Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:25:13 -0500 From: Nate Subject: Jesse and Nate Chapter 7 This story is a work of fiction. I do not claim to know Jesse McCartney (although I wish I did ;-D), nor do I know about his sexual preference (ditto). This story will contain some sexual content, and is about a relationship between two men. If this offends you, then I suggest you use that handy close button on your window. If it's illegal for you to be reading this, well then you shouldn't be here either, but you probably know that already :P. Again, I'd like to thank Kyle for proofreading and critiquing the chapters. Jesse and Nate Chapter 7 "...What's wrong," I asked, in a slightly shaky voice and with a worried look on my face. I gotta admit, his anger was scaring me a little; I've never seen him more than slightly pissed off at things like bad drivers and such. He faced me, his green eyes flashing at me with angry tears, and opened his mouth, then quickly shut it and turned away from me to look at the traffic in the street so that I was looking at his profile. He didn't say anything for a few seconds and just took several deep breaths, which seemed to calm him down slightly, but only slightly. "So you know how I'm almost done with my recording?" he asked, still facing the street. "Yeah..." "And how I've put so much work into it? Working crazy hours, barely having time for anything, especially you, and always being exhausted? "Yeah..." "Sometimes barely being able to talk from all the singing? Having to basically live on caffeine?" "Yeah, but..." "Well it seems that these recording executive assholes just told me that they don't think that the songs sound good enough coming from this studio. They want me to go back to California and re-record EVERYTHING over there." "Wait, what?!? After all the work you put in? That's crazy!" "I know! I've listened to the recordings. They sound great! Maybe they could get it a little better from how they are now, but I mean, they're awesome! And not only that, but they want me to rewrite a bunch of the songs! "What? How could they do that?" "Because they're the label. They could do whatever the fuck they want. They could just trash the entire damn thing if they wanted to," he answered angrily and kicked the trash can again with a furious grunt. "I just..." he continued, his voice faltering, "I don't know what I'm gonna do, Nate," and he looked at me with tearing eyes. "Jesse, I'm so sorry, I know how much work you put into this." "Well, yeah. But that's not even the part I'm REALLY pissed about. I mean, I want it to be the best album it could be, ya know?" "Yeah, I hear that." "Yeah, well, that was just like the initial reaction. I could live with having to do it over if it'll mean having a better album. But what I'm really pissed about under it is the fact that I have to be gone for a MINIMUM of three months...and that means, I, well, I have to be away from you for that long. And, like, I don't know if I can take that..." he trailed off, looking at me with such a sad look on his face that combined with this news made me just want to cry, which I almost did, and had to blink and breath deeply to keep myself composed. I had to do that for his sake, at least. I pulled him into a one armed hug (we couldn't make it look too romantic, for obvious reasons), and held him there for half a minute. "Listen, I don't want you to go either, but you HAVE to do what's best for your career. We'll make it work. I'll fly out there on some weekends, we'll talk every day, IM, whatever, it will work. I promise," I whispered to him, and let him go. "But how can you be so sure?" he asked, looking up at me with watery eyes and with a choked voice. "I mean, I've heard all the time how long distance relationships never work out. What makes you so sure that it won't happen to us? I just...I just don't want to lose you." "I don't want to lose you either, and that's how I'm sure. I know because I know how I feel about you, and how you feel about me. It'll work because we're gonna actively make it work." "When you say it like that, I almost believe it," he sighed. "You better believe it, cuz its true. Remember, you do what you need to for your career, I'll worry about the rest." He still looked doubtful. "Okay, you still don't believe me. How's this. If I'm not right, I'll run through the Great Lawn in Central Park as stark naked as the day I was born. And I'll be sure that people are there to take pictures, although I'm sure you'd see some on the news also, cuz I'll have them called up so that they'll be there. At least that way you'll have some good jerk off material, eh?" I saw the corners of his lips start to twitch. "Heyyy, is