The Long Way - 10. Surprise

"I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were going to the dance. I mean, no one goes to those things! Lemmings do, but real people like us, do not attend school functions." This was Adam, shouting loud and clear through the portable phone as I lay upside down on my bed, Friday night, waiting for Aiden to finish with his shower.

"It wasn’t exactly something I was planning, Adam." I retorted, "but I swear, the next time I become a lemming, I’ll ask your permission first."

"You’d better." he laughed, "So are you really going with Lacy Chapman? She’s hot."

"I just met her, but we’re only going as friends." I assured him, "And why don’t you and Shane ask a couple of girls and come too? It should be fun, so I hear."

"No way!" Adam sounded completely disgusted with me, "Besides, Shane’s coming over anyways, we’ll probably just hang out."

"Have fun then."

"You too, lemming."

"Hey, don’t get smart." I retorted. I looked up as my cracked bedroom door opened wider and Aiden walked in with a towel around his waist.

"So I’ll see you at school on Monday?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, I’ll see you then. Bye, Adam." I hung up the phone and went to my dresser to pull out a clean pair of boxers, and then offered them to Aiden. "I doubt you want to walk back downstairs like that." I remarked, glancing down at the towel around his waist, albeit momentarily.

"Thanks." Aiden replied, taking the shorts and turning his back to me as he dropped the towel. It was probably a good thing he turned around, otherwise I may have been caught staring. His skin was still damp from the shower and his hair was down and messed from the towel. Small drops of water cascaded down his back, over the round globes of his ass between two narrow hips. I wondered if he knew exactly how hot he was. I couldn’t remember anyone having the effect on me that Aiden did, not even Nicky.

My eyes snapped back up to the back of his head when I realized that he was speaking to me.

"Owen, um…did you, uh…did you mention to Adam that I was here?" he bent down for a moment to step into the boxers and my eyes wandered again, but as he turned back around I plopped down on the bed and pulled a pillow into my lap, suddenly needing to hide my bulging problem.

"No." I replied cautiously, because I wasn’t sure why he was asking that question, "Should I have?"

He turned to face me with a wan smile.

"No." he sighed, "I was just wondering. I guess I just thought if Adam knew, then Janie might find out and…"

"Trouble in paradise?" I teased, leaning back on the mattress.

"Ha, Ha." Aiden rolled his eyes as he sat next to me and leaned back, folding his hands behind his head, "No. Really, I just feel like she’s sort of smothering me lately. Like today, I never told her that I’d go over to her place. She just-then decided it when she told you at the mall."

That got my attention.

"Then why…"

Aiden held up his hand before I could finish asking.

"Why didn’t I go out with you tonight?" he smiled wistfully, "I thought you guys could use some family time, you know? I planned on stopping by tonight anyways, and it’s not like I won’t be able to celebrate with Tony and Chris tomorrow, with the party and all. That’s why I didn’t say anything at the mall. But afterwards, when Janie’s mom came to pick her up, I told her I’d see her later. I didn’t say when, you know? Well, I ended up over at Jake’s, we were calling around to make sure everyone we invited to the party was coming - they are by the way - and then, when Jake brought me home, I found Janie on my doorstep practically in tears."

I turned on my side to face him better, taking the pillow with me.

"Was something wrong?" I asked.

"That’s what I thought." he said, "but no, nothing was wrong, other than the fact that she called my house over thirty times and when I wasn’t there she rushed over because I didn’t tell her where I was." he was becoming agitated, his voice raising, "I mean, can you believe that shit? And don’t get me wrong, I love Janie, we’ve been friends for as long as I can remember. But lately it’s like someone flipped a switch or something and I can’t stand her."

I turned back onto my back and stared at the ceiling.

"She likes you." I said.

"Well, yeah, I like her too. We’re best friends."

"No." I smiled, "I mean, she really likes you."

Aiden fell silent for a moment. I knew that Janie wanted more than a friendship with Aiden. Actually everyone seemed to know it except Aiden, and that was funny to me. It also annoyed me to no end that he could be so naïve.

And I didn’t exactly like being the one enlightening him, either. I was suddenly wondering if this new information would cause him to see Janie in a different way. Who knows, maybe they would even end up together. I hated the thought.

I was jealous, of course. I hated to admit it, but it was the truth. I had been convincing myself that although I was attracted to Aiden, we would only ever be friends. The truth of that thought now seemed very aggravating.

"No." Aiden finally said, "That can’t be right." And he was completely serious. "I mean, we’re friends, Janie knows that." now he sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "And even if she did like me-which she can’t because she knows we’re just friends- I could never feel the same way about her, even if I tried. Shit, she’s like my sister."

"Well, I could be wrong." I shrugged. But I knew I wasn’t. "Anyways, I’m sure it will work out for you. And hey, you can hide out here anytime you want."

"Hmm." He sighed, and then turned his head to look at me. "Maybe I’ll take you up on that, at least until you get sick of sharing your bed with me."

"That’s not going to happen." I laughed. If he only knew how much I liked having him in my bed.

"You really don’t mind?"

I smiled at him, but it faded when I saw the serious expression on his face. He looked sad, almost. Like, he really needed me to convince him that it was all right for him to be there. I wasn’t sure what to say. If he was straight, like I thought he was, it might not be a good idea to tell him exactly how I didn’t mind. But, if I played it off as a joke, and he wanted reassurance because he felt safe here, I might offend him and he’d never stay the night again. I decided to be as honest as I was ready to be.

"I don’t." I said, looking away because I was having trouble looking into his eyes at the moment. My voice came out a little softer than I intended, just above a whisper. "I kind of like it…it’s nice, having someone so close. I think I sleep better that way."

"I know what you mean." Aiden replied after a moment, and then we fell into a silence for a while, not necessarily uncomfortable, but still a silence.

I felt the bed shift and looked to see Aiden was getting up, a smile back on his face, and I found my own mouth curling up in the corners. When he smiled, all seemed well.

"We’re you serious about that run tomorrow?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," I grinned, reaching to set my alarm.

"Then we’d better get some sleep." Aiden pointed out.

And as usual, while I crawled under the covers, he turned off the light and a moment later I had my arm around him, his hand firmly over mine, but my butt pushed back and my hips away from him, and we drifted off into peaceful sleep.

………..

I have five different settings on my alarm, each ring louder than the next. I usually set it on the second setting, it’s loud enough to wake me up, but not so loud that it sounds like a damned fire drill, that’s what the fifth setting is for.

I must not have been paying attention the night before when I set the alarm because I woke to the sound of high-pitched ringing. I shot right up in bed.

Aiden woke equally unnerved, and when we both disentangled and sat up all at once, we bumped heads, none too lightly. We both groaned, held our aching sculls, and then burst out laughing, which seemed to put us in a good mood after our less than happy wake up call.

No more than an hour later, after Aiden had run downstairs and changed into some jogging shorts and a sweatshirt, and I put on my normal running gear, and after we had literally tore a sleepy Ryan away from his bed, we were jogging circles in the park.

Aiden had kept up rather well, which wasn’t a complete shock, he was in great shape, but he still didn’t like to run the way I did, and by the time we were on out eighth lap around the park, I could tell he was growing tired.

Ryan liked running even less, not to mention he was hung over from the night before, so I took up the lead, keeping a steady pace at least five paces ahead of Aiden, and Ryan was three behind him.

"We do realize that it’s Saturday morning, don’t we?" Ryan remarked, "You know, the one day a week it should be like, a rule to sleep in?"

"You could have stayed in bed." Aiden reminded him, "As it is, we almost left you there."

