The Long Way - 9. Back to School

As far back as I remember, my father used to go on one-week business trips, and every year around October he would take a vacation to go hunting. I looked forward to these trips of his, it meant he wasn’t going to be around to hover over me. Even when Chris and Tony were still around they looked forward to the same thing.

It wasn’t that we hated our father; we just liked the freedom when he was gone. We still behaved ourselves of course; pissing off mom was never high on anyone’s priority list. But when dad was gone, mom seemed to give us a little more freedom, and we took advantage of every minute of it, within reason, mind you.

Now, mom, she was another story. Sometimes I couldn’t tell whether she cared dad was gone or not, but I always found my parents comical whenever my dad got back. They would hug and kiss and send googilly eyes at each other enough to nauseate their offspring. But that first night home, my dad would always end up on the couch. Not because they were fighting, but because after a week in a bed all to themselves, they had difficulty sleeping next to each other again, like they couldn’t get comfortable.

But then I began to realize that the first night my father was gone, my mother had the same difficulty getting to sleep without him there. I always figured that my parents were just weird. I truly believed that I would always be able to sleep wherever I ended up - next to someone or not.

How wrong I was.

After a few nights of sleeping next to Aiden, I found it really difficult falling asleep alone in my own bed. Tony never did convince him to come up and stay with us, and hearing bits and pieces of what was going on, I came to the conclusion that Aiden’s mom wasn’t home, so he was all alone. And if the problem was his mother to begin with, I doubt that he would he showing up on our doorstep if she wasn’t around to provoke him to do just that.

So I had trouble getting to sleep Monday night, and Tuesday I was so lethargic that I slept in. By the time I woke up, Chris was headed over to the club, so I went with him and he put me to work.

The day didn’t seem to fly by, but it didn’t drag on either. I left the club before it opened but Chris stayed, so I took advantage of the few hours I had before Tony came home to give Jake a call. He answered on the first try and we were able to make our plans for the party.

Jake booked the room under a made up name and mentioned that he and Aiden had already talked and they would handle the guest list. Somehow it didn’t surprise me that Aiden had already contacted Jake, even if I hadn't heard from him all day.

Jake and I also talked about me working for him, and I was actually excited about that. I could work after school three days a week from four to eight, and I agreed to work weekends for him too. Chris wasn’t exactly thrilled that I wouldn’t be working at the club with him anymore, but he understood that I wanted my own thing, so we settled it so that I’d start my job with Jake the following Monday.

By the time Tuesday night rolled around, I couldn’t get to sleep again, and it had to do with more than the fact that I hadn't seen Aiden and I was a little worried. I would be going back to school tomorrow, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, not now, since I had formed a permanent place on Dennis Gordon’s radar. I wasn’t afraid of him by any means, but I wasn’t looking for trouble. Unfortunately, I had a feeling that Dennis was.

I decided to leave a little earlier on Wednesday morning so I would have time to turn in all of my assignments before the day started. I thought about going downstairs to see if Aiden needed a ride to school, but I figured that he would probably have plans already, considering I didn’t even know he lived downstairs before last week. I’d never even seen him on my way to school.

But when I pulled my backpack over my shoulder and swung the front door open, I came face to face with both Aiden and Ryan. Ryan had his fist lifted, as if he was about to knock. They both laughed at the stunned expression on my face and Ryan practically drug me out the door while Aiden closed it.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We car pool." Ryan said, matter of factly, "Saves gas, come on, Leo is waiting."

I wasn’t exactly fond of the idea of going to school without my own vehicle. Without my truck I always felt stranded, and I hated to rely on other people to get me to where I needed to be, but I was so happy to see Aiden, I didn’t argue.

It turned out, Leo drove them to school every morning on his way to work. He would drop off Aiden and Ryan, and then go pick up Ben, who went to the same local college as Tony. Leo worked at a bank just a block away from there, and by the time he got off work; everyone would be ready for pick up.

I thanked Leo for the ride when we got to the school and walked in with Aiden and Ryan. I wasn’t used to being there so early, and I really wasn’t used to arriving with anyone.

"You going to turn in your homework?" Aiden asked me.

"Yep." I said, "I should be able to do it before the first bell, but I need to go to my locker first." I wanted to unload some of the heavy books I was lugging around.

"Cool," Aiden smiled, clutching his camera, "I’ll catch you guys later then, I’ve gotta get to the lab."

I waved and Ryan said "Later." And then we both continued down the hall until I reached my locker. I started to open it and was surprised when Ryan started to open the locker next to me. He just smiled, "Guess you didn’t know we were neighbors, huh?"

I shook my head.

"Did you?" I asked, "I mean, I know I’ve seen you in gym before, but…"

"You noticed me in gym because we get paired up on the same teams most of the time." Ryan replied, "And you did notice me here, once I think."

"When?"

"Hmm," he tapped his chin and pretended to think about it, "Oh, I remember, I had my tongue down Lacy Chapman’s throat and we were blocking your locker. I think you tried to clear your throat a few times, but when we didn’t move, you told us to get a room before you had to disinfect your locker - and then when we did move, you mumbled something like, ‘Fucking breeders.’ At least, I’m pretty sure that was you."

