Wayward People

Disclaimer: The usual rules apply here. If you aren't legal in your area to be reading material(non erotic, mind you) about homosexuals and the activities they may or may not participate in, then please don't read. This story has been copyrighted and is not to be used elsewhere in any way without the express permission of the author (that would be me). For everyone else, enjoy!

Wayward People

Chapter Twelve-"Third Everything"

Nov. 3-Questions Page 3

Exactly how long do you have to be in a relationship before you can begin to call yourself someone else's boyfriend or girlfriend? It sounds completely weird to say, but it's all trivial affair. Actually, I can easily admit to myself that I have a boyfriend, but I'm not so sure I can say it out loud yet.

And what qualifies us to be in a so called relationship? I mean, we've only been on two dates. I guess we're just taking things slowly. I can handle that. I mean, slow is always better. More so in this situation.

But what if things start to get serious? Then what do I do? I mean, logically...the next step is sex. And how exactly would I do that? It wasn't like I had any experience whatsoever in the department.

And when do you know it's time to start using the `L' word? How do people know this stuff?

Some people would argue that you can't really be in love at my age. But what makes them an expert on the subject? What makes anyone an expert? Love is a feeling. An emotion. It's just different for everyone.

Am I in love? I don't know.

It's too early to tell. Plus I've been having to deal with so much other stuff. Granted things are fine now, but still.

Having a boyfriend is actually hard work!

Anyway, I figured I'd write about what was on my mind tonight rather than what happened to me. But I promise, full details of tomorrows key events shall be detailed.

I guess I should go to bed though. I have school tomorrow morning.

Night.

You know what I wondered? If it was possible to spend too much time thinking rather than doing. I mean, I probably should have gotten more sleep last night, but I was up thinking about what I'd written in my journal.

I had always kept a journal, but stopped writing once Troy came. Even though the stuff he put me through could have filled a hundred or more notebooks worth of thoughts, I guess because I was too busy actually having a life that I didn't even think twice about the journal.

Because it had been so long though, I decided to just start a new journal.

What I wrote last night really had me thinking a lot about my relationship with Pete. I still wasn't sure what I was supposed to do as a `boyfriend'.

I still hadn't really used the word aloud.

I guess maybe I was still trying to convince myself that I wasn't actually gay. That maybe I just wanted to experiment. Or that I was mistaken.

But sadly, I knew the truth.

I knew that there was no way, now, that I was even remotely straight. Even though I hadn't exactly done anything with Pete, besides kissing.

Still...I was thinking like a madman lately.

I can't even remember if I went to sleep.

I guess I got my answer once I opened my door and as usual, ran into Troy.

"Oh, hey man...whoa...did you sleep last night?" he asked with a smile on his face.

I was even thinking when he asked me the question.

"Hmm...what?"

I noticed he was looking at my clothes.

I looked myself over. Apparently I still had on the same clothes I had worn yesterday.

Damn.

"I think...I don't really know," I replied.

Which was true.

And come to think of it, that was something else.

Why exactly did we need sleep again?

If I hadn't slept last night, which I wasn't completely certain I had or hadn't yet, then I sure felt fine if I hadn't.

Not sleepy at all.

"You okay man?" Troy asked.

"Of course," I replied, heading towards the stairs. "I'm fine."

I wasn't surprised when Troy followed me down the stairs.

"You don't look fine," he replied. `You didn't stay up all night did you?"

"Yes...no, maybe," I replied, reaching into the panty to grab a box of cereal. "I'm fine Troy."

I left it at that but I could see Troy staring out me from the corner of my eye.

"Okay, I'm gonna do it," Max announced as he joined Troy and I in the kitchen.

I took a seat at the table while Troy opened the fridge.

"I'll bite," I spoke, pouring my cereal into a bowl of the table. "What are you gonna do?"

"Well," Max started, as he took a seat at the table. "I've finally decided to ask Sadie out."

"Sadie? As in your best friend Sadie.....Andrew's girlfriend Sadie?" I asked.

Sadie and Max had always argued and fought with each other when they were younger, but after a while they just all of a sudden started getting along. So much so, that they were pretty much best friends now.

Only I knew it was different for Max. He'd always picked on Sadie because he liked her, which was the reason he was so close to her.

Unfortunately, Sadie seemed to be the only girl Max had been too shy to ask out and one day when Andrew asked Sadie out, obviously drunk, she said yes.

