Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:08:47 -0800 (PST)
From: Jo Jo <crossingboi2004@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Living Years Chap. 14 "You Can't Pray a Lie"

Disclaimer: The following story contains activity that would be
considered of homosexual nature between consenting college students.
While none of it crosses into a gratuitous nature, if such material is
offensive to you or you are not of the legal age to read such material in
your area, please do not. Other than that, please enjoy the story!


  The Living Years


  Chapter 14 "You Can't Pray a Lie"


  Trey had finally come to the conclusion that Shawn just wanted to torment
him. That had to be it. There was no other explanation. There was nothing else
that could explain all the wide variety of things he'd been doing to drive
Trey mad.

  For starters there was his apparel, or lack thereof. Trey may have had
friends now. He even had his first official boyfriend in Noah. Although, that
wasn't set in stone yet. They still had to talk some more. But still, even
with all that, at his core, Trey very much was so was a homebody. He liked to
be in his room whenever possible.

  Only, Shawn was making that option quite uncomfortable for him. He'd decided
that wearing a shirt was beneath him apparently, as he walked around their room
shirtless nearly the whole time they were both in it together. Sometimes he'd
even walk around in just his boxers. And if Trey happened to be around whenever
Shawn was getting out of the shower, he'd walk out buck naked, taking his time
to dry off before putting on some boxers and usually nothing else.

  By now Shawn knew Trey was gay and Trey knew that Shawn at least had some
kind of feelings for guys as he did kiss him and even take him on a date. So
Trey knew that Shawn knew that his walking around in as little clothing as
possible had to be driving him crazy what with his tight abs and pecs from all
his years of playing sports in high school.

  But Shawn didn't stop there. He went even further. When he and Trey first
started rooming together he'd turn up his music, usually heavy metal as loud
as he wanted to before quiet hours, which annoyed Trey to no end and he knew
it. He was back to doing that very thing.

  Then there was his side of the room, which was messier than it had ever been.
There were four completely full trash bags on his side of the room that Trey
refused to take out since Trey used his own trashcan that he dumped weekly.
There were a few empty cans of Ravioli, a few bowls with dried milk and soup
sauce and a couple of empty pizza boxes lying around, all on his side of the
room.

Whenever things piled up so badly they leaked on to his neat side of the room,
Trey would push them over slightly so that they were back on his side, but Trey
found himself having to do such a thing repeatedly, several times a day lately.

  And of course there was the staying up at all hours of the night things as
well. Trey wasn't going to skip anymore classes if he could help it and had
classes that started as early as 8 in the morning, so he tried to get in bed as
early as possible. Shawn however stayed up, with his little light on his desk
and his loud fan blowing in an already cool room, humming lyrics to his
favorite songs or watching movies and laughing just as loud as he would were
Trey not trying to sleep.

  In other words, Shawn had reverted back into being the uncaring roommate from
hell, this time ten times worse.

  Trey wasn't at all surprised by this however. It wasn't like it just came
out of nowhere. Shawn had steadily been getting worse and worse the three weeks
after that incident on the bridge and thing with his parents in the hospital
and the end result of what he was currently was what he had to show for it.

  Trey tried to spend as much time as possible away from his room, but his
friends were pretty serious when it came to school as well and weren't exactly
out every night partying and inviting him along. Basically, Trey really hadn't
caught many breaks when it came to spending time in his hell of a room.

  He was beginning to despise Shawn again. The two of them had all but stopped
talking to each other and Shawn had completely stopped hanging out with Trey
and his friends. Trey knew it was because Shawn had apparently decided to
forgive the friend he once tried to help him repair a relationship with, Ben,
because they'd been spending a lot of time in his room when he was there.

  Ben was part of the reason why Trey knew Shawn was trying to torture him.
Whenever Ben dropped by while Trey was in the room, Ben would instantly comment
on the mess and about how it was unfair to Trey to have Shawn be such a pig. Of
course, Shawn did nothing to fix the situation. And if Shawn's music started
to get to loud, Ben would suggest that Shawn turn it down. And again, of course
Shawn never obliged.

  Hence, Trey knew that Shawn was trying to torture him.

  It was Shawn's laughter that had awoken Trey this morning. His alarm clock
was set to go off in ten minutes, but Shawn's watching some movie and laughing
at it had woken him up. To give Shawn at least some credit, he did use
headphones most of the time he watched movies. But then he'd clap or sing
along to a song he knew or laugh loudly at the funny parts, which happened
quite often, and pretty much made the headphones useless in Trey's opinion.

  Trey hadn't had that great a night. Of course, they'd all been bad nights
the past three weeks.

  Trey had tried to talk to Shawn about at lest keeping it down when he was
trying to sleep but Shawn was being a jackass about even that as well.

  Trey was in a bad mood as he turned his radio's alarm down before it could
off and sat up in bed. He looked over at Shawn who barely glanced at him before
his eyes re-glued themselves to his computer screen to finish watching whatever
movie he was watching.

  Trey hated getting ready in the mornings now because no matter what he did,
he felt like Shawn was watching him. At least before when they were both up and
getting ready they happened to be friends so it didn't matter. Now Trey felt
like one big piece of meat as he got ready.

  He'd started to take his showers before he went to bed so that he wouldn't
have to put up with Shawn watching him change in the mornings. He'd even
started ironing his clothes the night before. Anything to make his stay in the
room as short as possible, he was willing to do.

  He didn't bother with wasting his time to try to talk to Shawn about
anything anymore. He had Noah to talk to about his problems now. Several times
Noah had offered to knock some sense into Shawn but Trey could tell he meant it
in a literal sense, and tried as best as possible to keep Noah away from Shawn.

  So far it was working, as the last thing Trey wanted was for Noah to fight
Shawn again. The last fight Noah was the clear winner. He had a feeling if they
ever had to fight again, Noah would hurt Shawn so bad he could cause major
damage and jeopardize his future, all for him. And he didn't want that. Not
for Noah and not for himself.

  The best thing Trey figured he could do for everyone involved would be to
just let everything go. He was afraid of what kinds of things would come out of
Shawn's mouth if they ever had a serious talk.

  Otherwise, Trey was happy with his life for the first time in a long time. He
finally had his relationship difficulties settled. He was confident enough to
meet new people and make new friends. And he was so far doing very well in
school, academically.

  His life, for the most part, minus Shawn and all the other drama he'd been
through in the year so far, was perfect.

  He almost felt sorry for Shawn because he couldn't quite say the same for
him anymore.

  He wasn't even sure if Shawn even went to class anymore. Trey always left
before him in the mornings because he liked to be in class early, so he had no
way of knowing for sure. What he did know for sure was that he never Shawn
getting ready for class anymore. Sometimes Shawn would be asleep in bed when he
got back to the room or he'd be sitting at his computer desk wearing whatever
he'd been wearing hours earlier when he'd last left him.

