Angst

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not write about frank sexual situations, nor do I have any desire to.

This is a story about teen love and discovery. Still though, it is a gay work of fiction.

If such work offends you or you are not old enough to read in your area, then do not continue reading.

Please do not copy and paste onto another website without emailing me first. In most cases I'd be glad to let you post on another site, as long as you ask first!

Angst Episode 25 "The Legacy"

Officially, we had been in California a total of 16 hours and already it was raining outside, something that had surprised all of us when we awoke the next day.

"So nobody bothered to check any weather reports I see," Michelle said, looking out a large window in the hotel suite that was drenched in rain.

"It was sort of a rushed thing, Michelle," Gino replied, laying backwards off the edge of one of the hotel beds.

The rain didn't bother me as much as it seemed to be bothering everybody else. I actually kind of enjoyed it as it was my first time seeing rain since......well my first time seeing rain.

I actually wanted to go outside and play in it as childish as it sounded, but everyone made it clear to me that that was a foolish thing to be trying to do, especially while on vacation.

"And nobody has any idea when it's supposed to stop then," Michelle sighed, crossing her arms in that annoyed fashion I had become accustomed to by now.

"Ah," Gino spoke, sitting up. "Now that I can answer."

I watched as he grabbed a remote from a nearby table and turned on the television, straight to a local news station.

While he checked the weather, I took the initiative to sit myself next to Alex, as closely as possible.

Something Jade had noticed.

"So Alex, what kinds of things did you and I used to do whenever we were stuck in the house cause of rain?" I asked.

Alex layed back on the bed, getting more comfortable.

"Well, there was this one game we played....name that slut...." Alex started, feeling almost embarrassed to be admitting it out loud.

"Sounds like a game where Michelle's name probably came up a lot huh?" Gino spoke abysmally, still checking for the weather.

"Hey I'll have you know that the only guys I've ever slept with are Adam and Ryan," Michelle objected, moving away from the window and joining us all on the bed.

"At the same time, remember?" Alex spoke.

Michelle slapped him on the head.

"Wait a second, I thought Adam and I were the couple," I started. "Where do you come in?"

With the question I had asked, I noticed everyone, including Gino, who's back was turned to me, tense up.

"What?" I asked.

It didn't seem like anyone was willing to be the first to speak.

"Oh come on, it's not like I'm gonna remember the details and feelings that went along with whatever happened," I said, cheekily. "Just tell me."

Michelle and Adam had been shooting each other knowing looks while Alex, Gino and Jade seemed to be the ones who were really tense.

"Let's just say that you wouldn't want to know," Adam spoke, for everyone.

Now he had to go and do it again huh? Piss me off.

"Why would you think that Adam?" I asked "Because there's no way I'd ever want to remember my old life right!"

"Brandon-"

"How many fucking times do I have to tell you that my name is not Brandon anymore?!"

I wasn't feeling like I wanted to deal with anyone anymore and so I just stormed out of the hotel room, leaving everyone in a stunned silence.

"Isn't somebody gonna go after him?" Michelle asked after a good half a minute had passed.

Alex and Gino exchanged looks.

"Right, come on Gino," Alex said, getting off the bed.

Gino made no objections and grabbed a room key off of a nearby table before he and Alex exited the room.

"I'll check the lobby," Alex said, heading for the elevator.

Gino nodded and began walking down the long hallway corridor.

I, meanwhile, had found myself back downstairs in what I guessed to be the gift shop of the lobby. I had no idea why I was there but I was and I didn't really feel like leaving. So to not look as flustered as I felt, I started acting as though I was actually looking for a souvenir.

That was when I saw him. And obviously, he saw me.

"Well if it isn't Spill Boy Jo's country bumpkin pal," Christian spoke, definitely surprised to see me.

He was missing his friends this time and looked thoroughly drenched in rain, like he'd been out in it for longer than he should have. Of course he wasn't overly wet, as water wasn't dripping from his smooth Italian body. His hair, jet black curls that hung loosely from his head and fell just before his shoulders, was wet however, which accented his dark brown eyes perfectly.

He smiled this coy little smile, revealing perfectly white teeth to me as he made his slender swimmers build body over to me.

When we were standing toe to toe, I noticed that he was about Jade's height, maybe a good three or four inches taller than me.

"If you mean Adam, then you don't have to worry," I replied, picking up a chintzy little snowglobe that was in the shape of some ugly rodent named Mickey Mouse's head. "We're not friends."

Christian crossed his arms and gave me a condescending stare.

"Really? Then what are you doing here with him?"

"Who says I came here with him?" I asked, meekly baiting his attention by shaking the snow globe violently. "I was with other people you know."

"Oh you mean those two hot girls and those other two guys right?"

"Very attentive," I smiled at him.

Which was true. Because I couldn't begin to tell him what his friends looked like or how many of them he had as I hadn't payed attention to them. Christian, however, had stuck out clearly in my mind as I hadn't forgotten him.

Christin still seemed to be deep in thought but he quickly shook it off as he took the snow globe from me and walked over to the front counter. Curious, I followed him over.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Don't you want it?" Christian asked, referring to the globe.