that a smile I see?" I finished as I put my hand up to stroke his cheek and wipe off a tear. "Noo," he said in a funny would-be moping sad voice, making me chuckle. "Uh-huh. You're a terrible liar, you know that?" "Yeah, well, when it comes to you I am, anyways. I guess that's a good enough guarantee, though. And your right, it would definitely give me some good material," he said with a grin and made a stroking gesture with his hand. "Mhm," I said, happy that he was at least sorta cheered up. "So...when do you have to go?" "They want me there Monday morning, meaning leave Sunday night," he said sadly. "Okay," I continued, running my hand over my face, and grinning at him, "what do you say we make the most of the time we have left. Let's blow this pop stand and go find someplace cool to hang out." "Eh, I dunno..." he said. "I'm not so sure that I'll be so into it tonight." "Nope, not taking that as an answer. We're going, and that's final." "Okay," he replied with a small grin. Just as long as we go somewhere that serves alcohol, I could use something to drink right about now." "Sure, seeing as we're in New York that shouldn't be too hard. But there's a slight problem..." "And what would that be?" "Well, you're not twenty one yet." "Meh, it's ok. Most of the clubs around here serve alcohol to celebrities. It's one of the perks." "Really? You sure?" "Yeah, I do it all the time, it'll be fine." "...Okay," I said, but I guess he could tell that I still wasn't convinced. "Nate, trust me, it'll be fine, all the celebs do it. And don't tell me that you didn't have a fake ID when you were under 21, cuz, well, I just may have to stop going out with you," he said with a chuckle. I laughed, and said, "Well yeah, I did. It was a good one too, never got caught." He laughed, "Yeah, so this's basically the same thing, `cept I don't need the ID." "Okay, I guess that's a good point. Let's get going, but don't blame me if something happens, deal?!" "Okay, deal," he replied, chuckling. * * * We found a cool looking club that Jesse knew about in the meatpacking district, called Buddha Bar. Apparently Jesse's been there before, because the bouncer let us right in with just a glance at him and asking him "what's up", which was pretty cool, I gotta admit, and I let my reservations fly right out the window. Inside it was even better; it had a great DJ, what looked like a well stocked bar with good bartenders, and lots of hot people rocking on the huge dance floor, complete with strobe lights, lasers, the works. Apparently it was a pretty popular place with some celebs, cuz I saw Jesse wave to some faces I recognized from ads and music and such, all of which was pretty cool for me. We made our way over the bar and got a couple of drinks, Jesse got a kamikaze, I got a rum and coke, and we went to find a place to sit and just take in the atmosphere for a bit. "This place is pretty hot," I said to Jesse after a few minutes. "WHAT?" he yelled back at me, so I shouted into Jesse's ear, laughing, "THIS PLACE IS PRETTY HOT!" "Oh, YEAH, FOR SURE," he shouted back. I could tell that conversation wasn't gonna get us anywhere, so I downed my drink, signed to Jesse to do the same, and pulled him to the dance floor. Of course we couldn't dance together, but there were plenty of people there and no lack of hot girls who were catching our eyes, so we danced slightly separately but still in each other's sight. There was one girl that I pretty much kept to for the night who was pretty cute, who's name was Tina. She knew I wasn't interested in more than dancing, but she was cool about it and was just there for fun, like me. She was born and raised in Miami, but moved up to the city to try to make it in the modeling industry, and, as I told her, she definitely had the whole package for it. Jesse's girl looked like she was in heaven when she realized who she was rubbing up against, something that I found pretty amusing. After around a half hour or so, Jesse signaled that he wanted to go get another drink, so I went with him and got us both a couple of Long Island iced teas, which he made sure to tell the bartender to make strong. We went and found a corner where the music wasn't quite as loud. "Thanks for making me come out tonight, Nate, I definitely needed this," Jesse told me as he downed a huge gulp of his drink. "No problem, I'm just glad to see you're in a better mood." "Yup, I definitely am, and I have you to thank for it," he said and looked like he was about to give me a hug or something. This wasn't really the right place for it, so I turned slightly and gave him a pat on the shoulders. "No prob, just as long as you're having a good time," I smiled at him, but studied