Standard disclaimers apply to this story. All rights & ownership of this story are reserved by the Author.

This story is mostly fiction. Some of the situations and characters are based off people that I know or experiences I've had. However names, & locations have all been change to better suit the story. That being said this story is mostly fictional and any likenesses to any other situations are strictly coincidental.

All events that happen are completely consensual between people involved in the story. If you are not of legal age, reside in an area where viewing such material is illegal, or are offended by homosexuality and/or homosexual themes, leave this site now.  The author retains all rights to this story. No reproductions or links to other sites are allowed without the permission of the author. If you're not 18, come back when you are, it'll be worth it. 

Half In, Half Out

"The Life of a Collegiate Gymnast"

Chapter 9

"All The Right Moves"

I almost had to pinch myself as I woke up the next morning to make sure I wasn't dreaming. His cologne could be smelled on his pillows. Did Jayden and I really just spend the night together? After everything that had gone on, it was nice that we were headed toward something the both of us had wanted. No more Ethan to worry about. It was just the two of us. Jayden still had some moving on to do after everything Ethan did to him, but I was just getting used to the idea of a relationship. If someone told me at the beginning of the year that I would be in Jayden's bed the morning after spending the night, I'd have thought they were crazy.

It took me a moment to realize that Jayden was no longer in bed, which got me to wondering where he was. Just then my phone vibrated snapping me out of my day dreaming. Rolling over to check it, there was a text from Kyle.

Kyle: Bro... where have you been? We haven't talked in days. NOT COOL! Anyways, get excited bitch!! Your baby bro will be there in 17 Days! Call me tonight!!

Seeing Kyle excited made me excited.

Tyler: Sorry, I've been busy! But I'll call you later and we'll catch up. Some... "interesting" things have happened!

After lying in his bed for a while, I decided to get up and check out his room more closely in the daylight. I walked back over to his desk where his phone and laptop were sitting. Looking back at his photo board, I noticed that there was a picture missing. It looked like Jayden had taken down the picture of Ethan and him. Half of me was happy, but the other half was sad for Jayden. Hopefully he didn't feel obligated to take it down because of what's going on between the two of us. Sitting back down on his bed I smiled to myself. Jayden wasn't the kind of person I would expect to meet and hang out with, but he was a welcome addition to my life.

Again, bringing myself back to reality, I wondered where Jayden could've gone. Being unsure of which of his brothers, if any, knew about me I decided to hang around in his room and wait for him to return.

A few minutes later the door opened. I sat up in the bed quickly, not knowing who was coming in.

"Morning." Jayden said with a bright smile on his face.

"Good morning to you too!" I replied.

When he wasn't looking, I checked him out. He was wearing a towel around his waist; water was dripping from his hair. It took all my will power to not pounce on him right there. His body was beautiful. You could tell that he took care of himself.

"Geeze...stare much?" He laughed.

I quickly looked away, realizing he had caught me. My face felt like it was on fire. It was obvious that I was starting to blush. "Sorry. But I'm not sorry. You're hot." A slight grin spread across my face.

Jayden shrugged. "I try." he said confidently.

I threw a pillow at him. "Don't get a big head now!"

"Me?" Jayden stopped what he was doing and turned around and looked at me. "Never!" We shared a laugh.

As Jayden was digging through his closet looking for something to put on, I continued to check him out. The sunlight coming from the window reflected off his skin. Although he wasn't quite as built as me, he was far from a stick figure. The definition in his torso was highlighted by his trimmed chest hair. Seeing him stand in front of me, I felt myself starting to get turned on. I did my best to try and hide my growing "problem".

"So did you want to take a shower here or want to head back home?" He asked.

"Can I shower here? Some of your body paint is still on me, and I don't feel like taking a walk of shame covered in green paint." I smiled.

"Sure." Jayden tossed me a towel. "You can use my shower stuff, bathroom is down the hall. No one's in there right now so you shouldn't have to worry about bumping into anyone."

"Alright, sounds good." Getting out of bed, I could tell Jayden sizing me up. "Do you want to go to brunch or something after I shower?"

"Yeah." Jayden was still checking me out. I felt oddly self-conscious of my body for a second. "What? You're the only one who can look?" He asked me. "Looks like someone enjoys seeing me in a towel all wet." He stepped closer to me and playfully tapped my semi hard on.

"Shut up. I can't control that." I laughed back at him. "It knows what it likes."

"Well, seems like the two of you have good taste then." Jayden joked before giving me a quick kiss. For some reason, I didn't expect it even given the events of the night before, but it was definitely welcomed.

I shook my head and walked out of the room to the bathroom. I tried to be as quick as possible. While the showers were separated, it was hard to see how Jayden could share a bathroom with so many people on a daily basis. Even though it was only Jake and I who shared the bathroom upstairs, even that proved to be challenging at times. As I was finishing up, I heard a guy come into the bathroom. I waited until I heard the water start running in the stall next to me to leave my stall. The last thing I wanted was an awkward run in with one of his brothers who didn't know me.

"Is it normally this quiet in the morning?" I asked as I got back to Jayden's room.

"Nah. This is just the aftermath of a party." He laughed. Jayden was sitting at his desk browsing something on the internet. "Do you want to go to The Union for Brunch? Three dollar mimosas!" He cheered.

"That sounds good. I know someone who works there actually." I couldn't decide if springing that on him now was a good choice or not.

Jayden had laid out some clothes for me to choose from on his bed. "Oh really..." Jayden turned around and looked at me suggestively. "And how do you know this person?"

"His dog." I replied, honestly.

Jayden looked at me confused. "His dog?"

"Are you getting jealous that I know a bartender at a gay bar?" I did not this to turn into an argument.

"Who said anything about him being a bartender? Hmm..." Jayden walked towards me. "Besides, I'm not a small guy, pretty sure I could take him."

"You probably could, but not without a fight." I was waiting until Jayden turned around to drop my towel. I think he caught my hint and turned around giving me privacy. "Anyway..." I hurried and slipped on a pair of jeans he gave me. "His name is Marco. I was on a run down by the river and resting on one of the docks when his dog came up and started licking my face. It was pretty funny. Then a few days later a few of us were out and I bumped into him. Super nice guy."

"I bet." Jayden turned back around and checked me out. "If a hot Italian gymnast just so happened to walk into my bar and he was gay, I'd be nice too."

"Yeah, well this, 'hot Italian guy' wasn't interested." again, replying honestly.

"Mmhmm..." he didn't seem entirely convinced.

"Jayden..."

"I'm just teasing you fool!" He stood up and walked toward me pulling me into a hug. "I'm not threatened."