  At first Trey had felt guilty. He'd wondered if he was somehow to blame for
what he'd thought was Shawn's deteriorating condition. But then he realized
that Shawn was just as much responsible for his own well being and life as he
was for his. They were freshmen in college now. And Trey had learned quickly
that no one was going to baby them anymore. This was the beginning of the rest
of their lives and sooner or later, Shawn was going to have to realize that for
himself.

  Nothing was ever someone else's fault if you could help it.

  But in this case, if Shawn wasn't going to help himself, Trey had already
decided that he wasn't going to step in and do it for him.

  He didn't care enough. Or at least, he been working hard to convince himself
that he didn't are enough.

  That was how he was getting by so far. And as he finished getting ready and
started out the door, Shawn laughing at something in the movie behind him, Trey
realized that was going to be the only way he got by.

*******************************************************************************

  "Truth be told, I've never really been a morning person," Jeremy randomly
spoke as Noah changed into his third outfit in five minutes.

  "What?" Noah asked, tripping over himself as he rushed to put on another
pair of jeans.

Noah had spent the majority of his life as one of the more popular, outgoing
people in school. Back when he was popular and captain of the soccer team, he
was what one considered a `prep'. He talked a certain way, dressed a certain
way and behaved a certain way.

  Usually he acted the way he was supposedly supposed to anyway but he
sometimes would behave a tad bit different to accommodate his popular rank. Of
course that all went to hell after his brother graduated and left him to pick
up the pieces at school. After that he reverted into dressing, acting and
talking like what some what call a `goth'. A lot of dark colors with less
happiness and smiling.

  That had never really completely suited Noah but he'd gotten to the point
where he just stopped caring about anything and let it all go.

  Now that he was giving into himself again and realizing more about himself
than he ever thought possible, he was beginning to forge his own, better
identity.

  He wasn't completely back to prep and he wasn't completely out of goth. He
was himself and he liked it. Still, he wanted to impress Trey with his new self
and had to find the right outfits each day to do just that. Trey was after all
his boyfriend. Or wasn't. They hadn't really talked about it but he was
pretty sure that's what Trey was. His boyfriend.

  He knew he probably had Shawn to thank for that. He knew from all the things
that Trey had been telling him about Shawn lately that things had gotten pretty
bad between them. Which only made it that much easier for him start a
relationship with Trey.

  And for the most part he was feeling otherwise clear. He was happy that he
and Trey could finally start a relationship with one another.

  "So what about the past three weeks has been so great it's got you trying
to match shoes to a shirt all of a sudden?" Jeremy asked, actually diverting
interest away from his game to ask the question.

  Noah bent down to start lacing up his sneakers only casually glancing at
Jeremy.

"What?" he asked.

  "Well it's almost like you're a completely different person," Jeremy
elaborated. "Less angsty, more Hopes to Get Laid."


  Noah stood up.

  "It's called having a life," Noah replied. "You'd know this if you had
one."

  Noah knew that he could joke like that with Jeremy since they'd also become
a lot closer over the past three weeks.

"The Prometheus Wastelands aren't something to be taken lightly," Jeremy
spoke of his beloved game. "It demands all your time and attention if you ever
hope to advance to Superior White Mage."


  "So you're telling me," Noah started, putting on his watch. "That you've
never gotten laid?"


  "Oh I've gotten laid," Jeremy replied. "I think. I didn't last long and
I just kinda sat there while she boun...why are we talking about me all of
sudden? When do I get to meet the lucky girl?"


  Ordinarily, Noah would have made up some excuse to get out of having to
explain to his roommate that it wasn't a girl he was interested in. But he'd
been in a lot better spirits lately and had no problem with it now.

  He was about to correct Jeremy when there was a knock at the door. He just
about tripped over himself rushing to get to it. He already knew who it'd be
before he got to the door.

  "Hey," Trey greeted him with a warm smile.

  "Hey," Noah replied, a little nervously.

  Even though he was happy to finally have Trey as his boyfriend, part of him
didn't feel quite like he deserved Trey. It was like he couldn't see what
Trey saw in him. He'd always wanted Trey but had mostly believed it would
never happen. He actually thought Trey and Shawn would end up together. He was
just still a little new to it all and wasn't completely used to it yet. It all
gave him butterflies inside just thinking about it.

  Jeremy, who was actually taking time away from his game to stay actively
interested in someone else's business looked back and forward between Noah and
Trey's smiling at each other before reaching a conclusion.

  "No way! You two?" he said. "Noah you're gay?"

  Noah, who'd been busy staring at Trey finally snapped out of it.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" he asked with conviction in his voice.

  He may not have quite fully understood his sexuality yet, after all Trey was
the only guy he'd ever really found himself interested in apart from that guy
from the bar that night, but he knew he was comfortable enough to admit it to
other people as long as he had Trey by his side.

  Jeremy thought about it for a second.

  "Nah," he replied. "Just remember to tell me if you ever decide to give
him a key to our room so I don't accidentally put a Vulcan Death Grip on him
one day."


  Noah chuckled before turning back to Trey.

  "Now him I like," Trey laughed pointing over at Jeremy.

  "So does your boyfriend here know anything about MMORPG'S?" Jeremy asked.

  "Sorry no," Trey replied before looking over at Noah who seemed to be
blushing at something. "So is that what we are now? I mean, I didn't wanna
assume..."

  "No I....I mean, it's okay right? I mean, we're dating..." Noah strayed.

  When it came to specifics, no one wanted to take charge. Neither one really
knew what to do really.

  "Let's just take it slow," Noah decided to respond. "We'll figure out
the rest later."


  Trey shook his head.

  "Alright," he replied, smiling.

  "You know what I've never seen," Jeremy randomly started. "Two guys
kissing. Not that I want to. I hear that sort of thing happens all the time on
network television now. I wouldn't know, Noah thinks I have no life."

  "He has no life," Noah told Trey while picking up his backpack. "We won't
be spending a lot of time here."

  "Well we won't be spending a lot of time in my room either with-"

  "Yeah...." Noah cut in, scratching the back of his head.

  The room grew silent for a moment before Jeremy spoke up.

  "I could make myself scarce more often for your sexcapades," he started.
"But let's try to remember to put a sock on the door if that happens."

  "One track mind?" Trey asked as he and Noah started towards the door.


  "Oh sure," he replied, opening it. "If there is such a thing as a video
game fetish."

*******************************************************************************

  Jesse wasn't in a very good mood. Although, that was nothing new. He'd
pretty much stayed in a bad mood for the past three weeks. For one reason and
one reason only.

  His brother.

  He and his brother had never really been close. From a very early age
Nicholas had decided exactly the kind of person he was going to be. Someone who
knew he would never have to work for a living and had lots of money to
otherwise occupy his time with. And because of that, he hadn't turned out too
great.