I hadn't really come into the place wanting to buy anything and even if I had, I couldn't, as I had no money with me. But I quickly remembered my sister and figured that if Christian was gonna buy it, it would make a nice little present for her.

"Sure," I replied.

I watched as a cashier rung up the item and placed in a bag as Christian payed for it and received his receipt.

"Thanks," I said taking the bag from him.

He had started out of the gift shop and was headed for the area at the front doors. It was a room between the outside doors and the inside doors where you could sit down and wait for people to park cars or on this day, just stare outside at pouring rain.

Or talk if you wanted.

"So you have a name?" Christian asked, taking a seat on a large expensive looking lounge chair.

I followed suit and sat beside him.

"Well my friends and family tell me it's Brandon," I replied "But I really like Austin."

"Austin?" Christian asked, almost surprised. "That's a stupid name. Brandon's better for you."

And for some strange reason, I agreed. I was agreeing with a complete stranger. A guy who had gotten into a verbal showdown with an asshole I'd come to loathe. The same guy who had also just bought me, a guy who was a complete stranger to him, a snow globe, for seemingly no reason at all.

"Okay then," I said. "Brandon it is."

Christian smiled and I smiled back.

"Oh and I'm sure you heard my name is Christian," Christian spoke.

"Yeah, I think so."

"But only my parents call me that," Christian replied. "Just call me Chris."

Chris. Just like Brandon sounded better than Austin, Chris sounded better than Christian.

"So why did you start calling yourself Austin by the way?" Chris asked, trying to keep the conversation flowing.

"Well it's a long story actually.........I sorta got amnesia," I started.

"Really?"

"Yeah.....this trip is supposed to be a way for me to have fun and try and get my memory back."

"And how's that going?"

Honestly, not so well. And I still didn't understand what bringing me 3,000 miles away from the place where I actually would be able to remember something had to do with helping me remember anything.

"Well, I have yet to have any fun," I replied.

Christian smiled at me and ran his fingers through his wet hair. I didn't know what it was, but I felt something just being around him.

It was almost as strong if not stronger than the feelings of lust I had for Alex.

"Well you know, I'm pretty good at getting people to have a good time," Chris started. "Maybe you and I should get together later."

"Are you staying here in the resort?" I asked.

"Yeah," Chris replied.

Adam and Jade were alone in the resort room as Michelle had long since left to go do more "hot guy searching", and Jade had decided to bring up the subject that had been running through her mind since Brandon had taken off.

"So I think I might be able to help you out," she started.

Adam, who had been sitting with his legs pinned up to his chin against a wall near the window, looked up suddenly at her.

"What?"

"It's obvious that Brandon has a thing for Alex," Jade replied.

Adam had noticed that as well. Of course, it didn't bother him as much as it would have if Brandon had been in lust with Gino.

"Yeah well, what do I care? He hates me anyway," Adam replied.

Jade walked over to Adam and sat on the edge of the bed, which was near the window where Adam was situated.

"Adam, he just doesn't remember you. That's all."

"That sure as hell hasn't stopped him from hating me for no reason."

Jade didn't understand why Brandon had been so petty towards Adam but she knew her best friend and if anything, she also knew that he was confused.

But she also knew just how much Brandon had loved Adam before and how much he wanted to be with Adam for years. It was hard for her to imagine that even with amnesia, he would just forget that love.

And even if he had, she was going to help Adam gain it back.

"I think that if we get Alex to convince Brandon to just spend some time with you, he'd do it," Jade started.

"Because Alex would be the one telling him to do it!"

"Adam, do you want your boyfriend back or not?"

Adam had been telling himself that he didn't want him back. Not after the way he'd been treating him. But then, that would be a complete lie were he to believe it. Because he did want Brandon back more than anything he'd ever wanted in his entire life.

"There you are!"

Great. It was Gino and Alex coming. I was having fun talking with Chris as weird as it sounded and I was in no mood to see Alex and Gino right now.

"Great, he sent the replacements," Chris sighed standing up. I did too, and turned to face Gino and Alex as they approached.

"We've been looking all over for you," Alex said.

"Don't see why," Chris spoke. "Not like he's gonna go anywhere in that mess."

Alex and Gino exchanged looks, obviously surprised to see me with Christian.

"Come on, let's go back to the room," Gino said, reaching for my arm. But I backed up.

"I'm fine right here with Chris," I said.

Gino shot me a worried glance.

"Austin-"

"It's Brandon now," I corrected him.

"I promised myself I wouldn't let anything happen to you again," Gino continued. "So please, just come with me."

"So he can go spend another night underwater?" Chris said, bitterly.

Gino looked horrified and I noticed Alex tense up defensively.

"You told him?!" Gino asked. "Him? A complete stranger?"

"Newsflash Gino, EVERYONE is a complete stranger to me!" I exclaimed.

Now Gino was starting to bug me almost as much as Adam did. I mean, who was Gino to be forcing me to go someplace with him touting his "holier than thou" attitude when he admitted to me that he had a hand in me being in the condition I was in now.