"Good." My arms were around his neck, Jayden squeezed me tightly. I stepped back from him, "So how it look to have someone else wearing your clothes?"

"I think I have great taste in clothes!" He teased.

We finished getting ready and headed down to his car. As we walked out the door, it was hard to not laugh at what a mess the house was. It definitely put the mess from our party to shame. As we drove to brunch, Jayden told me all about how busy things were going to be with pledging soon. I forgot that he was the Rush Chair for his fraternity.

"It's stressful. I'm taking some heat from some of the guys since I didn't take on a, little like they had wanted me to. I just didn't have time with my responsibilities of chair, work, and school this semester. Scooter's done his best to try and get some of the guys off my back but I can tell some of them are not happy."

"That sucks. But I mean, wouldn't they understand with how busy you are?" Fraternity life confused me still.

"You would think. But, and I love them and the fraternity, but some of them put it before everything." It was easy to see how much the grief he was getting was bothering him. "I know it doesn't look great being the Rush Chair and not having a little brother. But I'm trying to be as involved as possible with the pledges to make up for it."

"Just keep doing what you're doing. You told me you guys have the most pledges you've had in 2 years. That can't look bad."

Jayden smiled back at me, "Look at you."

"What?"

He shrugged, "I know you could probably care less about this and you're at least faking interest. Ethan couldn't be bothered with things like this."

There was a flash of heat over my body when he mentioned Ethan. It was foolish for me to think that Ethan would never come up, but it was still awkward to hear his name.

"Well, I don't know Ethan...but you know, you show an interest in my gymnastics, so it's the least I could do is return the favor." I smiled back at Jayden. "Plus, it's actually kinda cool to hear about the inner workings of a frat."

"Fraternity." Jayden corrected me, smiling.

I shook my head and smiled back at him. "Fraternity. I'll get used to that eventually."

"Good. `Cause I like hearing a point of view of someone who is an outsider."

"You're welcome. Now, when are you going to tell me the secrets about initiation?" The look on Jayden's face indicated that I was a lunatic.

"Keep dreaming. You'll never get that out of me."

"It was worth a shot." I hit him playfully.

As we got out of the car, it was clear that it was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and people were walking up and down the street going about their day. We were quickly sat on the patio overlooking the street. Once the server came by and took our order the two of us started talking about last night. Jayden told me he was happy that I stayed over and was glad we didn't go any further than we did last night. I agreed. I didn't want to rush him into anything, knowing that he was still dealing with his break up with Ethan.

"Two mimosas." Someone said. "Tyler?"

I looked up to see Marco standing there. "Hey! Nice to see you again."

Marco had a smile on his face, "Yes, nice to see you again too. Where have you been, thought you said you'd be back more often?"

"Yeah I'm sorry, school has been crazy busy." Jayden was looking between the two of us, clearly waiting for me to introduce him. "Oh I'm sorry, Marco this is my friend Jayden."

Jayden reached his hand out to shake Marco's hand, "Nice to meet you. Tyler was just telling me about you before we got here."

"Ahh, I see. Well I'll let you guys get back to your drinks. I'll stop by in a little to catch up, Tyler." Marco said as he walked away from the table.

"See. I told you, he's a nice guy. No funny business."

"Yeah, yeah." Jayden said as he took a sip from his drink. "So...we should talk."

"We are talking." I stated, thinking I was funny. Clearly Jayden had more in mind.

"You know what I mean. What's going on with you and Nate? I noticed how you made a face to Jake when I mentioned him."

Busted.

What was I going to tell him? We weren't dating, but telling him that Nate and I had hooked up the night before he showed up at my house in distress was not a conversation I was ready to have yet.

"Oh, well we were having a rough practice. I had landed weird and my knee was feeling funny so that put me in a bad mood. Nate just has a way of getting to me. We can push each other's buttons from time to time." Well, that was part of the truth. "So...it sorta snowballed from there. I made some dick comment about his shoulder and he did NOT like it." I was being honest.

Jayden looked at me questionably. "So you guys aren't talking because you tweaked your knee?" Jayden seemed to know I was only telling half the story.

"Well, you know I have a temper..."

"Yeah." Jayden laughed and took another sip of his drink. "Tyler..."

Oh god, I could feel it coming. "Yeah."

"Was there something going on between the two of you?" Jayden asked.

We sat in quiet for a few moments, only to be disrupted by the waiter bringing us our food.

"Umm..." It was pointless to be anything less than truthful at that point. I had clearly been figured out, and the last thing I wanted was for Jayden to think he couldn't trust me.

"It's fine if there was...I mean..." Jayden stopped for a second and looked off into the distance. "I guess... it's not like anything was happening between the two of us at the time...unless..."

"No!" I interrupted before he could finish. "Okay, so..." I hesitated while I tried for form the thoughts in my head.

"I hope I'm not pushing you to tell me something you don't want to. I just...honesty is really important to me right now."

"No, that's completely understandable." I took a deep breath. "Nate and I have hooked up before. There was nothing going on when you and I were talking earlier this semester. Everything that happened between the two of us happened while you were back with Ethan."

"Okay..." Jayden took a bite of his food. He was looking at me intensely. I had barely started eating my food. "Is there still anything going on now?"

"No. Actually, I think that's what kinda set him off. We had a talk before and I told him I liked you, but then we had hooked up. I thought it was just a hook up, but I think he may have wanted more? Then once he saw the two of us last week he was pretty pissed about it."

There, he knew what had happened between us. Sure I left out some of the finer details, but Jayden at least knew that Nate and I had hooked up, and I was being honest with him. I was worried to hear his reaction to all of this. I mean, realistically he couldn't hold it against me. He and Ethan were dating, and we weren't talking.

I sat there looking at him. He didn't say anything, just taking a few small bites of his food. I followed his lead and finally started eating. It was clear neither of us really knew what to say.

"Are you mad?" I asked, finally breaking the silence.

Jayden put his fork down and wiped his mouth, "No. I just...I'm kinda..." Jayden looked away and then back at me. "I'm a mix of not knowing what to say and being kinda jealous actually."

"Jealous?" I was a bit taken aback by that.

"Well yeah."

"How so?"

"Well, I know we weren't official or anything like that. But I guess, maybe we were headed there and then we got into it and all that mess. I guess I was naive to think you would wait for me. Hearing you had hooked up with someone does make me a bit jealous. " Jayden frowned. "Gosh, I probably sound stupid right now."

"No. Not at all. It's a bit cute." I tried to cheer him up.

"Shut up." A tiny smile crept on his face. "So is everything done between the two of you?"

