Rebirth - 7. Chapter 7: Covert Personal Affairs

Aries smiled, sitting on the bed, his old lamp from the trailer mounted on the wall above the night stand on his side and twisted to light up the area around him. "So, as you can all see, the rooms different. I kinda demolished it and did a total demo." He laughed. "No, really what I did was...like The Jefferson's, I moved on up!" He nodded. "Thanks to two people who I heard called Ian's phone." He grinned. "Gave his wife all the info she needed to find me. Are you two in here?"

Aries' eyes widened. "Oh, you guys, B Kelly and Angel Of Tucson." He nodded. "You guys did it?" He grinned. "Well, don't tell his wife, she might get mad if she thinks I'm not upset. They're getting a divorce, Ian and I are sharing this guest room. I don't entirely know who will end up with the house. We might get booted out."

"Well, I'm glad you guys had fun." Aries laughed and then he saw one of the chatters type in the code word. "Gaze At U...just the special guest I was looking for, tonight anyway." He grabbed a cheap looking phone. "It's why I bought this...El Cheapo disposable phone. Now...I'm not going to do it every time, but this is another special situation that...I have to handle delicately. So...um...Gaze, you hear me? I'm going to give you the number to this phone, and I want you to call it." He picked up a piece of paper and held it up. "See the number? Call it, please. And no other callers, like I said, this is a special situation, I promise a fun call night real soon."

He tossed the paper aside and waited for the disposable phone to ring and when it did, he answered. "Hello?"

"That was really clever, the double notes." Worth said. "Why? How do you know I just won't be a jerk to you like the others?"

"Well, for one...your username seems pretty friendly...and for two...I've noticed. Why do you think I did it?" Aries asked.

"Well, if we're going to talk, shouldn't you go off of live? They could spy on you."

Aries laughed. "Do they do that, like..ever?"

"I don't know, they might." Worth said. "Though I would think they would pick a fight with you."

"Yokay." He looked at the screen. "I continue to apologize so deeply for using my live feed as a medium for my covert personal affairs. I really do, and for the issues going on in my life, some of which B Kelly and Angel Of Tucson jumped in on." He leaned closer to the screen.

"Thanks by the way, so funny." He whispered and grinned. "And I promise, promise, promise...that I will make time to dedicate to all of you guys, I hate going through here and all of you being so loyal to keep coming and I'm always bailing, just give me more time, I promise." He then closed the laptop and sighed. "They're going to end up hating me."

"I doubt it, watching the chat, they all seem nice and supportive, if you've kept a long and good history with them, they can handle your bumps in the road, or rather mine. Which..I don't understand why you would care...and why now."

"I've noticed your gaze at me, Wentworth, and...I don't know what it is...but you're obviously suppressed and you can't reach out, so I arranged it so it could happen. Now you can spill the beans, so to speak." Aries smiled.

"It's so hard to say...not even just the two little words, but all of it, I mean, it's so hard to even talk about, I never thought I would ever be in a spot to talk about it."

"You're talking to someone who won't judge you...and while it was never hard for me, I some how understand the feeling, it's like you want to...and when you get ready, you just suddenly feel like you stop breathing, like nothing can come out. You try to push it...and nothing, then once you give up, a sigh of relief, breathing becomes easy again, you relax...and it's all okay, but mentally you are so frustrated because it happens every single time."

"Exactly! It's just like that." Worth took a deep breath.

"Take that deep breath again, close your eyes...and remember what it felt like to let that breath out, but...let the words come with it, and keep in mind just how easy it was to take that breath in...and push it out." Aries said, hoping to guide him through it.

"I'll try." Worth said, taking that deep breath and closing his eyes, trying not to let himself get psyched out again. He then let the breath out. "I liked you..." He let out in a breathy tone.

"Keep going, again."

Worth repeated the process. "I thought you were beautiful." His eyes remained shut, taking in the breaths and letting them out, slowly and carefully. "I wanted to be with you." His face tensed up and his breathing became more panicked.

"Relax...don't get upset, it's just me, I'm okay with hearing this, you're okay...breath and talk." Aries said in a calm tone.

He started to calm down again. "Every time they would mess with you, I would just look at you, thinking about how much...I wanted to walk over...be at your side...but I followed them...feeling like I was being torn away." He started to sound like he wanted to cry. "Then I just wanted to be with you and your friends, altogether....I didn't care in what way, I just wanted to be free."

