The Long Way - 8. Gossip

I woke up, spooned against Aiden’s back, my morning wood pressed up against his butt. I didn’t stay long enough to savor it. I eased my hips away from his ass and away from danger.

I was actually surprised to find him there. I knew that we were in the same position we had fallen asleep in the night before, but every other time Aiden and I had shared the same sleeping space, he always disappeared before I woke up.

I couldn’t blame him for sleeping in, though. He had obviously had a rough night before he crashed out in my bed. I remembered what I had overheard when he went on his rampage with Chris and Tony. He kept saying ‘She did’ or ‘I hate her.’

I knew something wasn’t right in his house. And he always seemed to have to help his mother with something. He had never mentioned a father. But I guessed that whatever the problem was, it had to do with his mom.

I might never know what had happened, or what was going on between Aiden and his mother, not unless he told me, but I could at least be there for him if he needed me.

But now I needed to piss away my morning wood, so I eased my arm away from him and carefully crawled out of bed, doing my best not to wake him. I was half way to my bedroom door when I caught sight of the clock and stopped to stare for a second.

It wasn’t even six o'clock in the morning yet. No wonder Aiden was still asleep. I hadn't set my alarm, so I was surprised that I wasn’t still asleep. I made my way to the bathroom, relieved myself and then snuck back into my room.

Aiden had turned and pulled the blankets over his body, huddling against the warm spot I left on the bed. I watched him for a few minutes, smiling to myself. Something about Aiden in my bed just felt right to me. However, as tempted as I was to climb back in with him, I felt wide awake, and knew that I’d never get back to sleep.

So, I did something I hadn't done in months. I decided to go running. I dressed in my jogging pants and a sweatshirt and started by running down my block, sticking to familiar areas. I set my pace, knowing that other than gym class my physical activities had been limited.

I could feel the difference in my body. I thought I was still in decent shape, but obviously nowhere where I used to be. I broke a sweat a lot sooner than I normally would have, and if I didn’t pace myself I’m sure I would have been feeling all sorts of cramps. But in spite of all of that, I still felt great. I remembered how much I enjoyed a good run. I used to run with Nicky all the time before school. I really did miss him, but whether or not he was there, I decided that I needed to place a morning run in my routine again.

I went three blocks to the park, and then spent some time running laps. Not very many people were out, but the nearby streets were busy with people on their way to school. I didn’t have to go back to school for two more days, and while I wasn’t looking forward to facing Dennis Gordon or principal Johnson again, I was looking forward to going back as the new me. The new me who had friends and who wanted to be a friend. I looked forward to seeing Adam and Shane at lunch, and I wondered if I would see Aiden then too, for sure I’d say hi when I passed him in the halls now. And in gym I’d see Ryan, who I was looking forward to getting to know better. If anything, all of these people would make the day fly by faster.

I was a block away from home, looking forward to a long shower and big breakfast when a blue sports car coming down the street caught my eye. I probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it, if it hadn’t picked up speed when it turned down the street.

I groaned inwardly as I saw the familiar face with sandy brown hair and green eyes behind the wheel. Of all the people who could ruin a good morning, Dennis Gordon was at the top of the list. I guess I was just glad that he didn’t have all his asshole buddies with him, just one. I recognized him from the fight, a blonde haired guy with a crew cut who wasn’t any bigger than me. I didn’t know his name, but I had noticed that whenever Dennis caused trouble, this guy wasn’t far behind.

I kept jogging. Guys like Dennis and his friends are self-absorbed people anyways. If I was lucky, they wouldn’t even see me. I wasn’t that lucky. The car screeched to a halt less than a foot away from me and I jumped back onto someone’s lawn as the passenger door swung open. Crap. I really wasn’t looking for a fight, and began to debate what to say to talk my way out of this as Dennis and his friend jumped out of the car.

I put on my stone face, looking uninterested as ever as I placed my hands on my knees, hunched over and slowly caught my breath.

