather mentally immature. Out of sight, out of mind. Thinking that Joel isn't capable of things that he very much was capable in doing. It almost cost him his life... and trying to push him to admit that he's still a scared little boy that would never divulge his sexuality, so 'her' embarrassment can be spared was telling too. He told her that he wasn't going to keep that secret. He hasn't really.. he came right out to Lorianne, Gavin, and the old bat Francine without much worry. The Benton family dynamic would've been a good dynamic to explore if I had stayed in that household, for sure. I would say, Dad Benton wasn't too worried about how Westley was fairing or felt about all this... he was more worried about being pushed away by Cody and Joel. So at least, if anything, he's worried about a life without them in it and only having Westley there. Might point towards where his head is at the least.

Probably a good thing they don't have close neighbors, then. Or too close neighbors. But people are talking. Word has gotten out that the baseball star is playing for Fletcher. That he's attending a school well out of the way for it to be a normal change. He's no longer enrolled where he's supposed to be. Tempton's baseball Coach has had direct contact with him, brief as it was. So yeah, I can see those well constructed walls Mom Benton tried to build to keep the dirty little secret that is Joel falling down around her. I do wonder how the town would feel? If they thought more like her... or if a lot of them would be like... "You did that to him, because of that??!?!" But yeah, something Mom Benton will have to deal with, and hopefully she 'does' have to deal with it. It may do her some good, this torment. Questions she doesn't want to answer, the whispering behind her back, the off-hand comments. If Joel shines at Fletcher, it will make it worse. The Baseball star no longer 'their' baseball star. But anywho. All of her own making. It will never be the same for Joel and Cody. One day a week is better than One time every other month, or whenever. But at least he fought for what he's going to get now.

He'll have to find a new little goal to reach for, the poor thing. Bless him.

The dogs are very much alive, yes.

Yeah, had to do one more. It hasn't become a habit, I promise. Although I'm thinking most of you want this story to become my bad habit. Like chocolates or other vices... why not writing Joel's story, not the worst vice, I'm thinking. Joel really fought for what he wanted. I am glad Dad Benton backed him up. Good thing he was home, if it was just Mom and Wes... eew.

When I first posted this story as a Short in the Secret Author Anthology thing back in 2023, the comments that this story received broke my heart. It took me back to when two of my friends were kicked out of their homes. Then to read through people who 'found' their Trace, and those who never had a Trace, it broke me. I couldn't imagine living in the hearts and minds of someone that can't have their family. The reason being there's some expectations and thoughts that weren't inline with whatever. It is part of the reason why I continued. That and the first part did leave everything up in the air... but pointing to a more positive place with Trace and his family, but yeah up in the air it was. I didn't think it would be 300k up in the air, but that happened too. Lisa and Phil Benton will be doing a lot of talking, I'm thinking. We don't know what their true dynamics are. We 'think' Joel's father is a bit of a pushover, because he didn't put his foot down and keep his son in the house. We kind of get a hint of his mindset being... "this is not a good place for you..." but that doesn't explain shoving him out of the house and seemingly not caring how he ends up either. So there's this dynamic we don't really know, we got a hint of it at their worst. We've not seen them at their best. So, with that in mind divorce is something on the table, sure. One parent doing extreme things that the other doesn't agree with... and he made it known that he thinks she is hurting their children. That is something as a parent I couldn't forgive. I would say, "We'll see.." I actually almost typed the words... but we won't see. I hope your parents softened to the idea of the small aspect of your sexuality and saw the whole picture of you.

Yeah, there were two things that the Birthday chapter left me thinking about. This chapter covers the larger more pressing one. That was the non-promise of seeing Cody again. Wes drove off without a word, rude, and being mean to Cody rushing him to get into the car without much of a Goodbye. So, I felt I needed this chapter to give his real family closure and for him to fight for Cody. It isn't a lot of closure, how he left it, but he came there with the idea to fight for Cody and he got his father back... somewhat. So he left there with more than he hoped. Mom Benton and Wes are still in the air... As for the second thing, I'll not discuss that one. In the very slim chance that I open up a blank document if it feels like it is going to press me to write further. Right now my mind is on Oklahoma. And for those curious about where Joel lives... it is not Oklahoma.