"Now...say those two words, just as easy as you told that whole story."

Worth whimpered into the phone. "I...I'm gay." He then let out a brief sob and drew in a loud breath.

"You did it." Aries said. "And all this information, the call, everything is safe with me, I won't tell anyone. You...were never my enemy, you never did anything to us, you were just...with the wrong people, maybe you thought you were hated by association."

"Really?" He wiped his eyes. "You guys never hated me?"

"Well, aside from making fun of your name, no...we never thought anything horrible of you." Aries smiled.

Worth laughed softly. "I hate my name..."

"But, this is all safe with me, our secret." Aries said.

"I feel so free, finally saying it all to someone, actually...to you. I mean, you were the one I needed to express all of this to. Now...it's horrible to think about going to them...and being trapped again. I don't want to do that...but if I do anything different, they are going to want to know something, some kind of explanation."

"You remember I can kick Nash's ass...and the other two if they ever dared to try me, they never do." Aries' smile faded. "The bad part is...I wouldn't always be around." He looked up. "And really bad things can happen in the jock world, they see betrayal...and they don't take it lightly. They think...they're just going to rough you up, sometimes that is all that happens, other times...things go too far."

"Wow, you know how to put the fear into someone. Now I feel like I'm bound to them for life."

Aries looked down. "I'm sorry, it's just a story I know...where things went horribly bad. If that happened to you...I...well, I would be devastated. So as much as I want to tell you to break free and be happy...I would be afraid to."

"So, what do I do? Be a slave to them forever? Be what they want to please them? Just because of what might happen?" Worth spit fired questions at him, sounding more angry.

Aries started crying. "Just the thought hurts!" He screamed into the phone.

Worth's eyes widened. "What?"

"I can't help it! It just plays in my head! I think of you...and they go after you and they just want to teach you a lesson but it all goes too far and you end up dead!" Aries shut his eyes tightly, crying into the phone, Ian opened the door and quietly walked in, wondering what had Aries so upset.

"I just feel so strongly that it will happen, Worth, I'm sorry..." His loud sobs turned into soft cries and whimpers as he rocked back and forth.

"Maybe...I should let you go..." Worth said.

"And now I've freaked you out." He took quick and deep breaths and looked up, seeing Ian. "I just don't want anything to happen to you...that's all."

"No...you haven't freaked me out...I just...I have a lot to think about." Worth hung up.

Aries heard the call end and he dragged the phone down his chest and dropped it onto the mattress.

"What happened?" Ian asked.

"I didn't mean to scare him." He shook his head. "I just don't want him to make the same mistake that Adam did, I don't want him to get hurt."

Ian sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around Aries. "Who?"

"Worth...you know...t...the lacrosse player? He...he's secretly...just like Adam, and I...I tried to help him...but I know, if he pisses them off, if they get angry, they will go after him and...it'll happen." He cried, shaking in Ian's arms.

Ian sighed, rubbing Aries' back, wondering how much of these emotions were him and how much of them were Shane's influences, and if he triggered some kind of post traumatic response within Aries, knowing their past lives have, at times, influenced them in certain ways.

"Calm down." Ian whispered and pulled back. "You know, that's all Shane right? He fears that...he's probably terrified of it, he probably thinks that will happen every single time."

Aries took a deep breath, slowly calming down. "It makes sense." He said quietly.

Ian grabbed Aries' laptop and laid it on the night stand. "Here..." He grabbed the covers and pulled them over Aries as he laid down and then reached for his wall lamp and flipped it off. "I love you...and I'll come to bed shortly." He leaned forward and kissed the top of his head and then left a light kiss on his lips.

"I love you too." He grabbed onto Ian's hand, holding on for a second longer and then he let him go, his eyes drifting shut.

Ivan walked up to Mr. Timmon's desk in Study Hall and leaned forward, speaking in a quiet tone. "Hey, can I talk to you in the hall for a minute? I just need to ask you something."

Mr. Timmon's looked up and then looked around, not wanting to disturb the other students. "Sure." He stood up and followed Ivan out into the hallway. "What can I do for you."