"I’ve been looking for you, asshole." Dennis said as he came around the car, towards me, reminding me a little of an animated, puffed-up bull. If he were a cartoon he’d probably have little puffs of fire coming out of his nostrils.

"Well, you found me." I stated the obvious as I stood up straight, keeping my eyes on both of the guys in front of me now. "So what do you want? Davis…isn’t it?"

I admit it, I was playing dumb. Something about Dennis made me want to aggravate him. I guess that wasn’t necessarily a good thing when I wanted to stay out of trouble.

"Dennis." Dennis shot back, clearly disgusted that a lowly boy like me did not remember his name. "And I am so gonna kick your ass."

And he probably could too. I was tired from my run and I was alone, but still, I was considering my odds, me against these two idiots. I smiled, despite the knots in my stomach, only provoking them further.

"Oh yeah?" I said, "That’s nice and all. But, I make a point not to kick the same person’s ass twice in one week." Like I said, the guy brings out the worst in me. Provoking him was turning into an addiction or something.

"Think your funny, do you?" Dennis’s friend sneered, "Lets see how funny you think you are when we fuck you up.".

The blonde advanced on me and I took a step back, while Dennis stood just behind him, clenching his fists as if he were waiting for his friend to take the first hit before he got in on the action. The coward. Oh well, at least separately I was sure I could take them at the moment. But it never came to that.

I heard tires screeching again and without taking my eyes off Dennis’s friend, I looked up to see a familiar red Camaro coming only inches from Dennis’s car before both Ryan and Leo stepped out, and before I could blink twice Ryan was between me and the blond guy, in his face, poking his chest.

"There a problem here, Clayton?" Ryan asked.

"Stay out of this Sader." Dennis hissed, advancing on Ryan.

I moved up next to Ryan as Leo moved behind Dennis and the Clayton kid, the three of us blocking them in.

"Don’t you have somewhere to be Dennis?" Leo asked, "Like chasing some skirt instead of my boy Owen here? Or do you prefer his cute little ass?"

Dennis whirled around on Leo so fast I swear he ended up with whiplash.

"Well if it isn’t the fag patrol!" Dennis shot back, but his voice suddenly sounded more panicked than angry. "What’s up Leo? You fucking this guy too?" Dennis waved in my general direction with that comment, "What happened to your little cock-sucking whore? Where is Benny anyways? What happened, you get sick of him begging to suck every cock that walked by?"

I didn’t know Leo very well, but he seemed like a pretty cool guy. I would have never pictured him as intimidating. But then he got angry. His face turned red and veins were bulging out of his neck. Obviously when Dennis decided to talk about Ben it was the wrong thing to do.

In the second it took Leo to pull his fist back, I didn’t even think about it, but obviously Ryan had the same idea because he was right there with me as we caught hold of a furious Leo before he could reach Dennis and we held him back.

"Get the fuck out of here Dennis before I let him go!" Ryan warned.

"Go ahead, Sader." Dennis sneered, "Let the queer go."

Leo jolted in our arms but we held tight, which was probably a good thing, because I had a feeling that if he got his hands on Dennis right now it wouldn’t be pretty. Luckily, Clayton seemed more wary than his idiot friend and put a hand on Dennis’s shoulder.

"Come on Dennis, we’ll settle up later." He insisted.

Dennis shook him off but began to circle around us, back towards his car. Dennis tore his eyes from Leo and set them on me, and I glared right back.

"I’ll see you later." Dennis said to me, and there was nothing friendly about it.

"See me all you want. Just make sure you keep your eyes off my cute little ass." I shot back, using Leo’s words from earlier. Dennis was obviously not amused, but Ryan smiled and Leo noticeably relaxed in our arms. Still, Ryan and I both held onto him until Dennis and his friend were in their car and disappearing around the corner. As soon as we released Leo, I turned to him and Ryan. "I’m really sorry about that, guys."

"Don’t worry about it." Ryan grinned, giving me a friendly pat on the back.

"Yeah," Leo agreed, "Dennis is just an asshole anyways."