I mean, Andrew?

Evan's idiot best friend Andrew? Him?

To be fair, I didn't really know much about Andrew other than he had to be an idiot if he was Evan's best friend.

He might have been smart for all I knew. Obviously Sadie had seen SOMETHING in Andrew.

What that could be.......

"Look I know I said that I didn't like her," Max started.

"You never said that," I replied. "And it's obvious you do."

"What...really?"

He actually looked a bit panicked at that. He was so naive. I had to remember he was my YOUNGER brother. I always forgot that.

"You don't think Sadie knows, do you?"

I looked over at Troy who shrugged.

"I just thought you guys used to date or something," he replied.

"So does everyone know then?" Max asked, obviously getting flustered.

"Calm down my little love sick puppy," I joked. "It's not like it's the end of the world....or all that hard to see."

"That's great...this is ruining me, you know that right," Max replied.

"What happened to that sudden burst of confidence you previously displayed?" I asked. "You seemed so determined."

"Yeah and stupid," Max frowned. "If Sadie's known I liked her all this time and never said anything it must mean she doesn't like me back."

It was interesting to hear him losing it like this. The only other time he got really weird was when he was mad at me.

But that wasn't often.

"So should we be looking for you today?" I asked. "I'm expecting theatrics now."

"Oh shut up....I don't even know if I'm gonna do it now."

"I think you should," Troy replied, having a seat at the table. "I mean, take it from someone who's spent enough time with Andrew and Evan to know that you stand a chance."

It didn't take longer than three seconds for Troy and I to realize that he'd said the wrong thing.

"What's up with that anyway?" Max asked. "I thought you guys were like best friends or something."

Troy looked over at me as I felt myself getting all tense inside.

It wasn't like we'd really discussed what had happened between them. Or Evan's slightly pseudo ominous warning either.

"People change," Troy replied. "Grow apart."

I don't think Max really bought Troy's excuse but he thankfully didn't question him further on the matter.

"Well," he started, standing up. "Hopefully this is gonna be a good day for me."

I'd been having my fair share of bad days lately. So I guess I was hoping for this to be a good day for me as well.

Still, with everything else that had already happened to me, I had to at least be wary of having a good day at all.

Everybody has those feelings they get sometimes....

So much for bad feelings.

While I had wanted to tag along with Max to see how his thing with Sadie went, he pretty much made it clear he didn't want an audience around.

Troy still didn't even believe that Max would even do it.

I guess I would have to find out later on.

"So any upcoming functions I should know about?" Troy asked, upon making himself completely comfortable beside me.

Which I didn't mind.

I felt like I was in a good place right now. I'd relaxed as opposed to earlier when I was being paranoid.

"With my mom, you never know," I reply. "But if she starts talking about what fun it would be to try something new, that's when you gotta make plans not to be around the house as much."

She was always `let's try this new thing' but it was always a variation of something we'd already done. The drones in this town didn't seem to mind. I minded but it wasn't like I had a choice with not helping since I obviously had nothing better to do.

That was back then though. Now I had plenty to do between having my hands full with Troy and having a boyfriend and all.

It was a nice feeling to have that for a change.

"Reminds me of this girl I knew back home," Troy replied. "Her mom was always planning something. Of course...things were a lot different...."

I don't know why I was expecting Troy to elaborate on that ending but he hadn't so I just moved on.

"I don't know, I guess I'm the wrong person to talk to about all this," I replied, shoving a book into the top of my locker. "I mean, obviously I was one bitter little boy...no friends and all."

Troy just chuckled and I flashed him a smile before leaning back a little to notice Pete and Sienna heading our way.

"Hey," Sienna spoke as soon as she joined the group.

I looked over to notice that Pete was giving me one of those looks'. I just hoped no one else was picking up on them. While it made me feel good to know that someone actually found me attractive, I was far from ready to have my life outed' to the world.

Pete coughed a little and everyone looked over at him.

"Don't bother," Sienna started, looking over at Troy and I. "He claims he's over whatever little flu he had, but then there's the coughing-"

"Which is always left over after you've been sick, duh Sienna," Pete replied with a smile, trying to shrug it off.

"Oh but I thought you never got sick, remember?" Sienna asked in a sarcastically innocent tone.

I guess I was a little concerned too.

I mean, I wanted him to be healthy sure, but if he said he was over it....besides, he seemed pretty well to me.