"What do you think?" I asked him matter of factly.

"Well, I just gotta be sure."

Looking Jayden in the eyes, it was easy to see that he did genuinely care about me. I knew he did, but seeing him question himself about what had happened between Nate and I made it obvious. I was seeing the insecure side of Jayden and it was a side that I was not used to seeing. Yeah, he's a super nice and humble guy, but he still has an air about him. You can tell he's very self-confident, self-aware.

"Yes. Things are done between the two of us. At least as far as hooking up goes. I like where I'm at right now. I like where things are going." I reached over and grabbed his hand.

Jayden looked down at our hands and back up and smiled at me.

"Good. `Cause I'm liking where we're going too. You're being great about this Tyler. I know you're there, but you're giving me space at the same time to deal with everything." Jayden gave my hand a squeeze.

I didn't care who saw us or if anyone recognized me. I wouldn't have changed that moment for anything.

"Oh, you two homos." I heard Marco say as he walked up with two more drinks. "These two are on the house." The three of us laughed. "So, what have you been up to, Tyler?"

"Nothing much, training and school mostly."

"That's cool. You need to stop in again! A few of the bartenders had their eye on you that night." Marco looked at me suggestively. "I guess I'll have to tell them you're off the market?" he jested as he glanced at Jayden.

"Well not yet." I said jokingly. Jayden rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink. "But my birthday is coming up in a few weeks, maybe I'll celebrate it here."

"That'd be cool. Shoot me a text, you still have my number right?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, well we host parties all the time, we'll take care of you guys. Just let me know. Maybe you'll eventually get to meet the hubby."

"Sounds good." I nodded back at him. "I'll shoot you a text and let you know."

"Alright, well you two enjoy brunch, I gotta get back to looking important. Can't comp your meals, so just enjoy the mimosas on me. See ya guys." Marco shook Jayden's hand and walked away.

"He seems like a really nice guy." Jayden said.

"Yeah. I mean I've only met him that one time, and then we talked that other night when a few of us came out here." I shrugged. "I don't know, but if he can hook it up for my birthday, I'm all for that!"

Jayden laughed at me, "You're a fool. Let's finish and I'll drop you back off at your place."

We finished eating while talking mostly about school. After, we headed back to the house. Spending time, just the two of us, together was nice. It felt like we were slowly letting our guards down around each other. I had gotten to know Jayden more since he and Ethan had broken up than before. Knowing where each other stood really helped ease the tension between us.

We pulled up to the house and I didn't want to get out of the car. "What were you doing today?" I asked.

"Umm...I don't know. Probably going to just head back to the house and take it easy." Jayden said nonchalantly.

"Oh...okay well if you get bored, why don't you stop by later?"

"Or how about I just come in now?" He put the car in park.

I got a big smile on my face, "Sounds good to me."

He laughed at me, "Goof."

"Shut up." I kept smiling.

We walked in through the back door. You could hear the sound from the TV as soon as we walked in. Jess' door was closed, so she must not have been home yet. Jake was lying on the couch, shirtless.

"Hey you two." Jake had a grin on his face. "How was YOUR night?"

"Good." I looked over and saw Jayden out of the corner of my eye checking out Jake. Jayden must've notice because he immediately looked away.

"Yeah we had a good time." Jayden said as the two of us sat down on the couch. "How about you Jake?"

"Eh...it was alright. Summer and I were the only ones here last night."

"So it went well then I take it?" I asked.

"You would think so..." Jake sounded annoyed, "But her fucking phone kept going off. She kept texting, saying it was Jess, but I don't know."

Crap. That reminded me that I've got to talk to Aaron. "Oh, well maybe it was her? Don't jump to conclusions so fast." I hated lying to Jake, but I was trusting Aaron. He said nothing was going on, so I was taking his word for it.

"True. I just feel like she's hiding something still."

"Will you two just make it official already?" Jayden jokingly added in.

The two of us looked at Jayden in amusement. "You should talk big guy." Jake quickly shot back at Jayden.

"Jake!" His response surprised the two of us.

Jayden laughed, "Touché!"

I looked between the two of them. It was easy to tell that the two of them were joking around. The fact that they had formed a friendship, even when Jayden and I weren't talking, made me happy.

"That's right Jay Jay! Gotta be quick on your feet with me." Jake joked with him. "Anyways, have you heard from Chase or anyone, Ty?"

I shook my head, "No, why what's up?"

"Apparently shit hit the fan last night at the Fishbowl."

I forgot that a few of the guys were going there last night. "What happened?" I asked almost not wanting to hear what happened.

"Well a one Nathan Mirza got chocolate wasted and became a mess. Supposedly he almost got in a fight with one of Chelsea's friend's boyfriend. I guess it was mostly the other guy's fault. But then after that Nate left the bar pissed and Chase went after him."

I just shook my head. "God. We should've been there."

"Yeah." It was easy to see that Jake was pretty upset about it. "Well I guess they were walking back to the apartment and a cop pulled over on the street and asked if there was an issue. Nate had calmed down at that point but was still a little on edge. Long story short, Nate started running his mouth and almost got himself arrested. If they weren't a block away from the house he probably would've."

I sighed. It was horrible to hear how bad of a time Nate was having lately. "Fuck. I'm sure it didn't help that his brother ended up not coming up this weekend either."

"You should talk to him." Jayden said.

Jake looked at me and then back at Jayden. "He knows."

"So what if you two aren't talking? You said yourself that you're like brothers. He could use that friendship right now. Someone who could help relate, didn't you say he just came out to people like a month ago or something?"

"Yeah." He was making a lot of sense.

"Well, maybe it's all stemming from that. I'm sure he's under a lot of pressure. Call him."

"He's right." Jake said.

Knowing they were both right I agreed. "Yeah, you're right."

We sat there for a few minutes watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Finally Jake broke the silence bringing up the situation with Summer again. He told us she told him that there wasn't another guy and she was just being a good friend to someone. I could tell Jake believed her and hearing that she told him that made me feel that much better about whatever Aaron had to tell me. The fact they were being so secretive about the situation was the part that bothered me the most. Jayden added in his thoughts on the whole situation. Seeing the way their friendship was blossoming, I joked with Jake that I might get jealous if he dumped me for Jayden.

"Psh...Tyler please..." Jake waved his hand. "You're just as stuck with me as I am with you. Remember Freshman year?"

I nodded back at him. Thinking of the night that Jake and I truly became best friends. We made a pact to be there for each other through thick and thin. And though we've had our disagreements just like any set of best friends, we've kept to that.

"Of course I do. You don't forget something like that."