Ivan grinned, sticking a hand into his pocket, wrapping his fingers around that pocket knife. He turned around and stepped closer to him. "I know...I haven't been here long, but I must confess...I find you..." He reached up with his free hand and toyed with the man's tie while his other hand swiftly shifted out of his pocket and down into Mr. Timmon's pocket. "..incredibly attractive." He carefully placed the knife and quickly withdrew his hand.

Mr. Timmon's tensed up and grabbed Ivan's hand. "I don't know what you're doing...but this is by far inappropriate behavior."

"Oh really?" Ivan grinned. "What about asking you to hold me after class, bending me over that desk of yours and fucking my brains out? Rules were made to be bent...fucked...and broken." He quietly laughed.

Mr. Timmon's took a step back to distance himself. "If this is a joke and you called me out here for nothing, I suggest that you return to your seat before I have to take further action."

"What? You don't want me?" He grabbed Mr. Timmon's by the shirt. "Are you saying you don't want me?" He asked in a quieted but angry tone. "You're going to threaten me?!" He then yanked himself around, taking Mr. Timmon's with him and then he let go of the man's shirt and flung himself back into the class room and onto the floor in such a way as to make it look like the teacher had done it.

"You're an insane son of a bitch!" Ivan got up and stepped back, grabbing the phone on the teachers desk. "I'm calling the cops on you, mother fucker!"

Aries' eyes widened at Ivan's performance, watching on.

"I'm going to tell them you threatened me! They'll come here and take you away!" Ivan screamed and went to dial the number before another teacher from a near by room came in.

"What is going on?!" The female teacher asked, alarmed.

"He said he was going to hold me after class and fuck me, I told him he was a fucking pervert and he said if I didn't and if I told anyone, he was going to stab me with his knife! I shoved him and he grabbed me and threw me into the class room on the floor! I'm calling the police, then I'm calling my dad! I'm telling everyone, he said he had the knife in his pocket and he'd slash my wrists and make it look like a suicide!" Ivan screamed hysterically.

"What?! I don't have a knife in my pocket!" Mr. Timmon's looked at his co-worker. "Look!" He reached in and yanked the insides of his pockets out and the pocket knife fell out onto the floor. The students gasped and started whispering. He looked down at the knife. "That's not mine!"

The female teacher looked down at the knife and grabbed her walkie talkie. "Don't you move." She then looked at Ivan. "And you calm down!" She then pressed the button. "We have a situation in Study Hall and need assistance immediately!" She spoke into the walkie talkie.

Aries looked at the knife on the floor and his eyes widened, wondering what would happen when the staff came onto the scene, Ivan was actually pulling it off.

Principal Grant and two of the school's hired officers stormed into the room and Principal Grant's eyes immediately shot to the floor. "What is going on here?!" He looked up, wanting an explanation.

"That's not mine!" Mr. Timmon's said.

"He threatened to stab me with it and slit my wrists if I didn't do what he said!" Ivan started as the teacher and Ivan started screaming over each other.

The female teacher put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. "One at a time!"

Principal Grant gave the woman a look, her whistle had hurt his ears. "Come with me...and one of you collect that knife." He instructed one of the officers and his hand moved to Ivan's upper back as he guided him out to the hallway. "Now tell me what happened."

Ivan looked at the Principal. "I asked him out to the hallway because I needed to...to talk to him about something. I don't even remember anymore..." He looked around, appearing frightened. "He pushed me back into the wall and put...he put his hand around my throat and said he was holding me after class, I could feel the pressure, I knew he meant it. He said...he...he said he was going to fuck me over the desk and if I told anyone...he would stab me with the knife in his pocket."

The Principal listened.

Ivan looked down. "Then he said, better yet, he'd slash my wrists and hold me down until I was dead, make it...look...look like a suicide. I shoved him and tried to run and he grabbed me and we swung around and he threw me into the class room. I fell on the floor and grabbed the phone, before I could call the police, that woman came in. He pulled his pockets out and the knife fell out."

Principal Grant nodded. "Now, why do you suppose he would pull his pockets out, knowing he had a knife?"

Ivan shook his head. "W...why are you asking me? I...I don't know! I just want to call my dad!"

The older man nodded. "Go to the main office, tell the secretary I told you to call home." Principal Grant then headed into the class room and looked at the rest of the students. "Okay, I want you all to go to the cafeteria for the remainder of the period while we handle this."