  This was due to the fact that his father spent a good 90% of his time at his
company and his mother was the very definition of a socialite who was never
around much either. He and Nicholas were pretty much left to their own devices
all their lives.

  Jesse, to his credit, believed that he'd turned out a lot better than his
older brother. For starters, he knew he had standards. There were some things
he just wasn't willing to do or put up with. And he cared about his education.
He may not have always gone to class, but he'd always had a 4.0 GPA his entire
life and it was no different now.

  His brother was all about having as much fun as possible as much as possible
and really had no depth or substance beyond that. Nicholas was his brother and
he loved him but that didn't necessarily mean that he liked him. He personally
couldn't stand his brother.

  Yet, his brother couldn't seem to take that hint as he'd insisted on
staying with him the entire three weeks he'd been in town. Not that he'd been
around that much for he had found plenty a party to attend. But he was
certainly making his presence known. According to the housekeeper Jesse hired
after his two apartments had finished being renovated into one, Nicholas was
leaving quite the mess for her to have to clean.

  In short, Nicholas was a problem that, no matter how hard Jesse tried,
wasn't going away anytime soon.

  This particular morning the cause of Jesse's bad mood was of course his
brother. He'd overslept for some reason and instead of being a half decent
brother and checking on him to see if he was even still alive, Nicholas had
gotten himself up, on time no less, and had started getting ready.

  Nicholas had been tagging along to all of Jesse's classes, usually sitting
in the back romancing some girl. Jesse was surprised at how long Nicholas's
attention in attending classes with him had lasted. He'd have figured he would
have gotten bored after the first day and just strolled around the campus
looking for girls, much like he first did upon arriving here.

  The least he could have done, Jesse figured, was woken him, as now they were
both going to be more than a little late.

  Jesse had gotten his clothes in order and gotten a quick breakfast of some
fruit and a bagel but couldn't really do much else to himself that didn't
require a bathroom. The apartment itself was rather big but he'd been under
the impression that he'd be the only one living in it and therefore had opted
for only one bathroom.

  Nicholas had been in there as long as Jesse had been up, which was about 25
minutes. His class started in ten. He knew he was going to be late but Nicholas
seemed determined to make him that much later.

  "For Christ's sake Nicholas, how much longer do you think you're gonna be
hogging my loo?" Jesse called out from outside the door.

  Nicholas had the latest The All American Rejects song blasting over the
shower radio and probably couldn't even hear him, he figured.

  So he started banging on the outside of the door again. He must have done
this for a full two minutes before he heard the water turn off followed by the
radio. His brother was still singing the song however.

Jesse scoffed to himself before banging on the door again. Another thirty
seconds passed before it opened and his brother appeared before him with
nothing more than a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Something I can do for you this lovely morning youngest sibling?" Nicholas
asked, leaning over the doorframe.

  Jesse looked him over with distaste before gathering a few thoughts.

"Why didn't you wake me?" he asked. "I see you managed to get yourself up
well enough."

  "Oh yes the comforts of home have been so nicely replicated here in your
warm and cozy little flat."

  Jesse crossed his arms.

"And where is home these days Nicholas?" Jesse asked. "Somewhere south of
the Mexican border? Or how about the Spanish mountains? I bet you've managed
to make nice with all sorts of little village people."

"I keep telling you I like to be called Nick now."

  Jesse knew this very well. His brother had been just as annoying with trying
to get him to call him that ridiculous nickname that he'd never liked before
as he'd been with just about everything else.

  Jesse may have disliked his brother more than anyone else on Earth, but for
some reason when it came to unleashing his complete rage, he always seemed to
hold back. He figured it had something to do with the whole older
brother-younger brother complex.

  "You can't make me late for school Nicholas-"

  "Nick-"

  "I'm not calling you that-"

  "Nick! Nick! Nick! Nick! Nick!"


  "For the love of god! Piss off already!"

  Jesse was really trying to stay as calm as possible despite the fact that his
brother insisted on acting like a three year old.

  "I need to shower so hurry up. I'm already late for class," Jesse mumbled
through gritted teeth.

  His brother grinned at him with the same devious grin he used on every single
girl he'd ever managed to woo into bed. And that was a high amount.

  "Don't you mean we're already late for class, brother dearest?"

  Jesse stared vehemently at his brother.

"You can't be serious...Nicholas-"

"Nick. And I am. Remember, I'm supposed to be learning from you. Going to
class everyday is a part of my new leaning regimen."


  "Really? And did you plan on actually, oh I don't know, LEARNING something
in class instead of trying to figure out which whores suck and which ones
blow?"


  "Life has made you bitter I'm afraid, Jesse. Maybe I can teach you to be a
little more fun while I'm here."

  And with that Jesse found his annoyance level raising as his brother rubbed
the top of his head before going back into the bathroom, shutting the door
behind him.

*******************************************************************************

  "I saw that," Grace said with a smile as Trey grinned sheepishly next to
her as he unpacked his backpack.

  He knew exactly what she was talking about. He and Noah shared absolutely no
classes together. In fact, they were never even in the same building at any one
time during any of them. But despite that, Noah had taken the time to find Trey
in each of his classes as he left them in an effort to walk him to the next
one. It didn't matter if Noah's next class was clear across their massive
campus, Noah never failed in taking Trey to class.

  So today, when Noah attempted to kiss him, Trey let him, not caring for the
first time in is life what other people would think if him. It felt good to
finally be able to think that way and he didn't know why he'd stressed about
so much before.

  He really was in a relationship now, his first ever, and it made him happier
than he'd ever been in his entire life.

  "Shut up," Trey found himself playfully responding as he finished getting
out his books and paper.

  He wanted to remark something about him at least having a man but he knew he
was largely to blame for the reason why Grace didn't have one and decided
against it.

  "You know, you two really make a cute couple," Grace said. "I'm glad you
got all that mess sorted out with you Noah and Shawn."

  Trey sighed.

"Yeah, I don't really know what to do on the whole Shawn front," Trey
replied. "You know he's friends with Ben again?"

  "Who's that?" Grace asked.

  "Don't worry about it. It's like, we spent the whole first month avoiding
each other and then when we finally start talking, he goes off and starts
acting weird again with no warning."

  "Some people are just like that I guess," Grace replied.

  Trey didn't really want to dwell on any of that. As far as he was concerned,
his life really was perfect now. And he was going to try as hard as possible
not to screw that up.

  "Finally, drama free lives right?" Grace asked.

"Right," Trey replied.

*******************************************************************************

  "Where do you sit?" Nick asked as Jesse walked ahead of him, frustrated to
be entering his class not only late but loudly as his brother didn't seem to
grasp the concept of being quiet.

  Jesse decided to ignore him as he ignored the stares of his obviously annoyed
professor and everyone else in the class.