Jayden smiled, "Do you two need a moment?"

Jake reached from behind and threw his pillow at him. "You wish you had this friendship."

"Guilty." Jayden threw the pillow back at Jayden.

The three of us sat around and watched movies for the rest of the day. Once Jess got home, we all went out to dinner. After dinner Jayden left and went back to his place. There was an awkward moment when we were saying goodbye. I stood there at my door step with him looking up at me. Part of me wanted me to step down and kiss him but I didn't want to overstep my boundaries.

"Hey!" I said and walked down to where he was standing. The cold ground sent a shiver up my body. "Whoo it's freezing!" Jayden laughed at me as I tip toed barefoot over to his car.

"You're a dork, you know that right?" Jayden said as he was standing at his car door.

"Shut up." I teased him. "Here..." I reached over and gave him a hug squeezing him just enough to let him know what a good time I had.

He exhaled against my neck, "I did too."

"Alright, I'll text you tomorrow sometime. Have a good night."

He nodded, "You too."

Over the next few days, things at practice and school had started to pick up. The only time I had seen Jayden was when we had class and when he'd walked with me back to the gym. We'd text each other throughout the day here and there to keep up with each other. He was busy with the pledges doing whatever it was they had to do. With midterms just around the corner, studying and trying to keep everything was starting to become a challenge.

At practice the tension between Nate and I had subsided enough that everyone no longer felt like they were walking on eggshells around us. The news of what happened on Halloween had spread throughout some of the upperclassmen on the team. We all did our best to not mention it around any of the underclassmen or Coach. Knowing that another run in with Coach after what had happened between the two of us the week before was not something anyone wanted to happen.

I was sitting in my car snacking on a wrap I had just picked up at the cafe. It was one of the few times that I had alone to myself in a few days. With my busy schedule lately, alone time had been hard to come by. Sitting in the parking lot eating, with some music playing lightly in the background was calming. Just as soon as I had felt totally relaxed my phone started to ring. I was tempted to leave it and send it to voicemail, until I picked it up and noticed it was my mom.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Conti." I said to her.

I could tell she was smiling after hearing me say that. "Good afternoon to you Tyler. How are you doing?"

I caught my mom up on everything...well mostly everything that had been going on lately. It was nice to catch up with her. Besides texting and calling Kyle, keeping in-touch with my parents was something that I had not mastered yet. Kyle usually filled them in on everything that was going on with me anyway.

"So I need to talk to you about your brothers visit coming up in a few weeks."

"Mom, you don't have to worry. I know, no taking him to bars, keep the partying to a minimum."

"Well Tyler, that has been established for two years now. But this is a different visit, he's there to train with you guys. I expect you two...or should I say you three to be on your best behaviors."

I rolled my eyes and laughed at the fact that she included Jake too. "Yes. The three of us will be on our best behavior."

"Tyler..."

"Mother..."

"You two are going to drive us crazy next year I hope you know." She said to me. "But what I wanted to tell you was that your father and me are going to go on vacation during Kyle's Thanksgiving break. So he's going to be staying with you until after his break. Your father already set it up with school and Mihai."

Hearing that Kyle would be here for almost two weeks got me really excited. "Are you serious?!"

"Yes. So I need you to talk to your coach to see if he could train there. If not, I'm making you responsible that he keeps up with his school work and trains at a gym while he's there."

My head was going crazy with all this news my mom was giving me. Having Kyle out here during the school year was going to be great. We usually don't get to see each other until summer break. Having my baby brother out here was going to be great.

"Tyler?" My mom asked.

I came out of my daze, "Sorry. Yes mom, I'll make sure to ask today and I'll keep an eye on him. I'm really excited! Have you told Kyle yet?"

"No. We're going to tell him tonight at dinner. Mihai has told us he's been working hard in the gym and he's kept himself out of trouble lately so I think we should reward him."

"Aw, yeah he's told me he's been really making an effort lately. We all know how he can get." Kyle is a lot like me when I was younger. Mihai always jokes that I was the cause of half his gray hairs.

"Yes. He's quite the young Tyler." She said. "But I can't stress to you how serious I am when I say you two need to be responsible. Your father was going to have his parents come stay here, but I'm not going to let his mother alone in my house for two weeks." Mom laughed. "Don't tell your father I said that. Just know Tyler, this isn't supposed to be a two week vacation for him."

"I know mom."

"Alright, I'll tell your father you were excited about the news. I'm sure you'll be hearing from Kyle later tonight."

"I bet."

"K. Sweetie, tell Jess and Jake I said hi. I gotta go, I have a meeting in an hour and need to finish prepping for it. I just wanted to call and catch up with you since you haven't called in a little over a week."

"Sorry about that mom. Just been crazy busy."

"I bet you have. Are you dating someone and not telling your mother, Tyler?"

"Alright mom...that's my cue to tell you I love you and tell dad I said the same." I laughed. She tries so hard to be that cool mom every now and then. "I'll call you in a few days and we'll set everything up."

"Alright sweetie. I love you so much. I can't wait to see you over Christmas break. Take care of yourself."

"Love you too mom. Tell dad, Grazie per la fiducia con Kyle y me."

I could hear her smiling and nodding. "Not a problem. Bye sweetie."

Talking to my mom made me feel a bit homesick. At times home seems like the attractive alternative. Life here at State is great but nothing beats home. I miss surfing and being able to go to the beach after training. Being at home would give me more one on one time in the gym with Mihai. There are times when it seems like I'm missing so much of what's going on with Kyle's life that makes it hard to be here. My life is great and I wouldn't change it for the world, but being away from home even after 2 years still got to me now and then.

Sitting there in my car, Kyle and I texted each other until it was time for me to head into the gym. It was hard to hide my excitement about the news mom had just gave me. I grabbed my bag out of my trunk and headed in. After talking with Kyle and mom today was just one of those days where I wanted to get into the gym do my job and leave.

I saw Nate at his car grabbing his gym bag, "Hey Nate!" I shouted at him. He looked up at me and gave me a slight wave. I sighed and bit my lip and walked toward his car.

"Tyler." He looked up at me.

"Hey man. How's it going?"

"Today...it's a good day actually."

I nodded back at him. "I'm glad to hear."

"You?" He asked me. Nate was being short, but at least he was talking to me.

"I just want to get in and out today. It's not a bad day, just feeling a bit homesick."

"Well at least your brother will definitely be here in a few weeks." He sounded a little jealous. I had forgot that his brother no showed last week.

"Oh...yeah...sorry, I forgot Nick didn't end up coming last weekend."

"No problem." He closed his trunk a little harder than I think he meant to.