"Oooh, hello sexy," Michelle spoke, walking up to Chris, seemingly out of nowhere, with a hot guy on each arm.

"Michelle?" Alex said, confused.

"Hey you're that guy from yesterday right?" Michelle asked.

"Surprise, the blond actually remembered something," Chris spoke. "Let's find her a medal."

Michelle's face twisted into this horribly contorted scowl.

"Asshole," was all she said.

The two guys on her arms released themselves to stand next to Chris.

"Come on guys, let's get out of here," Chris said as he and his friends started away from us.

"Wait....Jimmy....Neil.....where are you guys going?" Michelle asked.

Unfortunately for her, they hadn't payed her any attention and decided to just keep going with Chris.

Alex had that feeling that he had yesterday. The one he felt when he first saw Christian. He was almost positive that he'd seen Christian before. It wasn't the fact that he'd seen him before that was bothering, it was something else, but he didn't know what.

"Great you three drove him off," I sighed.

"That guys an asshole," Michelle replied. "You don't need him anyway."

"Yeah she's right," Gino added "Besides, we're only here for a week so it's not like he's all that important."

Listening to Michelle and Gino talk I had to wonder if this had been the way it was before. Them telling me what was what and leaving it as it was.

I didn't argue though and decided to just head back up to the room with them feeling a lot better after talking with Chris. Something told me that I was going to see him plenty of times before we went back home.

It rained the rest of the day and all of us decided to just stay in the hotel room. I had tried to keep myself occupied by getting to know Alex better. But it seemed like everytime I tried, Gino was always cutting in, adding something to the story.

And if it wasn't Gino, it was Jade who kept informing me of the things Adam and I used to do or things that Adam and I liked when she full and well knew that I didn't give a damn what the fuck Adam and I did.

As far as I was concerned, Adam and I were finished. There was never going to be another "Adam and I."

Alex kept spacing out, though, something I found to be an odd thing for him to do the entire 12 days I'd known him, as he never really spaced out before. In fact, it was like he was taking a page out of my book.

But I myself couldn't get Chris out of my mind. I felt the same way about him as I did about Alex. But there were so many differences between the two. For starters, I felt so much more comfortable telling him what I was thinking. It was like I didn't have to worry about him judging the way I was thinking because in a way, he was on the same level as me, not knowing what was going on. I couldn't remember and he didn't know in the first place.

It also didn't hurt that the guy was beyond gorgeous. I could picture him being a runner or something, like for a track team.

I found myself dreaming about Chris that night as well.

We were outside in the rain trying to get to each other but we couldn't because there was a big group of people in the way. But they were just there, in the rain, like they couldn't even feel it. Chris had to punch a few people to get to me and when he did, the people just vanished in thin air. When he got to me, we just held onto each other, afraid to let go.

And then we were staring deeply into each others eyes, and I knew what he was about to tell me:

"It stopped raining,"

I looked up at him.

"What?"

"So get your ass up man?"

I felt myself being shaken about violently. That's when I opened my eyes and found that I had indeed been dreaming.

"What the..."

"It's like ten o clock and sunny as hell," Alex replied.

He was sitting on the bed next to me, looking down at me thoughtfully.

I sat up and looked around. We were the only two people in the room.

"Where's Gino?" I asked.

"Oh he's in the shower," Alex replied.

I guess I hadn't heard the shower running since the room was quite large and the bathroom was very far away in relation to where I was right now.

I was slightly perturbed that Alex had awaken me from being with Chris but since it was Alex, I didn't allow myself to get upset.

"So listen.....I was thinking that maybe you could do something for me," Alex started.

I got out of bed and reached down to the floor for my bathrobe.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, I really want you to enjoy life like you use to," Alex continued.

Oh great. This wasn't gonna be one of 'those' speeches was it?

"So do I," I replied, unevenly.

"Right....and so does Adam."

Adam. This was another 'be nice to Adam' deal? I was finding it hard to understand why these people wouldn't just let that alone. I was not gonna be nice to him just because they wanted me to.

"That's nice....hey you wanna ride that-"

"Brandon, I wasn't finished."

Alex was starting to test my patience now as well. Lucky for him, I could still stand to be around him.

"So what do you want me to do Alex? Huh? You want me to pretend like everything's fine and just act like I like him?"

"I want to to figure out why it is that you don't like him.....talk to him about it!"

We were both getting heated in this discussion.

"Did he send you in here?"

"What?"

"Adam. Did he send you in here to get me to be his boyfriend again? Because if he did you can tell him it ain't gonna happen."

"I just think you should talk to him. Spend more than five minutes with him," Alex replied.

I looked at Alex's pleading face carefully. I could tell that he really wanted this. He really wanted for his best friend to work things out with his boyfriend.

Only, I wasn't sure if that was what I wanted. But I was wiling to give it a shot. For Alex.

"Okay....I'll talk to him," I sighed.

"Great...I'll go tell him-"

"No wait...I'll do it," I cut Alex off and made my way over to the door that led to the room he was staying in.