"Two more laps, and I’m done." Ryan swore.

"What are you doing today?" Aiden asked him. "You will be at the party tonight, wont you?"

"I’ll catch a ride with Leo." Ryan replied, "What time is this thing again?"

"Jake said that people should start showing up around six." I explained.

"Cool." Ryan nodded.

We continued on our trail around the park, passing a few cyclists and more joggers. We had just finished another lap when Ryan suddenly spoke up.

"That’s it." He huffed, "I’m done."

Aiden and I stopped another five paces away as Ryan’s decision to go two more laps went out the window and he plopped down on the grass outside of the trail. He laid back to catch his breath and looked at us.

"You two go ahead." Ryan breathed, "You can pick me up on your way back. I’m taking a nap."

Aiden and I laughed and jogged back to him, each of us taking a seat on either side of Ryan.

"I’m done too." Aiden smiled, stretching.

I could have kept going, but found myself laying back against the grass and staring towards the sky as I caught my breath.

"You guys wanna come over?" Ryan asked. "My mom’s home. She should be up by now. I bet she’ll love to cook us breakfast."

I already had my answer. It was an immediate ‘no.’ I wasn’t opposed to spending more time with Aiden and Ryan, but I wasn’t about to spend my morning meeting someone’s parents.

"That would be cool." Aiden grinned, "I haven't seen Angie in a while. How is she?"

"You know her." Ryan shrugged, "She misses you, though." And then he looked at me, "You’re coming too, right?"

"Ah, actually…" I started.

"Come on." Aiden insisted, "Ryan’s mom’s a great cook. You’ll really like her."

"I should really go see how Jake’s doing." I insisted. "He’s thrown together the whole party, and I want to make sure he doesn’t need any last minute help."

"I doubt he will." Aiden replied, "Besides, you have all day to get over there."

I noncommittally shrugged my response, but when Ryan gave me a firm pat on the back, and pulled both Aiden and I to our feet, I knew I was going with him. I had left my truck at Ryan’s house anyways. The walk from the park was all the time either Aiden or Ryan needed to talk me into staying around for breakfast.

Meeting parents makes me nervous. I think they're all like animals. Only, I never know if I should keep my head down and avoid eye contact, like a confrontation with a gorilla, or if I should look straight ahead and show no fear. But, I’ve already explained my issue with parents, haven't I? I was afraid of them.

However, Ryan’s mother, Angie Sader, was not someone to be afraid of. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t her. She was one of those round women. She wasn’t fat, but she just looked soft, the kind of woman that looked comfortable enough to cuddle with. She had a bright smile, and the same dimples that Ryan had. All in all, she seemed very approachable at first glance.

Of course, that didn’t mean that she didn’t have the ability to put me on edge. She greeted Aiden even more warmly than she had her own son, and then just about backed me into a corner when she greeted me in a big hug, before Ryan even got the chance to introduce me.

Angie Sader’s actions confused me. Not even my own mother hugged me for no reason. I wasn’t sure what to think of this behavior. It put me on edge, but at the same time, it gave me a sense of security in an unfamiliar home.

It didn’t take long for Angie to have breakfast on the table, and she sat down with us, not seeming to mind that we were three, sweaty, smelly, teenage boys, all in desperate need of a shower.

All through breakfast, Angie ran the conversation. She stuck to safe topics, like school, which only put me more at ease. But, she kept filling all of our plates before we asked for more. I noticed that Aiden took it all in stride, but he never did finish his second helping of food. He’d obviously done this before.

I however, tried to be polite, despite being full, and I finished off my plate twice. It was on the third helping when I realized that Angie would try to feed me as much as she could until I stopped eating.

Ryan just ate whatever she placed in front of him, until the food was literally gone. I’d bet he never went hungry.

While we all waited for Ryan to finish eating, Angie reached over and took Aiden’s hand.

"Now, where have you been?" she all but demanded, "You never come over anymore."

"I’m sorry," Aiden sheepishly shrugged, "I’ve been sort of busy."

"Well you start making time, mister." Angie grinned, "I miss my boys. Leo and Ben never come over anymore, either."

"Leave him alone mom." Ryan smiled, "He’s doing me a favor by staying away. You appreciate me so much more when there’s no one to compare me to."

Angie narrowed her eyes on her son and then pinched his shoulder. Ryan winced and started to curse, but shut his mouth with one warning look from his mother.

"I appreciate you just fine." Angie informed him. "And you know you miss Aiden too."

Ryan looked at his mother with something resembling mock disgust, and then laughed and smirked at Aiden.

"She’s right." He said, "You should come over more." And then he went right back to his food, and Angie looked in my direction.

Uh-oh. I suddenly felt like I had Angie’s undivided attention. I didn’t like it.

"So, Owen…" more trouble. Sentences starting with, ‘So, Owen,’ were dangerous coming from parents. It meant questions were coming. The hard questions. The ones I didn’t want to answer. "Ryan mentioned that you live with your brothers."

"Yes, ma’am." I replied.

"It’s just you and your brothers?" she asked. She was digging. It was time to excuse myself.

"Yes, ma’am, just the three of us." I replied dutifully.

"Chris and Tony own that club." Aiden said, "the ‘Shadow,’ Leo goes there all the time." was he trying to change the subject? I smiled at Aiden. But, Angie Sader was still staring at me.

"Where are your parents, Owen?" she asked.

That was the question I didn’t like to answer. I never knew what to say. To make matters worse, Ryan had put down his fork and he was looking at me too now. So was Aiden. I had never told either of them anything about why I was living with my brothers. I didn’t want to do it now, not at the breakfast table. Not in someone else’s home.

"Yeah," Ryan said, "you never did say where your parents were."

I didn’t really notice the way I was hesitating and fidgeting, or the growing silence. I was too busy trying to figure out what I wanted to say. If I mentioned my confrontation with my father, like I had to Adam, Angie Sader would likely want to know why it happened. I had yet to tell anyone but my brothers exactly why it happened.

In all honesty, if this confrontation had come up with just Aiden and Ryan, I doubt I would lie to them. But, the idea of coming ‘out’ to another parent didn’t set well with me, no matter how nice she was. I wasn’t going to do it and I wasn’t going to let her corner me into doing it.

"My parents aren't in the picture anymore." I replied shortly, hoping that it was answer enough for now.

There was a silence after those words, but Angie Sader was looking at me expectantly, as if she expected me to say more. She could forget it. It wasn’t going to happen.

I wasn’t looking at anyone around the table, except for a few quick glances. I couldn’t look at Angie, but Ryan looked confused, maybe a little uncomfortable. Aiden was just looking in my direction, seemingly impassive towards it all, until he cleared his throat.

"We should get going." Aiden said to me, and then smiled at Angie. I felt relief as soon as he said it. "Sorry, Angie. There’s a party for Tony and Chris tonight. I think Owen had some things he needed to do before then."

After another moment, Angie smiled and stood up to give Aiden a hug. I got up and said goodbye to Ryan, grateful we were leaving. I was also grateful that Ryan said goodbye to me as if nothing out of the ordinary or awkward had happened.

Angie Sader gave me another hug. I was probably more rigid than I was when she gave me the first one. I wasn’t comfortable, but she was kind. She invited me back and then informed Aiden that she required him to bring me with him the next time that he came for supper.

Once we were in the truck, I felt fully relieved, but I was also nervous. There was an awkward silence between Aiden and I. I wished that I knew what he was thinking. Maybe he was curious about my parents. Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if he already knew some of it. After all, Tony went through the same thing I did. Aiden probably knew about that. I wondered if Aiden knew the truth about me too. It wasn’t like he wasn’t smart enough to figure it out.