Oh, it was me, all right. I blushed crimson. It was my first week at this school and I was not having the greatest day. I had known the girl, Lacy, from one of my classes. She was hard not to notice, the tall blonde with locks down to her waist and curves a grown woman would kill for. I might be gay, but I’m not blind. But I never would have guessed that the guy was Ryan. Back then I guess I wasn’t really looking into peoples’ eyes. I would look at people, but not really see them.

"Shit Ryan, I’m really sorry." I tried to apologize; somehow feeling like I owed it to him, but his sudden outburst of laughter interrupted me.

"Forget it." he said, clapping me soundly on the back, "I would have been annoyed too. I guess I should just be grateful you didn’t decide to kick my ass, huh?"

I smiled and shook my head.

"Like I could." I remarked. Flattery couldn’t hurt.

"Right." Ryan rolled his eyes and then slammed some books into his locker.

"So," I said after a moment, "Lacy Chapman, huh?"

"Yeah," he smirked, "Good times, them was."

"You guys aren't seeing each other anymore?"

"Why, you interested?" he asked with a sideways glance.

"Nope." And that was the truth. Lacy just wasn’t my type. "Just curious."

"We never really were seeing each other, I mean, we weren’t a couple or anything." Ryan said with a mischievous grin, "Let’s just say we have chemistry, just not the kind that makes good couples."

"Gotcha." I said, closing my locker again, "I’ve gotta get going, I’d rather get these assignments in before school starts if I can, no sense risking every teacher wanting to keep me after class."

"Cool." Ryan nodded, clasping my hand, "I guess I’ll see you later then."

I waved as I headed back down the halls. I made it to every class that had assigned me homework before the first bell ring, and by the time I sat down in my first period class I felt oddly exhausted. Probably because of the three separate lectures different teachers had given me about why fighting isn’t permitted on school grounds.

First and second period dragged on, but third seemed to fly by. When lunch came around, I grabbed a few things from the cafeteria and went to the usual oak tree I sat at. And as usual, I was the first one there, so I ate and did some homework from my last class at the same time. I made a habit of doing homework at lunch, but today when Shane and Adam showed up I put it away, and took an interest in the normal lunchtime banter that I had so adamantly ignored before. I even got to know a few of the other kids who hung around.

About half way through lunch was when we heard a click and everyone looked up to see Aiden had just taken a picture of the entire group.

"For the yearbook." He winked, but the idea was met by groans all around, and some of the girls complained that they hadn't been ready for it before they trotted off to make sure their hair looked okay.

"Hey, Aiden," Adam grinned as he stood up to greet him.

Aiden said all of his hellos, and when I thought he was going to leave again, because he had never hung out at lunch before, he made himself comfortable under the oak tree, right next to me so that we were shoulder to shoulder. He turned to me with a tired expression on his face and talked like we had just picked up in the middle of a conversation.

"Back behind the gym." He said

"Huh?"

"That’s where we meet after school. Leo might be a few minutes late picking us up, but he’ll show."

"No problem." I shrugged.

"You rode with Aiden today?" Adam asked, as if someone should have informed him of such a thing, and Shane had the same look.

"What happened to your truck?" Shane asked.

I smiled at them both.

"Don’t you know?" I asked, "We car pool, saves gas." Aiden chuckled at my imitation of Ryan.

Aiden looked like he was about to say something else but we were interrupted by a familiar, female voice.

"There you are! Damn, you’d think I need to put a leash on you." this was directed at Aiden, and it came from Janie.

Shane and Adam snickered, but that statement really pissed me off. Janie definitely wasn’t winning any points with me, and she lost a few more when she directed herself to sit down on Aiden’s lap, none too softly. I heard him grunt as she landed, and he barely had time to recover before she grabbed his wrists and pulled his arms around her.

I had been sitting rather close to Aiden, and I found myself instinctively inching away. I thought back to Ryan telling me that Janie and Aiden were only friends, but I was beginning to question that. I also remember the icy look Janie threw me when I went to pick Aiden up at the restaurant. I didn’t know what her problem was, we had only met once and I can’t remember anything happening that would cause her to dislike me. But then again, for some reason I didn’t like her, so I shouldn’t really care what she thought of me.

I was wondering how Aiden felt about being treated as a human comfy chair as Janie wriggled to make herself comfortable, when he caught my eyes. He rolled his eyes and made an exaggerated face, suggesting that he found his so-called best friend quite annoying, and it made me laugh.

Janie suddenly snapped her eyes towards me to see what was so funny, I can only assume, and I did my best to hide my laughter, but then Aiden started. Before Janie could figure it out, Adam spoke up.

"Go away Janie, you know the rule, during school hours you’re not my sister."

"Looks like my little brother is growing too cool for his britches." She retorted.

"Bite me." Adam shot back. "You know, Aiden is allowed to talk to us. I hardly doubt your reputation will be damaged if your pretend-boyfriend is seen talking to us."

"Because you don’t have a reputation to damage." Shane added under his breath.

I suddenly wanted to hug the both of them and couldn’t keep the smile off my face. Janie acted like she hadn't heard them as she shifted in Aiden’s lap until she could see his face better.

"You’re coming over tonight, right?" she asked him.

Aiden looked absolutely confused.

"What’s tonight?" he asked her.