I felt nervous. I was going to have to talk with Adam alone without blowing up in his face. Something that I was already deciding would be impossible to do.

Upon entering the next room, I looked around to notice Adam ironing a nice t-shirt by the window. The girls were nowhere to be found.

Adam glanced hesitantly at me. There was something in his stare. Something that told me that he was questioning why I was approaching him.

"Hey," I started.

I took a deep breath. I could do this.

"Uh...hey," Adam replied.

He'd stopped ironing and looked up at me, expectantly.

I made my way over to the bed closest to him and sat on it's edge.

"So I was thinking that maybe you and I could talk."

Adam looked surprised and carefully sat down next to me.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah......I ah....want to apologize....for the way I've been treating you."

Adam looked down for a moment but then averted his eyes back to mine.

"Oh..."

"I just...I had all these feelings...feelings about you that I could actually feel. I mean, with everyone else...they were just there. I couldn't feel any emotion at all for them. But when I saw you...I felt something. And it scared me."

All of this was news to Adam, who listened intently.

"I guess I just took my anger of the whole situation out on you and for that I'm sorry"

I was sorry for that part, but I wasn't sorry for the way I'd been treating Adam. Some of the time he was a real jack-ass. And then other times....It was almost like I remembered that the two of us had once been together.

"Oh," Adam said. "Well then I'm sorry too. For how I've been acting."

I was unsure of where to go from here as I was basically just saying whatever came off the top of my head.

"I know you don't remember, but a long time ago, I did some pretty horrible things to you," Adam started.

I'd heard about some of my past exploits involving Gino and Adam, but nothing was very detailed.

"And it was because I was hiding the way I felt about you that I did them, if that makes any sense."

It made enough sense to me. After all, I was hiding feelings of my own. Misplaced as they were.

"But then when...it...happened to you....I don't know...it was like I was a failure at being a boyfriend or something."

Now that, I could believe.

"Well I haven't really been giving you a chance, have I?" I asked.

"But you could...." Adam strayed.

I guess I could give Adam a chance like he wanted. Yeah, I could do that.

"So what now....?" I asked.

"Well, maybe we could spend some time together...one day while we're here. Just the two of us," Adam suggested.

Now that the two of us had had this little chat, spending time alone with Adam didn't sound like such a bad thing.

"I guess we could do that. Yeah," I replied.

Adam smiled and his smile made me smile.

"Uh, Adam....your shirt," I said, pointing to his now steaming shirt.

"Oh, shit!" Adam exclaimed jumping up to attend to his shirt.

I couldn't help but laugh at how cute he looked trying to salvage the shirt. Wait a second, did I just call Adam cute? I mean, sure he was hot. But the way I felt....was that attraction? No. It couldn't be. I didn't like Adam. I liked Alex. And Chris.

"Okay so who's ready to go boy-scouting?" Michelle asked, coming into the room with Jade.

I was ready to do some of that. Except I already had the perfect guy in mind.

The next three days went by okay. We finally visited everything in the park, which had taken exactly three days on our schedule. I was a little bummed that I hadn't run into Chris. And thinking about the fact that today was our last day in California only made the feeling worse. I wasn't sure why I felt like it was so important that I see Chris again. After all, I was content with dreamy Alex. Or so I kept telling myself.

And it didn't help that I kept dreaming about him. Every night. The first night we had been exploring an Amazonian rainforest when a giant snake started chasing us through the jungle. We ran until we came to this cliff to which Chris asked me if I trusted him and I nodded and then he pushed me off......and then I woke up.

The second night we were on a flight to Paris. Chris was taking me sight seeing until the flight had had a bit of turbulence. Since it was a private jet, we were the only two people aboard the plane other than the pilot, who we found had ditched us to jump out. Chris suited me in a parachute jumper and had me ready to jump out. He asked me again if I trusted him to which I nodded and he pushed me out........and then Gino woke me up.

And then last night I dreamed that the two of us were tied up back to back in a filthy room somewhere, no idea where. There was a single light bulb above our heads and it was actually pretty hot. The both of us were dirty and sweaty and sticky and I could taste blood in my mouth. Chris told me he had a plan but I had to follow it without asking questions. And then he asked me that famous question again-did I trust him? Of course I said yes again, wanting to finally see what would happen to me for trusting Chris, but just as two Russian guards came into the room with these giant rods, Alex had woken me up.

Actually that had happened just twenty minutes ago as Alex was now taking his shower and Gino had gone down to the front desk to check on a few things.

So I was alone. And I couldn't stop thinking about what the dreams meant. In the rain dream, Chris hadn't asked me if I trusted him. And we were never in any danger like the other dreams. I didn't know what any of them meant. Were they supposed to be some kind of sign? Was I not supposed to trust Chris?

I decided that I wasn't going to pay attention to them as they didn't make any sense. Right now, trusting anyone, not just Chris, was something I was finding very hard to do. So obviously dreams where I was being asked to trust Chris must have had something to do with everyone, not just him.

I was jolted out of my thoughts when I heard a knock at the conjoining door to the girls' and Adam's room.

I told whoever it was to come in and watched as Adam made his way over to me.

