Epilogue

“So… you’re finally the same age as me. How does it feel?”

“Shane…” I couldn’t help but blush a little. Even with not being about to see him for about a month, he still managed to make me fell giddy inside. I was surprised that Chris had arranged for him and his brother Ian to fly out for my party. Aaron nearly lost it when Ian walked through the door and I did too when I saw Shane.

My best friend punched my shoulder. “Stop acting so gay for like a second… please!” He laughed. “Makes it hard to tease you sometimes.”

“You liar. You love to see me blush,” I countered. “Weren’t you the one that locked me outside in my backyard that one night a few years ago? You know, in just my boxers?”

“Oh yeah,” he said while his laugh deepened. “That was a great sleepover.”

“For you maybe!” I said as I bumped my shoulder into his. “I mean… if you wanted to see my body, all you had to do was ask you know. I mean, you know how I feel about you man.”

“Right,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I so want to jump your bone right now.”

“Happy birthday Theo,” Ian said with my brother hot on his heels. “Where’s Chris at? I need to make sure to thank him for letting me come with Shane.”

“I’d have been so pissed to see Shane without Ian,” Aaron said with a straight face. He looked to my friend. “I probably would’ve decked you for it.”

Shane held up his hands. “Hey, it wasn’t my idea in the first place to come out this way! So you’d be punching Chris, not me.”

“Whatever, I’m here anyway,” Ian said. He shivered a bit. “How can you guys stand the cold? It’s freezing here!”

“You kinda get used to it, just like the dry heat of SoCal.” I sighed. “Though, I do wish I was back there some of the times.”

“So do I,” Aaron sighed. “C’mon Ian… you wanna go outside and have a real snowball fight?” The two started to run off.

“Only if I can wear like three of your sweatshirts!” I heard Ian as he faded away. Before Shane and I could resume talking, Chris came over. He had his best friend Chad with him, along with Karen.

“Hey, little man. Happy b-day dude!” Chad said with a rather harsh slap to my back.

“Thanks Chad. Glad you could come out too.”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” He leaned in closer to me. “We’ll talk later. You know… about on what side of the fence we stand?”

Chad stood up as I chuckled. “Sure Chad. I’d like that.”

“Cool. Now, I’m off to score some grub. Later!” Chad ran off while Chris shook his head.

“Shane… good to see you again man,” Chris said as the two hugged.

“I’m only here because you guys paid for our tickets. Oh, and thanks for letting Ian tag along. I think I’d be a dead boy when I got home.”

“Shane this is Karen Greene. Karen, my best friend for Cali Shane,” I said and introduced the two of them.

“Good to meet you, sweetie,” she said. The two shook hands. “I bet you have a flock of ladies chasing after you back home.” I laughed when Shane started to blush.

“W-Well…” he started.

“He’s not like that. Not the kind to get a notch on his bedpost, if you know what I mean.” Karen laughed after Shane punched me in the arm.

“I don’t care if it’s your birthday. That wasn’t cool.”

“What? It was a compliment!” I said as I rubbed my arm. “That means you’re not a total slut.” I turned back to Karen with a bit of apprehension. “D-Did… did Jeremy come too?”

“Yeah sweetie. He’s over by the front door still. Hasn’t left it since we arrived.”

“Excuse me for a bit,” I said as I nervously stood and walked from the living room towards the door. I wiped my hands on my pants and walked up to him. His eyes saw me and he offered a nervous smile.

“H-Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” I said. “What’re you doing out here?”

“I don’t know, really. Just a bit nervous about… seeing you again I guess.”

“Why’s that?”

He grabbed his arm a bit. “I’m afraid things are gonna be… different between us. Like bad different.”

“You shouldn’t, you know. We’re fine, I think. At least I hope we are.”

“So do I.”

I moved towards the stairs and sat on a bench nearby. Jeremy came with and sat next to me. “Did the snow storm slow you guys up at all?”

“Nah, the roads aren’t really all that bad right now.”

“Good. That’s good.”

“Oh here,” he said as he handed me a wrapped gift.

“What’s this? I said no presents from anyone. I just wanted to see all the people that I care about for my birthday. That’s all.”

“It didn’t feel right not to bring a gift. So I brought one anyway.”

“Well, thanks.” I took the present from him but he put a hand on top of mine, freezing me in place. He leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on my right cheek.

“Happy Birthday, Teddy.”