"Aiden!" Janie was acting as if he had forgotten their first-born’s birthday. I was beginning to see why Ryan said that Janie acted like they were married. "My mom is supposed to take us to the mall! The dance is in four days and I still need a dress, and you…"

"I can dress myself." Aiden cut her off, but not at all sharply. I was beginning to think he was too nice to this girl, best friend or not. "And what’s the big deal? It’s not the prom Janie, it’s a stupid school dance that’s ‘casual dress.’ And you never said anything about shopping."

"It’s sort of implied when you agree to go to a dance with someone." Janie argued.

"We never had to go shopping before."

"Aiden, why can’t you just stop complaining? It won’t even take that long."

I saw Shane and Adam out of the corner of my eye, making fun of Janie silently, pretending to have an argument of their own.

"I can’t go with you tonight, anyways." Aiden told her.

"Why not?" Janie sounded genuinely surprised. I mean, how dare he say no to her?

"I have plans." Aiden replied, and then added, "With Owen." He looked at me, catching me off guard, "Right?"

"Yeah." I said quickly, and then smiled as sweetly as I could at Janie, "Sorry Janie, guys night out, and all."

She sighed heavily and opened her mouth to say something when we were literally saved by the bell. The warning bell, that told us we had ten minutes to get our asses to class.

As politely as possible, Aiden dumped Janie out of his lap and told her that they would talk later while I said goodbye to Shane and Adam. I would have waited to say my goodbyes to Aiden too, but Janie was still bitching at him for something so I headed towards my next class, gym. I was startled when I felt a hand drop on my shoulder and turned to see Aiden looking a little flushed from running to catch up to me.

"Hey." I smiled.

"Hey, thanks for covering back there."

"No problem. I sort of owed you for when you helped me out with Melissa anyways." I shrugged, "But, just out of curiosity, why didn’t you just tell her you didn’t want to go? I mean, you guys are just friends, right?"

"We’re supposed to be." He muttered. He saw the confused look on my face and continued, "Sorry man, yeah, Janie’s my friend, and I don’t usually lie to her, but she’s been acting really weird lately. Normally everything’s cool, ya know? But now it’s like, she’s there every time I turn around. And I wouldn’t even mind that, if she weren’t acting so damned weird. I mean, we’ve been to dances together before, but for some reason she’s treating this one like a royal fucking engagement…more like a royal pain in my ass."

"Sorry," I laughed, "I don’t know what to tell you."

He shrugged and then turned to me again as we walked.

"So have you made up your mind yet?" he asked.

"About what?"

"The dance."

That made me laugh again.

"Oh yeah, like you’re making it look like so much fun." I remarked.

Aiden bumped my shoulder with his and smiled.

"Come on, maybe the dance won’t be fun, but I promise we’ll have fun afterwards…you wont regret it."

The idea of hanging out with Aiden did appeal to me. The dance did not.

"I’ll think about it." I finally said.

"Fair enough." he smiled, then lightly cuffed me on the back of the neck, "I’ll see you after school, don’t forget, behind the gym."

I nodded and we separated to head to our respective classes. I had gym with Ryan. We didn’t get much time to talk because the coach who ran it was the no-nonsense type, but we at least acknowledged each other and ended up on the same team for basketball. Fortunately, there were four separate teams and Dennis Gordon didn’t end up on ours, or the one we were playing against.

When the coach blew the last whistle I found Ryan in step with me as we headed towards the showers.

"What are you doing tomorrow morning?" he asked, "before school?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I start my workout at four-thirty." He smiled, "Think you can handle it?"

"Do you run?" I asked.

"Sometimes." He shrugged, "Mostly it’s weights though. I get most of my running in during gym. Do you think you can get up that early?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "you wanna work out tomorrow?"

"If you’re up for it." he smiled, "It’s nice to have company, you know? I tried to get Aiden into it, but he only shows up two or three times a week, you know, just enough to keep that supermodel body of his in tact." Ryan made a disgusted face and I laughed, but I did have to agree with him on one thing: Aiden had a great body.

"I’ll right, I’ll show, but I don’t remember where you live." I replied as we reached the locker room and headed to our separate lockers to strip down. I shed my clothes quickly, grabbed my towel and met up with Ryan again as we moved into the showers.

"No problem." He said, "I’ll give you my address after school."

I nodded and hung my towel before I stepped under the water and washed all the sweat and grime away. Ryan and I chatted a little, but I was out of the shower way before he was. I had never once gone erect in the locker room before, I think the fear of it kept me pretty much safe, but I always tried to dress as quickly as possible. I was just finishing, pulling on my shirt when Dennis Gordon appeared in front of me.

He just glared at me, not saying anything, so I glared right back, refusing to look away first. He stepped forward, looking like he was about to say something and my body automatically went rigid, but just then, Ryan stepped up beside me, still as naked as the day he was born, patting his hair dry with his towel.

"See something you like Dennis?" Ryan asked with a strangely lecherous sneer and rolling his hips suggestively. I couldn’t believe he said that and my eyes flew to my friend with both shock and amusement. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Ryan blew Dennis a little kiss, sending a few guys in the room howling at the look on Dennis’s face.

"Fuck you, Sader!" Dennis shouted as he turned to make his retreat.

That was just too easy of an opening, I thought. Ryan obviously thought so too.

"Maybe later," Ryan called after him, "and only if you ask nicely."