"Hey. Sleep well?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed I was in.

"Yeah," I lied.

Again with the trust issue....

"So listen, I was thinking that maybe later on tonight you and I could go out to dinner and spend some time together like we talked about."

I had nearly forgot all about our little chat and now felt a little guilty for feeling the way I was feeling. Like I no longer wanted to spend time alone with Adam like I thought. After all, I really wanted to see Chris again. Before.....we went home.

"Oh.....well..."

Adam must have been reading my mind because he said:

"Well, I mean...if you don't wanna do it anymore....."

Looking at how hurt he looked, I couldn't say no to him.

"No. I definitely still wanna do it," I replied. "Dinner sounds nice."

"Great," Adam smiled, getting off of the bed.

At that exact moment, Gino had come walking back into the room. He didn't look too happy to see Adam and I on speaking terms. But whatever weird look he'd had on his face at first had quickly disappeared as he walked over to us.

"So we're checking out at six tomorrow morning," he informed us "What's going on?"

"We were just making plans for dinner tonight," Adam proclaimed.

"Oh.....really?" Gino spoke.

I noticed that he looked a little hurt, but once again the look quickly disappeared.

"But tonight's our last night-"

"Exactly. That makes it better," Adam replied.

I didn't like how I was feeling at the moment. I felt like I was in a tug of war between two people who each wanted to spend time with me when in fact, I didn't really want to spend time with either of them. Not tonight, at least.

"Well if you're sure that's what you want," Gino spoke, looking at me when he did.

"Yes he's sure," Adam said firmly, glaring at Gino.

Gino glared back at Adam and the two kept doing it, making me feel completely uncomfortable until finally Alex came out of the bathroom and walked into the room dressed in nothing but a white hotel towel, dripping wet.

It was funny to me how brave Alex was being in front of two gay guys nearly naked when he knew how good he looked. I say two because Gino had in no uncertain terms mentioned how he felt about anyone. Gay or straight was still a mystery to me.

"Hey B you wanna come down with me to the gift shop after I get undressed?" Alex asked, digging through his things for clothes and underwear. "I wanna get a few gifts for my sisters."

"Ah yeah, sure," I replied.

Adam broke the glare between he and Gino to exit our suite back to his. When Adam was gone, I noticed that Gino looked more relaxed. It was obvious why.

Alex, had gone back into the bathroom to change.

"He didn't pressure you into spending time with you, did he?" Gino asked, soothingly.

"Of course not," I replied.

That wasn't entirely true. But I got what Gino was trying to say and I wasn't pressured in the way that he might have been thinking.

"I just don't want you doing anything you don't wanna do," Gino replied.

I was completely fine with spending time with Adam. Sure he still wasn't my favorite person, but I had decided that I would want the chance to get to know him. He was after all the person among everyone that I knew the least, which was my fault entirely.

I waited another five minutes while Alex finished getting dressed and then the two of us headed down to the gift shop as planned.

Once there, Alex and I split up, each looking around various places in the store.

That was when Alex overheard a conversation from a familiar face.

"It's like I said, he's being a little chicken shit," he heard one of Chris's friends say to him.

Alex moved over to a shelf full of Disney lights and keychains pretending to be looking for a particular one to buy while continuing to listen to the conversation.

"Oh now I'm a chicken shit when you're the one hanging out with weird kids," one of Chris's friends spoke.

Chris crossed his arms as a scowl grew on his face.

"Wanna shut the fuck up Drew?"

It was Chris, Drew and two other kids and they were talking very hush-hush, but Alex was close enough to hear them, but not so close they might see him.

"And now you're defending him," Drew replied.

"I haven't seen the guy since Tuesday and that's that," Chris replied. "You're the one who brought him up just now."

"Whatever man," Drew replied. "Anyway, back to this thing of sneaking into the Disney Museum."

Alex noticed that the conversation had gotten even quieter and he moved closer so he could hear better.

"I still think it's a stupid idea," one of the boys said.

"A stupid person always thinks stupid thoughts, man."

Chris and another boy laughed at Drew's comment, but Drew interrupted the laughter.

"Are we gonna do this or not?" he asked "It's our last night here."

Alex could see Chris contemplating something before he replied.

"Whatever. Just tell me where we're supposed to be meeting."

Alex listened intently as the conversation continued for another thirty seconds until:

"Hey."

"Brandon, whoa, you scared me."

I really wasn't sure how, but whatever.

"So I found these little Mickey Mouse bracelets," I replied. "I don't remember how old your sisters are....."

"No, no they're cool," Alex replied, taking them from my hands.

Alex was seriously troubled. He hated not being able to remember faces. He'd been that way for as long as he could remember. If he ever saw and actor or actress on a movie that he'd seen before, he'd make sure he remembered where and what their names were. Especially with some of the more significant people.

But then, he was having the same feelings around Chris. Like he'd seen him somewhere before, which he found very odd since he'd never been to California before and he was sure that Chris wasn't a celebrity of some sort. And he must have been remembering Chris for a reason. Not being able to remember where he'd seen Chris before was driving him crazy. So crazy that he was determined to find out. Tonight.