his face at the same time to make sure he was alright. I guess he was fine, just letting the alcohol and fun atmosphere get to him. We finished our drinks and made our way back to the dance floor and found our original dancing partners and continued shakin' our groove thing. I checked out Jesse over Tina's shoulder, and let me tell you, all those concerts definitely helped Jesse out - he's an amazing dancer. He has excellent rhythm and knows exactly how to get his partner into it. He noticed me looking and gave me a wink, which I returned with a grin. Just fifteen minutes later, Jesse again signaled he wanted another drink and immediately went off to the bar, and I went after him. "Jess, you sure you're okay?" I asked with a concerned look on my face. "Yeah, course, I just want a drink. That a problem?" "No, no, I guess not..." I replied, but still worried about him. He didn't notice, just went over and ordered a whiskey sour, and I got a MGD. He downed his drink fast, and immediately ordered a Corona. "Jesse, you sure you want to be drinking so much?" I asked. His face was getting pretty red and he was stumbling a little as he walked over to a seat. "Sure I'm sure. Trust me Nate, I'm fine," he answered with a lazy chuckle. "Well, okay," I said, but decided to not let him get anymore. Jesse sat down on a comfortable looking chair and I stood opposite him. "So, Natey, how was your dinner with your parents?" "Uh, it was good, actually, I meant to tell you something about that." "Yeah, what's that?" "Well..." I answered just as a girl came up to us. "Um, hi, sorry, but are you Jesse McCartney?" she asked a little timidly. He grinned at me, and then turned to her. "Yup, I am. And who're you, little lady?" which I thought was amusing, being that she looked like she was at least three or four years older than her. She didn't seem to mind, though. "Oh my God! I thought it was you, but I wasn't sure. My name's Sammie, short for Samantha. I'm such a huge fan of yours..." and she went on in the usual fan girl tirade. I looked around at the dance floor, where the strobe light started going again, and it flashed in our direction a few times as well, blinding me for a moment. I turned my attention back to the conversation, where I noticed that the two of them were casually flirting, which naturally annoyed me a little, but I knew there was nothing in it. Finally, Jesse said, "Well, it was nice meeting you, um..." he trailed off, looking up at her with a slightly puzzled look on his face. "Sammie!" she exclaimed, looking slightly annoyed. "Right! Sammie. Well, it was great talking to you, always awesome to meet a fan, hope you have a great night." "Thanks," she said looking a little disappointed. She probably thought that they'd end up going into the back and make out or something, which made me chuckle a little. She definitely had the air of someone who thought way too highly of herself. "Uh, yeah, well it was cool meeting you, Jesse!" She lingered for a second, as if trying to make her mind about something, and then finally said, "Do you think I can get an autograph?" "Shuuuwah," he said in a fake thick New York accent, after taking a swig from his beer. He got a napkin and took a pen out of his pocket and scrawled something which I assumed was along the lines of `To Sammie, Jesse McCartney," and handed it to her. "Thanks!!!" she said, and bent down, gave him a quick hug and peck on the cheek, and walked off. I rolled my eyes at him as I sat down in a chair that opened up. "Sorry `bout that," he told me. "No prob. I'm used to it by now," I told him with a smile. "So, you were telling me something about your dinner, right?" "Oh yeah," I said, turning my body to him. I could see that his eyes were a little glazed over, and despite what he might say, the alcohol was getting to him. "You know what," I chuckled, "I'll tell you tomorrow." "You sure?" "Yup, no prob." "Okay, cool. You know what, I think that I had enough of all of this for the night," he told me, waving his hand around at the room. "You want to head back to your place?" "Sure," I said. "You had a good time, though, right?" "Yeah, Nate, better than good, it was great. Thanks, I really needed this." "Your welcome," I answered with a grin. We both downed what was left of our beers and left, feeling the sudden cold blast of the winter air hit our face and wake us up. Jesse leaned on me slightly to steady himself as we walked to the curb to flag down a cab. Jesse was pretty quiet during the ride back to my place, just leaning against and staring out the window with sad eyes, a pretty drastic change from how he was in the club. I could only imagine what he was thinking, with having to leave New York