I smiled at Ryan and just shook my head. He grinned, his dimples showing, before he winked at me and padded off to his locker.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by after that. I met Aiden and Ryan after school and Leo picked us up. On the way back I couldn’t help mentioning what Ryan said to Dennis in the locker room. Aiden and Leo both laughed, but neither of them were really surprised that Ryan would do that.

I was beginning to learn little things about Ryan, like he practically always had a smile on his face, and he pretty much said and did whatever he wanted, like the fact when he talked to someone he always had to reach out and touch them in some way. Hellos were handshakes with Ryan, while goodbyes often ended with hugs. And he was well liked, especially at school, which was probably the reason why Dennis backed off in the locker room. It seemed that Ryan had more friends than Dennis did. That really didn’t surprise me.

When Leo dropped me and Aiden off, he went downstairs and I went up, and then spent the next three hours on homework I had to make up because some of my teachers hadn't sent all of my assignments during the suspension.

As usual, Tony came home a while later and I moved my homework from my bedroom to the kitchen to keep him company after he refused to let me help him with dinner.

"How was your first day back at school?" he asked.

I yawned and hummed my response. Tony looked over his shoulder from the stove where he was making spaghetti sauce and laughed at me.

"That good, huh?" he asked.

"Sorry Tony." I sighed, "I guess I’m just tired. I got too used to my vacation and it was a little hard to go back, ya know?"

"You didn’t have any problems, did you?"

"No, nothing like that." I insisted. "Just a long day."

"I hear you." he sighed. "Are you almost finished with your homework?"

"No." I frowned, "Three teachers sent me home with extra work."

"You were supposed to get all your assignments last week." Tony said, sounding somewhat perturbed.

"I know, but I guess not everyone was listening. It’s no big deal, though; I can handle it, really. Besides, I have a few extra days to finish everything."

"Alright. Do me a favor?"

"Sure." I replied, already putting my books away.

"Run downstairs and invite Aiden to dinner, I cooked way too much food and he needs to eat anyways."

I was a little surprised that Tony would ask me to go down there, usually he would do that himself, but I rather liked the idea and quickly agreed to the request. No more than two minutes later, I was downstairs knocking on Aiden’s door.

It didn’t take him long to answer. The door swung open and a smile lit his face as his eyes settled on me.

"Hey, Owen, come on in." he said, opening the door wider, but I didn’t move.

"Actually, I was wondering if you could come up." I replied. He gave me an inquisitive look so I went on to explain, "You’re invited to dinner, Tony cooked and asked me to come down here and get you."

His smile faded some, and I could tell he was about to decline. I was disappointed, but then decided to speak up before he could answer.

"Come on." I insisted, "You know Tony, if you’re not with me when I go back up there he’s likely to come down here and feed you by hand."

Aiden’s smile returned, if only faintly.

"Wouldn’t want that." he replied. He glanced back into his apartment briefly and then stepped out and followed me upstairs.

Having Aiden around seemed to pull me out of my lethargic mood. It seemed strange, I had really only known him for a week, but he already felt like part of our little family. Maybe I felt that way because I knew that my brothers already saw him as one of us. Aiden hadn't been over in a few days, and although I had seen him at school, I found that I had missed him.

I was happy when dinner ended and Aiden didn’t go home right away. He had seemed a little subdued, maybe even depressed when he first came over, but by the time dinner ended he was laughing along with Tony and me. We all cleaned up dinner together and spent some time talking afterwards.

When our random conversations died out, we turned our attention to a movie Tony had rented the night before. By ten o'clock Tony had gone to bed, but I stayed up because Aiden had made no mention of getting home. We stayed silent until the end credits rolled down the television screen.

"I hear you’re going to meet Ryan tomorrow morning." Aiden said, his voice catching me off guard as he broke the silence.

"Yeah." I nodded, "We were going to work out together. Ryan said you go over sometimes too."

"Mostly when he talks me into it." Aiden shrugged, "Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a little exercise, but working out with Ryan requires a full day of naps afterwards."

"Great." I replied sarcastically, "That’s all I need, to be falling asleep during classes…I’m sure I can handle it, though."

"Yeah," he sighed, "I should probably get going, let you get some sleep. You’ll probably need it."

I nodded absently and a moment of silence passed. I looked towards Aiden and realized that he had made no move to go. And then it hit me. He seemed sad, almost…alone. He had obviously been reluctant about coming over here tonight, but now it seemed almost like he didn’t want to leave. Aiden was lonely. I’d have to do something about that.

"You can stay here." I said, Aiden turned his head to face me and I shrugged. "You’re already here." I continued, "Why not crash? It’s a long walk down those stairs." It wasn’t, and I knew it, but it made Aiden smile, and then he gave me a slight nod, which was answer enough, so I shut of the TV and headed towards my room, leaving him to follow if he wanted to. I wasn’t disappointed when he did.

Aiden closed the door behind him and I stripped off my shirt on the way to the bed, setting my alarm for the time I needed to get up, and because I could enter three different settings I glanced back at him as he lifted his shirt over his head.

"What time do you need to be up?" I asked.

"Six."

I punched it in and unbuttoned my jeans, stripping down to my boxers, sneaking a glance at Aiden out of the corner of my eye. Damn he looked good. He always looked good. When he moved it was like I could see every muscle under the surface of his skin moving. My mouth suddenly went dry and I had to excuse myself to use the restroom. I brushed my teeth and splashed cold water on my face, although I should have been splashing it somewhere else.