"I hope you didn’t feel ambushed." Aiden said, interrupting my thoughts.

"What do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"With Lacy. " Aiden replied. Lacy? I thought he was talking about Ryan’s mother. It took me a moment, but when I realized what he was doing, I was grateful for the change in topic.

"What about Lacy?" I asked.

"I don’t know. I thought you might have felt ambushed at the mall." Aiden shrugged. I glanced over at him, and I don’t think the sudden look of guilt on his face was my imagination.

"Was that your idea?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, not exactly…sort of."

Aiden glanced out the window and then back at me. He looked like he wanted to smile, but he also looked like he was nervous about something.

"I mentioned to Ryan that I asked you to go this dance, but you weren’t really into the idea." he explained, "Well, the next thing I knew he’s asking me if you had a date. I sort of did some thinking out loud, you know, mentioned that maybe we could get you to go if you had someone to go with…I wanted to run it by you first, especially when Ryan announced that he wanted to introduce you to Lacy, but then when you showed up at the mall…I’m sorry Owen, I really didn’t want him to ambush you like that."

"I did feel a little ambushed." I admitted, "But you don’t need to apologize. After meeting Lacy, I’m sort of looking forward to it."

"So…you hit it off with Lacy?" Aiden actually sounded as though that was the least likely thing in the world.

"Yeah. Why wouldn’t I? I think she’s really cool. You know, I did try to get out of it when Ryan left us alone together, but she practically told me to shut up and ordered me to go with her." I laughed, "But, once we decided that we would go as friends and just have fun, it actually sounded like an okay idea."

"Oh." Aiden sighed, "Yeah, Lacy is pretty cool. I don’t know her very well, but she’s been friends with Ryan forever."

"Yeah. So…you actually wanted me to go to this thing so bad that you conspired to fix me up on a date?"

I thought I detected a blush creeping into Aiden’s cheeks.

"Um, yeah." He admitted, "I don’t really like these school things. I don’t even have to be at this one for the yearbook. The only reason that I’m going is because Janie begged me, and the way she’s been acting lately…well, I figured it would be more bearable with a friendly face, and I figured that we could do something afterwards…I mean, if you want to go out afterwards. You never did answer me."

I gave him a smile that clearly told my answer.

"What did you have in mind?"

Aiden seemed to perk up at that.

"Leave it to me. I swear if you don’t have fun at the dance, whatever we do afterwards will make up for it."

"Deal." I replied, "As long as you don’t go getting me wasted. I don’t know if I could handle another night like the last one, especially having to deal with school the next day."

"Don’t worry, it will be nothing like that." he insisted, "but we will have fun."

I didn’t doubt that, and knowing that when the dance was over, I’d be with Aiden, made all the difference.

By the time we got back home it was nearly noon. I was going to ask Aiden if he wanted to come up for a while, but before I could, he stopped in his tracks and looked towards the bottom of the stairs, where an older woman was waiting.

She was at least five foot seven, and thin. She had dark, long hair; hanging to her waist without a hint of gray. Dark, narrow eyes, an olive complexion, full, red lips and high cheekbones. She was actually very attractive, other than the fact that she looked like she hadn't slept in days. The resemblance and the way Aiden’s whole body seemed to go rigid when he saw her was all it took to tell me that she was Aiden’s mother.

Wordlessly, she began to move towards him in a controlled way, like she was resisting the urge to fly into his arms. Aiden seemed to think about it for a second before he met her half way, and as soon as she was close enough, she wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. Aiden hugged her back, but I couldn’t help noticing that it was reserved.

She whispered something to her son, while I stood there, wondering if I was intruding and thinking about just walking up the stairs to give them their privacy, but then Aiden turned to me and spoke in a subdued voice.

"Owen, this is my mom, Karen Knightly."

"Hello, Owen." She replied with a smile that looked a little forced.

"It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Knightly," I said, shaking her hand.

"Please, call me Karen," she said, before she went back to staring at Aiden.

"Hey, Owen," Aiden sighed, "I have some things to do. I’ll see you tonight?"

"Sure." I smiled, "I’ll see you later. Um, I’m leaving around five-forty-five, so if you need a ride, come on up."

"Thanks. I’ll see you later."

I left then, going up the stairs to leave Aiden with his mother. She seemed nice enough, and I wondered what it was about her that caused Aiden so much pain. Then again, my mother seemed nice enough, and then she watched while my father beat the crap out of me and actually ended up lecturing me about bleeding on her floor. I guess you could never tell what kind of mother a woman was by just looking at her.

I just hoped that Karen Knightly wouldn’t be causing Aiden any more pain. I decided that I should mention that I saw her to my brothers, remembering that Chris had told Aiden to call when his mom came home. I would probably feel better, knowing that my brothers new about it anyways.

Tony wasn’t home when I went inside, but it was no surprise that when I told Chris about seeing Aiden’s mom, he went downstairs in a hurry. I hoped that I did the right thing, and I hoped that Chris was doing something to help Aiden.

Chris going downstairs was also a blessing. It meant that he wouldn’t be at the club when I went to talk to Jake, and I could avoid suspicion. And I wanted to talk to Jake. I needed to thank him. He had been getting the whole party together, and I had done practically nothing. Aiden was helping him with the guest list, but the rest was all Jake.

After a quick shower, I headed over to the club, and wasn’t surprised to find Jake upstairs in the party room. It looked great. It was lit up and everything was ready for the band he had talked into playing.

When I walked in, he was working behind the bar and when he looked up he seemed surprised to see me, but a smile slowly made its way over his face.

"Owen, I didn’t expect to see you until later."

"I came to see how you were doing." I replied, "And, it’s probably stupid to ask now, but, do you need help with anything?"

Jake laughed and waved me over as he came around the bar and perched on a stool. I took the one next to him and looked around the room. Tables had been pushed back for dancing and the bar was stocked. I figured that the room could hold about sixty people, and from what I heard, there were about fifty guests. It would definitely be crowded tonight.

"I think we’re all set." Jake smiled, "Do your brothers expect anything?"

"I don’t think so." I shrugged. "They’re too preoccupied anyways."

"Right." Jake nodded, "I figured Chris wouldn’t be coming by until later, with Aiden’s mom coming home today."

I looked at Jake and raised my eyebrow, wondering if Aiden talked to him, the way he talked to my brothers. I felt a sudden pang of jealousy, wishing that Aiden would talk to me. But, I quickly shook it off, remembering that we were friends and I should be there for him whether he wanted to tell me his secrets or not. But Jake saw my confusion and laughed. He really looked great when he laughed. I was beginning to see why Tony couldn’t take his eyes off of him when they were in the same room.

"Don’t look so surprised." Jake said, "I know a lot of things."

"Oh." I smiled. "Does Aiden talk to you?"

The smile left Jake’s face for a moment and he took on a far away look.

"No, not Aiden. I’ve been friends with your brothers for a while, Owen. Tony knows how to keep it together, taking care of everyone else. But, even he needs to talk sometimes. I only recently learned about what Aiden was going through."

I wanted to ask exactly what Aiden was going through, but bit my tongue instead. Besides, something else caught my attention. Jake seemed to go from talking about my ‘brothers’ to Tony, pretty fast.

"Tony’s always been like that." I replied, "For as long as I can remember. When we were kids, this one year, we all got new bikes. I wrecked mine the first time we took them out. My dad was so mad that he didn’t even want to get it fixed. So the next time we went riding, Tony let me use his, and he walked…I think he wants to make sure the people around him are happy, before he worries about himself."