"Still," I said, "You guys shouldn’t have been dragged into it."

"Hey, we dragged ourselves in." Ryan insisted.

"Yeah, besides, Dennis and me go way back." Leo said grimly, "Believe me, you didn’t drag us into anything."

"Well, thanks anyways." I replied, "I really wasn’t looking for a fight today."

"No problem." Leo smiled, "I was just driving Ryan to school, you need a ride, Owen?"

"No thanks," I said, "I’m still suspended."

"Oh, right." Ryan rolled his eyes, "Well, I guess we’ll see you later then."

I shook both of their hands but Ryan gave me a hug. I was beginning to learn that Ryan liked to hug. We said our goodbyes and I continued on my way, hoping that the rest of my run would be uninterrupted.

By the time I made it home it was eight in the morning, and I was a little surprised to find both of my brothers in the living room, getting ready to go somewhere dressed in suits and ties. The only time I had seen either one of them dressed so formal was for my uncle John’s funeral when I was eleven years old.

"Damn," I whistled, "You guys look good."

Chris just beamed at me while Tony looked surprised to see me coming in the front door.

"I thought you were still in bed." Tony said.

"Did you go running?" Chris asked, before I could even answer Tony.

"Yep." I replied, deciding not to mention my run in with Dennis. They had enough to worry about with Aiden; I didn’t want to add to it.

"That’s great." Chris said. I had told my brothers how I used to run, and they, especially Chris, had been trying to get me to do it again for a while.

"Is Aiden still in your room?" Tony asked.

"He was still asleep when I left." I shrugged.

"Oh." Tony nodded, and then almost cautiously asked, "So, did you guys talk last night?"

"Nope." I said, "We just passed out."

I saw concerned looks passed between Chris and Tony and I smiled as I passed between them.

"And don’t worry," I told them, "I don’t expect you guys to tell me what’s going on."

"Owen, it’s not that we don’t want to…" Chris started.

"I know." I shrugged, "And I figure if Aiden wanted me to know, he’d tell me. But it would be nice to know where you two are going looking like that."

"We have an errand to run." Tony smiled at me, "It’s no big deal…but hey, Owen?"

"Yeah?"

"When Aiden wakes up, he’ll probably want to head home, do us a favor and ask him to be here when we get back, it should only be a few hours."

"Sure." I shrugged.

"Thanks, kid." Chris smiled, "We’ll be back in a while."

"Bye guys." I waved.

I headed down the hall as they left, and when I reached my room I went in silently, pleased to see that Aiden was still asleep in my bed. I grabbed some clean clothes and slipped back out as quietly as possible, and then I spent the better part of the next hour in the shower.

When I was finished, I headed back to my room, for some reason feeling the need to check on Aiden, if only to make sure that he was still there. But, when I caught scent of food cooking, I switched directions and headed straight for the kitchen.

The first thing I saw was Aiden standing over the stove. His hair was tied back neatly, but he was still only wearing his sweats, and the exposed skin of his back had a healthy morning glow to it. He hardly even glanced back at me, but knowing I was there, he use the spatula to point backwards at the kitchen table.

"Sit." Was all he said.

And I did. It sounded almost like a command, but honestly, I didn’t care. I sat at the table and stared at his back.

"Chris and Tony aren't here." He said simply.

"I know." I replied, "They left a while ago, said they had something to take care of. But they told me to ask you to be here when they got back. It shouldn’t be long now."

Aiden absently nodded before he finally looked back at me and smiled.

"Hey," he said, his voice a little lower than it had been a moment ago, "Thanks for last night, for letting me crash, I mean."

"Anytime." And I meant that, "The couch isn’t so bad, but I’ve spent a whole night on it, and know that by morning it only leads to a stiff neck."

"Yeah," he laughed, "I know exactly what you mean."

He shoveled the food he was cooking onto plates and then moved to the table, presenting me with the largest stuffed omelet I’d ever seen.

"Damn." I remarked, eyeing it.

"Hope your hungry." He said, taking the seat closest to me.