"And now that baseball's officially over, I have more time to spend with my best friend in the whole wide world!" Pete proclaimed, throwing his arms around me and shaking me around in a hug.

Sienna just laughed but Troy looked mildly upset.

It was because of that that I actually found myself politely pushing Pete off of me.

"Um...., yeah," was all I could get to come out as I straightened myself out and turned back to my locker.

Pete and Sienna just exchanged glances while Troy looked just as unreadable as he always did.

"So did you hear about the upcoming charity event?" Sienna asked, graciously breaking the weird silence.

"Just when you thought it was safe to sit back and relax," Pete spoke, with a smile.

"We were just talking about the next Wayward event too," I said, turning back to everyone.

Pete crossed his arms.

"Were you, now?"

There was another awkward moment of silence, but this one was more grading.

What exactly was going on here? I felt like I should have been picking up on something, but......

"Uh, so what are they raffling off this time?" I asked.

Sienna turned to me.

"Well whatever you have in that dark dusty basement of yours that's of some value is up for grabs," she replied. "I don't really know specifics. The only reason I even know as much as I do is through Janet Elrod's mom...she's with the church too, so...."

I bet Janet's churchgoing mom didn't know her daughter was the local corner girl.

"You're still friends with that airhead?" Pete asked.

"Pete....come on," Sienna replied.

It seemed like Sienna had a wide assortment of acquaintances. From her town bully boyfriend, to her town loser new friend.

"Anyway, just thought I'd give you a heads up in case your mom tries to rope you into helping out again," Sienna replied.

"Man, I never get to help with anything," Pete spoke, sticking out his lip and pouting.

I could tell he was joking and he actually looked really cute standing there looking like he was having a kiddy temper tantrum.

"Max would complain he needs his arms for swimming again," I spoke, shutting my locker.

"Or for something else," Troy spoke, grinning over at me.

I just tried to keep from grinning as well, even though it was amusing.

"Max is off to grab himself a girlfriend," I replied, as we all started to walk down the hall.

"Or not," Troy replied.

"What great faith you have there, Troy," I said.

"You know, that's good for him. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen him dating anyone before," Sienna replied.

True. Max was a busy person. Besides that however, he was just so fixated on Sadie that he hadn't even really considered any other girls.

I had to wonder what he was up to and how things were going though.

"Max! How ever have you been?" Evan spoke, throwing his arm around Max's shoulder.

"Somebody finally taking English lessons?" Max joked.

"You know, you'd be surprised the amount of things you can get done when your brother steals my girlfriend and best friend away from me."

They both knew what he was talking about. There wasn't a real need to elaborate.

"I thought Andrew was your best friend," Max spoke as he and Evan turned a corner.

"Andrew's great and all, but truthfully....he's not exactly the brightest bulb in the box, you know?" Evan replied.

"Okay, so you wouldn't mind if I asked Sadie to go out with me then?"

Evan took his arm from around Max's shoulder and stopped to work the combination to his locker.

"Well, I wouldn't," Evan replied. "But she's not my girlfriend now is she?"

Max let out a sigh as he placed his back on the wall behind him.

"I kinda don't even think Andrew would notice," Evan replied. "He's slow like that."

Max turned to face Evan.

"Well aren't you just the loner in the corner," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"Well now that Troy's not around, you seem to realize what you had and what you have."

Evan let out a sigh.

"I don't wanna talk about that punk."

Max just chuckled and shook his head.

"Fair enough," he replied.

"Hey guys," Sadie spoke.

Max turned to face Sadie who was accompanied by her boyfriend, Andrew.

He froze a little, suddenly having second thoughts about what he wanted to do.

"Max," Sadie smiled.

Max tried to say something funny but only managed to not say anything at all.

"Dude, can you believe some freshman dented my truck with their door?" Andrew asked, arm wrapped tightly around Sadie. "You think something like that requires insurance?"

Evan let out a sigh with his head lowered.

"No, Andrew...it's not that big a deal," Sadie replied meekly.

"Didn't you have something you wanted to ask Sadie here, Max?" Evan spoke up, interrupting something stupid Andrew had started to say.

Max looked from Evan to Sadie's smiling face.

"Um...."

"Dude, I think I know what it is," Andrew replied.

Evan let out another annoyed sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Andrew, let him ask-"

"You want her to tutor you in math too huh?" Andrew asked. "God I swear, Ms. Hoffmire is the worst teacher in the solarverse. She won't even let me do my lit homework in class."