so soon added to the fact that he was told that his recordings weren't up to par. It must have been a pretty big blow to him. When we got back to my place, he was still looking dejected, so I tried talking to him. "Jesse, I'm really..." but he cut me off. "Sorry, Nate, but I really don't want to talk about it right now. Can we please just go to sleep?" he asked with an almost desperate look on his face. "Yeah, of course," I said, and went over to him, giving him a hug. We got ready for bed, went to the bedroom and went to sleep, with my arms wrapped around Jesse tightly, as if that might somehow keep him from leaving me. * * * The next day I woke up before Jesse and just lay there laid there, watching Jesse sleep, trying to take in and remember exactly how he looks when he sleeps, how he breathes deeply through his nose and then releases it slowly, how he sometimes scratches at his chest, how he occasionally sniffs a little and rubs his nose when something's itching it. After a little while he stirred, and I blinked away the tears that were forming in my eyes. I couldn't believe how much I felt for him after only about a month of dating. "Heya," he said, stretching a little. "Hi. Sleep well?" "I always sleep well when I'm in your arms," he replied with a sigh. "I can't believe that in two days I won't be able to do that anymore." "Me too. I spent the past like fifteen minutes just trying to take you in, to remember exactly how you look and smell and everything about you." "Mhm," he replied, snuggling into my arms. "I'm gonna have to remember exactly how this feels." "Yeahhh." After about ten-fifteen minutes, I heard, and felt, Jesse's stomach grumble. "Uh-oh, looks like someone's a little hungry." "Nahhh," he said as he shifted a little in my arms. Then his stomach rumbled again even louder. "Well, maybe a little." I chuckled. "Well I think we're gonna have to do something about that. How you feel about omelettes, pancakes and coffee?" "Omelettes AND pancakes? You're awesome, you know that?" "Well I just gotta make sure you don't forget me out there with all the hot Cali guys," I said with a wink. "Yea, not gonna happen," he replied, and gave me a kiss, which we both prolonged, closing our eyes. "Mmmm..." I said, as I continued the kiss. "I love you so much." Both of our eyes snapped open. I looked down, and said, "I mean, um, well, yeah..." "I love you, too, Nate," Jesse said, cutting me off. I looked up and saw him sitting there with a huge smile on his face and shining eyes. "You do?" "Mhm." I grinned so widely I thought my face would split open and tears sprang into my eyes as well. I leaned in and gave him a deep, yet gentle kiss. "You have no idea how happy that makes me." "Same here," Jesse said in between kisses. "I've wanted to say it for a while now." "Yeah?" "Yup, probably ever since the concert." "Wow, I'm just, well, speechless." "Good, cuz I have another use for that mouth of yours," he said as he pressed his lips against mine, making me chuckle slightly into his mouth. We kept kissing for a few minutes, and then just cuddled as I held him in my arms, gently playing with his hair, and thinking about how happy he makes me. "I really do love you, Nate," Jesse murmured after a while. "I love you too," I said with a smile, and gave him a kiss. "It feels so good to be able to say that to you out loud." "Yeah, it really does." We stared into each others' eyes for a minute or two, and then I said, "Now how `bout that breakfast?" * * * After breakfast, Jesse had to go make arrangements for going back to California, like setting up flights, appointments, and just meeting as many friends as possible to say goodbye, since he obviously wasn't planning on leaving so soon. I offered to go with him, but, though he appreciated it, told me that it was basically all stuff he had to do alone, so we planned on meeting up a little later in the day. When we left the building, we noticed that it had snowed overnight, and over a half a foot of snow had been dumped on the city. I love it when it snows, it makes everything look all white and pure, at least until the cars get into it and make it dirty and slushy. It's usually not a problem to walk around in the city after it snows. Building owners and the city officials are usually pretty good about shoveling right away to clear the way for the millions of pedestrians walking around (they don't want a lawsuit on their hands, after all), so I decided to go up to the streets and avenues bordering Central Park to walk around and clear my head a bit. I couldn't believe that Jesse had to leave in just two days; even though we've only been dating for a month, it just wasn't feasible to me that he wouldn't be