Aries looked around and got up and headed out with the rest of the students, seeing Ivan was gone by the time he got out of the room, he took a deep breath and headed for the cafeteria to wait out the rest of the period.

Aries stood outside with the rest of the gym class by the bus for the senior camping trip. It was odd that it came up now, after reading about it so recently in Shane's diary.

"Okay, this year I have thought up a brilliant partnering system, it's fair and it's smart...and no one can bitch about it." Mr. Braden paused. "At least I better not hear any bitching over the finesse of my brilliance!"

Mr. Braden then went on. "The system works like this, partner number one's first initial is matched by position of partner number two's last initial in the alphabet, the former going forward and the latter going backwards, the determining factor is the number it takes to get to both partners third letter of their last names, must be a match."

One of the students raised his hand. "I'm already confused!"

Mr. Braden appeared annoyed. "Okay! Example, if partner one's first name starts with an A and partner two's last name starts with a Z, both are in position one in the alphabet, partner one going forward and partner two going backward. If partner ones third letter of their last name is C and partner two's is Z, it takes three numbers from both parties. Understand? Of course, there are some variations, but that is the basis of my system."

Aries' eyebrows lifted at such a complicated system, there was no way he came up with that on his own.

"Okay...now as I call parties, you board the bus and sit from front to back." The teacher looked at his clip board. "Wentworth Meyers and Aries Donovan."

Aries looked over at Worth, with a thoughtful yet slightly troubled expression and then he headed through the crowd and boarded the bus and slid into the back seat on the right side, slouching down as Worth sat beside him, on the outside of the seat.

"He did not come up with that...and how convenient is it..."

Worth looked over at Aries. "You're right, I gave it to him. After we talked, I planned it. I asked myself, how would a teacher partner students, if not randomly, a system, and I know he loves to look smart. W is the fourth letter going backwards just as D is the fourth letter going forwards. Y is the eleventh letter going from M just as N is the eleventh letter going from D. Wentworth Meyers and Aries Donovan. I had the list prepared for him, he just got bragging rights, he still didn't explain it entirely right."

Aries stared at him. "So you did that whole entire elaborate thing, just to be partnered with me? Why?"

"Because...I wanted to be with you, because I wanted to talk, because if I didn't get a chance just to be me with someone...I would keep smothering and I'd just die." He looked at Aries and slowly reached over to his thigh and he took Aries' hand in his own. "I never thought I could do that."

"Do you realize the risk you're taking?" Aries looked down at their hands. "If they don't see you being mean to me."

"For real?" Worth looked up at him. "Like I'd be stupid enough to be a jerk to someone under class supervision."

"They don't care, you could tell them that, you could tell them you're just trying to make the best of it, or that you just want to get through it, done and over with, you could give them any one of a thousand excuses, they would still expect you to take pleasure in the opportunity to torture me, and if you don't, they are...for one, going to get pissed off, and for two, they are going to wonder why." Aries said.

"Why do you feel so strongly about that? Why are you so sure and so certain that is what is going to happen?" He squeezed Aries hand gently.

Aries closed his eyes. "You will never understand unless I tell you." He then looked down at their hands, the bus by this point had pulled out onto the road. "Can I trust you?"

"I've trusted you with my secret, knowing you could get total revenge on me just by association with those jerks and how they have been to you over the years." He felt Aries tug on his hand and he let go. "But I felt...safe telling you, even as hard as it still was."

"Okay, so..first, did your news snow out when they mentioned a cold case a little while back?"

Worth thought about it. "My mom always has the news on when we're eating dinner, mostly for background noise, she can't stand not having a television on where ever shes at. It mentioned a cold case and then...yeah, it snowed out." He looked at Aries. "Funny thing is, the rest of our channels worked, after they stopped talking about it, I mean, when it came back on, they were talking about something else entirely, I was thinking government conspiracy or something." He briefly grinned, though it quickly faded, he couldn't be seen enjoying sitting with Aries.

"Check the paper?" Aries asked.

"I was curious, yeah...and come to think of it, reminds me of how you're acting. There were no pictures, just the whole story. The guy Adam, it was his jock friends that did it in front of the club where that Shane Lyndon person was singing, Shane even named the guys that did it, but they got away with it. Then Shane went on, became somewhat famous and then killed himself...and left a suicide note revealing his songs all secretly were written to Adam, and that's why his songs were always gender neutral."