"Starving." I nodded, and to prove it I took a big bite of my food while Aiden watched in approval. And it was wonderful. I mean, I can cook the basics. I don’t burn water or anything, but this was the best tasting omelet I had ever had, and to be honest, I was never really partial to omelets. I always liked my food items separate, not all mashed together. I must have looked surprised that it tasted so good, because Aiden laughed.

"Surprised?" he asked.

"I didn’t know you could cook."

"There’s a lot you don’t know about me."

That was the understatement of the year, but I didn’t comment.

"Well this is damn good, Aiden. Shit, any time you want to cook me breakfast, you’ve got my permission."

"Well, as long as I have your permission." He rolled his eyes.

I smiled and knocked my elbow against his as he began to dig into his own plate. I had just stuffed another big bite into my mouth when Aiden spoke up again.

"Tony and Chris didn’t say when they’d be back, did they?"

"Nope, they only said it would be a few hours."

Aiden let out a breath and stared down at his plate.

"I hate to make you the messenger, Owen, but, when they get in do you mind telling them that I’ll catch them later? I promised Janie I’d meet her for lunch today and she’ll freak out if I stand her up."

I immediately found myself feeling jealous that he was meeting Janie, but I shook off the feeling and found myself nodding.

"Sure, it’s no big deal. Where are you meeting her?"

"Just this place not far from the school, that old hamburger joint."

"Cool, in that case, we can leave Tony and Chris a note. I need to run a few errands today; I can give you a ride. I mean, if you want one."

I hoped I wasn’t being too pushy, offering him a ride, but the truth was I really did have some things I needed to do, and I might as well use some of my free time away from school to do it.

"That would be great." Aiden smiled, "So what are you doing today?"

"Shopping." I practically groaned, "Chris and Tony turn twenty-two next week. I haven't spent their birthday with them in three years, and I wanted to get them something special, but I still haven't thought of anything yet."

Aiden slapped his own forehead.

"Shit, I forgot they had a birthday coming up." I watched in some amusement as he sat there, and could almost see his brain ticking away. "I’ll have to call the guys, get something together…" then he suddenly turned to me again, "Unless you’d rather I didn’t. I mean, if you think they’d rather just do a family thing…"

"Actually, I think a party would be great." I smiled, "but you probably know more of their friends than I do."

"Oh, I can get people together, all right." Aiden nodded, obviously liking this idea. "I think I know a few restaurants too, where we could throw it, I mean."

"Why not use the club?" I suggested.

Aiden gave me a measuring look.

"You think? I mean, I’ve only known them for three years, but don’t they both tend to hate celebrations? Especially their birthday."

"Chris does." I admitted, "But Tony doesn’t mind much, at least from what I remember. But hey, we can use the club and still make it a surprise."

"How so?"

"Remember when we were studying there? The private party room? I can book it under a false name, and I can also get in there without any trouble. I mean, the club is eighteen and older, but if we’re careful about that with the guest list, it shouldn’t be a problem."

"Okay." Aiden smiled. "A surprise party then?"

I nodded. I liked that idea.

"Their birthday is on Friday, right?" Aiden asked. I nodded. "Then I think we should have the party Saturday. Too many people are working Friday night, and Sunday there’s that dance at school, I told Janie I’d go with her." and then he frowned for a moment as if he didn’t really like the idea. He snapped out of it fast, but not before I noticed, "So are you going?"

"To the dance?"

"Yeah."

"Hell no." I almost laughed, "I never really liked those things anyways."

But I had been to plenty of them. Every time there was a dance, I had a date, just to please my parents. But I never did find them much fun.

"You should go." Aiden said, interrupting my thoughts. "To the dance, I mean. I told Janie I’d take her because she begged me, but to be honest, it has never really been my scene anyways. The only reason I ever end up at those things is because of the yearbook, but I get to drag all my friends with me so it isn’t so bad. We usually head out early and go party somewhere else. Seriously, you should go."

"I don’t think so." I shook my head.