in my life to just go and see whenever I felt like it. I knew that this was coming, that he'd have to go back to California at some point, but that always felt far away. I never imagined that it'd be so soon. I knew that we'd have to figure out a way to keep it going, because I just needed to keep Jesse in my life, and I knew he needed me to stay in his. I stopped at a coffee stand for a caffeine fix that would no doubt taste terrible, but I needed it anyway, so I had to settle. While I was waiting for the guy to make my cup, I casually glanced at the covers of the various rag mags that were out there, and then did a double take at one of them. There, in big block letters were the words "UNDERAGE STARS PARTY ILLEGALY AT CLUBS," right next to a scene that I clearly recognized from last night: Jesse drinking his Corona, red in the face and talking to that fan girl, Sammie. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. `Today of all days...man these fuckers are fast,' I thought. Suddenly I heard someone yelling "Hey, mista, it's a dolla twenty five!" and I looked up to see the stand owner holding out the cup of coffee in one hand and the other held out to take my money. "Can I get this magazine, too?" I asked. "Ya, dat'll be tree and fitty." I gave him his cash, found a bench and sat down, poring over the article. It was taken from TMZ, about how various underage celebs get preferential treatment at clubs and bars in New York and L.A. to be able to drink despite not being of age. It mentioned other celebs like Lindsay Lohan and the Olsen twins, but the focus was on Jesse because they actually had caught him in the act. I was just in shock that he got caught, and angry with myself for not being more careful to look around for paparazzi. I figured that they must have taken the pictures while the strobe lights were going, in order to cover up the flash of the camera, and I should have realized that. I immediately called up Jesse to tell him about it. "Jesse, I gotta tell you about something," I said without even so much as a hello. "Don't worry, I already know." "Wait, what? You do?" "Yup. You're talking about the picture from last night, right?" "Well, yeah. I don't get it, why're you so calm about it? Isn't this a bad thing?" "My publicist is taking care of it. Yeah, she's a bit pissed, but hey, you know what they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity. I tend to disagree with that, but this isn't too bad." "Well, Jesse I'm really sorry for that happening, I shoulda been more careful." "Huh, what d'you mean, you shoulda been more careful? There's nothing you coulda done." "Well," I answered, "I should've been looking around for paparazzi. I knew that you were underage and you could've gotten in trouble, and I just went along with it. If I was agreeing to go with you, then I should have been more careful about stuff like that. I mean, God, I noticed how the strobe lights seemed to be flashing towards us in a weird way, when I knew that they should have been facing the dance floor. That should've tipped me off..." "Nate, listen. There's nothing you could have done. You were just helping me have a good time when I was in a shitty mood, and I'm really grateful to you for that. It's totally fine, this whole thing will probably blow over by Monday, if not sooner." "You sure it's ok?" "Yup, positive. But I do find it very sweet that you care so much, I really appreciate it." I grinned. "Oh no problem, I'm built for sweetness. But yeah, I'm glad that's settled." "Mhm. And let's just be glad that they didn't catch anything else that might've caused a bit more of a commotion," he said with what I knew was a smirk on his face. "Yeah, that's definitely true," I replied, laughing. "Guess we gotta count our lucky stars, eh? "Yup yup." "So, my man, when and where're we meeting? "How bout in like an hour at the usual spot?" he told me, meaning the coffeehouse where we had our first real date. "K, sounds good. See you then!" "Yup, love you!" he said in a low voice "Love you too!!!" I replied with a grin so big it might have split my face. I skimmed through the rest of the paper, then threw it and three quarters of the coffee into a garbage can and headed for the subway. * * * Lunch wasn't the happiest of meals, since we knew it was one of the last we'd spend together for a while, but we tried to make the best of it and just enjoy being with each other. We decided that we needed to talk about how this last weekend here would be spent. He basically wanted to spend time hanging out with friends, his family, and, of course, me. Something that made the weekend seem a bit brighter was Jesse's reaction when I asked him about the meal that my