"That's why it's called homework, sweetie," Sadie said.

Out the corner of his eye, Max noticed Evan pretending to try and kill himself.

"Um, I forgot now," he replied.

"Oh, well when you remember, I'll be around," Sadie replied.

"Unless were getting busy-"

"For the love of god-"

"We have to go," Sadie replied, pulling Andrew away.

Max looked over at Evan.

"How in the world am I friends with someone as stupid as Andrew?" he spoke.

"Uh..."

"I tell you what though, I know why this is happening to me," Evan replied.

Max thought Evan was going to explain himself but he didn't.

"And you didn't ask her man," Evan finally spoke after a while.

"Yeah well..." Max sighed.

"It's cool," Evan replied, shutting his locker. "Say how long has it been since I've been over your place?"

"Too long," Max replied.

"So why I don't I come over today," Evan spoke. "We can hang."

"Um...."

"I can help you with that Sadie thing," Evan replied, wrapping his arm around Max's shoulder and leading him down the hall. "It'll be fun."

"Okay," Max replied.

"You're seriously gonna mix red and brown together?" Troy asked.

"Uh, why not...it looks like that in the book-"

"Only we have to do our own interpretation-"

Jealousy? Is that what I was supposed to be picking up on?

Was Troy jealous of Pete? Was Pete jealous of Troy?

They were both pretty smart not to let it show directly though.

They had their ways. Like the way they'd argue, but try to make it seem like they were still being friendly with each other.

I had the striking suspicion that if I wasn't around to get between the two of them, they'd tear each other apart.

I guess a part of me enjoyed that feeling. It made me feel more important.

But they were both important to me too and I didn't see why they were....at odds, really.

"It's just a stupid poster, we're only doing it for a visual aid, doesn't have to be perfect," Pete replied, looking over the poster again.

Oh yes, the project.

It would be the one class that I shared with Pete and one of all that I shared with Troy where we all had to work together on something.

And normally I wouldn't have thought of that as being a bad thing, but now........

"How about you let me handle the colors, you handle the pictures," Troy suggested.

Oh but they were being so civilized!

At least, that'd be how this would look like to anyone else. Just a little friendly arguing.

Just a little.

"You know, maybe we should worry about the visual aid later," I suggested.

I almost felt how I used to feel. Like I was an outsider in my own little world while Troy and Pete were off doing something else.

Something that seemed normal.

Something that I wasn't a part of.

When the two of them turned to face me, it was almost like they'd forgotten I was even there.

Understandable. Most people generally did.

"Sorry, you're right," Pete spoke up.

"No, I'm sorry...and you were right too," Troy replied.

Good. They were back on good terms.

"Something I oughtta know about here?" I found myself asking.

I noticed the two of them exchange worried glances.

"Not at all," Pete replied. "Just a difference of opinion, I guess."

"Yeah..." Troy replied taking a seat across from me.

Right.....

"Troy, a word," our teacher Ms. Ryan's called.

Troy crossed his arms and left Pete and I alone.

"Is it just me or is he being....weird," Pete asked.

"It's in his nature," I replied. "You just have to get used to it."

"Maybe," Pete replied. "But you know, I was kinda thinking about something."

When I looked up at Pete I noticed he had that look in his eyes again.

He was up to something.

"What?" I asked, trying to hide the hopefulness in my voice.

I noticed Pete look around to see if anyone was paying attention to us.

Troy was still talking with the teacher and everyone else was busy with their various groups.

Pete got closer to me. It looked like he was helping me hold something together, but really he was just trying to close enough to me to where only I'd be able to hear whatever he had to say.

"You know, we've been....together for a while now," he started. "But we've only been on two dates."

I thought about that.

Technically, we'd only been on one date, but he was counting the time he'd taken me out back when I was upset with Troy.

And of course, he was also calling that disaster of a night where I'd learned more than I ever wanted to about Reverend Thomas's sex life a second date.

Really, one could say we hadn't been on any real dates.

But since we were counting them.....

"What would you say to a third date?"

Well, it certainly was surprising for me. Even though he was my boyfriend and I really liked him, I really didn't think like a normal red blooded male teenager. Sex wasn't always on my mind, let alone dating.

"I don't know....I mean-"

"Oh come on Mike," Pete smiled. "I thought we talked about getting you out of your shell."