I could feel myself getting hard just as Aiden came in. I distracted myself as I rummaged through the drawers for an extra toothbrush; I found a new one and passed it to him before I went back to my room.

I turned down the bed, willing my raging hormones to go away, and fortunately, Aiden stayed gone long enough for that to happen. I was just crawling under the blankets when he came in and turned off the light. I moved to the far side of the bed, near the wall and a few moments later felt the bed dip as he climbed in.

"Goodnight, Owen." He said softly.

I closed my eyes, smiling as I hummed my tired response. It only took a few moments before he shifted back towards me, just as he had the night before, and this time I didn’t even think about it as I wrapped my arm around him, feeling his warm, bare skin under my hand, only this time, I made sure to keep my hips, and the returning erection between them, away from his butt. Luckily, he didn’t push back into me this time, but his hand moved contentedly over mine, resting on his chest as he relaxed and then almost immediately, he fell asleep.

…………

When my alarm went off at four fifteen in the morning I didn’t want to get up. I wanted to stay in my warm bed curled up with Aiden. But when I reached for the alarm and he started to get up I placed my hand gently on his shoulder, told him to go back to sleep, and then got out of bed.

I dressed in some of my old work out clothes and managed to drive over to Ryan’s house still half asleep. He laughed at me when I met him in his garage. I never really did look in the mirror before I left, and he was kind enough to inform me that I look like ‘ass.’

But, I woke up soon enough. Aiden wasn’t kidding when he said that Ryan liked to push his workouts. I managed to keep up for the most part, but I ended up spotting Ryan more than he did me and I still ended up sore. But it was a good sore, and meeting Ryan every day for a good work out was something I could see myself doing.

When we were finished he went to take his shower and I went home to take mine. We arranged it so I would be driving to school that day, I’d get Aiden first and then go back to get Ryan on the way. And Leo didn’t seem to mind because he would have more time with Ben.

I wasn’t surprised to find my bed made and Aiden gone when I got home. I ran into him on my way downstairs. He seemed to be in a good mood and from what I could tell, he stayed that way all day, although he didn’t come over for dinner again, and once again I missed having him next to me when I went to bed.

Nothing really interesting happened until Friday. It was a half-day, and I was grateful for it. I really needed the time. Aiden and Jake were handling the party for my brothers, so I wasn’t at all worried about that. But I still hadn't found anything for them, so I returned to the mall Friday afternoon to do some last minute shopping.

I finally settled on a ‘Barns and Nobles’ gift certificate for Tony, knowing he would make good use of it, and for Chris I settled on a gift certificate for ‘radio shack.’ I didn’t usually like to do gift certificates, but it saved me time, and I planned to take them both out to dinner that night anyways. We would have a private celebration and if I kept Chris away from the club it would give Jake more time to set up for the party.

By the time I finished with my actual shopping, I realized how hungry I was. I had skipped lunch, not the best thing to do after another morning workout with Ryan, so I headed to the food court to stuff my face with pizza. I had just sat down when I spotted Ryan coming in my direction, holding hands with a short girl with red hair, while his other arm was around the shoulders of none other than Lacy Chapman. They were both laughing as if Ryan had just said the funniest thing in the world, and I couldn’t help smiling at him as he neared the table.

"Owen!" he ginned, dislodging himself from both girls to greet me as I swallowed down a mouthful of my food. "What are you doing here?"

I indicated the shopping bag at my feet that held both gift certificates.

"My brothers’ party is tomorrow night, but their birthday is today, so last minute shopping before I celebrate with them tonight." I explained.

"Well I’m glad I ran into you, man." He said, taking the seat across from me, leaving the two girls to drag over their own chairs, "Aiden’s around here somewhere. We were going to stop by your place when we were done here anyways." He looked at the girls as they pulled up their seats and grinned mischievously at me again. Suddenly, I had a bad feeling about this, "Owen, this is Heather," he indicated the redhead and she smiled sweetly at me when I shook her hand, "And this, is Lacy, " he said, gesturing to probably the most attractive blonde in the junior class. She was equally sweet when I greeted her.

"I think we have some classes together." she said to me. I nodded in recognition.

"Lacy’s your date." Ryan announced proudly. I just so happened to have been taking a drink of soda at that announcement, and I nearly choked on it. Lacy and Heather giggled and Lacy reached over to playfully punch Ryan in the arm.

"Geez, Sader," Lacy laughed, "Don’t scare the boy."

"Um, I’m sorry…" I interrupted, "What…"

"Aiden mentioned you were thinking about going to the dace," Ryan explained, "I figured you’d need a date."

Oh boy. I did my best not to glare daggers at everyone at the table. A date? With a girl? It’s not like I haven't had one before, but that was before, when I had to pretend to be someone I wasn’t. I didn’t like this, not one bit.

"I’m gonna go track down Aiden," Ryan announced, "Come on Heather, let’s leave these two here to get to know each other a little better." and then he had the audacity to wink at me!

I watched Ryan and Heather walk away, my nerves suddenly in a bundle as I was left alone with Lacy Chapman. I did the only thing that came to mind and gestured to the half pizza left on the table.

"Hungry?"