"So you know the story." Aries nodded, having pulled up his ICloud while he was listening. "And here's the reason why...I feel the way that I do." He looked at Worth. "Promise not to freak...and to hear me out."

Worth nodded and looked down when Aries showed him the phone.

"That's Shane, class of 1969..." He looked up at Worth. "And you're sitting beside me, Aries, soon to be class of 2015." He then slid a finger across the screen. "That's Adam, look familiar to you?"

Worth's eyes widened as he looked at the screen, looked at Aries, and then did a double take on the phone, then he watched as Aries flipped the pictures. "That...that's Mr. O'Ryan...except...younger, obviously." He looked up. "How?"

"First of all, their bones are in their caskets, so don't freak out about that, we were just...reincarnated to...look and pretty much be the same." Aries exited his ICloud, it would automatically sign him out. "Ian has had dreams, flashbacks for the last couple of years and has been seeing a hypnotherapist to recover Adam's memories. I...well I didn't remember a damn thing. So when Ian saw me..."

"That's why he freaked out in class." Worth said. "You flirted with him, are you with him? Is that what it is? Some star crossed, we'll be together again, love story?"

Aries slowly nodded. "It's...what Shane and Adam wanted, parts of them...still exist, certain feelings or emotions, sometimes memories. I've had flashbacks, the night of the murder, of course...I didn't remember any audio, but I hardly remember anything, just that, I remember singing on stage, no sound, finding Adam dying, no sound. That's it...and until I saw the year book, I seriously didn't believe him, and even then, I was highly resistant to the whole thing."

"And?"

"Well, Shane's feelings tugged at me, Adam's did the same to Ian, they drew us together...until our own feelings formed. Sometimes things trigger Adam and Shane, they are...still inside of us...somewhat, it's weird. So...when I talked to you on the phone, your situation being so similar to Adam's...it triggered...well, I guess it triggered Shane's emotions and, I guess that is why I feel so strongly about the situation...the way I do."

"So, because of Shane...you think I'm going to get murdered?" Worth's eyebrows lifted.

Aries stared at Worth with a weird expression. "Yes, I guess you could say that."

"Aries, oh my God." Worth slouched down and shook his head. "I am not going to get murdered." He stared at him. "Does every gay teen get murdered? I mean, can't you take some kind of control and just be you?"

"I guess, it's just...the pull is so hard, it can get really intense, you know me, losing my cool like that over the phone, that is so far from how I would of handled it."

"Yeah, you are pretty cool and in control, you were great until you lost it." Worth looked down. "Now...it kind of makes sense, in a very weird way. Does anyone else know? Your friends?"

"Sage, I don't ever see myself telling Jay, he can't take a thing seriously, I mean he's a great friend to hang out with, chill, have fun, but with information like this, I don't know how he would react." Aries shrugged.

"You can trust your bullies tag along more than you can trust Jay." He grinned. "Sorry, it's just kind of ironic."

He stared at Worth. "Well, you got what you wanted, master manipulator, I have to say, you got that going for you. What you lack in being a big, meat headed, stereotypical jock, you got in brains. Guess it goes with being the super rich Wentworth that lives in the big mansion on the hill." Aries grinned, teasingly. "Major in business and play the stock market like toy soldiers."

Worth quietly laughed. "You know, by the end of this trip...I might just not care what they think, I contain my laugh...when I'm starting to understand why Jay laughs all the time...and I bet it feels good to...just let it go."

"Well, whatever you do, I'm here..." Aries smiled and then looked out the window, not bothering to pull his hand back when Worth gently took his hand again, nothing wrong with it in his eyes.

Worth walked through the woods, knowing there were various camp sites to pick. "Need to find the most private spot there is." He mumbled. "Are they still following?"

Aries looked around. "I think we lost them. My whole...'I'm going to steal the tent and leave you homeless' and run routine, might of worked." He said, quietly.

Worth rubbed his hands together, shaking his head. "I just hate not knowing for sure."

"Well here's an idea." Aries walked around him and grinned. "When in trouble, take the beaten path to a place unknown."

Worth looked around thoughtfully. "An undesignated camping spot?"

"Exactly." Aries stopped in front of him. "Of course, that means no fire pit, we would have to do that independently and be damn careful about it, if we did it at all...it would also mean going off the marked trails, but this whole thing is learning survival, right?"