family was planning on Sunday night. He jumped at it and seemed very excited to meet them all, despite the fact that I warned him that Mandy might behave like a crazed fan. Then he asked me if I'd want to go to meet his family, even if I'd only be introduced as a friend, since Jesse still wasn't out to his family yet. That made me pause for a moment, but only for a moment, before I readily agreed, which seemed to make him happy as well. It gave him the first big smile I saw on his face all day. We worked out the details, and decided that he'd spend that night and the first half of the next day with friends and family, then work on his songs a little, and then come to my place and spend the rest of the day with me, staying over Saturday night. We'd go to the McCartneys for lunch on Sunday, then to the city to have dinner with my family, after which I'd go with Jesse to the airport to see him off. For the rest of the afternoon, Jesse and I just hung out, walking around the city and taking it all in. Jesse was obviously in a pretty bummed out mood, so I tried to do my best to get him out of it. We went to FAO Shwartz, which is a famous huge toy store in midtown, and acted like kids and playing with the toys and having a good, albeit silly, time. Yeah, some people were staring at us, but we didn't care, we were just having fun. After that we walked around Central Park, finally got in that ice skating we were always planning on, and then watched the little kids trying to run around and play in the snow in their bulky winter clothes. We also joined in and had a lot of fun having a bunch of snow fights, shoving snow in each others' hair, and just general playing in the white fluff. When we got too cold and wet, we went to a Starbucks to get some hot chocolate. "Thanks, Nate," Jesse told me. "You always find a way to make me feel better." "No prob, Bob. Er...Jesse...ob," I replied, making Jesse laugh. "You are way too corny sometimes, but I love you anyway," he said in between chuckles. "Well at least it's only sometimes. Good to know that at least some of my jokes are actually funny." "Yup, otherwise I don't think I'd be able to speak to you again." "Well, I could think of a lot that we could do instead of speaking," I told him quietly with a mischievous grin." "Ohhh really, now," Jesse said. "Now what would that be?" "Oh, you know. It's very hot." "Ohh?" he said, leaning in and looking interested. "Uh-huh," I said in a sultry whisper. "It's...wash the dishes," I finished, and laughed at Jesse's shocked face, but he got me back with a punch to the shoulder, making both of us laugh even more. We talked a bit more, and then Jesse took a taxi back to his parents' place, but not before thanking me again and giving me a quick hug for giving him a fun day and once again getting him out of a funky mood. After I saw him into his cab, I called up Kyle and Kirsten, and they immediately invited me to their place to hang out and basically mope a little, so I took a subway over. "Hey, Nate," Kirsten said after letting me in and giving me a hug, "how're you holding up?" "I'm okay, you know, dealing." "Yeah? That's good," Kyle said, also giving me a hug. "How about Jesse?" "He's a little bit worse. The whole situation's got him pretty upset, but he's also dealing with it. We went out today, had some fun, got both of our minds off of it." "That's good. I love that you're being so good for him, helping him keep his cool and get through it," Kirsten said. "Well what're boyfriends for?" I replied. "Good point. Still a sucky situation though." "Yeah, well, at least something good came out of this," I said. "Yeah, what's that?" Kyle asked, after giving me a soda and sitting on the couch. "Last night I told him I love him, and he said he loves me back," I told them with a huge, but bashful, smile on my face. "Aww, Nate, that's awesome!!!" Kirsten exclaimed! "Yeah, Nate, very cool," Kyle said. "I didn't realize you were that deep in, although I shoulda. You haven't been this happy in a while." "Yeahh, he really does make me happy. But...well, I'm not being crazy, though, right? I mean...it's only been a month!" "Well, Nate," Kirsten said, "all that matters is how he makes you feel. If he makes you happy, and you really love him, then it doesn't matter if it's been a month or a year." "Yeah, definitely," Kyle agreed. "Thanks, guys. But yeah, that's why it makes it even worse that he has to go in just two days," I finished with a sad look. "I mean...I know we've only been together for like a month, but he really means so much to me. I can't imagine life without him." "Okay, I take it back then, you are crazy," Kyle said with a wink. "But seriously, I think you two'll be able