She had one of those perfect smiles that lit up her face and for a second she was like the female version of Aiden, except she was light and he was dark.

"God, yes." She laughed, helping herself to a slice, "My mom is on this health kick at home, I swear if I don’t introduce grease and sugar back into my normal diet soon, I’m going to go insane."

I was a little surprised at that. Lacy seemed just like the type of girl who watched her figure. She caught the look I was giving her and laughed again.

"Don’t look at me like that, a girls gotta eat too, and if they say otherwise, they’re lying." I smiled at her. I liked her already. But there was still this ‘date’ thing that I wasn’t completely thrilled about, but again, she beat me too it, "And before you try to pull out of this dance on Sunday, you can forget it."

"Um, Lacy, look…no offense, but…"

"Relax." She interrupted, "I don’t want to have your babies or anything, but the deal was, I set Ryan up with Heather and he finds me a date. If he picked you then you must be a nice guy, and if you’re trying to get out of it already then that really must be true. Do you already have a girlfriend or something?"

"No, that’s not it, exactly."

"Well, then if nobody is going to mind, lets go as friends. You can dance, can’t you?"

"Yes." I smiled. I’m not sure what it was about Lacy, but I found myself comfortable with her. I had been avoiding the female gender for a while, but there was something about Lacy that wasn’t very threatening.

"Good." she grinned, "We’ll have fun, and if we don’t, I’ll kick Sader’s butt for the both of us."

I found myself laughing at that, mostly because I could picture Lacy beating the tar out of Ryan if she wanted to.

"How long have you known Ryan?" I asked.

"We go way back." she shrugged, "Our moms were best friends in high school, so we pretty much grew up together. We were really close until Ryan decided that I had coodies." She giggled, "That didn’t last long, though. Now we’re pretty good friends with habit of fixing each other up every now and then. But like I said, we don’t have to think of this dance as a date. I just want to go for the fun of it."

I thought about it for a second. I could actually see myself going with Lacy, no pressure involved. And to be honest, having a date would be better than watching Janie hang all over Aiden all night. Aiden. He said if I went we could do something afterwards. I liked that idea and turned to Lacy again, who was inhaling a second piece of pizza.

"I don’t have to meet your parents, do I?" I asked.

"No." she laughed, "Actually my parents figure anyone Ryan sets me up with is safe enough. Most of my ex boyfriends were more afraid of Ryan than my father. Ry can be a real guard dog, ya know? But he seems to really like you."

"He’s a good guy." I smiled.

"Let me give you my number." Lacy said, reaching into her purse for a pen, "That way we can work out the details before this weekend. And don’t worry, I wont tell you what to wear as long as you promise not to show up in a pimp hat or anything. I don’t really care about clashing with my ‘date’ but if you do, the dress I’m wearing is red. Just make sure you’re ready to dance by Sunday."

She wrote her number on a napkin and as she slipped it into my shirt pocket, I wondered how I was going to explain this date-with-a-girl-thing to my brothers. They were more than likely going to give me hell for it, but I guessed that if I had to go to the dance with a girl, Lacy seemed like a good choice. She was nice enough, and I always liked girls who could eat. I actually found myself wishing that I were straight. If she did anything for me physically I could see myself asking her out in a second. But that wasn’t the case.

Ryan and Heather suddenly appeared in front of us and Janie was behind them, looking a little annoyed.

"So what’s the verdict?" Ryan asked.

"We’re going." Lacy announced.

I felt strong hands come down from behind me, massaging my shoulders and smiled, knowing it could only be one person if everyone else was in front of me. I looked back and smiled up at Aiden.

"You’re going then?" he asked.

"I guess so." I replied.

"Leo’s letting me borrow the Camaro." Ryan announced, "So we can all go together."

"Sounds kind of cramped." Aiden spoke up, "You’re closer to the girls, Ryan, why don’t you pick them up and Owen and I can meet you guys there…if you don’t mind driving, Owen."

"I don’t." I assured him.

"Hey, I’m not gonna complain." Ryan remarked with a lecherous grin. Heather and Lacy laughed but Janie looked disgusted, and was it my imagination, or was she giving me dirty looks again?

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Lacy suddenly leaned over and kissed my cheek. I’m pretty sure I blushed down to my toes because that got a laugh out of everyone.

"Thanks for the pizza, Owen." Lacy said, "Call me and we’ll work out where to meet."

I wasn’t sure why calling her was necessary because we were all meeting together, but I found myself agreeing, despite that. I lifted the trash off the table and walked it over to a nearby garbage can, and when I returned, everyone looked like they were getting ready to go.

"Are you still going out with your brothers tonight?" Aiden asked.

"Yep." I nodded, "You’re invited, you know."

Janie spoke up for him.

"That’s okay, Owen, Aiden is coming over to my place tonight." God, I hated her.

And I chose to ignore her.

"If you change your mind Aiden, we’re leaving at six." I told him. Janie didn’t like that one bit, but Aiden smiled at me.

……………

I laughed as my brothers tried to sink into their chairs as the three waiters and two waitresses sang a chorus of happy birthday and a cake was placed on the table. I had taken them to one of the steak houses they favored, but never seemed to have the time to go to.

By the time the chorus was over and the restaurant burst out into applause, Chris was glaring daggers at me and I don’t think Tony could have been any redder.