"He's excited to hang out and meet everyone. He was telling me he couldn't wait to train with you." I smiled at him.

Nate just kept looking forward. His sunglasses hid any eye contact from me. "Well, I look forward to working with him in the gym."

"Nate." I sighed,

He stopped and faced me. I still couldn't see his eyes but I felt like he was staring bullet holes into me. "Tyler." Was all he said.

I grabbed him on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about what happened that night and the next morning. I was the more sober of the two. I took advantage of the situation."

"Are we still on that?"

I was a bit surprised at his response. "Well..."

"I mean, it was a mistake." He said to me. "It won't ever happen again. After waking up that morning and seeing you with Jayden, I got my answer."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't even remember do you?" He asked me.

"I know we hooked up Nate, I remember that."

He smirked, "Right...look Tyler. I get it, we're never going to be together. You sent that message loud and clear. Well, that and the fact that I still have some unresolved things with Heath."

"So then why can't we just move on?" A few of the guys were walking up, we said hi and waited till they walked in to continue talking.

"Look Tyler. You have been honest with me...well sort of." He pause., I looked at him not knowing exactly what he meant about the sort of part.

"But Nate..." Hearing him say this hurt me. "What do you mean..."

Finally he had taken off his sunglasses and was staring right at me.

"Let me finish." Nate said sternly. "But I wasn't completely honest with you. I knew it was stupid but part of me hoped maybe if things didn't work out with Heath, we could try."

"I don't want to stop being friends because of this." I pleaded with him. "I agree we have great chemistry and under different circumstances I would jump at the chance, but Nate, we can't."

"We can't or you were just scared? Either way at this point it doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"Because Tyler, I think I need some space, from you."

Hearing that made me feel like someone had just punched me in the stomach. "Nate I don't..."

He cut me off. "This isn't about you Tyler. This is about me, I've lost myself lately. I'm not liking or acting like myself and I need a break from anything that's adding unnecessary stress to my life, and part of that is you."

Standing there speechless, Nate's words were cutting me, "That isn't fair Nate!"

"Life isn't fair." He said to me so bluntly that I knew he meant it.

"Don't I get a say in this?"

"No." He was not going to budge, but I couldn't stop trying.

At this point I was fighting back tears, "Nate please...don't push me away."

"You've made it so I have to. Do you know how stupid I felt walking downstairs last week and seeing you with Jayden?"

"But you knew where I stood!" I yelled back at him.

"Then why did you take advantage of the situation. I was drunk and a mess. You should've stopped me."

"I'm not letting you put this all on me Nate."

"You're right, this partly is my fault too. Which is why I need to take a break from our friendship. We're doing more harm than good to each other."

"I'm worried about you Nate. Almost getting arrested on Saturday night, fighting? That isn't you."

"You're telling me about not acting like myself?" Nate paused, "What about you? Taking advantage of people, causing scenes in the gym... have you even told Jayden what happened between us?"

"He knows we've hooked up before."

"But does he know we had hooked up THAT night?"

I didn't say anything.

"Exactly. You want honesty from me, but you want it on YOUR terms. That is why I just need to walk away from the situation. I'm done. "

"And the only one who loses in this is me?" I bit my lip to stop saying too much. Nate was really laying it on thick.

"Quit making this about yourself Tyler. Dammit, this isn't only about you!" Nate was getting frustrated with me.

"But we're friends Nate. I look up to you, I don't want to lose you as a friend."

"Then where were you this summer?" He asked. "I was going through a lot with my surgery, rehab, Heath. If we were that close you would've seen the signs."

"I was across the country! You could've called me."

"But if we were that close and you cared about me, you would've called me. I tried to call you a few times. You called me back once and when you did we barely talked. You can't even use the excuse that you were training hard. Jake and you were not in shape when you showed up in August."

Nate was right. Part of me could tell something was going on with Nate, but I chose to ignore it. I was across the country and didn't want to deal with anything from school until it was time to go back.

"Exactly." Nate adjusted his bag and looked me in the eyes. His eyes told me he was done talking about this. His mind was made up and I had to deal with it. This wasn't up for debate, Nate made his decision. "Look, we can keep up appearances and I'll show you support in the gym and at meets. If you want to do the same you can. But, outside of the gym, for now, we're done."

Part of me knew he was right and admitting it was hard. "I've made mistakes in this friendship. Let me fix them."

"Let me figure me out first."

Knowing this was a losing battle I pleaded one last time. "I can help you. You don't have to push me away." Feeling my eyes start to water, I nodded my head. "I'm not giving up on this friendship Nate. You can push me away, but I'm still going to be here."

Nate smiled at me, "Good to know. Maybe if we get to that point where we can be friends again we will be. "

Nate reached over and wiped away a tear had rolled down my face. "I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm so sorry you're hurting." Was all I had the strength to say at his point.

"I hope so." Looking at Nate you could see he was hurting. "I'll tell Coach you're going to be running late. Take a few minutes and get yourself together."

Nate walked away from me and into the gym. I felt sick to my stomach. Today had been emotionally draining. Mustering up the energy to hide what was going on from the rest of the team was going to take some strength. Jake would see right through me. The thought of skipping practice crossed my mind, but after last week's altercation with Nate I thought better of it. After a few minutes I did my best to pull myself together and head into the gym.

Once I stretched out it was time to go straight to work and try my best to finish my sets as soon as possible. It seemed like trying to hide what was going on was working. After about an hour my head was clear and focused on practice. It had to be one of the best practices I had had in a long time. Not letting myself get caught up and socialize as much as usual really worked for me today. Jake must've taken notice, because he was right there with me working just as hard. After finishing my high bar routine and sticking my triple back dismount for the first time in weeks After letting out an enthusiastic shout I acted like I was exhausted and laid down on another mat. It felt good to know that after what had been one of the most emotionally draining days in a long time, I was still able to get into the gym and get my job done.

"Great practice today buddy." Jake said looking down at me.

"Thanks."

"Nice to see you can still turn off other distractions when need be and focus on only gymnastics." He said to me in a tone that let me know he knew something was up.

I laughed at him, "Times like this make me think we're creepy close."

Jake smirked, "One in the same buddy."

After practice that night Jess, Jake, and I went out to dinner. I caught them up on everything that had transpired between me and Nate. Jess did her best to sympathize with Nate, while Jake seemed a little upset at him. I made Jake promise he wouldn't say anything to Nate. He agreed, but I could tell he wasn't happy with the situation.

"It's just not fair." He said.

"Yeah, well life isn't fair." I said taking a sip of my beer. "At least that's what Nate said."