"Oh come on," Aiden smiled, "Ryan will be there, we can get Adam and Shane too, I’m sure. Besides, I know for a fact that Dennis is going to be there, and if you don’t go, who’s going to kick his ass if he decides to break my camera again?"

"Yeah, well, if you’re trying to sell me here, bringing up Dennis isn’t going to work." I said. "I actually saw him this morning." Aiden looked reasonably confused, so I explained. "I went out running this morning and was on my way back when he pulled up with this guy…Clayton, I think."

"Phil Clayton." Aiden grimaced, "Yeah, he was in the fight. That guys almost a bigger asshole than Dennis is."

"Yeah, well I’m sure he would have had the chance to prove that, but Ryan and Leo showed up."

Aiden’s head seemed to fly up at that.

"Leo was there? Did he talk to Dennis?"

"Talk isn’t what I’d call it." I shrugged, "Why?"

"It’s no secret around town that Leo and Dennis can’t stand each other." Aiden replied, and then raised one shapely eyebrow at me with a small smile, "I didn’t think you were the type that cared about gossip."

"I don’t." I stated, and that was the truth, "But I am curious. I mean, it started off with Dennis wanting to kick my ass before Leo and Ryan showed up. And then Ryan and I had to practically tackle Leo to keep him from murdering Dennis."

"That doesn’t surprise me." Aiden sighed, "Those two hate each other. I think half the student body was relieved when Leo graduated last year, it seemed like every time those two crossed paths someone got hurt."

"Shit."

"You don’t know the half of it." Aiden shook his head.

"Let me guess, Leo was never really in the closet about being gay and Dennis, being the homophobe he is, didn’t like the idea of a gay guy tough enough to kick his ass?" I wondered what Dennis would think if he knew I was gay.

"That was part of it." Aiden chuckled, "Leo can fight downright nasty when he wants to, and more than I few times he got the better of Dennis." Then he turned serious, "But that was only one thing. I don’t know if it’s rumor or not, because no one ever says much about it, but Dennis and Leo were friends before Leo started openly dating Ben. But from what I hear, when Ben and Leo were in their sophomore year, Ben got beat up pretty bad. I had just met Ryan, so I didn’t really know Leo or Ben, but from what I remember, Ben was in the hospital for a while, and whatever happened had him so depressed, his parents ended up placing him in an institution for two months after that. I’m sure a lot of its rumor; Leo and Ryan seem to be the only ones who know what happened for sure. But, that’s about the time Leo and Dennis couldn’t get enough of throwing their fists at each other."

"You think Dennis had something to do with what happened to Ben?" I asked, feeling a little sick, even as I said it. I had my own experience with homophobic people, but unless I wanted to call what my own father did to me ‘gay bashing,’ I really hadn't had much experience with it, and honestly, the concept scared me to death. I had only met Ben once, but he seemed like such a sweet guy that it pissed me off something awful, thinking that a prick like Dennis Gordon would hurt him, just because he was gay.

"It wouldn’t surprise me." Aiden said almost sadly, "It’s no secret that Gordon’s whole family has issues with ‘alternative lifestyles.’ Dennis’s brother, Lyle - he was even worse than Dennis, but he graduated two years ago. I’m just glad he’s out of town. Dennis has actually mellowed a lot since Lyle left."

"Then I would have hated to see him before." I said, "And what’s with all that ‘alternative lifestyle’ shit anyways?" I felt myself getting angry, and I’m sure I was raising my voice, but Aiden took it in stride, not even flinching as he took another bite of his food. "Alternative my ass. Living in a nudist colony or converting religions is what I’d call alternative. We don’t have a choice about being gay. It’s such bullshit."

The moment I said it, I realized that I had practically outed myself to Aiden, but if he caught it, he either wasn’t surprised or didn’t care, because he didn’t let on at all, he just nodded his head.

"Hey, I agree." He said, "But bigots like the Gordons think it’s a choice." He snorted and shook his head, "Some choice. Who would choose to be targeted by small-minded rednecks anyways?"