  Noah could tell Jesse was heading straight up the stairs to sit next to him
as he'd been doing the past three weeks assuming they were friends and really
wished he wouldn't. Only, he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

  He found himself sighing, annoyed, as Jesse did in fact take a seat next to
him, with Nick walking between them even as Jesse tried to prevent it, and sat
on the right side of Sierra.

  Jesse's eyes followed his brother as he sat down and instantly starting
trying to chat with Sierra, who not surprisingly, was paying him all the
attention in the world.

  He never pegged her to be very bright.

  His brother was beginning to be just too much for him to handle, frustrating
him to the point where he felt almost uncomfortable to be in the same room with
him. He needed to get out and away. But mostly he just felt like he needed to
talk to someone about it.

  "Can we talk?" Jesse whispered, leaning over to reach Noah's ear.

  Noah at first pretended like he hadn't heard Jesse. But when it became clear
that they both knew he had, he looked over at Jesse and sighed.

  "Now?" he asked.

  Jesse stood up without waiting for a response and headed up the stairs to
exit the room from the back entrance Noah following behind him.

When Noah reached Jesse he could see him pacing back and forward in front of a
small bench located directly to the right side of both of them.

  "He can't stay here," Jesse was grumbling. "He's driving me mad. He has
to go."


  "You really don't like your brother do you?" Noah asked.

  "I was late because of him you know. Oh and I didn't get much sleep on the
account of me having to have my sheets changed for the third time this week
what with all the random street whores he seems to keep wooing in MY bed. The
nightmares, the nightmares."

  "Don't you think you're overreacting?"

  Jesse started to bite on his right index fingernail as he continued to pace
about.

  "This is like revenge for him. He's always loved tormenting me. He's doing
it now just because he knows I'm the favorite child."

  Noah found it hard to believe that between everything Jesse had told him
about his brother and everything he knew about Jesse that his parents had a
favorite between them but decided not to comment.

  "He has to go. He can't stay here."

  Noah crossed his arms and turned around as Jesse started pacing on the other
side of him.

"Have you, I don't know, tried talking to him?"


  "Nicholas isn't someone you talk to. You take action, he responds to
that."

"But you're not taking action?"

  "What am I supposed to do? He's my brother. Albeit a looney daft brother,
but my brother anyway. I'd almost say I was doing the world a favor keeping
him in one place that way he can't go ruin some other poor blokes life."

  "Right so instead you're just gonna let him ruin yours?"


  Jesse stopped pacing around and sighed. This was probably the first time
he'd realized that Noah was actually good for something after all. He still
didn't think of him as a friend but he was at the very least tolerable.

  "You're right," he said. "You're absolutely right. I'm going to do it.
I'm going to talk to him today."

  "Alright then," Noah replied, faking as best he could to be happy for
Jesse. "Now let's go back in there before I miss any more of the lecture."

  Jesse agreed as they both started back into the classroom.

  Both boys paused slightly, however, when they realized that both Nick and
Sierra were now gone along with their things.

  Noah looked over at Jesse who seemed to have an angry glare on his face
before starting back down to his seat. Whatever was going on, it wasn't his
problem, he knew that much. And he was thankful for that as Jesse was enough a
problem already.

  All Jesse could think about, meanwhile, was how much his brother really
needed to get out of his life and the best way to make that happen.

*******************************************************************************

  "I think it's nice him making up with his friend like that," Grace spoke
as she and everyone else looked over at Shawn sitting a few tables away from
them chatting about something with Ben and a table full of other people as
well.

  They all knew something had changed if Shawn wasn't hanging out with them
anymore. They hadn't really talked about it because Shawn hadn't really been
around for them to see and bring up.

  But today he and Ben were the center of attraction for a large group of
people who all seemed to be getting entertained by some story he was telling.
Trey was trying to keep from paying him any attention but everyone else seemed
to be much more interested in the situation than he was.

  "Yeah well hooray for him then," Trey replied bitterly. "Can we talk about
something else please?"

  "I thought you'd never ask," Jesse spoke up happy to finally be able to
talk about himself and his problems. "Let's discuss how the four of you are
going to be keeping me from murdering my brother."

  "I meant to ask, is Nick dating anyone?" Grace asked. "Help a sista out."

  "You can't be serious," Jesse replied.

  "I thought you were gonna talk to him?" Noah asked.

"Well that's a little difficult to accomplish when the person in need of a
chat is constantly missing in action," Jesse replied.

  "Well I could talk to him, take away the distraction," Grace spoke, looking
completely infatuated with the very idea of dating Nick.

  "Meanwhile, back in reality," Jesse started. "What am I gonna do if he's
here much longer? Can't you lot see the decrease in my wonderfully brilliant
English charm?"


  Noah, Trey and Zoey exchanged knowing glances as things grew silent before
Grace decided to speak up.

  "The boy would definitely look good in some tights," she spoke.

  "What?" Jesse asked.

"I think she means for Halloween," Zoey replied.

  Halloween was in about three days and being college students, no one really
talked about that particular holiday unless you were planning to throw or
attend a Halloween themed party. Which none of them were apparently.

"Halloween is such a trivial holiday," Jesse replied. "It counts for
absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of holidays."


  "Say what you want about Halloween but it's my favorite holiday," Zoey
spoke proudly.

  Noah looked over at her with a smirk.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" he replied.

  Zoey tossed one of her pineapple slices at Noah who dodged it and in return
tossed one of his fries at her.

It was this action that had caused Jesse to take notice of his brother, whom he
hadn't been aware was even in the cafeteria, sitting and chatting with Sierra.

  "For the love of god, was he with that nutter all day then?" he asked no
one in particular before jumping up and rushing straight over to the two of
them.

  It took a full thirty seconds before either of them noticed Jesse. Nick was
the first one to speak up.

  "Jesse? Hey, what's going on?"

  "What is this then?" Jesse asked, looking over at Sierra whose smile was
quickly fading as she remembered that Nick and Jesse were brothers.

"I can't believe you two are related," she spoke distastefully eyeing Jesse.
"I guess the buck stops....there."


  "Oh you know what-"

  "Jesse, where are your manners? This is a lady," Nick spoke, arm firmly
planted around Sierra's shoulders. "If you have something to say, then direct
it to us politely."

Jesse wasn't really sure where to start or what to say. All he knew was that
seeing his brother with yet another of the only two girls he'd ever met that
he happened to despise was very distracting to him.


  "Well, okay then," Nick said after Jesse decided not to say anything.
"Sierra and I were just discussing our plans to throw a Halloween bash at the
flat next Monday."

  Jesse gasped.

"You're making plans, with this...girl, no less, to throw a party at MY
place?"

  "We're brothers aren't we? Best of, I'd say-"

  "Hardly. And since when do you consider Halloween attention worthy?"

  "Since Sierra turned me on to the brighter aspects of the holiday."