to work through it. And just think how excited you'll be when you see him again!" "Yeah, that's true," I said, but in a very sad tone. "Okay, Nate," Kirsten said, "we're getting you out of this mood. We've got X-Box, movies, chocolate, ice cream, and, most importantly, tequila and bourbon. We're not worrying about calories tonight." "Whoa, is that a smile I see?" Kyle asked. "Mayyyybe," I said, trying to hide my grin. "Ah, fuck it, let's get this party started, gimme some ice cream and pour me some tequila," and everyone laughed. I made a big bowl of vanilla and strawberry covered in chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and sprinkles. Yeah, not the healthiest thing in the world, but it definitely makes you feel good. We all got a little buzz from the alcohol, and then sat down to kill each other in Halo 2. We agreed that we'd play ten matches. "You're both going dowwwn," I said. "Yeah? Well bring it!" Kyle retorted. "We'll see who comes out on top." We both looked at Kirsten. "Oh, we all know that there's no way I'm winning, so I'm just gonna leave the smack talk to you boys." "Good thinking," Kyle said with a laugh. "Yeah, cuz you suck!" I added. "Yeah, yeah, let's just get this thing started." And so we did. We finished the ten matches, and I ended up winning 6, Kyle won 3, and Kirsten won 1, but just because we let her. By the time we were done we were pretty tipsy, since we agreed that everyone had to take a sip of their drink of choice every time they were killed. "Ha, what'd I tell you?" I yelled, jumping up and looking down at the two of them. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kyle said. "That last one was totally gonna be mine, I just couldn't get to that rocket launcher in time." "Uh huh, sure. Even if that's true, what about the one before that? And the other four?" "Yeahhh, fine, whatever." I glanced at Kirsten, who was grinning from ear to ear. "What're you so happy about?" I asked. "Well, other than the fact that I drank the most and I'm feeling pretty good about just everything right now, I won one!!! I know you guys let me, but still, it's awesome. I think I may start to practice playing this a bit more, so that way I'll be able to kill you guys fair and square." Kyle and I glanced at each other, then burst out laughing. "What?" I asked, gasping for air. "You're gonna kill us at Halo? No way in hell!" "Yeah, seriously. The day you beat us at Halo is the day I seriously consider having sex with a girl," Kyle said while clutching his stomach, making us laugh even more. "Yeah, you guys laugh it up, we'll see who's smiling when I kick your butts," Kirsten said, and threw couch pillows at the two of us, and then joined in with the laughter. "Oh, man, I don't know if I tell you this enough, but I really don't know what I'd do without you guys," I said once I had enough air in me to form the words. "Yup, you do tell us, and like I've said, I know, and it wouldn't be pretty," Kirsten said. "Yeah yeah," I replied. "So, what movies have you guys got?" "Well, lessee...we figured that action would be the best way to go," Kyle said, "so we got Batman Begins, The Fast and the Furious, Con-Air, annnd Face-Off." "Cool," I said. "Quite a choice spread over there." "Yup yup," Kirsten said. "Now what should we start with?" "Hmmm...." I said. "Well, since we all know how much Kyle loves Paul Walker, how bout we start with Fast and the Furious." "Alright!!" Kyle exclaimed and jumped up, making me chuckle. "Okay, I'll go make some popcorn, you boys set up the DVD," Kirsten told us. "Sounds good," Kyle said to her retreating back. "Hey Nate, how bout a shot of Jack Daniels?" "Sure, cool." Kyle filled up two shot glasses and gave me one. "Okay, so here's to you and Jesse always staying as strong and committed and loving as you are now," he said, raising his glass. "Awesome, thanks," I said, and we clinked our glasses before shooting them down. "Seriously, Nate, I really think that you and Jesse are really great for each other, and you will definitely get past this whole long distance thing. Before you know it, the three months will be over like that," and he slammed his glass onto the table. "Yeahhhh. I just need to get used to the whole thing. But thanks man, I really appreciate it. Now, how bout another shot?" "Yeahhh, man! That's what I'm talking about!" Kyle replied, and poured us both another shot and we slammed them back. "One more?" "Sure," I answered, grinning, and we filled up our glasses and shot back again. "Hey, weren't you guys supposed to be setting up a certain DVD?" Kirsten asked as she came back into the living room. "Oh, right, DVD," I said. "Were you guys just drinking Jack the entire time?" "Uh..." Kyle