"So...uh, ready to go then?" I asked Alex, after a brief silence among us.

"Huh? Oh...yeah, sure," Alex replied, looking back for a moment.

I looked back in the direction he had but didn't see anyone. I knew this though: Alex was spacing out again. It was strange. I didn't really see a reason for him to be spacing out but he was.

Of course, Alex seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in as he payed for the items.

Adam couldn't help the excitement he was feeling. In just under an hour, he was finally going to be spending time alone with Brandon. Granted, he knew that they weren't going to be completely alone, as they would be at a public place eating their dinner. But it would still be just the two of them rather than everyone and them.

And he liked that feeling.

Adam was in the bathroom styling his hair for their big night. Brandon, Gino, Alex, and Michelle were all still at the park but Brandon had promised to come back to the suite before their date so that they could leave together.

Jade had stayed behind as she'd decided that she could no longer take any more of Michelle and her constant searches for the hottest guys the park had to offer.

So when Adam heard a knock on the bathroom door, he already knew who it was.

"Come on in Jade," he replied, still continuing with his hair.

Jade walked into the bathroom and took a seat on the toilet that was next to one of the two large sinks in the room.

"So excited for the big night?" she asked.

"Of course," Adam replied.

He hadn't felt this happy since way before Brandon's accident.

"You know, I'm really glad he decided to go with you," Jade said. "I know that deep down, he knows he loves you."

Adam wasn't too sure about that, but the thought did comfort him.

"So got any plans?" Jade asked. "One's that involve the usage of any condoms?"

Adam stopped slicking his hair long enough to throw a dry unused face towel at Jade.

Hopefully with enough time and patience, Brandon could love him like he did before. And when or if that happened, they WOULD be using a condom again.

I noticed something about Alex the rest of the day. It was now 7pm, almost time for me to be heading back to the suite for my date with Adam, and Alex had been acting strangely.

Not strangely, per se, but still. Like he'd go on one ride and then another. Then he'd suggest we go back on the first, completely forgetting that we had gone on it at all. He tried to play it of like he was joking and knew all along. But I could tell that he wasn't and that he had other things on his mind.

The thing was, he wasn't letting on to anybody that that was the case.

Michelle was gone, and as usual she had gone off looking for more guys. Gino was with us, however, and he didn't seem to notice Alex's behavior like I had. Instead he had me almost wishing Adam was with us rather than him. He couldn't go more than two minutes without talking to me. And I didn't mind that he was making that effort the way he was, especially since if he wasn't talking, nobody was as Alex had long since stopped. But Gino would also ask me so many annoying questions and every now and then ask me if I had remembered anything yet. It was like his attention was solely focused on me rather than being at the park.

Alex, however, seemed to be looking for someone. At least, that's the way it seemed to me. He'd led us several times to the abandoned part of the park where the Disney Museum that they were still working on was located. He'd lead us there, look around, then ask one of us why in the world we'd led him there when in reality, it had been him that had led us there.

He also kept checking his watch, something that had me worried. I could tell that Alex had a lot more going on today than he had all week, and his random mind space-outs were more frequent today.

Needless to say, I needed to find a way to ditch Gino so I could get Alex to tell me what was wrong with him.

"And so maybe after that we should get on it? What do you think Brandon?"

Oh...he was talking again.

"Sound's great Gino," I replied. "hey, listen...I'm kinda thirsty.....do you think maybe you could go and get me one of those rainbow frosties?"

Gino's face twisted into a frown.

"But they only sell those on the other side of the park," he replied. "Like twenty minutes away from here."

"Please?"

So I was taking advantage of Gino because I knew that he wouldn't say no to me. And sure, I felt slightly guilty about doing it, but I was more concerned about Alex's mood, not how long it was going to take for Gino to bring me an unwanted frosty.

Gino sighed and looked down at his watch.

"Alright....I'll meet you back here okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

Just go already!

Gino took a glance at Alex before turning around and starting his trek back to the other side of the park.

Alex had once again spaced out and had not been listening to any of the conversation. Something I quickly found out.

"Alex."

"Huh....oh, where's Gino?"

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, deciding not to answer his question.

For a second, Alex looked as though he were about to tell me something. Then I noticed him looking past me at something. What, I wasn't sure as I had my back turned to whoever or whatever it was.

"Come on," he spoke, taking off.

He was doing it in an uneven pace. Like he was trying to keep up with someone, but didn't want whoever it was to know.

I followed him without question until we were no longer surrounded by anybody, which meant that were at the back of the park, twenty minutes away from where we just were.

"Alex-"

"Shhh!"

Alex, who was ahead of me, had led me to the Disney Museum again. Only this time, it actually seemed like we had a reason for being here.

It was dark, and had been for about a half hour now. Accept, being at the abandoned part of the park meant no lights, making it even darker.

"Alex," I whispered this time. "What are we doing here?"

He didn't answer me. Instead he just started ever so carefully towards the front doors of the unfinished museum.

That was when I heard something. People.

Alex had been following someone. But what the hell was he doing dragging me around the park to find them?