  "Brighter aspects?" Jesse asked, crossing his arms. "It's a holiday about
death and evil spirits. Exactly how much brighter do you think things can
get?"


  "I have an idea," Sierra started. "How about, you stay out of it, do us
all some good? No one likes a party popper."


  Jesse gasped again.

  Nick looked over at Jesse with a smile.

"Here's a list of the things were going to need," he said placing the list
in the front pocket of Jesse's jacket. "Be a good lad and make sure it's all
taken care of will you?"

  Jesse was so taken back by his brothers behavior he still hadn't the
slightest clue what to say or do.


  A few moments passed before he realized that everyone he'd been sitting with
previously for some reason had all gotten up to check on him.

  Grace was twirling her hair in between her fingers with a shy smile on her
face before bumping Jesse.

  "Introduce us stupid," she spoke through gritted teeth.

  Jesse let out an annoyed sigh.

  "So these must be the illusive four I've heard nothing about," Nick spoke.
"Really Jesse, if you finally have a dedicated set of friends, the least you
can do is introduce us."

  "I'm Grace," Grace spoke no less than two seconds after Nick had finished
his sentence.
  She held out her hand but didn't wait for Nick to shake it before taking a
seat to his right and leaning over him like she knew him.

"Um, okay what the hell?" Sierra spoke.

  "She just needs a man," Zoey replied. "Don't worry, I think it's a
phase."


  "And you are?" Nick asked.

  "Zoey. The two lovebirds next to me are Trey and Noah."

"Don't bother pretending like you're going to remember any of their names
either," Jesse spoke.

  Nick eyed his brother with intense ferociousness before deciding something.

"Well then I guess I'm just going to have to make a more active effort to do
so then," he replied. "Have a seat boys."

  Trey and Noah exchanged glances before taking seats in front of Nick, much to
Jesse's dismay.

  "You, I understand, you've never really been one for a good judge of
character but you?" he started. "Aren't you friends with that Abercrombie
eternal youth enabled roommate of yours?"

  Trey frowned.

"Shawn's a little...busy, lately," Trey replied.

  "Oh, well that's perfect, I suppose," Nick replied. "It leaves us all
more time to get to know each other then."

  "Absolutely never!" Jesse objected. "Have you gone mad?! What is wrong
with you?"

  Seeing how much Jesse despised his brother was really making Noah's decision
of agreeing to hang out with him much easier.

  "And us girls can talk about what costumes were gonna wear trick or treating
on Halloween," Sierra spoke. "Naughty nurse is out and so last year. I'm
thinking more along the lines of dirty slut teacher."

  Zoey looked over at Sierra.

"Why do I get the feeling that wouldn't be too much of a stretch for you,"
she replied.

  Jesse realized once again that this was just one more time his brother was
getting the upper hand over him.

*******************************************************************************

  Things were different. Everybody could tell how different things were.

  First there was the Trey and Shawn front. Before they'd both knew there was
tension between them and did their best to avoid it. Trey had long since
stopped trying to get to the bottom of Shawn's behavior as he'd long since
stopped caring.

  He used to be the kind of person that would do anything for a friend. Now
that he had them, he was a lot less willing to put up with someone's crap. And
Shawn definitely had a crappy attitude lately. They were over that. Because now
they were on the avoiding each other at all costs phase of their relationship.

  They'd gone the entire weekend in that phase. If Trey happened to enter
their room while Shawn was there, either he'd turn around and go find
something to do for a little while longer or Shawn would suddenly find that he
wanted to go do something and would take off to go do whatever.

  Then there was the Shawn and Ben front. Ben had been completely taken by
surprise with Shawn's wanting to get to know him again and given him a second
chance. He knew it was going to take a while before they were back to being
best friends, if that happened at all. But the main thing was, they were
friends again. And that really was all he could ask for.

  But there were more fronts to be covered. Like the ones between Noah, Trey
and Nick and Jesse and Nick.

  Nick had lived up to his word of making an active effort of getting to know
Noah and Trey. At first Noah was mostly bothered by it. He figured it would be
fun pissing Jesse off but at the same time knew full well that Nick was too
much like his brother to enjoy. But as they spent the next three days getting
to know one another, Noah realized that Nick wasn't like Jesse at all. Where
Jesse commanded attention at his very presence whereas Nick was the kind of guy
that went out of his way to make sure that everyone he happened to be around
was having as great a time as he wanted them to believe they were having.

  It was a complex, but it was a far less annoying one that Noah was more
willing to put up with and Trey for his sake as well as he didn't want to do
anything to screw up his relationship with Noah.

  Jesse however didn't see his brother quite as favorably. In fact he believe
him to be a nuisance that was even harder to get rid of now that he had a few
seemingly justifiable reasons to stick around town.

  He always had a plan for everything but when it came his brother he had
absolutely no idea what to do. He was at his wits end and he couldn't explain
it.

  And finally there was the surprising Zoey, Grace Sierra front. Sierra was the
type of girl that thrived on always having something going on. She couldn't
not have at least one thing to do, go to or plan. And as it was she seemed to
be fixated on getting Grace and Zoey to go trick or treating with her. The more
time she spent around Nick, who was spending time with Noah and Trey, the more
time she spent around Grace and Zoey, who of course were friends with Noah and
Trey who were now friends with Nick.

  And that was about as complicated as things got yet everyone somehow knew
exactly what places they were in their lives.

  Things were different now and everyone knew it.

  They just couldn't really dwell on it. School was their life as it was at
the moment, and it being a holiday meant nothing especially since it was on a
Monday. They all had class and other stuff to deal with for the time being.

  Trey knew he shouldn't have been but he was surprised when he awoke to find
Shawn already up. Not because of the fact that Shawn was up before him but
because of what he happened to be doing. If Shawn wasn't up already because he
hadn't gone to be the previous night, he was usually asleep or would start
getting ready right as Trey was getting ready to leave. But today was
different. It was obvious that Shawn had been getting ready for class, which
had actually turned out to be surprising to him.

  He'd already decided that if Shawn was going to act a certain way from now
on than so would he but that was on the pretense of him not expecting Shawn to
suddenly change his stripes. If in fact that was what was actually going on. Of
that he had no clue.

  He wanted to say something. But then he felt like he didn't want to say
anything. He was having too much trouble deciding and figured he was just going
to stick to routine and ignore him altogether not expecting Shawn to the one to
speak to him.

  "So," he started as he was putting on his sneakers. "You and Noah huh?"

  Trey was so taken off guard he hadn't really heard what Shawn had said.

"What?" he asked.

  "I mean, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. It's been three weeks
since you picked him-"

  "I didn't PICK anyone-"


  "You two are more alike anyway. Besides I don't even know what I was
thinking really. I'm probably not even gay."

  Trey wanted to say something to that comment but knew by now not to bring it
up. Neither of them were going to bring it up.

  "Yeah, probably not," Trey replied, disdain evident in his tone.