"That's genius." Worth said, nodding for Aries to follow him and he stepped over the tiny rope that had little signs every few yards that warned people not to step off the path.

Aries followed after Worth as they headed off the path and through the woods, weaving through the trees, doing their best to get lost from anyone and everyone.

After walking for about ten minutes, Worth came out to a circular clearing that had a semi circular cliff that surrounded the back of it and a water fall that streamed down into a small pond over to the far right. "Look at this...you would think this place would be on the trails."

Aries came out of the woods and into the clearing and grinned. "What they get for not exploring a little more." He walked around and over towards the center and dropped his duffel bag to the ground.

Worth dropped his large back pack that hung to his shoulders and the tent that he had taken back from Aries and had strapped around his neck and let hang along the front of him. "So...do you know how to build a tent?" His eyebrows lifted.

Aries looked at Worth. "You think I went camping? Yeah, sure...step daddy Keith took me camping all the time." He laughed, the idea was hysterical. "Just...uh...did you just buy it?"

"Yeah, my dad went with me and we just bought it for the occasion, it has two rooms in it." Worth said.

"Then there should be instructions, if the words start getting confusing, just look at the pictures." He crossed his arms. "Hey...why didn't you just buy one of those...inflatable tents? You know, the kind you just put down and...well, you do something to it and...BAM! It pops up?"

Worth's eyes widened. "I never thought of that."

"Well...that sucks." Aries sighed. "At least we'll sleep nice, as partner number two, with the responsibility of bedding, we got a California King blow up mattress, and a battery powered inflation device."

"The perks of living with Ian, I take it?"

"We'd be on the rock hard ground with old comforters if I was still living with Keith and Kristy." Aries laughed. "Unless you did something about it."

"Kristy? Not mom anymore?" Worth asked.

"Not if I don't live with her." He reached out and took Worth's hand and lead him over to the small pond and sat on a wooden log that laid beside it. "So...she basically made my dad leave, or...she didn't make it any better. She probably screamed nasty things at him because that's how she is. He might of not left if she wasn't the way she was, or he might of at least been willing to come back if he knew that he wouldn't be welcomed into a nightmare."

Worth slowly nodded.

"And...when she found out the things Keith was doing to me...she didn't believe me, said if I was going to make up stories about him, to get out." Aries shrugged.

"Wait, what?" Worth leaned slightly forward. "Your step dad was..." He shook his head. "I don't get it, why didn't you just kick his ass?"

"Because I wanted him to hurt me, his theory was that it was better to have a dad to hurt me than to have a dad that walks away. Makes the most sense to me." He shrugged. "It's over now, that's all that matters."

"I'm really sorry." Worth frowned. "Such a broken home, a broken life...yet looking at you, not a person would think it, I never thought it. I mean I knew you weren't the best off financially...but I thought that was the worst of it."

"I keep it together, like you said, I do it the best." Aries smiled. "I really don't want the pity or sympathy or...anything, it's the past...and I want it to be there."

He slowly nodded and leaned back. "I can do that, still, I'm sorry." He nodded to Aries.

"Well, that damn tent isn't putting it's self together." Aries got up and then grabbed Worth by the arm and tugged him and he got up and followed Aries.

Nash narrowed his eyes at his partner. "You put the damn tent together, I got shit to deal with." He walked over to the center of the three neighboring camp sites and waved Matt and Boyd over to him and they headed over.

"Do you think I'm paranoid?" Nash asked.

"About what?" Matt asked.

Jay looked up and started watching the trio, keeping an ear in tune on their conversation.

"Mr. Braden is not smart enough to come up with a system like that, plus...why would he bother? He's never bothered before. He's always...always let us choose our partners." Nash said.

"So, what are you saying? You think someone rigged it? Why would he go along with it?" Boyd asked.

"Well, it sure makes him look smart, the guy likes a big ego, anything that will feed to that." Nash crossed his arms.

"So, you think Aries did it?" Matt asked.

"Possibly." Nash said. "Though, Worth has a brain on him, we know that. He could get into Harvard on a lacrosse scholarship or he could get in just by the advanced classes and the high grades he has alone. He could drop lacrosse and still get in."

Matt's eyebrows lifted and he shook his head. "No...I mean, he's smart, but he wouldn't do that."