And really, I did want to go out with him.

But there was still my negative way of thinking that seemed to be preventing me from just living a normal life.

In a way, it was kind of a good thing. I mean, there at least had to be one of us who saw the bad in a situation.

And what I was seeing was the possibility that with all the time Pete and I had been spending together lately, people might actually start to take stock in all of Evan's claims and believe that something was going on between the two of us.

Which would be completely true, and horrifying.

But I had just shove that to the back of my mind. I knew Pete wasn't at all stupid, so he had to at least have some of the same concerns.

The only difference was he was just an all around positive person who tried to avoid negative things whenever possible.

"A third date sounds great, Pete," I replied, making sure only he heard it.

"Good," Pete replied.

"Hey," Troy replied, rejoining the two of us shortly thereafter.

I found myself looking down, trying to keep from blushing at the thought of another date with Pete.

"I miss something?" Troy asked, looking between Pete and me.

I looked over at Pete.

"Just that I decided you were right," Pete decided to speak up. "Red and brown...not a good combo."

Troy looked over at me.

"Okay then..." he replied, sitting back down.

"Psst."

Max continued typing at his computer.

"Max," Evan whispered.

"What Evan?" he asked.

"Come here." Evan replied.

Max looked up.

Their teacher was in the middle of a lecture.

"Evan.."

"Come here already!"

Max let out a sigh before he lowered himself slightly so that he wouldn't be quite as noticeable as he sat down at the computer next to Evan.

"What?" he asked, as soon as he sat down.

Evan grinned before flipping his computer screen towards Max.

Max just rolled his eyes and pushed it back towards Evan.

"How'd you get that past the firewall?" he whispered, trying to act as though he was paying attention to the lecture.

"I have my ways," Evan replied, grinning.

Max just let out a sigh as he moved the mouse to the computer he was at to see if it was on.

"You know, I been thinking," Evan started. "What if you wrote her something?"

"What?" Max asked.

"Sadie. What if you wrote her a poem or something," Evan replied. "Sienna likes that kind of stuff. I think all girls do."

Max turned towards Evan.

"I'm not a writer, Evan," he replied. "That's my brothers department."

"So maybe he has a poem or something you could use," Evan replied. "What kinds of stuff does he write?"

Max shrugged.

"See, you don't even know your own brother man," Evan replied. "Me? I know all I need to, but I don't think we should get into that."

Max agreed.

"Still, we should check," Evan replied. "To make sure."

Max just shook his head, not really agreeing to anything. His mind was kind of elsewhere at the moment anyway.

"Okay seriously, at least take some cough drops Mr. I'm Not Sick," Sienna spoke, shielding her face a little from Pete. "You're coughing your man germs all over me."

"Yeah, man, you sure you're okay?" Troy asked. "Maybe you'd better stay home for a little bit until you're completely-"

"No, sorry," Pete said quickly, cutting Troy off.

Troy just snorted and crossed his arms.

"I thought you said you were fine," I spoke, concerned.

Pete looked over at me.

"Would everyone stop worrying about me? I feel great," he replied. "It's just a little cough."

"I hear gay people get chronic cough a lot."

I was beginning to get used to Evan coming out of nowhere and completely ruining everything. Today was no different.

I'd gone all day without having to worry about him and now that school was actually over, I had to deal with him. How ironic.

I noticed that he was with Max though.

"That's who your brother associates with man," Evan continued, as he put his arm around Sienna. "Just looking out for you."

"I hang with him too, Evan," Sienna spoke boldly. "What do you think that says about me, then?"

Evan actually looked sorry to have ever opened his stupid mouth for a change.

Served him right anyway.

"You sure do talk a lot about gay people," Pete spoke. "There something you wanna confess?"

I decided that before things got out of hand, I was going to change the subject for once.

"So how'd things go with Sadie?" I asked.

I noticed the look in Max's eye look a little disheartened.

"He had no proper training," Evan replied. "Sent him out into the dating game like a floundering fish. I mean, it's a good thing I was there to....we'll see."

I was surprised Evan even knew three syllable words.

"Maybe you being there in the first place is what didn't work for him," Pete spoke. "Just looking out for him, you know."

I noticed Evan glaring at Pete.

It seriously looked like things were going downhill fast.

"Ah so, what's going on?" I asked. "You ready to go?"

"I'll give him a lift," Evan replied. "I'm coming over anyway."