I nodded my agreement and we both fell silent in our own thoughts. Aiden

Was definitely thinking something, but hell if I could get into his head. Me? Well, I was wondering if Aiden knew I was gay. But, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to ask him. That, and I was beginning to wonder if maybe Aiden was gay. Maybe that last part was wishful thinking on my part. But honestly, I couldn’t figure him out.

Ryan said that Aiden and Janie were just friends, but I’d seen him at school; he always had girls around him. But then there was the camping incident that I wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon. I mean, sure, straight guys experiment like that, but isn’t that when they’re younger? Like thirteen or fourteen. Fifteen maybe. Seventeen? I wasn’t so sure. And if Aiden was straight, and knew I was gay, would he really have been so open to sleeping in the same bed as me, let alone letting me hold him? Maybe I was reading too much into this. I mean, last night he was in obvious pain. Maybe he just needed the contact then.

I wish I just had the guts to ask him. But you don’t just ask a guy if he’s gay, do you? I mean, Aiden might be an exception, and I truly believed that if he weren’t, he wouldn’t have a problem with me asking. But if I asked him and he was actually gay, would he think I was coming onto him? If he was gay and not interested in me as anything more than a friend I might end up setting myself up for embarrassment. Damn. When did being a teenage gay boy become so complicated? Don’t answer that.

"So are you going?" Aiden snapped me out of my thoughts. That was probably a good thing, considering my brain was about to go on mental overload.

"What?"

"To the dance." He smiled, "Are you going?"

"Oh, I don’t think so." I shook my head, obviously uninterested in the idea.

"Oh, come on." He insisted, "It’ll be fun. Well, maybe not the dance. But we can go do something afterwards, I mean, if you want to."

"I don’t know." I really wanted to give him a straight ‘no,’ but honestly, I was having a hard time saying no to him. And I knew I was leaving just enough of an opening to let him talk me into it if he really wanted me to go.

"Why don’t you think about it?" he suggested, "But I guarantee you a good time if you decide to come along. It’ll be a school night, but I doubt Tony or Chris would give you a hard time about staying out a little late."

I agreed to think about it, although I was pretty sure that too much time thinking about it would result in that ‘no’ I was looking for in the first place. We finished our breakfast and I told Aiden I’d clean up since he cooked, so while I was doing that, he went down to his own apartment to shower and get dressed.

When Aiden returned, I left a note for Chris and Tony, telling them we had errands to run, but we’d both be back soon enough, and then I dropped Aiden off at a restaurant to meet Janie. He agreed to let me pick him up in an hour and a half and while he was there, I spent my time roaming the mall, looking for gifts for my brothers. But I wasn’t having any luck whatsoever. Three years of separation had taken its toll, and I had no idea what to get for either one of them.

With a good forty minutes left before I was supposed to pick up Aiden, I was just about to walk into a sports store when a familiar face exited a jewelry shop next door. We locked eyes and he flashed his brilliant white smile at me.

"Owen."

"Hi, Jake." I said, as he reached to shake my hand, and then he gave me a measuring look.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" he asked.

"Still suspended." I shrugged.

"Right." He nodded, "So, are you here with your brothers?"

He glanced behind me, and I couldn’t help smiling at that hopeful look on his face. He said ‘brothers’ but I’m sure he meant Tony, specifically.

"No, actually, I’m shopping for them." I explained.

"Birthday?" he asked. I nodded and he laughed, "I was actually just doing the same thing."

"Really? That’s cool…hey, Aiden and I were just talking this morning, we wanted to put together a surprise party for them."

"I’m sure they’ll just love that." he said sarcastically.

"I know," I smirked. "But they’ll get over the surprise part if they have a good enough time. I was thinking about using the club, you know, the party room?"

Jake looked at me skeptically.

"You know, Chris is like a damn mother hen when it comes to that place. How do you expect to pull off a surprise party there without him suspecting it?"

"I’ll book the room under a false name." I shrugged, "He’ll be setting it up for his own party and won’t even know it."