"Tyler, don't act like that." Jess play slapped me. "Just give him some space, you two will be back to being friends in no time."

"I don't want to get involved, but I think he's making a mistake." Jake said.

"Well it's not your choice." Jess said. The two of us looked at her in surprise. "I'm not saying he was right for laying into you like that, but come on, he's gone through a lot in a short period of time."

I sighed, "You're right."

"I'm a girl, I'm always right."

Jake rolled his eyes, "Oh really?"

"Not now Jake." She looked at him.

I looked back at the two of them, this was just what I needed after a day like this. "So what do you think about Kyle staying for that long, do you think it's going to be a problem?"

Jess gave me a surprised look, "Why would it be an issue? Baby Conti and I get along great!"

"Yeah Tyler, don't be ridiculous! It's not like your parents haven't housed us before."

"True." I laughed, "Well then, fine, I'm not asking, I'm telling you, Kyle is staying here and that's that!"

We finished up eating and were about to leave when Jess said, "Let's send him a picture teasing him!"

The three of us got together and had our waiter take a picture of the three of us. I sent him a picture text that said, 'We can't wait to see you in a few weeks!'. Kyle texted me back with a picture message himself and our dog saying the same thing. Today had gone from being horrible to alright. The two of them were the best support system one could ask for.

Over the next few days, school and practice were going smoothly. In the gym you would never be able to tell anything was going on between me and Nate. True to his word, he would show me support during practice. As much as I was mad and hurt about what had happened between us, I knew I would have to swallow my pride on this one.

Jayden and I had finally been able to work out spending some time with each other between our busy schedules. When we had a chance we would do our best to try and hang out with each other. He was becoming a more prominent figure around our house. Getting to know him on a more personal level then before, I was starting to see Jayden for more than the cute frat guy I had a crush on and hung out with occasionally. He was truly everything I had wanted. Jayden was confident, cute, and humble. At first glance you may have thought he was a stuck-up frat boy, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I did my best to make sure I was holding up my side of whatever it was that was going on between the two us.

That Saturday evening around six while I was doing some homework my phone started to vibrate. It was a text from Jayden,

Jayden: Hey! I'm getting out of work early tonight. I want to take you out.

Was this going to be our first date? Forcing myself not to get ahead of myself as my mind started to race I replied,

Tyler: Sounds good. I was just sitting around the house doing some homework. Jake and Summer just left on a date and Jess is with you...lol

Going to my closet to try and find something to wear, there was a part of me that was really excited about going to dinner. I picked out the shirt I was going to wear and my phone started ringing, it was Jayden.

"Hey!" He was whispering, "So I snuck away for a few minutes. But what do you think?"

"About going out tonight? Yeah, it sounds like a plan."

"Awesome. I know it's a little last minute, but I didn't think I was going to be getting off early. I'll pick you up around 9:30."

Hearing Jayden sound excited only made me more so. "Sounds good."

"Oh and Tyler?"

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I'm sure you're wondering. Yes, this is a date." The smirk he had on his face was clear in my head.

Jayden was truly getting to know me, and I laughed at that comment. "Good." Was all I could say.

"Alright see you then. Try and look good for me, will ya?"

Rolling my eyes telling him, "Like I have to try?"

"I'm just playing with ya. But I gotta go back to work. See you tonight!"

I hung up the phone and fell back on to my bed. What was going to be a quiet night around the house was now going to be our first official date. I looked at the clock on my phone, even though I was excited part of me was a little tired too. It was 6:30, so I set the alarm on my phone to ring in an hour, and would start getting ready then.

The familiar sound of my phone getting an alert went off waking me up from my nap. Rolling over I swiped the alert from my phone and looked at the clock. Shit! It was almost 8:30, and I had overslept. Rushing now, I hurried into the shower to try and get ready before Jayden got here. As soon as I stepped out of the shower there was a knock at the door. Fuck, hopefully Jayden wasn't early. I rushed downstairs to the door. There was little light coming in from the street and I could barely see anything. There was another knock at the door and the sound of my ringing phone coming from my room.

Figuring it was the same person at the door, I yelled, "Coming!" There was another knock, "Geeze, give me a minute!" Tightening the towel around my waist and heading down the stairs to answer the door , thinking what a way to answer the door, dripping wet and in a towel.

Opening the door I was surprised to see Aaron in front of me. "Is this a bad time?" After turning on a light in the living room I saw that he looked a little upset.

"Um...sorta...but it's okay, what's up?" I sat down next to him on the couch. Aaron was looking at me funny. I realized it was because I was in a towel. "Sorry, I just got out the shower."

"No sorry for showing up unannounced."

"It's fine..." I said hesitantly wondering what was going on that he stopped by randomly. "So what's going on Aaron, is everything okay?"

He took a deep breath, "No, its not...I'm actually a mess."

Looking at him confused I asked him, "Well what's going on?"

"Can I trust you?" He asked me in a serious tone. "Like trust, trust you."

"Aaron, I think I've proven you can trust me by now. If you can't then we have something else to talk about."

Aaron cracked a smile. "Well..." He paused for a second. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now."

"Go ahead..." Saying cautiously. Not knowing what he really had to tell me, I took a guess. "Is this about Summer and you? You never told me what happened."

"Well I'm about to..."

"Alright, well lets hear it."

"You don't want to put on some clothes?" Aaron looked me up and down.

I quickly reminded myself that I was still sitting there in a towel. "Gimme a minute. Let me throw on something."

I hurried and ran upstairs to throw on some sweatpants. Looking at my clock, it was getting close to the time Jayden said he'd be over. I was starting to stress out a little, not wanting to be a bad friend, but was really looking forward to tonight with Jayden. After walking back downstairs Aaron was sitting still in his jacket. He looked really tense.

"Alright bud, let's here it."

Aaron took a deep breath, "Well, like I told you I didn't hook up with Summer that night. It wasn't anything like that. There is something though." Aaron looked away from me.

"What is it?"

"Tyler..." Aaron looked me in the eyes. "Tyler I'm gay."

Doing my best not to smile, it all clicked in my head finally. After being completely oblivious to any signs that he was gay, it all made sense. Well sorta, I still didn't understand how Summer was involved in any of this.

"Umm..." Sitting there thinking what I should say. "Look Aaron, you're not the only on the team that's gay."

Aaron looked up at me a bit surprised. "You are?" I just nodded. "Is there anyone else? Oh man, this makes it a bit easier."

Not wanting to out Nate, that was the last thing I needed to do again I shrugged. "That I know of on the team. No."