"Yeah." Jake sighed, "I’ve noticed that too."

He looked sad. I began to wonder just how much Jake noticed Tony’s ability to put off his own wants and needs. Maybe Tony was denying himself Jake, because he was too busy trying to take care of everyone else around him. Like me. Something about that made me feel guilty. For a second, I thought Jake might say something else, but instead the forlorn look disappeared from his face, and sitting up straight, he smiled again.

"Thirsty?" he asked, getting up and walking back around the bar.

"Sure." I shrugged.

Jake grabbed a couple of Pepsis, Tony’s drink of choice, I noticed, and came back around the bar again. He placed a bottle in front of me and went to sit down, his elbow knocking a napkin holder from the bar.

"Shit." He cursed, "I’m such a klutz today."

He bent down to pick up the napkin holder and I watched as a black box fell from his shirt pocket and slid across the floor. Jake didn’t notice, so I left my seat and went to retrieve it, finding that on closer inspection, it was a rectangular jewelry box.

When I stood again, Jake was staring at me, or more specifically, the box in my hand. I couldn’t resist. I snapped it open and looked down at the gold, chain bracelet, and then back at Jake. For a second he looked embarrassed, but then he just shrugged and held his hand out for the box.

"Tony will love it." I said as I passed it back to him.

"How do you know it’s for Tony?" Jake smirked as he placed it safely back in his pocket and we reclaimed our stools at the bar.

"Isn't it?" I smiled."

Jake took a sip of his soda and I watched as his fingers absently traced the box through his shirt.

"I just wanted to get him something he’d like." Jake sighed, "But it probably won’t make a difference."

"He’ll like it because it’s from you." I insisted, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"You’re a sweet kid," Jake rolled his eyes, "But you wouldn’t understand."

That was probably a polite way of telling me to mind my own business.

"Fine." I smiled, "But there’s not much to understand; you like Tony. Tony likes you. You should tell him how you feel. I don’t think you’ll regret it, Jake. It’s true, that Tony likes to take care of everyone else, but he deserves to take care of himself too. Something tells me that you’re the one who can get that through to him."

Jake sighed, and a few moments passed. I thought that he was going to change the subject, but he surprised me instead. Jake started talking. He started talking about Tony, what he liked about him, what annoyed him. Jake told me how they used to be really good friends, he even told me about the case of mistaken identity that Ryan and Aiden had mentioned, and how horrible he felt about kissing Chris.

He started to talk about how he and Tony started talking again only recently, after I got into town, and how every time he thought there was something there between them, Tony would pull back.

By the end of it, I was annoyed with my brother for not taking advantage of a great guy like Jake, who was right in front of him, and I told Jake so. I also insisted that Jake talk to Tony before they drive each other crazy. I’m not sure if anything I said helped Jake or not, but we talked for over an hour, and when I finally left the club, I couldn’t help being hopeful that Jake would be giving Tony more for his birthday than a gold bracelet.

Maybe I was just being presumptuous, but I had a feeling that somehow, things would work out for those two.

……

When I got home it was already three o’clock. Chris was still downstairs at Aiden’s, and Tony's car was downstairs but Tony wasn’t home, so I could only assume that he was with Aiden too. I just hoped that Aiden was okay. There was no screaming coming from downstairs, so I took that as a good sign.

By the time Chris and Tony got home, they had to rush through their showers and get ready for their individual plans. Lucky for them we had two bathrooms.

While they rushed to get ready, I sat back, trying to act casual and looking at my watch, wondering if I’d have enough time to get ready. But keeping a straight face around my brothers was difficult when Chris left, and then Tony came out a few minutes later dressed in the sweater I had given him for his birthday. The reason I had trouble not laughing was because Chris had just walked out in the same exact sweater. They hated to match where their clothes were involved, unless they were trying to pull one over on someone. I was going to look forward to the looks on their faces when they showed up to their party in matching outfits.

Once both of my brothers were safely out of the house, I changed and got ready to go out, wondering if Aiden was going to come over. He never did say whether or not he would need a ride. I kind of hoped he would though. He didn’t look happy when he went home with his mother, and not knowing if he was okay was driving me crazy.

It was almost five thirty when there was a knock on the door. Before I even opened it, I knew that it was Aiden. I was glad to see that he looked happy enough. At least, he didn’t seem depressed. He was smiling and had his camera all ready to go.

"Ready?" Aiden asked, leaning in the doorway.

"Yep." I grinned, "Tony and Chris are already out, so everything’s going right so far."

I grabbed my jacket and after locking up, I followed Aiden down the stairs. It wasn’t a very long drive to the club, and by the time we got there, the party room was already filling up. By the time Chris and Tony arrived, the band was already playing and the place was packed.

Chris and Tony were definitely surprised, and after they both stopped bitching about their shirts matching and stopped complaining that they had no idea that a party was being planned, everything ran smoothly.

For the first part of the night, I seemed to be a constant fixture under Chris’s arm, as he dragged me from one person to another, making introductions. Chris was definitely in his element, and I was just happy that he was having a good time.

When Chris was drunk enough to be leaning on me, I left him at a table with Leo, Ben, and the girl that he had arrived with before I looked around and spotted Ryan, he was following Aiden around, as Aiden took pictures every few seconds. They waved, so I started heading over, but stopped when I spotted Jake.

Jake had been behind the bar all night, until recently when Chris called someone up from downstairs to take over and told Jake to join the party. I was glad that Chris did it, because after organizing the whole thing, it didn’t seem right that Jake shouldn’t get to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, Jake didn’t seem to be enjoying much of anything. He was still at the bar, only now he was in front of it, not behind it, and he was burning a hole in the back of my brother’s head with his eyes. I was just glad that this time he had the right brother.

Tony was standing in front of a table, talking to a few friends, laughing and smiling. I could practically see Jake’s feet itching, wanting to walk over there. When Tony glanced over his shoulder and looked pointedly at Jake, it was only for a moment, but I had the feeling that the smile on Tony’s face was one only reserved for Jake. It was also enough to get Jake moving.

Jake lifted the jewelry box from his shirt pocket and I watched as he headed towards my brother. I’m not sure why I was suddenly so interested in their relationship, but I felt a little bit like a fan, standing there, silently cheering them on. I mean, I hadn’t known Jake for very long, but it just seemed so obvious to me that he belonged with Tony. I just wished that Jake and Tony could see it.

Jake was almost there when another guy appeared and started talking to Tony. I don’t know who this guy was, but his presence caused Jake to freeze up, less than a foot away from my brother, and Tony was so absorbed in talking to the other guy that he didn’t seem to notice Jake.

I had to resist the urge to rush over there and shoo the other guy away. I had no idea who he was, but his very presence annoyed me. I decided to avoid being rude, though. Instead, I walked over until I was behind Jake, and shoved him forward with my shoulder, hoping that it would seem like an accident.

"Oops, sorry." I mumbled as Jake fell forward, directly into Tony’s back.

Tony caught himself and spun around in time to grab Jake’s arm and help him catch his balance. The jewelry box fell between their feet and they both looked down on it before Jake glared back in my direction with a look that was clearly meant to kill.

I put on my best innocent face, shrugged, and then retreated without waiting to see what was going to happen next. I figured that I had done enough meddling for one day.

I was just about to go look for Aiden and Ryan again when a familiar hand dropped down on my shoulder and I turned to see Aiden standing in front of me, clutching his camera to his chest and giving me an accusing look.

"I saw that." He remarked, "When did you become a matchmaker?"

"I’m not." I stated, "I was just…"

"Giving Jake a helpful shove in the right direction?" Aiden smiled.