Jake laughed and shook his head.

"You’re definitely a Dovan." He remarked, "And I don’t doubt you could pull it off, especially if I’m helping you."

"You would? I mean, seriously? You were going to be invited anyways."

"I better have been." Jake grinned, "And I can help. The only person who handles those private parties besides Chris is me. What day are you having the party?"

"Saturday."

"Perfect, I work that night, so I’ll probably be the bartender."

"But, how are you supposed to actually enjoy the party if you’re working it?"

"Oh, I’ll enjoy it." he insisted, "Do you have a few minutes? I’ll buy you lunch and we can sort out the details."

I looked at my watch.

"I have just over a half hour left before I have to be somewhere, and I still haven't found a damn thing for either of my brothers."

"I’m sure you’ll come up with something." He smiled, "but hey, if you don’t have time now, why don’t you call me later and we can work out the details for your brothers’ party." He lifted his wallet from his pocket and passed me a light green colored business card with the name, ‘Morris Bros Paint and Tile’ and underneath the title were two different phone numbers. I must have looked confused. "My company." Jake explained, "But that second number is my cell phone."

"You’re a painter?" I asked, "I thought you were a bartender."

"I do both." He laughed, "The bartending is my thing, the painting and tile is my dad’s. He started up the company with his brother, but uncle Lou died two years ago, and dad broke his hip six months ago, so I took over the company to help out. Hey, Tony mentioned that you might be looking for a job…"

"Yeah," I smiled, "He mentioned he might know someone but never did get around to getting back to me. Are you looking for some help?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. One of my guys just got married and moved out of state, and at the moment we’re working on an apartment complex. If you’re interested I could start you after school, the pay isn’t the best, but for a seventeen-year-old kid it’s pretty decent. You interested?"

"Yes, definitely" finding a job other than working grunt work at the club was definitely on my to do list.

"Great, then give me a call sometime this week. We can talk about the party and I’ll see about putting you to work."

"That would be awesome, Jake, thank you."

"No problem." He insisted, "You’d be doing me a favor anyways. This way, I don’t have to interview ten guys and hope they show up for work. If you don’t show up, I know where to find you."

"Oh, that wont be a problem." I assured him. "And thanks for offering to help with the party, too. I only work at Shadow on weekend mornings, so it will definitely help to have someone on the inside."

"I’m glad to do it." Jake said.

"Well, thanks again, I’ll definitely call."

We shook hands again and then parted on our separate ways. I didn’t stay much longer, and I never did find anything to get my brothers, except for matching sweatshirts. My brothers never dressed alike, and they always hated it when my parents insisted they match for family portraits because my mother said it looked ‘cute.’ The sweaters were nice, but more of a gag gift than anything because I knew it would get to them. I’d get them something else later.

I wasn’t late picking Aiden up, but I wasn’t early either. I arrived just in time to see him walking out of the café with Janie. The first thing I noticed was that Janie did not look happy.

I didn’t know what was going on, but when Aiden turned back to her, it looked like she was yelling at him about something and he was doing his best to calm her. And then Janie noticed me in my truck and I swear she gave me a dirty look. I don’t think I imagined it either, because she spun on her heal and stormed off just afterwards, while Aiden’s shoulders slumped and he watched after her.

It took him a full minute to realize that I had arrived, but when he did, he sent a wan smile at me and headed towards the truck. He got in without a word and I waited until he was buckled up.

"You okay?" I asked, suddenly feeling mad at Janie. I wasn’t sure what was going on with Aiden and Janie at the moment, but I was sure he didn’t need it right now.

"Yeah," he sighed, "You know how girls are. Must be that time of month."

I knew enough about girls to know that one should never say that within earshot of one, but I didn’t comment.

"You ready?" I asked, "Chris and Tony should be back by now."

"Yep," he smiled, his poor mood vanishing, on the outside, at least, "lets go."

It was just past noon when we got back home, so I guess you could say I was surprised when I discovered that Chris and Tony still weren’t home. Even the note I left was still on the kitchen counter where I had placed it. I moved back out to the living room where Aiden seemed to be waiting by the door, despite the fact that I had already invited him in.