"Oh..." He sounded a bit disappointed. "Well, there is a guy I met, Colton, he lives in the same dorm as me. We've hit it off, he's on the soccer team. Since we're both athletes we did our best to hide what was going on. It was hard but it was working"

"Until it wasn't?"

Aaron nodded back at me, "I think we're done though. He said he didn't want to make anything official, but told me that I was the only guy he was hooking up with and had started to have feelings for. The night of your party, he was going to come over with a few of his friends but cancelled at the last minute."

"Don't sweat it, I hope you're not ending things cause of that."

"Not at all." Aaron said. "The night of the party he sent a text to me that he had meant to send to someone else saying how he couldn't wait to come over that night and saying how he has to stop at some girls party and then he'd be over after."

"I'm not some girl." I joked trying to break the tension. Aaron looked at me confused, "Sorry, just trying to ease the tension." Patting him on the shoulder, Aaron went back to looking crushed. "Was this the first guy you've ever been with?"

"Yes and no. At home there was another guy who was on my club team, we started messing around, but then he left for school."

Taking it all in, we sat there in silence for a second. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Fuck! It was Jayden and I wasn't ready to go out. Not wanting to leave Aaron in this state, I knew what I had to do. I opened the door and there was Jayden. He had a big smile on his face. I checked him out, he was looking very cute tonight. It was easy to see he was putting a little extra effort into tonight.

"You're not ready." My heart sank when he I saw him look at me confused. "That's cool, I can wait inside."

He started to step into the house, but I stepped outside to the porch and closed the door. "Jayden I'm sorry." His smile quickly disappeared, he looked disappointed. "I was getting ready when Aaron stopped in. He's going through some stuff right now and really needs a friend."

"What's going on?"

I shivered standing outside in the cool November night wearing only a pair of sweats. "Well, he just came out to me, and it sounds like he was being played by some d-bag on the soccer team. He just showed up at the house like 20 minutes ago. I meant to text you but he caught me off guard."

Jayden didn't say anything, his disappointment was obvious. "Go be a good friend Tyler."

"I'm sorry. You don't know how much I was looking forward to tonight."

"It's cool. It was a bit of a late notice."

"I'm going to make this up to you. Promise." Jayden smiled back at me after hearing me say that. "I'll text you later."

"Sounds good." Jayden said. He reached over and pulled me into a quick hug. "Now get back inside before you catch a cold."

I laughed at him and nodded. Jayden told me to text him later and let him know how it went. After saying goodbye to him one more time and went back into the house. Aaron went back to telling me how after he confronted the guy about it the guy got really defensive.

"He showed up after everyone had left and I was the only one still awake. We were talking in the backyard and he started to tell me this was my fault, how he didn't want to be in a relationship and saying how he felt like he was being pressured into it."

I just shook my head. Relationships weren't my strong point, not having any experiences to draw from it was hard to give him advice. The best advice I could give him was that he doesn't deserve to be treated like shit by anyone. Just then the back door opened.

"Tyler?" I heard Jake call.

Aaron's reaction to hearing Jake made me laugh. I told him to head up to my room and wait for me. "In the living room!"

"Ahh! Hey bud. What are you doing home?" He asked me.

Looking at him, his face said it all. "Did Jayden tell you about tonight?"

"Well he wanted to surprise you, but wasn't sure if you were going to be home." Jake said with a smile on his face. "Can't blame a guy for putting in some effort."

"Oh well, something came up." I pointed upstairs and told him Aaron was up there.

Not wanting to tell him what was going on I just told Jake that he was going through some things right now and needed to talk. Jake understood and said he'd be downstairs if we needed anything. I headed back to my room. Aaron was sitting on the edge of my bed.

"So, where were we?"

"After telling him whatever was going on between us is when he started to really lay into me. There was only so much that I was willing to take and I got back in his face. Next thing you know, he tried throwing a punch at me. I was able to block it but told him to leave." At that moment Aaron started to succumb to his everything that happened. "Well being wasted I tried chasing after him begging him to work it out. No one else knew I'm gay and the thought of feeling alone wasn't something I wanted to experience again."

"But you're not alone. You've got at least 20 other guys who are willing to stand by you."

"Then why haven't you come out to the rest of the team?" Aaron said bluntly.

"I think situations like that, at least right now are on a need to know basis. It's a work in progress."

"Well same for me." He was right. "Well since I was drunk my emotions had gotten the best of me and I sorta started to have a mini breakdown. After locking up the house I went to go back upstairs."

Aaron explained that as he walked up the stairs he heard Jake and Summer arguing. Summer had left Jake's room and was going to sleep on the air mattress not knowing that he was in there already. He told her everything that happened, she did her best to comfort him. Since that night the Aaron and the guy had tried to talk but he didn't want anything to do with Aaron. Halloween night they had another blow out and Aaron had been texting Summer for support. After hearing everything she had done for him, I felt so stupid for accusing either of them of something happening behind Jakes back.

"Now you can see why I was being so secretive about this?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I understand. Are you okay now? He hasn't tried to touch you since then has he?"

"No. It was probably just the alcohol that caused that. But we're done. It sort of just all came to a head tonight. After video chatting with my friend from home, I started to miss home a lot. I just needed to talk to someone. I decided to go down to his room and see if he wanted to go to dinner and try and work everything out."

Aaron then told me what happened tonight. After chatting with his friend from home he went over to go talk to Colton. Once he got there the door was closed so he knocked on it. There was no response so he cracked the door open slightly and heard the sounds of someone having sex in there. He freaked and opened the door to see Colton in bed with someone.

"Do you know who it was?"

Aaron didn't have the strength to look me in the eye. "I'm embarrassed."

"Don't be."

"It was a girl."

I looked at him a little shocked. Knowing how much that probably stung to see I could just imagine how bad that felt to see. What do you say to that? "So then what happened?"

"I ran. I didn't know where to go. So I just started running. Not knowing who I could talk to, I just started walking and ended up by your house. It felt like of everyone here, I could talk to you."

"Well you can always talk to me. Us California boys need to stick together!" I playfully hit him on the shoulder. "So what are you going to do now?"

He shrugged, "Well if you don't mind, I just need to not be at the dorms."

"Not a problem. You can stay here tonight if you'd like. You've had a long day."

"Thanks."

I was going to see if he wanted to go downstairs and hang with Jake but figured it'd be best if the two of us just stayed together and hung out. Not that the two of them didn't like each other, it just felt like the better option. I didn't want him to feel like I was going to pressure him into coming out to Jake. As we sat there talking to each other.

"So are you dating anybody right now?" Aaron asked.

I shrugged, "In facebook terms, it's complicated." We both laughed at that.

"Do I know him?"