"Something like that." I shrugged. "It’s not like he didn’t need it. Besides, if my brother doesn’t figure out that Jake’s interested soon, I’m liable to strangle him. I hate people who don’t take note of the obvious."

Aiden cocked his head at me with a measuring look for a moment. The way he was staring made me wonder if I had anything on my face, but then he just smiled.

"Mmm-hmm." Aiden hummed, "You want to go outside for a few minutes? All of these people are making it feel a little hot in here."

"Sure." I shrugged.

Aiden led the way through the crowds of people, down the stairs and back out behind the brick building. It was a colder night, and the air stung my face, but it seemed refreshing after being in a hot, loud, crowded club for so long.

I watched as Aiden slid down to sit against the wall and then I sat next to him and looked out into the parking lot, just enjoying the peace and quiet.

"Tony and Chris are having a good time." Aiden said, "So I guess it worked out."

I hummed my agreement. I was suddenly feeling tired and closed my eyes for a few minutes, until Aiden nudged my shoulder and I looked at him.

"Getting tired?" he asked, glancing at his watch, "It’s one o’clock."

"Yeah." I nodded. "After getting up early this morning, I could use a nap."

"How about going to bed?" he smirked, "Are you ready to go?"

"Are you?" I asked, "We can go if you want. It doesn’t make a difference to me, either way."

"I’m kinda tired." Aiden admitted, "but I don’t mind staying if you want to. I mean, it is your brothers’ party."

"It’s okay." I insisted, "They won’t even miss me. You want to say goodbye and then head out?"

Aiden nodded and hooked my arm with his. We helped each other up and then went back in. We were able to find Chris, and we said goodbye to Ryan. Tony and Jake were nowhere to be found, but I took that as a good sign.

The ride home was a quiet one. I was tired, but Aiden seemed lost in thought. I thought back to his mom being home again. I really hoped that he worked things out with her.

But, when we got home I noticed that he seemed hesitant about going inside. He just sort of stared at his door. He seemed tired. A lot more tired than he had been a few minutes ago. I walked up behind him and dropped a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you want to come up?" I asked. I didn’t think he would, but I thought that I could at least make the offer open to him. If he didn’t want to go home, I certainly wouldn’t mind having him in my bed. Actually, I wanted him in my bed, with me. I seemed to sleep better whenever he was close like that.

Aiden looked back at me and smiled, but it was definitely forced.

"Nah. I’m gonna get to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure." I smiled. I gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze, but I didn’t go anywhere until Aiden was safely inside. Walking up the stairs, I suddenly felt alone. I wished that Aiden were walking up them with me. I wondered how well I would be sleeping without his warm body next to mine.

………..

I dialed Lacy’s number Sunday afternoon, and we casually went over our plans again. She would be getting a ride with Ryan and everyone else and I would meet her there with Aiden. Of course, that didn’t stop her from breaking her promise about not trying to dress me. When I mentioned that I’d ‘throw something together,’ she took it upon herself to demand my address and then she said she’d be over in ten minutes.

Funny thing about school dances. They can say ‘casual dress’ but everyone always seems to feel like dressing up anyways. Before Lacy decided to come over, my way of dressing up involved combing my hair, and if I felt like it later, I might have put on a cleaner shirt.

Instead, I had Lacy Chapman digging through my closet while I stood by trying not to look as bored as I was. It wasn’t every day I had a girl in my room trying to dress me, and there really was no appeal in the idea.

But, despite being a little annoyed, I couldn’t help noticing that I felt at ease with Lacy. It reminded me of when I was dating Anna Crossle. We had been so at ease with each other back then. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t miss the friendship. But, even thinking about Anna and the way she betrayed me to my father hurt.

In the back of my mind I wanted to be wary of Lacy, but she was just too damned easy to be around for it to have any effect. She seemed to make herself completely at home wherever she was, and the confident way that she was digging through my closet; you’d think that it was an every day occurrence.

"Don’t you have anything that doesn’t swallow you alive?" Lacy asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. She still had her head in my closet, her arms stretching to see what was hanging in the back.

"What you see is what you get." I shrugged, "Are you hungry? I’m gonna make some lunch."

"Owen, I’m always hungry." Her back was to me and her voice was muffled in the closet, but I could hear her, "And, just because you feed me, doesn’t mean that you’re going to distract me into leaving you alone."

"I thought you said that you didn’t care what I wore." I argued, "You know, I could just back out of this whole thing, I’m sure that Ryan has any number of guys who would be lining up to go with you."

Lacy turned around and narrowed her eyes on me.

"Don’t get smart." She stated.

"Stop trying to dress me then." I smirked.

"Don’t think of it like that," she smiled, obviously picking up some of the contempt in my voice, "Just think of this as two friends trying to get to know each other better, and, one friend giving the other a little fashion advice."

She had walked up to me between her words and now she was gripping my shirt, pushing it back, tight against my chest.

"I mean, you’re a good looking guy Owen, why hide it?" she put her hands on my sides and suddenly spun me around. The girl was stronger than she looked. Must be all that food she could shovel away.

"Hey!" I objected as she suddenly grabbed my ass, "We are not getting to know each other that well!"

Lacy giggled as I spun around again, protectively covering my butt with my hands.

"Sorry," she grinned, "it’s just that, there’s so much of you hiding under those clothes."

I looked down at my black jeans and t-shirt. I felt so comfortable in them, whether they swallowed me alive or not. Which they did. I could hardly remember the days when I cared about what I looked like.

"The hair is good." She continued, "Before you got it cut I couldn’t even see your eyes."

"You didn’t even know me before I got it cut." I reminded her.

"That doesn’t mean I didn’t notice you, Owen." She rolled her eyes, ignoring the indignant look I was throwing at her "Now, we just need to find you some clothes…I think a trip to the mall is in order."

Mall? Huh? Me? It was embarrassing enough having Lacy Chapman in my bedroom, going through my clothes, and grabbing my ass. There was no way I wanted her to do any of that in public. When she picked up her purse from where she had dropped it on my bed, I started getting worried.

"Lacy, wait." I insisted, "Let’s not make any shopping trips just yet, okay?"

"Look, Owen, I’m just trying to help…"

"I know." I replied, kneeling down in front of my bed. Lacy stepped back as I pulled out the old trunk that had been collecting dust since I got to town. "You can look in here."

Lacy curiously opened the trunk as I sat back, watching her go through all of my old things. My old life. Maybe I shouldn’t have thought of a bunch of clothes that way, but it was hard not to. My physical image and self-image had changed so much in the past few months; I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was with going back to the old me.

But, I was the one who made the decision to let Lacy look in the trunk. I don’t know, maybe I wanted to change. Maybe I wanted to go back to the way things used to be, where I wasn’t in the shadows, when people would look at me and acknowledge me, where I looked at who and what was around me, instead of the ground. Nah.

I didn’t need any acknowledgement. I had my brothers, and the beginnings of a few good friendships. Even if one of those friends happened to be making a mess of my room at the moment.

I thought about telling Lacy that I changed my mind, that I’d dress myself and I didn’t need her input. But she seemed so happy when she found a pair of jeans that would actually fit me and an old red mesh shirt that she swore would match her chosen dress, that I found myself agreeing to wear them.

After Lacy was satisfied with my wardrobe, I made her lunch as promised, and we spent a few hours just hanging out and talking. I guess as long as there was no threat of her grabbing my butt again, I was okay.