  Shawn wasn't going to let things get even more complicated between them. It
had taken him three weeks just to get to the point where he was at now. He had
started to accept a new way of living just because he thought that was who he
was. But he realized now that he wasn't going to change. He didn't need to
take his confusion and frustration out on Trey anymore because he was pretty
sure he was no longer frustrated or confused.

  "How are the girls?" Shawn asked, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

  Trey sat up in bed and let his feet hang over the side.

"Maybe you should ask them yourself," he replied coldly.

  Shawn could tell Trey wasn't going to help him out any. Which was okay since
he knew that he was well past trying to get on his good side. All they were to
each other was roommates now and if Trey didn't want to move anything past
that, he wasn't going to try to make him.

  Still, he wanted to remain at least civil with him.

  "So Halloween?" he started, standing up to put on his watch. "Doing
anything?"

  Trey realized that as long as they were both here and Shawn was going to keep
trying to talk to him. Which meant that he was going to have to get used to it
for the time being.

  "I mean I know a few people wanna throw a party in these tiny ass dorm rooms
or some shit," Shawn continued. "And the girls I know actually wanna go trick
or treating."

Trey chuckled at this realizing that it was the exact same situation with Zoey
and Grace and that crazy girl Sierra that kept trying to convince them to tag
along with her to do the same thing.

  "What's so funny?" Shawn asked a warm smile on his face.

  Trey stared at Shawn for a moment, temporarily forgetting his anger towards
him before realizing that he was a few steps away from giving into to someone
who didn't deserve that from him.

  "Nothing," he replied, clearing his throat as he threw on a shirt

  Shawn nodded.

  "Alright then," he replied. "Hey if you aren't gonna do anything tonight
would you mind handing out the candy I bought? I know a few people that are
gonna-"

  "Actually," Trey started. "I have plans."


  Trey realized that he'd told Shawn already that he wasn't doing anything
for Halloween and that he didn't even want to but things had changed. Nick was
throwing a party. A party that he would be attending.

  "Really?"

  "Yeah Jesse's brother is throwing a party at their apartment," Trey
replied.

"Jesse has a brother?" Shawn asked sounding completely surprised.

"Lot's of people have brothers."

  Shawn looked over at Trey for a moment before deciding against saying
anything negative.

  "Well don't worry about it then," Shawn replied.

  "I wasn't planning on it," Trey replied, slipping on a pair of pants.

  Shawn stared at Trey for a few moments as he continued to move past him
getting ready for class before chuckling to himself and starting towards the
door.

  "Well if I don't see you again today, happy Halloween."

  Trey looked at himself in the mirror as the door to the room shut. His
toothbrush was hanging out of his mouth and the water was running freely in the
sink. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole conversation or lack
thereof on his end.

  The one thing he knew for sure was that he really hoped to not have to see
Shawn again today.

*******************************************************************************

  "I don't do costumes," Trey said flatly.

  Which was true. His mother had told him every year since he was old enough to
want to celebrate Halloween that he wasn't allowed to. It had been the only
holiday he and his mother didn't actively participate in. Instead they had a
tradition of buying candy and pizza and staying in watching a movie upstairs
with the lights off to ward off any trick or treaters. The past couple of
Halloween's they'd actually gone out to go see a couple of movies and had
pizza and candy afterwards.

  Trey never really understood completely the reason why they didn't celebrate
such a non holiday. He knew it was because she was a God fearing woman and
believed the entire holiday to be evil. But considering the fact that compared
to all the other holidays it being the cheapest of them all for both of them
should have counted for something at least.

  "It's Halloween and we're going to a costume party, please tell me you
have SOMETHING," Zoey spoke.

  "I wouldn't have ever pegged you for the costume wearing type, Zoey," Noah
spoke, with crossed arms.

  "I like to draw, I'm smart, the stereotypes end there soccer star turned
John Mayer," Zoey replied.

  "I'ma be Halle Berry in Catwoman," Grace replied. "Now that's a good
female role model right there."

"Are we talking before or after the hit and run incident?" Zoey asked.

  Noah put an arm around Trey as the four of them started out of the quad and
towards nowhere in particular.

  "Then we have to go now," Zoey said. "Most people get their costumes on
Halloween. I don't wanna have to settle for Wizard of Oz Dorothy again."

  "Shit, you were a Wizard of Oz Dorothy once?" Noah asked trying to contain
his laughter. "I would've paid big bucks to see that."


  "I'll take a roll of twenties please." Zoey spoke as she handed Noah her
camera phone. "My entire life last year in two hundred photos or less."

  Noah took Zoey's phone and examined the pictures as Trey frowned at the
prospect of having to go costume shopping. It wasn't that he didn't want to
not celebrate Halloween. Years of not really being able to had made him
extremely curious. He just figured he was too old to be trying to don a
costume.

  "You'd look so cute as a pirate," Zoey spoke. "All references to gay pop
culture notwithstanding on that one."

  "Since when do you know so much about gay pop culture?" Grace asked.

  "Since I decided I was going to play fag hag to my two best friends," Zoey
replied. "This college ordeal, not so rough when you have people to go through
it with you."

  And they all knew what she was talking about for Zoey had been quite the
social outcast in his first year of college. She was completely enjoying having
a dedicated group of friends this year, however.

  Zoey had since walked ahead of everyone who all seemed to be trying to view
the pictures on her phone before she stopped in front of them, facing them.

  "Can we go now please?" she said, sounding semi impatient.

  Noah looked up.

  "Is that your ass?" he asked with a grin as he held up her phone.

  "Yes and unlike the morons on MySpace, I know better than to put it out
there for future big boss number one to get a hold of."

  When Zoey didn't move everyone looked back up at her.

"You seriously wanna skip class to go costume shopping?" Noah asked.

  "Aw, Noah, you know me so well," Zoey replied. "Now move it or lose it
before I go all psycho art girl on you."

  Everyone exchanged glances before realizing there was no way out of their
situation.

*******************************************************************************

  "Dude where are you?" Ben asked from the other end of the phone.

  Shawn switched it from one ear to the other as he shooed Amber away from him
and walked away from his group.

  "Still stuck at the fucking museuem," he mumbled.

  For his World History class he'd had to take a trip to a museem of history
downtown with his entire class where he and his assigned group had to locate
the various things in the seven page handout they'd received and mark them
down as well as take pictures of where they'd been found.

  They'd arrived at the museum around 3 in the afternoon and had been there
the past 4 hours, doing a project their professor swore would only take 2.

  Shawn passed a painting of two naked woman in garden as he turned a corner
and leaned against a nearby wall.

  "It's Halloween dude," Ben said. "We're doing shit."


  "I'm not," Shawn replied. "The other groups left an hour ago. The losers
I'm stuck with still think of naked paintings in a museum as a foreign
concept."