"Just you wait." Chris glared at me, "When you turn eighteen, we’re talking birthday revenge."

"I’ll look forward to it." I grinned.

"You know, you didn’t have to do all this, Owen." Tony said.

"Yes I did." I insisted, "I missed three of your birthdays in the last three years, I want to make up for lost time."

"You know that we’re just glad to have you with us, right?" Chris asked.

"I feel the same way." I smiled, "Now eat your cake, one half German chocolate for Tony, and strawberry for Chris."

"You remembered." Tony said as he began to cut into the cake, and then laughed to himself and addressed his next statement to Chris. "Remember the year we turned thirteen?"

"Oh yeah," Chris laughed, "The first time mom and dad let us invite all our friends over. We had that huge cake."

"But someone," Tony pointedly looked at me, "decided to sneak into the kitchen and eat the entire cake on his own."

"Hey, serves you right for not inviting me to your party." I retorted.

"Yeah, well, we’ll never make that mistake again." Chris assured me.

"So, do you have plans this weekend, Owen?" Tony asked. I smiled to myself. I knew they were asking because they both had places to be tomorrow night. They just didn’t know that they would end up in the same place. Chris had a date with a girl I hadn't met yet and the plan was for Jake to call him into the club with some sort of emergency. Chris’s date was in on it, so she’d make sure he got there, and Leo and Ben had invited Tony to go dancing, he just didn’t know that it would be at the club.

"Not really." I shrugged, "I might get together with some friends tomorrow night, but Sunday there’s this dance at school."

"A school dance, huh?" Chris said, I could already hear the teasing in his voice, "You meet some nice guy to take you?"

I glared at him.

"You know I’m not ‘out’ at school."

"Okay," he smiled, "I just want to make sure I know when my little brother finds a boyfriend. You know, gotta make sure he’s good enough for you."

"Leave him alone Chris." Tony warned, "he’ll let us know if he meets someone."

"So are you going to this dance thing with friends then?" Chris asked.

Here it comes, I thought. I cleared my throat and wiped my mouth with a napkin, and then did the best I could to mumble under my breath.

"Yeah, but I have a date."

"What was that?" Chris grinned.

"I have a date." I said a little louder, "But not like a ‘date’ were just going as friends, really."

"Anyone we know?" Tony asked.

"I don’t know." I shrugged, "Her name is Lacy Chapman."

To my brothers’ credit, they managed to keep a straight face for a whole two seconds before they cracked up laughing.

"What?" I demanded, "I said it was just as friends and it’s not like I’m leading her on or anything. And, I have dated girls before, you know."

"Yeah, but that was when you had to." Tony reminded me.

"We’re just a little surprised, is all." Chris added. "I mean, face it Owen, for the past few months you’ve been locked up in your room, and when you did get out, every time a girl so much as batted her eyes at you, you just gave her a dirty look. But we are happy that you’re getting out again."

"Yep." Tony agreed, "as long as you’re okay with this, um, ‘date.’ No one pushed you into it?"

"I did sort of get ambushed." I admitted, "But I’m okay. Like I said, we’re just going as friends, and I actually sort of like Lacy. I mean, not the way I would like a guy, but she’s kind of cool, you know? Like I think we could be friends."

"Well, as long as you’re okay with it." Tony shrugged.

"I am." I assured him, "Besides, we’re only going to be at the dance for a little while. Aiden and I might do something afterwards."

Chris and Tony looked at each other, and then both turned to me grinning.

"What?" I demanded.

"Nothing." They both said a little too innocently for my taste.

"Aiden’s just my friend." I said, a little defensively.

"He stayed over last night." Tony said, "I checked in on you guys," and then he turned to Chris with a smirk, "They were so cute, all cuddled up together."

"You like him." Chris teased me, and damn if I didn’t blush.

"Shut up." I mumbled, and then did a little table turning, first at Chris, "And if you want to discuss someone’s love life, why not yours? You may have a date tomorrow Chris, but when was the last time you seriously dated someone? You know, some of us want to be uncles someday." Chris choked on his soda at the thought of having children and Tony laughed at him, so I turned on Tony, "And what about you Tony? Maybe you should worry a little less about me having a boyfriend and worry about finding your own, or at least do something about someone you’ve already found. I’ve seen the way you look at Jake."

Tony looked shocked and now it was Chris’s turn to laugh as he elbowed Tony in the ribs.

"Little brother has a point." Chris chided, "You really should do something about Jake."

"What makes you think I like Jake?" Tony asked me.

"It was pretty obvious at his party." I replied, "And I heard some stuff, besides, he likes you too."

"How do you know he likes me?" Tony asked, the same time Chris, with a mortified expression asked, "What did you hear?"

I laughed at them both.

"Tony, it’s sort of obvious," I said, and then smirked at Chris, "And I heard that Jake gave you a kiss that would make any sane man consider coming to the other side. Must have been some kiss."

Chris was blushing while Tony tried to stifle his giggles. Finally, Chris looked at Tony and said, "Fine, I’ll admit it, it was a good kiss. But I aint switching teams. Besides, that kiss was meant for Tony and Owen’s right, Tony, you should do something about Jake, believe me, I got a first hand taste of what you’re missing."

"Well, as Owen put it, we’re just friends, and that’s all Jake and I will ever be."