I could now see the people, somewhat, as well. There were three boys, all with their backs turned so that we couldn't see their faces. One of them couldn't stop giggling while another kept telling the one in the middle, the one that I was beginning to feel as though I had an idea as to who he was, to hurry up at doing something. I assume picking the lock to the doors.

"Chris, hurry UP!" Drew whispered.

Chris? So it was him. But then....why was Alex following him? And what were they doing here trying to break into the museum?

A few more minutes passed before finally, Chris managed to pick the lock and the three teens went inside.

Alex grabbed my arm and pulled me over inside with him, and the two of us quickly hid behind a large pillar.

"Shit man, this place is huge!" one of the boys spoke.

"Say Aaron, wanna lower your goddamn voice?" Drew asked, testily.

Alex, I noticed, seem to be watching them. No not watching, studying. Like he was trying to figure out something. But what?

"Okay, so we broke in," Aaron spoke. "Let's go."

"Relax man," Chris spoke.

The three boys began looking around the work in progress. I assumed that they were just in here to cause a little mischief, as there was nothing inside worth stealing.

"This place is gonna be so fucking gay when it's done," Drew spoke.

"I know right?" Aaron added.

I watched as Chris, Drew and Aaron made their ways over to the back of the place. There was another door there, that led to an unfinished courtyard where they were going to put an outdoor mini zoo.

That was about when I heard it.

A security guard had caught the three red handed. And apparently, Alex had heard it too.

"Come on, let's go," he whispered, leading me carefully back to the front.

"And where do you boys think you're going?"

It was another security guard, who came from the front. He was shining a flashlight in our eyes, in my opinion, on purpose.

"Shit," Alex mumbled.

I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling that being caught in unfinished buildings was a bad thing.

Adam looked back down at his watch. Brandon was now thirty minutes late. He didn't want to worry and even if he was, he couldn't call the boys, as none of them had bothered to bring their cell phones with them.

"Maybe, they're in a long line and just wanted to ride the ride first," Jade suggested.

"Or maybe he's sucking some hot guy off," Michelle spoke, quizzically.

"Michelle, SO not helping," Jade spoke.

Michelle shrugged and went to go watch some t.v. while Jade took a seat next to Adam, who was hanging off the back edge of a chair near the suite door.

"I don't get it," Adam mumbled. "I thought he was past hating me."

"He never hated you. You know that."

Deep down, Adam DID know that. But he was having his doubts now that he was being stood up.

"Maybe he just got cold feet," Michelle said from the other side of the room. "Apparently, it happens to a lot of gay guys."

Adam looked back down at his watch.

Where was he? ********************************************************************

Where am I?

After being caught by those security people, they dragged us away in these special cars that had flashing red and blue lights on top and drove us for a half an hour to some place.

The place we were at now. The front was crowded with a lot of phones ringing and guys in suits with guns and stuff.

But we didn't stay in the front for too long. We took these pictures and had to hold up these number cards while we did it. I don't know, the whole thing just seemed kind of funny to me.

Until they brought us to the back. That was when I really got scared. There were a bunch of people behind the bars in these teeny little spaces. A lot of them looked really dangerous. And some of them looked creepy in their own ways.

One of the guys in suits had led Adam and I to the biggest among these 'spaces' that didn't have any people in it and roughly pushed us in. Seconds later, he also brought Chris and his friends, who didn't look too happy to see us.

"You two again." Drew spoke.

"You know, we wouldn't even be in this mess if you hadn't got us caught back there," Aaron spoke, obviously aware that Alex and I had been at the museum.

Chris, had yet to say anything. Instead he'd crossed his arms, and leaned against one of the holdings walls with one foot propped up behind him on the wall.

Alex wasn't saying anything either. He looked worried actually. Almost scared. I could only imagine what was running through his mind.

"So...does anybody know what's going on?" I asked, after an uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah, I'll tell you what the fuck is going on," Drew started. "We're all in jail!"

"Hey, back off!" Alex snapped, jumping up ready to defend me.

"Hey, you want a piece of me? Huh?" Drew asked, getting in Alex's face.

Jail? What the hell?

I noticed Chris staring at me, but he looked away as if he had just been happening to be looking my way.

"So wanna tell us why you were following us?" Chris said, surprising everyone.

"What?" I asked.

"You two. I saw you guys come in after we did," Chris replied.

"And that means we were following you?" Alex asked.

"Yep."

Aaron and Drew settled down and each walked to opposite ends of the jail cell while Alex walked back over to me.

"Don't worry Brandon, when we get our one call, I'll call the hotel and see if someone's there," Alex told me in a low voice.

One call? Why couldn't we just leave right now?

Alex had looked up at Chris who walked over and took a seat next to me.

"Story guy right?" he asked.

"What?"

Chris chuckled to himself, before putting his hands behind his head and leaning back against the wall.

It suddenly dawned on me that I was supposed to be going out to dinner with Adam right now. Of course, I was nearly an hour late by now.

But Adam wouldn't be too upset. After all, he had been happy just to be on speaking terms with me. Hopefully he'd understand.