"Then why isn't he in that spot instead of Jay? Not saying Jay took it on purpose, as much as I hate the guy...but Worth would of grabbed it so we could be together, like the three of us did." Nash said.

Boyd shook his head. "You saw Aries take off with the tent, nah man, Worth wouldn't betray us."

"He also never says anything when we trash those fag rejects either." Nash further argued.

"Why are you so fucking quick to turn on him? Maybe he never trashes them because his record is perfect and he needs it to stay that way to get into Harvard? Worth is clean, squeaky fucking clean, and yeah, I know it makes him sound like a bit of a pussy, but the guy thinks of his future, not a bad thing when you think of it like that." Matt said.

Nash sighed, his eyes rolled up towards the side. "You got a point."

"Yeah, so lets lay off of him. How about it?" Matt said, shaking his head as he turned around and headed back to his camp spot.

"Boyd, how do you feel?" Nash looked at him. "I think it's worth at least questioning, with or without Matt."

Boyd slowly shook his head. "I'm down with you, whatever you want to do. Matt isn't going to make a big thing of it, you know that."

"Good." Nash patted Boyd on the shoulder and the two headed back to their camp sites which were all pretty much in a neighborhood together.

Jay watched the trio separate and then pulled out his phone and looked at it, just enough bars that he hoped a text would go through. "Keep up the good work." He said to his partner. "I'll be just a minute." He walked back and away, heading behind a tree and started texting Aries.

"There we go, finally put together."

"Worth, you are...magical." Aries grinned, walking up to him.

"You were the one that was reincarnated from...what? 1972...or 73?"

"Uh...I think..." Aries trailed off when he heard his phone alert him. "Hell, I got signal out here."

"Might just be where you're standing, don't move." He laughed.

Aries grabbed his phone and looked at the text and his grin slowly faded. "Oh no..."

"What?"

"It's from Jay." Aries said, he then began reading it. "Nash is suspicious of Wentworth, Boyd is down with him, on the bright side, Matt doesn't seem worried about anything."

"Well, there's a difference between suspicion and knowing...and we went off the trail, how will they ever find us?" Worth shrugged.

"They would if we built a fire." Aries said, deleting the text. "The light from it...would give us away. And I'm not sure how far off the trails we actually are, so we definitely shouldn't make a fire. I got a battery powered lamp, but we should keep it in the tent, it has three settings, dim is called for."

Worth looked around.

"Shane's feelings are really pulling at me right now." Aries looked at Worth. "His anxiety is like...so intense right now, he's terrified for you. Makes me a little worried."

"Please fight him? Because it's all going to be okay." Worth said.

Aries nodded and grabbed Worth by the hand and tugged him down, crawling into the tent. "Makes me wish Ian really did have anxiety pills."

"Anxiety pills?" Worth crawled into the tent and sat down. "I have some, they are actually my moms...but she gets a lot of them for as needed, so she gives me a certain amount each month if I get stressed or anxious about a test." He reached into his back pack and pulled a small prescription bottle out that had the tag ripped off of it. "I brought them in case camping freaked me out." He said.

Aries slowly smiled. "Maybe not magical...at your insistence, but handy, I can say."

Worth laughed quietly and opened the bottle, taking two of them out and handed them over. "That'll shut Shane up." He then handed over a water bottle.

"Thanks." Aries took the tablets and opened the water bottle and took a sip, then he replaced the cap and sat the bottle aside.

"Give it about fifteen to thirty...you'll feel better." Worth stared at him.

"Oh...I dreaded this trip my entire high school life...no internet, no connections. Like...I just got this craving to go live and rant about something."

"You like doing that? Why?" He asked Aries.

"It's just fun, meeting new people, ranting and having them entertained by it, being liked. Wondering what you're going to get into." Aries shrugged. "Just being able to connect any time I want."

"You don't like feeling disconnected." Worth observed.

"Can't stand it." He looked down. "If I were born in the ancient times or the middle ages...well, I guess I wouldn't miss it too much, since I wouldn't know about it. Lets just say, I wouldn't time travel and risk getting stuck there." He laughed quietly.

Worth stared at him. "You do it because...you're lonely."

Aries looked up, appearing rather vulnerable in that moment. "Why would you say that?"

"It's what I see." He then moved forward and lightly shoved Aries onto his back, holding himself up on his hands as he hovered over him. "When you connect, they all want you, it validates the idea that...you're not alone, you have all those people that love you in some kind of way."