Wait a second...what?

"Huh?"

"Mike, it's nothing okay, were just gonna hang out," Max spoke. As if any amount of sweet talking he did was ever going to convince me that Evan Parker coming over my house was a good thing.

"That is okay with you, ain't it Carson?" Evan asked.

It was like he was baiting me.

Like the way Reverend Thomas would ask me things while my parents were around so that I'd have no choice but to comply.

"There's no way," I found myself mumbling as I started down the hallway.

"Mike-" Pete called out.

I heard footsteps behind me.

Seconds later, Pete was on my left, and Troy was on my right.

"I can't be there with him there," I found myself mumbling. "It's too much."

"So we'll go somewhere then....both of us-"

"Actually, Evan's not my favorite person to be around anymore either," Troy spoke up. "Mind if I tag along?"

I looked over at Troy after Pete had.

"What?"

"Yeah...I mean, we can do something fun," Troy started. "A movie or something."

"Uh...."

"Don't you have anything else at all you can do, Troy?" Pete asked, sounding annoyed.

"What else is there better to do than to hang out with my two good pals?" Troy asked, getting in between Pete and I and putting his arms around our shoulders.

Well, I don't think anyone got why this was awkward for me.

Sure Pete was my boyfriend but I still had those physical feelings for Troy. How could I not really? He was still one of the most attractive people I knew.

"Ready for some fun?" Troy asked.

"Third wheel," I heard Pete mumble under his breath.

"Why do I smell lemon?" Evan asked, upon taking off his jacket once entering the house.

Max took a whiff himself.

"It always smells like some kind of fragrance," he replied, taking off his own jacket. "That's my mom for you."

"I forgot how perky she is," Evan replied, looking around.

"So I don't think anything is different since the last time you were over," Max replied.

"What you mean that one time three years ago? No, I don't think so either," Evan replied.

"What? You're the one always making me come over your place-"

"It's cool. I didn't want the three dollar tour anyway."

Max just chuckled as he hung up both coats and headed for the living room.

"So, I guess your brother was serious huh?" Evan said, taking a seat on the couch in front of the television. "He's really not coming home."

"He will." Max replied. "Later."

"Honestly, I didn't think he went out much," Evan replied. "No offense."

"He doesn't," Max replied, sighing. "But I don't think we should talk about him."

"Yeah. I guess you're right," Evan replied. "I came over here to help you with that Sadie thing anyway."

"Right," Max replied, looking over at Evan.

Evan, who had grabbed a magazine off of the coffee table just sat flipping through the pages as Max stared over at him.

"Well?"

"Well....when did Britney Spears get pregnant?" Evan spoke looking at a picture in the magazine.

"Dude...that's so old," Max replied. "Besides...who cares?"

Evan took one final look over the magazine before tossing it back on the table and turning to face Max.

"What do you wanna know?" he asked.

Max looked confused.

"I...."

"I mean what do you know already?"

Again Max looked confused.

Evan chuckled before standing up.

"Lead the way to your room man," he said.

Max stood up.

"Why?" Max asked.

"Because you, my friend, have a lot to learn about women," Evan replied, pushing Max towards the stairs.

"So that sucked," Troy spoke as soon as we exited the theater.

Yeah, that was kind of a bad movie. It had been a while since I'd seen one, but even I knew what quality was.

"Try being the one who paid for everything," Pete grumbled. "Then it really sucks."

"Cheer up captain bitter," Troy spoke. "Next movie is on me."

"Another movie?" I asked. "I don't know if I can sit through another two hours of a bunch of thirty year olds trying to pass as teens saving the world."

"Exception to the rules there," Troy replied. "I meant the next good movie."

I looked over at Pete who looked like he was wishing that Troy would just leave.

I had to remember that Pete was my boyfriend, not Troy. I had to be the one to make him happy too.

"What do you wanna do, Pete?" I asked.

Pete looked over at me, or I thought he was looking over at me, but he was actually glaring at Troy out the corner of his eyes.

"Bathroom break," he suddenly said.

"What?"

"Here," Pete spoke, reaching into his pocket to get his car keys. "Pull around the truck, will ya pal?"

Troy caught the keys just in time, looking just as peeved as Pete in that moment.

When he looked over at me I actually looked away.

What was it about this situation that had me feeling so uncomfortable? Oh yeah, my two guy friends secretly competing with each other.

I think.