said. "Well..." I said. "Without me? That's it, gimme that bottle!" She said, and poured herself a double shot and downed it. "Whew," I said, "I thought we were in trouble," and Kyle and I pounded fists. "Yeah, yeah, you're just lucky that this night is about making you feel good. Otherwise I'd be all over your ass right now." "Well I guess there's a bright side to every situation," I said with a grin. "Now Kyle, set up that effin DVD already!" and I sat down next to Kirsten on the couch. "I'm doing it, I'm doing it. Just keep it in your pants. I know it's hard what with seeing me bend down like this in front of you, but it wouldn't be right to do anything in front of Kirsten," he replied, "she might get jealous," and we all laughed. He put in the DVD and climbed back on the couch and sat next to me, so that I was between the two of them. We watched the movie, and of course Kyle sighed at practically every close up of Paul Walker, and especially deep when he had a shirtless shot. "I don't care how many times I've seen it, that's still an awesome movie," he said. "Yeah? I'm surprised you were able to hear any of it over all that sighing and moaning," I said with a smirk. "Eh, shaddup. You can't talk, you're already dating your celeb crush. It's not fair." "Well, what about Brian? Yeah, he's not a celeb, but he's as hot as one." Kirsten said grinning. "Oh yeahhh, Briannnn," Kyle said and a huge smile came onto his face. "Awwwww," Kirsten and I crooned. "Yeahhhh," he said, smiling. "Ooo, just thinking of him gets me giddy!" "So it's going well, I take it?" I asked. "Yupp, very well," he replied. "Awesomeness," I said. "Mhm. Actuallyyyy, he's planning this whole night on the town thing for tomorrow night. I can't wait!" "That's cool. What're you gonna do?" Kirsten asked. "No idea. He refuses to tell me, but he did say to dress all hot, so I'm gonna have to worry about that for a few hours tomorrow." He started to look introspective, like he was talking to himself. "Hmm...plus I'm gonna have to work on my hair, and then there's shoes, and I'm gonna have to think about what kinda cologne I'm wearing...this might take all day..." and then Kirsten and I started cracking up, which made Kyle look up at us. "Oh yeah, you guys are still here," and he joined in the laughter. "Man, Kyle, what'd we do without you?" I said. "Well, your lives would be much more boring, I can tell you that much," he replied. "Yup, can't argue with that," Kirsten said, reaching behind me to ruffle Kyle's hair. "Hey, hey, watch the hair, watch the hair!" he said, trying to bat her hand away, which of course made me reach up and ruffle his hair too. "I said watch the hair!!!" "Okay, okay, let's just put in the next DVD," I said. "Okay, what'll it be?" Kirsten asked. "Hmmm...." I said. "I haven't seen Con-Air in a while, let's see that!" "Okay, you got it," she said, and put it in. When she got back to the couch she snuggled up next to me and put her head on my shoulder. "You doing okay?" she asked me. "Yup, thanks to you guys. You're definitely putting me in a better mood, thanks guys." "Okay, enough sappiness, more movie watching," Kyle said, making us chuckle, and clicked the `Play Movie' icon. I put my arms around the two of them This has always been a favorite movie of mine, and I was pretty into the movie until halfway through when I heard Kirsten give a loud snore and shift slightly. I looked down and saw that the two of them were snuggled under my arms with their legs tucked under them, sound asleep. I chuckled at the sight of them, and then realized just how lucky I was to have friends like them. Just then I got a text from Jesse simply saying, "'Nite, Pack, love you, see you tomorrow!" and replied "'Nite, Flash, love you too, sleep tight. Can't wait!" I gave a contented sigh, put my legs up on the coffee table and finished the movie, eventually falling asleep myself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As you can see, yes, I'm still alive, albeit a little busy and occassionally in a very non-writing mood. I should have the next couple of chapters at least on a relatively regular basis, though, so that's a good thing. And, though it's a little late, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Once again, feedback and suggestions are always appreciated, and can be emailed to me at JesseandNate@gmail.com, and you can IM me at the AIM/AOL screenname JesseandNate. You guys are great at feedback, I'm amazed at how well this story is being received by you (although you guys are understandably not so happy about the long delays. Believe me, neither am I). And as always, thanks for reading! Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year.