  "Dude I'd so get off to something like that," Ben replied.

  Shawn chuckled realizing that his friend was completely right.

  "They even have tables glued to walls in here," Shawn said looking up at
the ceiling.

  "Really? Fucking A man. Seriously though, I think you should ditch the
losers and meet me at my dorm. I'm going to a costume party, no, scratch that,
WE'RE going to a costume party just as soon as you-"

  "Yeah, I know ditch the losers," Shawn finished for him. "I don't even
have a costume."

  "Got it taken care of," Ben replied. "Look, I don't care what it takes
just get down here. Party starts at eight."


  Shawn was going to further object but didn't get the chance as he realized
that Ben had hung up on him. He looked down at his phone for a moment before
turning back to look at his clueless group of partners. He realized that he'd
be there until the museum closed at ten if they didn't get it together.

  And after seeing one of the people in his group completely turn pale at the
sight of the latest naked painting, he knew that they really would be there all
night.

  "Planning your great escape?"

  Shawn turned around to face Amber, one of the girls in his group.

  "Yeah well it's Halloween you know, and this assignment blows," Shawn
replied.


  "Like the wind or...sexually?" Amber asked, whispering the last part.

  Shawn flashed her a confused look before looking towards the exit.

  "Could you cover for me?" he asked. "I'll make it up to you."

  Amber thought about it for a moment.

  "No, you won't," she replied. "Because I'm coming with you."

  Shawn just stared at her.

*******************************************************************************

  "Welcome to the house of horrors!" Sierra greeted upon opening the door to
face Trey and Noah.

  They both exchanged glances before Trey spoke up.

"House of horrors?" he asked.

"I don't really think that's the kind of greeting you wanna be giving out to
people about the party," Noah said.

"Why not?" Sierra asked letting them inside of Jesse's apartment. "It's
Halloween."

  Trey and Noah exchanged glances again as they looked around for their two
friends.

"Hey, guys and wow you both look hot," Zoey said upon seeing her two friends.

  Noah had decided to dress up a heavy metal rocker, complete with leather
pants, long hair, fake tattoos and piercings to boot. Trey had decided to dress
up as Zorro, decked out from head to toe in a completely black ensemble that
consisted of a black hat, black mask, black cape, black shirt, black tights and
black boots. There was even a fake sword and gun attached to both of his hips.

  "Hell, forget the damn party, let's go crime fighting!" Grace spoke,
grabbing Trey as Zoey took a picture of the two of them.

  Trey looked around. Even though he was starting to get used to attending
parties, they still somewhat overwhelmed him. He'd missed out on that part of
his teenage years in high school entirely and had been to more parties in the
course of two months than years he'd been alive. But he knew that as long as
he had all of his friends behind him, he was going to be just fine. And
eventually he'd adjust.

  "Where's Jesse?" Trey asked looking around.

  Zoey looked around and stepped back as a couple of people passed before her.

  "He's around here somewhere playing host," she replied.

"If that's the case, I'm surprised people are still here," Noah replied.

  "Well there's plenty of food and stuff so go ahead and have fun," Sierra
smiled.

"Okay," Zoey faux smiled back as Sierra walked off. "God shoot me now. That
girl is insane."

  Trey smiled.

"What happened?" he asked.

"That damn girl had us going all around campus begging for candy," Grace
replied. "All I know is I don't ever wanna go trick or treating again."

"Also, my feet hurt now," Zoey replied.

"That's what you get for dressing up like a stripper Zoey," Grace replied.

  "Hey, Halloween's a time for fantasy," Zoey replied. "So take a good look
cuz you'll never see me like this again."

  Trey looked over at Noah who was smiling innocently at him while slowly
moving from side.

  "What?" he asked, a grin forming on his face.

  "I don't know, it's a party, there's music, people are dancing," Noah
replied.

  "They are," Trey replied still smiling heavily.

  Noah continued to shuffle about before grabbing both of Trey's hands and
pulling him close.

"So let's dance then," he said as the two of them started dancing.

  Jesse was so busy stressing out he hadn't even noticed Trey and Noah as he
passed them and walked over to his brother who was sitting on a sofa that had
been moved back to stand next to one of the walls, where he was surrounded by a
few people who all seemed to be laughing at something, including Sierra.

  "Jesse, I was just chatting about you," Nick spoke chummily as his brother
stood crossed-armed in front of him.

  "Don't you think this little party you decided to throw in MY flat is
getting a little out of hand?" Jesse asked.

  Nick looked around.

"No, I don't think so," Nick replied simply.

  "Yeah, don't be a party pooper," Sierra replied. "Stick to ruining the
elevators in Ark Hall or something."

  "I'll have you know I live here and can have you thrown out in a whim if-"

  "Oh come off it Jesse," Nick interrupted him by standing up and placing an
arm around his brothers shoulders. "This IS a party after all. Relax and try
to have fun."

  Once again Nick had said something that was so outrageous to Jesse he had no
idea how to respond. Instead he just started towards the door after he heard
the bell ring.

  "Shawn, friend of Shawn, make yourselves at home. Everyone else has," Jesse
grumbled stepping aside to let Shawn and Ben inside.

  "Nice to see you too Jesse," Shawn replied.

"Is he always like that?" Ben asked as Jesse walked off.

Shawn was about to respond before he found himself being bumped forward as the
front door opened.

  "Where'd you go?" Shawn asked.

"I broke a wing," Amber replied, referring to one of the two wings that were
haphazardly sticking out of the back of her costume, which was a mix of an
angel and devil.

  Ben watched Amber's ass as she walked into the party and looked around.

"Dude, she's so hot," he said.

  Shawn wasn't sure what to say as he and Ben started into the party and
looked around.

  "So are you having fun?" Noah asked after he and Trey had been dancing for
a good half an hour.

  "I don't think all this black I'm wearing agrees with me," Trey replied.

  Noah stopped dancing.

"Okay, let's go get something to drink then," he suggested as the two of
them started towards a table that had been set up.

  Trey had been in good spirits thus far and had believed that the night would
end well for him. Until he saw someone he wasn't expecting to see standing on
the other side of the table.

  He looked up and into Shawn's eyes who seemed to be starring right back at
him. They held this stare for a few moments before Trey's thoughts were
interrupted by Ben speaking.

"Hey, Trey right? It's been a while man, how's it going?"


  "What are you doing here?" Trey asked, ignoring Ben's comment altogether.

  Ben looked over at Shawn who seemed to just be staring at Trey.

  "Come on, come on let's go," Noah spoke, glaring over at Shawn.

  It took a few seconds but Noah finally managed to get Trey to walk away with
him as both Shawn and Trey continued to stare at each other.

  "You never told me the guy was a fag," Ben spoke, sounding somewhat
surprised.

  Wincing, Shawn wanted to say something but knew better than that and decided
to say something else.

  "I did," he replied. "You said he was `your kind of guy' remember?"