I mean, I guess I was kind of good at picking up on hidden things. I at least had characters in my stories who were like that.

I didn't get it really. I surely didn't see anything special about me anyway.

For a moment though, it actually looked like Troy wanted to throw the keys right back at Pete.

But when he looked back at me, I could tell he was working hard from trying to get upset.

"Sure thing pal," Troy replied, walking past the two of us to go retrieve the car.

Pete watched Troy until he turned a corner than turned to face me.

He let out a sigh, looked ahead of me up to the bathroom and took my hand pulling me towards it.

Did he not realize what he was doing? I mean, he couldn't be doing this. What would people think?

"Pete..." I said.

Pete didn't reply until we were both in the restroom.

He waited until the one person that was already inside was gone before he said anything.

I had my back to the mirror and sinks while Pete was in front of me with his back to the stalls.

"You see what he's doing, don't you?" Pete asked.

"What?"

"Troy...your friend still doesn't want you spending time with me."

I started to say something before I felt myself starting to grow upset.

I sucked in some air and traded spots with Pete.

"Are you kidding me!"

"Mike, I don't wanna go through this again-"

"You brought me in here remember? Which by the way is cause for concern all on its own."

Pete rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"He doesn't want you to be alone with me."

"You know that how exactly?"

"I....."

"Pete," I started, trying once more to keep from getting too upset. "Do you know how hard it is to have both of you on good terms like you've been? To keep you that way?"

"I know but-"

"I just don't want one of you angry with me or the other.....I like it when everyone's getting along."

Pete must have seen something in my eyes as he was staring at me because I noticed his whole demeanor change.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just....I wanted you to have a good time. This WAS supposed to be our third date-"

And suddenly I got it.

Pete was upset with Troy for ruining his plans for our third date. Not because he was jealous like I thought.

"Oh..."

"Yeah," Pete replied.

Pete seemed so much more...soft when it came to me. He was still the same person, but it was almost like he changed somehow when I was involved. Like he wanted to be so many different things for me.

It was a nice feeling.

It had me wondering what I was for him.

I mean, I couldn't offer protection like he could. I didn't have a job like him to be paying for all our dates. And I was nowhere near as outgoing as him.

What the hell kind of boyfriend was I?

"No...I'm sorry," I replied, letting out a sigh. "I was overreacting...again."

"You're actually kinda cute when you do that," Pete smiled at me.

I just looked up at him, suddenly feeling like I had a lot of things to think about.

"Now, back to what you said about the two of us being alone in here," he started, with a mischievous grin.

"You're just determined to get into all sorts of trouble aren't you?" I smiled, heading towards the door.

"You know it babe," Pete replied, behind me.

I still had Troy to worry about. But at least I had a better understanding of this situation.

And I was still learning. Still trying to get it right.

It all just made for better material to use in my journal.

"Dude, you invite people over and don't offer them anything at all to eat?" Evan asked, as he sat on Max's bed.

Max looked over at him from his desk.

"Actually you invited yourself over," he replied. "And you should know a closed mouth doesn't get fed."

"Just as well," Evan sighed. "My lessons over anyway."

"What lesson?" Max asked, chuckling. "I already knew about all the stuff you told me, most of which Sadie would never go for."

"Yeah, I don't know why girls here don't like that kind of stuff," Evan replied. "I bet you if we lived somewhere with a bunch of slutty girls-"

"Okay, what do you wanna eat?" Max asked, standing up.

"Your mom cook last night?" Evan asked.

"Yeah," Max replied.

"Bring me some of that," Evan replied. "Not a lot though. I'm staying for dinner."

Max turned back around.

"Evan-"

"What? You don't actually think your brother and Troy are gonna be back for dinner do you?"

Max just shook his head as he left Evan alone in his room to retrieve him some of the previous night's leftovers.

Evan looked around.

He got bored easily and decided to snoop.

He stood up and stretched before creeping into the hallway and looking around.

He could still hear Max downstairs.

He looked next door. The door to the room was open.

He figured it was Troy's room.

Next door to it there was a weight room.

"Dude, you never said you had a weight room now!" Evan called out.

"It's new!" Evan heard Max call out.

Evan took a few steps down the hall before he came across the room he knew to be Mike's.

Not knew exactly, but figured.

It was a plain room really.

Sure there was a lot of stuff in it, but there weren't any posters of hot females and it wasn't messy.