I was actually surprised at how much I seemed to have in common with Lacy. At least, I had one thing in common with her. She had identical twin siblings, sisters. I told her all about my brothers and she told me about her nine-year-old sisters. We both decided that it could be fun to have twins in the family, but equally annoying. But, unlike my ability to tell Chris and Tony apart, Lacy didn’t have the same gift with her sisters. She said the only way that she could tell them apart was because one’s hair was cut shorter than the other.

After a slow afternoon with Lacy she left to go home and get ready, and I began to wonder about Aiden again. Neither of my brothers were home. Actually, neither of them had been home all day.

Chris had ended up staying at a friend’s house the night before and had called me earlier to say that he was working, but I hadn’t heard from Tony at all. I took that as a good sign, considering that the last time I saw him he was with Jake. But, with no brothers around to talk to, I seemed to have plenty of time to think. Aiden just happened to be the one topic that I couldn’t get out of my head.

I hadn’t heard from Aiden all day, but as far as I knew our plans hadn’t changed. I was driving him down to the school at eight o'clock. I decided to kill as much time as I could, getting dressed and flipping channels. At eight o'clock I went downstairs to knock on Aiden’s door and was pleasantly surprised when I found him waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me. He hadn’t bothered to dress up, but he looked just as good as ever. Only, instead of a camera he had a duffle bag thrown over his shoulder.

I had almost forgotten that I let Lacy ‘dress me,’ until I got closer and Aiden literally looked me up and down, from head to toe. I swear I blushed, and worse, I wanted to run back upstairs and hide, especially when that cocky grin spread across his face.

"Wow, new you?" he asked.

"Old me, actually." I mumbled, and then before he could ask any more questions, "Come on, lets go." And I headed to my truck. Aiden got in on the passenger side and tossed his bag behind his seat before he buckled up.

"So I hear Lacy came to see you." He smiled as I started to drive.

"You heard about that, huh?"

"Ryan called me." Aiden shrugged, "He suggested I go up and rescue you."

"And you didn’t?" I asked incredulously.

Aiden just chuckled and shrugged, and maybe I didn’t see it right because I was driving, but I swear he looked me over again, right before he said, "If Lacy did that, I’m not going to complain."

Okay, that had me blushing all the way to the school, and confused to no end. Maybe guys complimented each other all the time, but something about the way that he was looking at me felt like…I don’t know. My brain couldn’t wrap around it. But one question kept popping into my mind. Was Aiden hitting on me?

I didn’t have much time to think about it. Before I knew it, we were at the school.

The sun had just started to set when we arrived and the parking lot was already packed. I really hadn't been expecting so many people to be there, and I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of a huge crowd, but I found myself following Aiden in anyways.

The gymnasium was decorated with corny streamers and glittered floors, mostly low budget stuff, but there was a DJ, and although the music wasn’t great, it could be danced to. As we walked in through the crowd of people, Aiden reached back for me without looking. I smiled to myself and moved so he could grab my arm, as he always seemed to do, so that we wouldn’t get separated.

I realized that he was looking for our friends, so I did the same. Unfortunately, the first face I made eye contact with was Dennis Gordon’s. He was looking at me like it was a capitol crime that I even showed up for the dance. I decided to pretend I didn’t see him and continued to scan the crowd.

I caught sight of Ryan first. He was over at the refreshment table eating cookies that someone had volunteered to bring in, with Heather under his arm. Lacy was right next to him, also stuffing her face. But Janie wasn’t anywhere to be seen, not that I was heart broken over it.

I tapped Aiden’s shoulder and when he turned back to look at me I pointed out Ryan. Aiden smiled and we made our way over. Ryan greeted us in Ryan fashion, handshakes before he threw his arms over us.

"About time you guys got here." He smirked.

"Where’s Janie?" Aiden asked, obviously concerned that she wasn’t there. "Shit, Ryan, please tell me you picked her up, if you didn’t she’s gonna…"

"Relax." Ryan interrupted, "We picked her up alright, and I’ll tell you right now, that’s not an experience I’d care to repeat. She complained about everything the whole way here and then she disappeared into the bathrooms."

"I went to check on her a while ago." Lacy added, "She was reapplying her makeup and sort of gave me the brush off."

Aiden sighed and shook his head.

"I better go see if I can find her." he said, "I’ll catch up to you guys later."

"Good luck." Ryan rolled his eyes.

I watched after Aiden until Lacy appeared in front of me and I forced myself to turn my attention to her.

"You clean up nice." She smiled.

"Oh?" I replied, "I hope that doesn’t mean you’re gonna grab my ass again."

Ryan gave me a questioning look, raised eyebrows and all, but Lacy just giggled and swatted my arm.

"I might." She remarked.

I shook my head, hoping that she was joking.

"You look nice." I told her.

"Thanks. So, I believe you said you could dance?"

I smiled and offered her my arm. She took it and we headed for the dance floor after I waved over my shoulder at Ryan, but I don’t think he saw me. He and Heather seemed to be connected at the face.

Lacy and I danced a few fast songs and even some slow ones, and I actually liked dancing with her. We seemed to fit each other well enough on the dance floor, and I was having a lot more fun than I thought I would have.

I spotted Aiden three times the whole time I was dancing. The first time he had found Janie, and she was slow dancing with him to a fast song. Poor Aiden looked suffocated. The second time they were still dancing, only a little further apart, and seemed to be in the middle of some heavy conversation. But the last time I saw him, Janie had drug him off to a dark corner and it looked like she was screaming her head off while Aiden just stood there, looking somewhat dejected.

Lacy saw where I was looking and rested her head on my shoulder. It was another slow dance.

"God, that girl is such a bitch." she remarked.

"Janie?"

Lacy looked up at me with raised eyebrows.

"Who else? Don’t get me wrong Owen, my mother taught me to always look for good in everyone, and after meeting Jamie’s brother, I tried to like her. I mean, Adam is so sweet. Who would have thought his sister could be such an ice queen? I mean, she puts on a friendly face, but none of it’s real, and if you’re on her bad side, she lets you know it. I think she’s the reason why I never got to know Aiden better. I mean, Aiden and Ryan are like, best friends, but every time Ryan brought Aiden around, Janie would show up just to make sure I stayed away from him, I swear to god that’s what she was doing."

For some reason, that just wasn’t difficult to believe.

"Anyways, she’s always been a little possessive of him, just not as bad as she’s been this last year. A lot of people know Aiden, I mean, he’s always everywhere with that camera of his. A lot of girls like him. Of course, I’ll be the first to admit that the guy’s hot, but honestly, a lot of girls just want to be his friend because he’s so sweet. But when Janie’s around, she runs practically everyone off."

"I know what you mean." I nodded, now thinking about all of the dirty looks that Janie had given me lately. It was beginning to make sense. Aiden and I had spent a lot of time together recently, especially after the camping trip. I was beginning to wonder if Janie was jealous of the time I’d been spending with him.

I glanced in Aiden’s direction and saw that both he and Janie seemed to be arguing now, but then Aiden suddenly turned and walked off with Janie following after him, obviously perturbed that he had walked away. I let go of Lacy as soon as I saw it, and when I realized I had stopped dancing I looked at her apologetically.

"Go ahead." Lacy smiled, "I’ll even hunt down the queen bitch for you and at least distract her long enough for you to talk to Aiden."

"Thanks, Lacy. " I smiled. I liked her even more after that.

I made my way through the crowd, moving in the direction Aiden had gone. I thought I saw him head for the restrooms and realized that the men’s room was probably the one place where he could go to get rid of Janie, not that I’d put it past her to follow him in there.

I moved into the bathroom where a group was just coming out. By the time I entered, it was quiet. I looked under the stalls at two different pairs of shoes, but neither of them were Aiden’s boots. When I realized he wasn’t in there I turned to go, but then I stopped cold.