  Ben didn't reply as Shawn watched Trey talking with Noah fighting back the
feelings that were coming to the surface.

  Another hour or so passed where people were mostly enjoying themselves,
except for Jesse who seemed a step away from losing his mind, especially when
he finally got around to realizing that somehow Amber had been invited to the
party.

"What the hell are YOU doing here?" he asked, sounding more worn out than
upset.

"I came with a friend," Amber replied. "Nice place you have here. Almost
reminds me of the sorority you once called home."

"Be a bitch and rub that in my face then," Jesse replied. "Just remember
you're in my territory now. No running off to pull fire alarms and random yard
sales in sight."

  "Too bad too, I made a fortune that day," Amber snidely replied.

  "Okay everyone, who wants to play a little game I like to call Two Truths
and a Lie?" Nick announced to no one in particular.

  "Two Truths and a Lie?" Zoey, who happened to be standing nearby, asked.

"You interested?" Nick asked.

"Hell yeah dude, come on let's do it!" Ben spoke jumping over the couch
across from Nick.

  "This isn't spin the bottle Nick, I don't think you'll be getting to make
out with anyone," Shawn spoke, taking a seat next to him.

  "Well, not unless you want to," Nick replied.

  Trey and Noah were already sitting on one of the couches and figured they'd
play since Grace and Zoey seemed to be interested.

"Move bitch," Grace said, shoving Sierra off the couch in an effort to sit
closer to Nick.

  "Okay, odd," Nick spoke. "But nice, love. Shall we begin?"

"Let's do it!" Ben cheered.

  Trey looked over at Shawn. All he wanted to do was run away. But then he
realized that that was what he always wanted to do when things seemed to be
getting too much to handle for him. He wanted to change that and figured he'd
stay even if it was hard enough just looking at Shawn.

  "Okay, so how this game works," Nick started as he looked over at Amber who
seemed to be trying to get away from Jesse yelling at her about something who
also joined the group. "You name two true things about yourself and one lie.
The rest of us get a chance to guess what the lie is. But if we guess wrong,
we're out of the game for a round. Understand?"


  "So we pick something to lie about and mix it in with a couple of true
things about ourselves?" Zoey asked. "Sounds like fun."

  "Sounds right up your alley, Nick," Jesse mumbled, mocking that name
`Nick' at the end.

  "Okay, so I guess I'll go first," Nick started, standing up.

  Sierra whistled while Amber and Grace and a few other girls around giggled.

  "Alright, so I'm Nick. I've been to nineteen different countries. I've
slept with a grand total of twelve celebrities. And I actually enjoy Michael
Bay films."

  "Oh that's the lie right there," Zoey spoke up. "No one enjoys Michael
Bay movies."

  "True, but wrong in my case," Nick replied.

  "Wait so you've actually slept with twelve celebrities?" Ben asked.
"Dude, you're like my idol."

  "Actually it's thirteen. I ran into Beyonce at Time's Square a few weeks
back. Good times those were."

  "Oh, so you're a fan of the black girls then?" Grace asked, cuddling up to
Nick.

  "Yeah but not big fat sluts!" Sierra exclaimed.

"Oh whatever bitch, not tonight," Grace objected.

  "Okay, my turn," Zoey spoke up, standing as Nick took a seat.

  "Oh god, the closet lesbian speaks out," Amber mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Zoey asked, anger evident in her tone.

"Nothing, it was a joke just go," Amber replied, sounding bored and
unthreatened.

  "No, I wanna know what you said!" Zoey spoke.

Amber, who was leaning against the back of one of the couches sat up and
sighed.

  "I think you heard what I said-"

"See this is the part where I usually ignore the blonde moron in the room, but
you, you so completely pissed me off because you're so far off it's not even
funny."

  "Yeah, she has a boyfriend," Noah spoke up.

  "That we've never seen," Grace said, almost inaudibly.

Zoey's head snapped back to look over at her friend.

"What?"


  "Nothing. Just, I've known you almost two months and I've never seen
your-"

  "What so you think I'm a lesbian then?" Zoey asked.

  Grace didn't reply, clearly giving away her thoughts.

"Well guess what, when I first met you, I thought you were ghetto," Zoey
replied. "And guess what, I still do!"


  "Bitch!"

  Grace stood up.

  "Whoa, whoa, guys....maybe someone else should go," Nick started, trying to
calm the situation.

Grace and Zoey glared at each other.

  "Okay," Jesse started. "I'm Jesse. Everyone loves me. No one hates me
except for my brother who's driving me completely crazy and I wish he'd just
leave me the hell alone once and for all!"

  Nick looked over at Jesse.

  "Wait...what if those are all lies?" Amber asked, breaking the silence in
the group.

"Well, if you feel so strongly why didn't you just say so, Jesse?" Nick
asked, obviously upset.

  "I've been trying!" Jesse shouted. "But you're just so impossibly
difficult to deal with just like some rambunctious three year old that needs
constant supervision!"

  "Well then," Nick started, standing up. "I guess we should do something
about that then."

  "I guess we should," Jesse mumbled.

  Ben, still wanting his turn decided to stand up and go anyway despite how
tense the game had gotten already.

"Well I'm Ben. I'm a stud. I'm in a frat. And I get along with everybody."


  "Really? Everybody?" Shawn asked.

Ben looked over at him.

"What?" he asked.

  "Nothing."

  "No seriously, what?"

  Shawn looked over at Trey who just stared back at him. Noah looked over at
Trey and realized where he was staring.

  "What am I missing?" he asked.

  "Nothing," Trey replied. "Let's just...let's just go."

  "Ben, you're a homophobe," Shawn decided to speak up since a lot of truths
seemed to be coming out already. "And you wanna know what's funny? You, the
homophobe actually being best friends with a fag."

"Shawn, what are you talking about?" Ben asked.

"Noah, let's go," Trey spoke standing up.

  "I slept with Trey," Shawn replied. "Another guy Ben! Me! Your best
friend. So you can just stop pretending like you're this nice guy that's best
friends with the all American straight guy because I can't stand you."

  Trey's face was in his hands as he knew everyone had to be staring at him.

"You slept with Shawn? When?" Noah asked, sounding hurt.

  "Noah..." Trey started.

  Nick jumped up and stormed off.

  Grace and Zoey walked off to opposite sides of the room.

  Ben, finding himself disgusted with his best friend, walked off as well.

  Noah, realizing that he didn't want to hear Trey's excuses for sleeping
with Shawn walked off as well.

  "There, now life sucks completely," Shawn spoke, passing Trey.

  Amber looked over at Sierra.

  "Great party huh?" she asked. "Definitely a lot better than the last
one."

*******************************************************************************
  Yahoo Group featuring advanced chapters of the story and other works by me:

  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/


  Personal email: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com Feedback always welcome.


  Copyright 2006