Evan wasn't sure why he was surprised by that. He was in Carson's room after all.

He did notice something though.

There was a small bookshelf in a corner next to the bed near the window full of different kinds of notebooks.

He figured those had to be the stories Carson was always writing.

"Probably about a bunch of fags," Evan found himself mumbling.

He didn't let that stop him from going over to them and looking them over.

He was going to pull one out but noticed there was one that wasn't on the shelf.

One that was just sitting in a small desk next to the bookshelf.

He picked it up and started flipping through it.

A bunch of junk really.

It looked like stuff Carson had used to plan some of his stories.

He really was a boring person.

"What are you doing?"

Evan turned around so suddenly he accidentally bumped into the bookshelf behind him, knocking several of the notebooks down.

"Oh-"

"Ugh...Mike's gonna kill me," Max mumbled rushing over to pick up the fallen notebooks.

Evan bent down to help as well.

"I seriously doubt that," he spoke.

"What were you doing in here anyway?" Max asked. "I thought I said I didn't wanna mess with his stories."

"Really? Must have missed that part," Evan replied sarcastically.

He took that as his opportunity to do a little more snooping.

"You know, I just thought maybe he was a little more interesting than I gave him credit for," Evan spoke, looking through another notebook.

Max didn't say anything as he worked to put some of the notebooks back up.

Evan continued to look through a few until he picked up one that was relatively new, turning it a few pages.

"Dear Diary," Evan started.

Max looked over at Evan.

"What is...his journal...you can't read that-"

Evan pulled back.

"Not like he has anything interesting to talk about," Evan replied, standing up to continue reading.

"Wait a second....maybe he does-"

"Evan, I'm serious you can't-"

Max stopped when Evan turned the notebook around and pointed to something.

Max read it before starting at the beginning and reading the whole entry.

"What the..."

"Evan knows all!" Evan shouted. "Hate to say I told you so, but-"

"No, this is just one of his stories or something," Max replied, closing the notebook. "Right?"

Evan didn't reply.

"Right?"

"If that's what you need to tell yourself," Evan replied, taking the notebook from Max. "Seems pretty clear to me."

Evan opened it back up.

"Having a BOYfriend is actually hard work," he read. "What would he know about that unless....well...I'll let you fill in the blanks."

Max looked down.

"He's not.....I mean....."

He didn't know what to say or think at all just then.

Things had gone a lot more smoothly once Pete and I had that chat.

Once I realized what was going on, I figured out ways to keep from adding fuel to the sparking fire.

It sorta worked.

Pete wasn't mad at me when he dropped us of back at school to get my car at least.

He couldn't kiss me goodbye like you were supposed to on a date obviously, but we managed to have fun in spite of the situation.

The whole going back and forward thing was starting to become quite draining actually.

Troy seemed to be full of energy lately.

Still not telling me about himself, but I liked the energetic `actually wanted to get know me' Troy better anyway.

"So tomorrow I think we really should go see that movie," Troy spoke as we entered the house. "You'd like it."

"Because you know what I like, huh?" I asked playfully.

"Why of course," Troy replied. "You're not that hard to figure out actually."

I wish I could have said the same thing about him.

"Hey boys, you're just in time for dinner," my mom called from the kitchen.

I hung up my coat and Troy's jacket and headed into the kitchen nervously.

I was expecting to see Evan sitting at the table but when he wasn't, I actually breathed out a sigh of relief.

"What no Evan to grace our presence?" Troy asked, taking a seat next to Max at the table.

"No he uh...he had to go..." Max replied.

I noticed that since I'd walked into the kitchen he hadn't taken his eyes off of me.

"You okay Max?" I asked.

I'd smiled when I asked it but Max didn't crack a smile at all. In fact he actually looked strange.

I'd never seen him look like that actually.

But it was probably only a look I could pick up on.

I just took a seat cautiously across from him.

"Oooh, I won today," Troy replied once my mom set dinner, one of Troy's favorites, on the table.

"Today," my dad replied. "I win tomorrow though."

"Yeah right," Troy laughed.

Why was he looking like that? Did I do something?

Or maybe Evan had told him some untrue story. I wouldn't have put that past him.

"You wanna lead us in grace tonight Maxwell?" my mother asked.

Max still didn't even look up.

Instead he just shut his eyes, lowered his head and started.

From problems with Troy and Pete to problems with my brother.

When was all this gonna end?

Contact me: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com

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