Dennis Gordon was between the door, and me. And from the way he was looking at me I was pretty sure he wasn’t in there to take a shit. He had actually followed me in. Asshole. I was not in the mood for this.

"What do you want, Dennis?" I asked in my most neutral voice.

He took a step closer, but I stayed put.

"I don’t like you." he said.

"Well, thank you for that touching revelation, now, if you’ll excuse me…"

I moved to step past him, but he stepped in my path, putting us practically nose to nose.

"What do you want?" I demanded. I was loosing my patience quickly. I did not like feeling trapped, especially by someone like him. When he shoved my shoulder I had to clench my fists to keep from punching him right then.

"Do. Not. touch me." I warned, straightening and holding my ground.

"You think you’re tough, boy?" Dennis continued, obviously ignoring me. I could feel my face getting red, and it had nothing to do with embarrassment.

For some reason, this guy brought out the worst in me, and it was almost sickening how much he reminded me of my father. "You think since you got a few sucker punches in on me, you think you’re a tough guy now?"

"I don’t assume anything." I replied, "Now get out of my way."

I was starting to feel a little shaky, the same way I felt before I exploded the first time I’d attacked Dennis, and if he had any intelligence whatsoever, he would have noticed it and backed off. He didn’t.

Dennis shoved me again, this time with both hands, causing me to take a step backwards, and I still didn’t hit him, but the idea was definitely more appealing to me than it was five seconds ago.

"You think I’ll let a faggot get the better of me?" he shouted. His words seemed to startle me. I was gay, but in my head I knew that there was no real way Dennis had of knowing that, and he seemed angry about the idea, like having a gay boy kick his ass was unthinkable, "Is that what you are?" he demanded, "Are you a queer, Dovan? Is that why you hang around with Leo Sader? Are you a little faggot?"

He went to push me again but this time I stepped into his face so fast that his shove didn’t really do anything.

"Don’t touch me again." I glared. Of course, I knew he wasn’t going to listen to me. For a moment it looked like he was going to attack me right there in the bathroom, but the sound of movement gave us both pause. We had forgotten about the other two guys in there, and we waited it out, glaring at each other until they left. I could just picture whoever had been in here drawing a crowd, and another week of suspension didn’t sound appealing to me. "If you want to talk, I’ll be outside." I said.

I brushed by Dennis before he could do anything and walked out, and then headed to the nearest exit because I knew that he was following me, and I’d rather deal with this being just him and me. There was no need to drag either of our friends into it.

I ended up outside of the gym, on the other side of the parking lot. I took a quick look around to make sure no one was there, and without looking back I started to talk to Dennis, because I could practically feel him behind me.

"Look Dennis, I don’t want any trouble with you, and I won’t fight…" I really shouldn’t have turned my back on him. I barely turned around before his fist connected with the left side of my face. I stumbled backwards but prevented myself from falling. "Damn it!" I looked up to see that Dennis was all puffed up and ready for more.

"Come on bitch!" he shouted, "Lets see what you’ve got."

I straightened and turned around to glower at him.

"What are you, stupid? I don’t want to fight you, Dennis. And I’ll even let that slide," I said, touching my bruising face, "But try it again and I will defend myself."

"God, you really are a fucking queer!" he was getting worked up, "You won’t even fucking fight me!"

"No, I wont. But I will apologize." Well, that threw him. "And don’t get the wrong idea about that either, I don’t like you, and the next time you go after one of my friends I will fight. But I owe you an apology for the way I went after you before. All that ‘lashing out’ wasn’t meant for you. But if you keep this shit up right now, the next time it will be."

"Do you think I’m afraid of you? Of a faggot?"

I had not yet confirmed or denied being gay, but I was beginning to notice things about Dennis. Like, why he reminded me of my father. When he mentioned ‘faggot’ or ‘queer’ his voice cracked, like he was really afraid of something. I wasn’t about to question him about it; I just wanted to get out of there.

"I don’t really care what you’re afraid of," I replied, "You think what you want Dennis, but I won’t fight you."

That was about the time the door swung open. I expected to see principal Johnson, coming to suspend us again, not Ryan. And then Aiden came into view and I suddenly remembered why I had gone into the bathroom in the first place. They took one look at my bruised face and one look at Dennis, right before they charged towards him.

"You son of a bitch!" Ryan hissed. Dennis looked so pissed I wouldn’t be surprised if he was stupid enough to try to take both of them, but I never gave him the chance.

I got between Dennis and my friends and shoved Aiden and Ryan back somewhat forcefully, because it was the only way that would have worked at the time.

"Knock it off you guys, we were just talking."

"Your face tells a different story." Ryan replied indignantly.

"It’s over." I told him, "Let’s just get out of here." I glanced back at Dennis, "It’s over."

Ryan looked unconvinced while Aiden looked both concerned and angry as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Are you sure?" Aiden asked.

I nodded, and then happy that they both seemed to accept my answer, I pushed them towards the door, but they both glared back at Dennis until we were safely in the gym. But none of us were in the mood to dance anymore.

I ended up in the parking lot, sitting on the tailgate of my truck next to Ryan, while Heather stood in front of him, cuddled up to his chest with his arms wrapped around her. We all looked up as Aiden walked towards us with Lacy. Aiden handed me a bag of ice and I thanked him before bringing it to the side of my face.

"Where’s Janie?" Ryan asked, "Couldn’t you guys find her?"

"She said to let you know that she found another ride home." Aiden replied, and then before Ryan could ask any more questions, he turned to me, "You okay?"

"I’m good." I replied.

Lacy stepped up next to me and guided the ice away from my face. She looked at the bruise forming at the corner of my eye, leading down my cheekbone and winced.

"I guess you’re wishing you’d stayed home tonight." She remarked.

"Na." I smiled, "It was fun, and I think I found my official dance partner."

She flashed a spectacular smile and lifted herself on her toes to kiss my uninjured cheek.

"Thanks for coming Owen. I’ll see you in school." then she looked at Ryan. "Can you take me home, Ry? I called my mom and said I’d be there soon."

"You guys gonna be okay?" Ryan asked, looking between Aiden and I.

"Yep." Aiden smiled, "We’ll see you tomorrow."

Ryan pointed at me.

"Bright and early?" he asked, meaning the workouts we had been doing every morning.

"I’ll be early," I smirked, "But you can forget about bright."

There seemed to be hugs all around as Ryan and the girls prepared to leave, and as they walked off Aiden hopped up next to me on the tailgate.

"Are you still up for going out tonight?" he asked. "It’s already nine thirty, and if you plan on working out with Ryan in the morning…"

"I’m fine." I insisted, "And yeah, I still want to go. I figure if I get in late enough I wont have to explain the black eye to me brothers. But, you’re driving so I can hold the ice, and besides, you haven't told me where we’re going."

Aiden smiled as he took the offered keys.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

When Aiden and I decided that we could both eat, I figured we would go through a drive though and head off to wherever Aiden had planned to go that night. I was more than confused when he parked the truck in front of a pizza place that I had only passed by every once in a while. And I wasn’t surprised because of the pizza, pizza sounded good, it was because the restaurant was closed. But Aiden got out of the truck so I followed him.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

He smiled back at me as we reached the entrance.

"Getting dinner."

I just shrugged and waited as he knocked on the locked door. A moment later an older woman with graying hair and a big smile appeared behind the glass, opening the door and pulling Aiden into a big hug, which he fully returned.

"Aiden, it’s good to see you."