Everyone jumped to attention once Gino came rushing back into the hotel suite, looking panicked.

"Ah, where are Alex and Brandon?" Adam asked.

"I don't know," Gino replied, looking next to tears.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Adam asked, jumping up, grabbing hold of Gino's shirt.

"Adam!" Jade exclaimed trying to separate the two.

Michelle rushed over to help, but didn't really do much.

"You lost him!?"

"Brandon asked me to go get him a frosty on the other side of the park," Gino exclaimed as Adam released him from his grip. "I came back and they were gone. I looked all over, even asked a lot of ride attendants if they had seen them."

"I'm sure you just missed them somehow," Jade said.

Adam had a bad feeling. Brandon had stood him up. Or at least that's what he'd thought since he was over an hour late now. But seeing now that Gino hadn't been able to find him made him realize that something had to be wrong.

"I don't like this," Adam spoke.

Jade and Gino also had bad feelings. The same one Adam had.

"Yeah, me either," Jade replied.

"Maybe we should check with park security," Michelle suggested.

"Good idea," Adam spoke heading for the door followed by Jade.

"I'll stay here in case they come back or something," Gino called after the three.

He was hoping that maybe he had missed the pair somewhere in the park and didn't even want to think about any other possible outcomes.

He had been sitting very worriedly on one of the beds when he heard his cell phone ring. Jumping for it, he answered it in a hurry.

"Hello?"

"Gino?"

"Alex?"

"Yeah.....uh....you're never gonna believe this," Alex started.

"Oh god," Gino said.

"I'm fine and Brandon's fine," Alex started.

"Thank god," Gino said, letting out a breath.

"But...we're sorta....in jail."

"What?" Gino asked, nearly jumping up.

"Look, can you just come down here and get us out?" Alex asked.

"Sure...sure.." Gino agreed.

"Were at the county jail thirty minutes from here in San Laredo," Alex said "Yeah but...uh, bring your credit cards."

Gino wanted to ask why but he heard a police officer telling Alex to get off the phone.

Looking around, Gino grabbed his leather jacket and cell phone. And of course, credit cards, and headed out the door in a hurry, completely forgetting to leave a note for Jade and the others.

"So let's play a game," Aaron spoke.

He was now seated on the surprisingly clean jail floor as if being in jail didn't bother him at all and Drew was next to him, where they, along with us, had been sitting for the last hour and a half.

"I got a game for ya," Drew replied.

"Yeah?" Aaron asked.

"It's called don't open your fucking mouth again until were out of here!"

"Alright you know what-"

"So," Chris started, choosing to ignore his friends arguing. "You were following us because?"

I looked over at him.

"Are you really that conceited?" Alex asked. "I told you, NOBODY was following you."

"Alex...we kinda were," I replied.

Alex looked annoyed with me, but not too much so.

"I never forget a face," he said, looking at no one in particular.

"Excuse me?" Chris asked.

"I know I've seen you somewhere before," Alex replied.

"I highly doubt that," Chris said, matter-of-factly.

Both guys seemed to be pretty sure of themselves and I was almost unsure who to believe.

"Okay....you guys can go," came the voice of a female officer.

She was unlocking our cell, much to all our surprised faces.

We didn't stay surprised for long once we saw Gino.

"Thank god," I said, as I started out of the metal prison cage.

"I'm not even gonna ask how," Gino replied.

"How'd we get out?" I asked.

Gino's face seemed to shift a little with that question.

"I had to use my legacy fund to bail you all out," Gino replied.

All. As in Chris and his friends too?

"Legacy fund......."

"Money that I shouldn't be spending until I turn eighteen. A lot of it," Gino replied.

I wanted to ask how much but for some reason, it didn't matter to me. Gino had just shown me that he could be not only trustworthy, but a pretty decent guy at that.

"Hey man........I don't know what to say," Chris started, speaking to Gino.

"So don't say anything," Drew spoke, moving past Chris. "It IS their faults we were ever in here in the first place."

Aaron snickered at the comment, but I could tell from the look on Chris's face that he really did appreciate Gino bailing us out.

But the look on Alex's face was something else entirely. A mixture of dread and the same look I'd been seeing all day long.

So he thought he knew Chris. But how?

I could tell however that he was going to figure it out.

"Interesting trip, huh?" Gino asked.

Definitely.

And I was ready for even more adventures. Just not ones that required me to have to spend more time in jail.

A/N

Hey guess what? I stated (finally) my own Yahoo Group! I know, aren't you proud of me, lol.

The link is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction

I have all the episodes of Angst so far, converted to html, plus two new stories This World and Wayward People that you can only read on the group. Also, from now on, new episodes of Angst will be available on the group in advance of Nifty. I will continue to post new episodes weekly on the group but Nifty will get new installments later on, so if you need your Angst fix, you know where to go, lol. So please, when you get a chance, check it out!

As always I'd love to point out that you have have the wonderfully talented Maddy to thank for being my inspiration to start my own group.

And I thank everyone else who has continued to support me. You all mean a lot to me for that!

Copyright 2005