"Him is Jayden."

"No way!"

I nodded. "Yep. He's working on some things though. His ex cheated on him, twice. Last week in the morning they had finally broke up, broke up. He was taking it pretty hard."

"He seemed a little down."

"He felt a lot like you feel right now, I imagine."

Aaron forced a smile on his face. "I don't even know what I feel. Embarrassed, dumb, ugly."

"You're not any of that. Calm down."

"He was in bed with a girl."

"Then he's stupid. Fuck him. If he touches you, or even tries to touch you again he's going to have to deal with me."

Aaron laughed at that. "I've seen you when you're mad. I think you'd be able to take him. Like when Nate and you almost came to blows last week. We were talking about it after practice in my room, me and some of the other freshmen. With Nate's bad shoulder you could've taken him.

I shook my head, "That is not something I'm proud of. Nate is my friend, one of my best friends."

"Are you two still fighting."

"It's complicated."

"Why am I getting the feeling that we're NOT the only two on the team that's gay."

Shit he put it together. "Lets go grab a coffee, there's some things I need to fill you in on. But if you so much as tell a soul, Colton is going to be the least of your worries."

"Alright."

I changed out of my sweats and into something more appropriate. As we were walking out the house, Jake and Summer were laying down on the couch watching a movie together. When Summer saw Aaron she got up and gave him a hug. Jake looked confused about what was going on. I just shrugged figuring Summer would have to tell him now.

We walked down the street to Kafe Korner, a quiet coffee shop off of High St. Walking in, there were lots of people sitting down, we got our drinks and sat down. I teased Aaron for getting tea. He said it was better than my calorie loaded frap I was about to drink. Once we got settled, I filled him in on everything that had happened between Nate and me. He sat there quietly, listening intently. Every now and then he'd make a comment about how it all made sense now. Especially the times when Nate and me would not speak to each other at all at the gym.

"But Aaron, you know that you absolutely cannot tell anyone. Nate would murder me. Literally, I think he might buy a knife and make Italian beef out of me." We both started laughing.

Aaron was laughing and asked me, "Seriously, Italian beef?"

"Yes, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to become processed meat so let's keep this between us."

Aaron nodded and looked me in the eye, "You have my word."

"Good."

We finished drinking our drinks and headed back to the house. Hanging out with Aaron and really getting to know him, made up for having to miss out on my date with Jayden. It really felt like Aaron was someone whom I could trust. Knowing that Aaron felt like he could talk to me about what he was going through felt good. Tonight certainly strengthened our friendship. Once we got back to the house we both headed back up to my room. Aaron said he was going to try and catch some sleep. I offered my bed to him and went downstairs to talk to Jake for a little bit.

A little later I was sitting in my room working on some homework. Aaron was sound asleep on my bed. The music from my iPod filled my room quietly, when there was a knock on my door.

"Come in." I said.

The door opened slowly, "Hey." It was Jayden he had a brown bag with him. "Do you mind if I come in?"

"Not at all, let's go into the spare bedroom though, I don't want to wake him up." He said nodding over to Aaron. The two of us walked into the spare bedroom.

Jayden was looking at me funny. "What?"

"Oh nothing... just what are those?" He pointed to my glasses. "Didn't know you wore glasses."

"I don't. My contacts were bugging me. What's in the bag?"

"It's a good look on you Conti. Who knew you could pull off the dork look so well?" Jayden joked.

I laughed at him. "That's enough".

Jayden handed me a bag that had some food in it. "I figured you guys probably didn't eat and I was getting bored at the house so I figure I would drop off something to eat."

We sat down on the futon and I filled him in on everything that had happened with Aaron. Jayden sympathized with what had happened. He said that it's better that something happen now than 6 months down the line. I agreed with him. As we sat there eating our sandwiches, Jayden told me a similar story that happened between him and a guy his freshman year. It was interesting to hear his experience. I felt bad cause I couldn't really add too much to the conversation. Having not dated another guy and only hooking up a handful of times, dating was something I didn't really have any experience with. It seemed like Jayden knew I was frustrated with the situation because he changed the subject quickly.

"So..." Jayden said. "Where are you sleeping tonight since Aaron was sleeping in your bed?"

I looked at him, he knew what my answer was but he wanted me to say it. "I don't know. Probably just tell him to move over once you leave."

"I'm leaving?" Jayden looked at me with a look that he knew he wasn't leaving. "Who are YOU hooking up with on the side?"

Playing along with him I said, "Jake."

"I knew it!" Jayden threw his hands up in victory.

I threw myself on top of him. "You wish the two of us were hooking up."

"That'd actually be pretty hot actually."

I was on top of him looking down. Leaning down I placed my lips against his gently. Jayden inhaled deeply and moved so I was straddling his waist. Pulling myself away I looked down at him. He had a big grin on his face. He pulled me back down on top of me and started kissing me, slowly at first, then more and more forcefully. We rolled over onto our sides and the weight of the two of us on one side of the futon was too much and it lifted off the ground and slid the two of us to the ground. The futon made a large thud.

"Did that really just happen?" Jayden asked me.

Still on top of Jayden I couldn't contain my laughter anymore. I nodded down at him. Jayden started to laugh with me until it came to the point where we were just laughing at each other. We decided that that had killed the mood. We got up and headed downstairs to watch a movie. It was late so there wasn't anyone else downstairs. I put a movie in and went back to the couch. Jayden had already gotten himself comfortable.

"Uh, where am I supposed to sit?" I asked him.

"Here."

I laid down in-between his legs. My head was resting against his chest. It was easy to hear his heartbeat against his chest. As the movie went on I could tell how Jayden got more and more relaxed as his heart beat slowed down. About halfway through the movie I had started to drift to sleep. It seemed that Jayden could sense this and lightly kissed the top of my head. I nuzzled my head deeper into his chest and slowly drifted to sleep.

To Be Continued.

Whooo!! We've come a long way since the beginning of the story. Hopefully everyone is enjoying it as much as I am enjoying writing it! Those of you wondering, the scene where Tyler and Jayden finally hook up is just around the corner! It's been ten chapters coming!! Stay tuned I have a lot planned for the story.

As always thank you to everyone who continues to support the story! Be it just reading it, or even writing me, I greatly appreciate the support. A big thank you as always also goes to Joe who has very much become my partner in this story. He helps make sense of my at times disjointed writing and helps make it something for all of us to enjoy.

As always, questions, comments, thoughts, or anything you can write me at: Halfin.halfout7@gmail.com I love hearing from everyone!!

I do my best to respond quickly to everyone, sorry if it takes me awhile to get back to you, just know I will!