He stared up at Worth after being shoved back. "And why do you...suddenly think...you know all about Aries?"

"Maybe...I'm a quick learner? Or...you just don't hide as well as you think? Or...maybe you don't want to hide from me?" Worth's elbows bent as he lowered himself and closed the distance between them.

Aries could feel Shane's want, there was a familiar feeling that he got from being with Worth like this, it was like being with Adam again, like when they were alive, when they were both the same age, sneaking around to be together. The situation was so similar.

"What are you thinking about?" Worth asked.

"I'm not sure." Aries said.

"What if I kissed you right now?" He stared down at Aries. "Do you want to know why I did all of this?"

"You said you did all of this..to be with me." Aries said.

"Exactly...because I fear...I might not ever have another opportunity. I may never get another chance to hold your hand, or another chance to kiss you, or another chance to..." Worth trailed off.

"Or another chance to..." Aries repeated. "To what?" He asked.

"Whatever this...might lead to." One hand moved up and he brushed his fingers through Aries hair. "No one has to know, in fact...isn't that the point, your point? No one can know?"

"I...well, I...didn't exactly say that." He closed his eyes. "I said...I feared what might happen." He looked up at Worth. "And you're being so final, once you graduate...you can be free, you can go away, and Nash...he can never bother you." His hand drifted up Worth's other arm. "Your life starts..."

"The future." He nodded, his fingers still running through Aries' blonde hair. "But...this isn't about the experience it's self, this is about...you." He slowly shook his head. "I never said I stopped wanting you." He looked down. "Unfortunately, I know you're involved, I just thought this could be...a time where the rest of the world faded away, where all the rules disappeared, and it was just you and me and here...and this moment, this night."

Aries stared up at him, listening to everything he said, the way he spoke, the sound of his voice, the words he used and the way he described all of it. Worth ignited a feeling inside of him that made him drawn to him and to the idea of it, he didn't know if these feelings were his own or if they were Shane's or a mixture of the two, all he knew was that this was more than captivating.

"I can see it in your eyes, you feel it...you want this night." Worth continued on, his face easing closer. "Don't you?" He stared into Aries eyes.

Aries slowly nodded a single time. "I want it, you make it sound so incredible, and if it came to be as you make it sound, I could only imagine." He drew in a deep breath. "But then, how do you know that you will just be able to let it go?"

"I don't." Worth stated. "It might just be one more thing that eats me alive, in fact, it already does, and it might just make that worse, but as the saying goes, it's better to have had...than to never have had at all. I think this one night is worth the risk of all the horrid days that could follow, I think this one taste is worth having, to know what I'll be deprived of when we return to the world that is..."

Aries reached up and rested his hand on Worth's cheek just before Worth leaned down and the pairs eyes shut as they leaned in and kissed each other so deeply. Aries hand slid further and his fingers dipped beneath Worth's ear and curled around the back of his head while his thumb lightly brushed just beneath his eye.

Worth deepened the kiss and leaned down and ran a hand along the side of Aries' neck and pressed his body firmly against Aries' and it was Aries that could feel Worth's tongue push forth as his lips parted to allow their tongue's to meet as the kiss lasted for only another moment and then he placed his other hand to Worth's chest and lightly pushed him back and broke the kiss.

Worth breathed heavily and he looked down at Aries. "Why did you stop?"

"It's the anxiety medication." He said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry...but, we do get tomorrow night here too. So...give it just one more day?"

Worth frowned, cursing himself for offering up those pills. "And if something else freaks you out?"

"Then I'll panic attack through it like normal." Aries smiled. "I want this, trust me."

Worth shifted over and laid down on his side next to Aries. "A lot can change in a day, you could change your mind, it took a lot for me to get you here...to this moment."

Aries rolled over onto his side and shook his head. "I won't change my mind."

"If I can't be with you..." Tears formed in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't want to make you feel guilty, it's just something I've wanted so badly since you reached out to me."

Aries smiled and took his hand. "It will be our night." He then leaned forward and lightly kissed him, bringing a hand around the back of his neck.

Worth smiled into the kiss and once it was broken, he nodded. "Okay, maybe it will be even better."

"We'll have had more time together." Aries laid back. "Time makes the heart grow fonder, as they say."