Chris and I exchanged doubtful looks, but if Tony saw it, he didn’t let on. The rest of our meal went great, we talked about past birthdays, only mentioning our absent parents once or twice, and we stayed at the table talking until a pesky waiter started swarming around our table waiting for us to leave. I paid, refusing to let Tony and Chris pitch in, and then we headed home, full and happy.

I think we were all surprised to find Aiden waiting in front of our door with two wrapped packages. He stood up as we came up the stairs and Chris pulled him into a hug.

"Hey, where’ve you been?" Chris asked.

"You know." Aiden shrugged, "I just wanted to stop by and say happy birthday, I wont keep you long."

"Don’t be ridiculous, get in here." Tony replied, ushering him into our apartment, "Come in and stay for a while."

Aiden didn’t protest, instead he handed each of my brothers one of the packages, which both looked about the same, but obviously they were labeled because Chris and Tony looked at them and switched. Aiden just chuckled.

"I swear you guys should be required to wear nametags." He remarked.

"Owen can tell us apart." Chris pointed out. "And you didn’t have to get us anything, Aiden."

"I wanted to." Aiden replied, and then glanced at me, "And Owen must be a freak of nature."

I smiled at him and followed everyone into the kitchen. I grabbed four cans of soda out of the refrigerator and passed them out as Chris and Tony tore into their presents. I took my seat next to Aiden and looked over what he brought.

They were two identical photo albums, silver, with a glass cover. On the front of each were identical pictures I recognized from our camping trip, of Chris, Tony and me together, and I had to give it to Aiden, he really did take a great picture. In Chris’s book there were various pictures of Chris and me, and one of the whole group. Tony had the same set up in his. I’m not sure how Aiden sorted the pictures, but he had Tony and Chris sorted out in them. He must have been paying attention to what they were wearing.

"I know you guys have a lot of pictures together from when you were younger." Aiden explained, "I figured you’d need new ones."

Chris and Tony were both speechless before they both smothered Aiden in hugs. I was even a little touched by the gifts. Chris and Tony liked my presents, but Aiden’s was thoughtful. But then again, that wasn’t really a surprise. Aiden was one of the nicest people I knew.

After my brothers were done thanking him, despite already being full, Chris decided to make nachos, so for the next hour we hung around the kitchen talking more. At some point I decided to claim the shower, all that food had me feeling like dead weight and I needed something to refresh me.

When I came out I was clad in a clean pair of boxers and a white undershirt. Nice thing about living with a bunch of guys is, they don’t really care how you’re dressed, and since Aiden had already seen me naked I didn’t feel I needed to dress to impress.

When I headed back to the kitchen I heard Aiden’s voice, and was pleased that he was still there, but when I heard what was being said I stopped in my tracks.

"It’s really no bother Aiden," Tony was saying, "We love having you here, you know that."

"I know." Aiden sounded tired, "And don’t think I’m not grateful for everything you guys have done, it’s just, these are my problems, and I need to find a way to deal with them."

"Not alone you don’t." Chris said, a little harsher than I thought necessary for anyone to speak to Aiden, "Look, we know you’re not a kid, but we’re here for you. You’re like a brother to us, and family sticks together. You would do the same for us and you know it."

"Chris is right, Aiden." Tony insisted, "We know you can handle yourself, but your mom is coming home tomorrow, if you’re not ready for that, why not stay here for a while? Have you even talked to her yet?"

"No." Aiden replied, "The mandatory restraining order says she can’t call me. We’re not supposed to have any contact until it runs out at midnight tonight. But you know her, guys, she’ll come home and apologize, it’ll be fine."

"Until the next time." Chris muttered.

"It’ll be fine." Aiden insisted, "Besides, I think the social worker scared her."

"Social worker?" Tony demanded, "Someone came to see you, Aiden?"

"Yes, but relax Tony. I would have come to get you or Chris if it were necessary, but it’s not. And don’t worry, I let the lady know that it would be a waste of the state’s time to remove me from my home, I’ll be eighteen in a few months anyways. My mom’s court date doesn’t come until after that. Maybe this time the treatment will stick."

"If you wont come stay here, then I want to see your mom when she comes home tomorrow." Chris stated, "either you call when she gets here or you tell her to call me, got it?"

"Got it." Aiden sighed.

There was a silence from the kitchen then, so I made as much noise as possible to let them know I was coming. I put on my best smile, despite what I just heard and looked pointedly at Aiden.

"Cool, you’re still here." I said.

"Oh, I was just getting ready to leave." Aiden replied.

"Dude, you cant leave." I insisted, "Crash here, I’m dragging Ryan on a nice, long run in the morning, it should prove entertaining. You can run, can’t you? I mean, I think I can handle dragging one big lump around, and if you cant keep up…"

"I can keep up." Aiden smirked. Which I didn’t doubt. And I knew that Chris was no lump. He just happened to mention that he hated running. Chris and Tony both shot me looks. I had no doubt that they knew I had overheard their conversation, and they also knew what I was up to.

"Then you can crash here tonight." I told Aiden, "It’ll save me time having to drag your ass out of bed in the morning."

Chris gave Aiden a slap on the back.

"Yeah, stay here, just make sure you two don’t wake me up in the morning, I’m sleeping in."

"No, make sure you do wake him up." Tony protested, "It’s his turn to cook breakfast."