"You too Shelly." He replied, "thanks for doing this for us."

"It’s no problem." Shelly insisted, handing Aiden a key, "You just make sure to turn off the oven and lock things up."

"We will." Aiden insisted, "Shelly, this is Owen. Owen, Shelly used to baby-sit me when I was a kid, she owns this place."

I smiled, finally understanding the connection and greeted Shelly as she shook my hand. She didn’t stick around very long afterwards and Aiden led me into the empty restaurant.

It seemed strange, like we weren’t really supposed to be there, but it was exciting at the same time. I never would have pictured myself in a restaurant, after hours just to make dinner. But Aiden seemed incredibly familiar with the place. He led the way straight back into the kitchen and began pulling things out of the walk-in cooler, giving me instructions on the way.

"Did you plan this?" I asked finally, watching Aiden. He was wearing an apron and going to work on some pizza dough. The question had been on the tip of my tongue. He had never really said what we were doing, but out of all the things I pictured, it wasn’t this. To be honest, I had figured that we’d end up at a party somewhere.

"Yeah." He replied. "I figured you’d be hungry after the dance, and I did promise you fun…this probably wasn’t what you had in mind. But trust me, this place has great pizza."

"Well, it is original." I admitted, "You seem to know your way around this place."

"I worked here a summer before I got the job at the supermarket." He explained, "I still come back to help every once in a while." He stopped and pointed to a small door, another cooler below the shelf we were using, "There should be some sauce in there."

I obediently knelt down to grab the sauce and placed it on the counter.

"What else do you need?" I asked.

"Cheese should be under there too." Aiden replied, "and everything else you can find in the walk-in. Go ahead and grab whatever you want on this thing."

He had stretched the dough over a thin pan and was now spooning the sauce on. I went to the walk-in and Aiden laughed when I returned with everything I could find, not knowing what he would like. Once we decided to put anything and everything on it, Aiden threw me an apron and let me help top the pizza.

For such a simple task we sure had fun doing it. We were laughing at each other the whole time, and we had the pizza topped as high as we could possibly get it before it would have ended up ruined. When we were satisfied with our handiwork, Aiden went to toss our creation into an old brick oven and then we went about cleaning up our mess while we waited.

It didn’t take long, and by the time the pizza was finished, I was starving, so when Aiden began to box it up, I was a little more than perplexed. He just smiled at the look at my face.

"Why don’t you grab a couple of sodas." He suggested.

I went over to where the bottles were stored and did as I was asked. When I moved back towards the counter, Aiden was already turning off the lights.

"You ready?" he asked as he headed towards the door.

"Where are we going?"

"There’s a place I want to show you."

Curiously, I followed him back to the truck. Aiden drove again, and refused to tell me where we were going no matter how many times I asked. I was definitely curious. We seemed to be heading up into the hills where the larger houses were. I thought that maybe we were going to some sort of party after all, and honestly, I was a little disappointed about that. I felt like I had had a long night, but spending the last hour or so with Aiden had me feeling better. I would have been happy with it being just the two of us.

I seemed to get my wish when I realized that we had passed the residential areas and the road had turned to dirt. When we finally did stop it was up on hill, overlooking the town. At least, it would have overlooked the town if it hadn't been for all the trees blocking the view. But the area was peaceful and quiet, and it did have one view, the stars seemed more visible from where we were.

Aiden was smiling at me again when he reached back and grabbed the duffle bag he had brought earlier. I followed him out with the pizza and watched as he opened the bag and removed a blanket. It was thin, but big enough for both of us to sit on. I was suddenly feeling very amused. This was definitely not what I was expecting, and it must have shown in my face because he laughed at me again.

"I wanted to do something you wouldn’t expect." He explained, "I figured star gazing was safe enough."

"Stars?" I laughed. Honestly, no one had ever taken me to look at stars before. Aiden just rolled his eyes at me as he plopped down on the blanket.

"Get over here, I’m starving."

I dropped onto the blanket and placed the pizza between us, handing him a coke. Aiden moved the box in front of us and moved to sit next to me as we both dug in. For a while we just ate in silence, looking up at the dark sky so generously flecked with white stars. It was a clear night, but the air had gone cold, even under our coats we could feel it. Almost absently I was leaning into Aiden’s shoulder for a little added warmth, and I began to notice that he was doing the same thing.

"This was really great, Aiden." I said after a while, still looking upwards. "I’m glad I came tonight. Thank you."

"I’m glad you came, too." he replied, "But I’m sorry about what happened with Dennis."

"Yeah." I frowned, "So am I."

"How did you end up out there with him anyways? The only reason Ryan and I realized where you were, was because we overheard some kids talking about Dennis Gordon and a fight. We didn’t see you anywhere, so we sort of put two and two together."

"Hmm." I sighed, "Actually I was looking for you. I just happened to run into Dennis in the bathroom. Although, I’m pretty sure he followed me in there."

"Why were you looking for me?"

"When I was dancing with Lacy we sort of saw you and Janie." I explained "The plan was for Lacy to find Janie while I went to see if you were okay…are you?"

Aiden was silent for a moment, and then I heard him sigh.

"Yeah, same old shit, you know? Anyways, I’d sort of like to forget about it for tonight if you don’t mind. Right now, Janie is the last person I want to think about."

I smiled to myself, because I felt exactly the same way.

"Okay."

I turned my head to look at him finally, and became somewhat startled to find that Aiden was staring at me. He had that look again, the one I thought I had imagined earlier that night when he looked me over.

I seemed to keep placing myself in situations with him, where I would experience these moments of absolute attraction, and then I’d trick myself into thinking that there was something more than friendship between us. I had always pushed these thoughts aside before. That kind of thinking could ruin a friendship if I dwelled on it too much.

But never, any of those times before, had Aiden leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. It happened so fast I hardly realized that it was actually happening. His lips were so soft, and the kiss was not at all the earth shattering kind, it was just lips on lips, and my lips couldn’t even respond do to shock. But it lingered there for a moment, before Aiden slowly pulled back, his mouth curled into a small smile, and then he went back to looking at stars while I just gaped at him.

I didn’t feel as surprised as I thought I should be, but my mind was having so much difficulty wrapping around the idea of what had just happened that it immediately went on the defensive.

The kiss didn’t mean anything.

Relatives kissed each other like that; I’d even seen girls do it. Not really two guys, especially one who was straight, but it could happen, it was just a kiss of friendship, no different than a hug. When we had jacked each other off on the camping trip, or I had held him in my bed, it had been more intimate than that kiss.

And yet my mouth was suddenly dry.

"What was that for?" I managed to get out. I needed to ask, for my own piece of mind at least. If I just brushed it off and ignored it, I knew it would end up driving me crazy.

Aiden turned his head back towards me and shrugged.

"I thought I’d get it out of the way, is all." he smiled. I still didn’t get it, and it showed, "You know, that awkward first kiss at the end of a date. It usually happens at the door, I think."

Sadly, it took me another few moments to catch on.

This whole night, Aiden asking if I wanted to go out. The pizza place. Coming up here to look at stars on a picnic blanket. This wasn’t something I would have done with any of my buddies. Aiden had planned. Hell, he hadn't even told me where we were going. He had treated this like a date ever since we first left the dance.

And I still wasn’t getting it.

"This is a date?" I asked incredulously, only adding to his amusement.

"Well, what did you think it was?" he all but laughed, and then, with a sarcastic tone and a teasing grin, he threw some of my own words back in my face, the same words I had used the night before when he accused me of playing matchmaker between Jake and Tony. "God, I just hate it when people don’t take note of the obvious, don’t you, Owen?"