"They’re not here." I announced.

"I see that." he said, "Look, Owen, I think I’m gonna go home for a while. I know they wanted me to be here, but I literally live downstairs…"

"Hey, no problem." I insisted, although I was a little disappointed to see him go. "I’ll let them know."

"Thanks." He smiled at me, "I’ll see you later." He turned to the door and opened it, but then he stood there for a moment before looking over his shoulder at me.

"Owen?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks again…for last night."

And then he was gone, before I even finished saying, "You’re welcome."

Aiden hadn't even been gone for fifteen minutes before Tony walked through the door, looking so exhausted that I wouldn’t have thought he didn’t get any sleep last night if I hadn't seen him looking wide awake only hours ago.

"Hey." I said as he plopped down on the couch next to me, "Where’s Chris?"

"He had to take care of some things." Tony replied, "Is Aiden here?"

"He went home a few minutes ago. I think he figured that since he lives downstairs you guys could find him if you needed him."

Tony absently nodded, as if he was deep in thought about something, and then he turned to me, looking completely alert.

"Look Owen, I need to talk to you. Chris and I were going to do it together, but I don’t know how long he’s going to be."

The tone in my brother’s voice put me on immediate alert.

"What’s wrong?" I all but demanded.

"Relax." Tony said with a reassuring smile, "I just want to talk about Aiden."

"Okay…"

"He’s having some family problems right now." Tony said, "And I know he doesn’t like to talk about this stuff, Chris and I are really the only ones who know about it. But, I figure you’re smart enough to have figured out that something’s going on."

I nodded.

"Well, I wont go into details, but Aiden does have some pretty serious problems on his hands, and he might need to stay with us for a while. It wont be the first time, but we’d feel wrong not talking to you about it because this is your home too now, Owen. It needs to be okay with all three of us."

"I’m fine with Aiden staying here." I was quick to say. Actually, I was downright thrilled with the idea.

"Good." Tony sighed, "We knew you would be. But, Aiden probably wont want to. He has his problems, but he likes to try to handle them on his own as much as possible. He usually shows up here when he gets desperate enough. We can’t force him to do anything, but it’s important for him to know our door is always open…and, the two of you seem to be becoming pretty good friends, am I wrong?"

I smiled to myself.

"No, there is a connection there. I can’t really explain it, Tony, but I haven't felt so close to anyone since Nicky."

Tony gave me a pitiful look. He knew how much Nicky had meant to me. Hell, Nicky and I had grown up together. My brothers were the first to point out that Nicky and I had been inseparable since we were toddlers.

"I’m glad to hear it, Owe." He reached over and squeezed my shoulder, "Aiden’s a good kid. I’m not surprised you two became friends. I guess what I’m trying to say is that he needs friends right now. Just make sure you’re there for him. I mean, we don’t want to badger him to stay with us, but he really does need to feel welcome."

"I think I can handle it." I smiled.

"Good." Tony nodded, "Now, I’m gonna go talk to Aiden. I don’t know if he’ll be coming back up with me, I just wanted you to be prepared in case he did."

"No problem, Tony. I’ll be here staring blankly at the tube. I figure I might as well enjoy what little time I have being lazy before I go back to school."

Tony grinned and messed my hair as he stood up. "Atta-boy. I’ll be back in a while, if Chris gets in before I do, let him know where I am, will ya?"

"No problem, Tony." I waved him off, stifling a yawn as my eyes settled back on the television.

But there was a problem. It just wasn’t mine. I had known that something wasn’t right with Aiden, but now it sounded serious, and I was genuinely worried about him. I really wished that he would take Tony’s offer to stay with us, and it had nothing to do with the obsessive crush I seemed to have developed on him lately. Okay, maybe it had a little to do with that. But, more than anything, I wanted Aiden to be happy. I wanted to make him feel safe, as I imagined I had done the night before when he fell asleep in my arms.