Here is the final chapter of the Deke series, for now anyhow. You will need to read Cruising for Love 13 before this one in order to know what's going on, and for the conclusion of this read Cruising for Love 14. Cool? Cool! So enjoy, and tell me what you thought of it! :)
 
 
 

 We lay back in our bed, caressing each other's bodies with just about every ligament available to us at the time. I was tired and exhausted, tired and even more exhausted, but still I didn't want to fall asleep, not just yet. I wanted to savor the precious moment we had together, just snuggling close to each other, naked, side-by-side, not one body part being untouched. Justin's mouth made contact with my parted lips, letting his tongue slip innocently into my mouth, delving both of us into a tender and loving French kiss. His body rolled on top of mine and I felt his spent cock rubbing against my body and his opposite leg pushed into mine. It felt nice, there was only bitter silence, interrupted every so often by our light breathing, and the erotic sound of our tongues making love inside of my mouth. I could taste his sweetness directly from its source, mixed with a faint minty aroma, left behind by our toothpaste. I loved every moment with Justin; he brought me inner-peace, leaving me without a care in the world. Without him I would be nothing, literally. He made me what I was to this day. I fought for him, every day I protected his good name from the punks who made an effort to try and destroy it. I was proud of myself that I could, too. I was getting stronger and more courageous every passing day. I had the guts to go out into the world and show sincerely my love for Justin, and from time to time I would see the dire consequences of it.

It only happened a few times though, and nothing really bad happened, except the last time. The last time I was cornered in the hallway and they were making jokes as always. One of them smacked me with their backpack, but only because I was making smart allec comments back, me and my big mouth. It socked me right in the left eye, it wasn't so bad at first but it did turn black and blue and hurt to touch it occasionally. Of course, I had the willpower to not touch things I wasn't supposed to. That was the only time I ever got hurt, not that others haven't tried. Once a kid just plain stuck his foot out from under his desk to try and trip me while I was going to my seat in class. I managed to spot it in time and when my foot came in contact with it I took another stop forward, dragging his foot with me and bending it around the metal desk leg until he yelled mercy and I released it. Taught him and many others not to mess with Deke! Justin on the other hand, still had girls hanging around him wherever he went. I guess the theory was true that girls are more attracted to you the less you want them. That's why they say, "All the nice guys are either married or gay." So maybe if the regular straight guys weren't so needy for sex and asking to get inside of their pants and bras all the time, as scary as the thought is, the girls would actually like and respect them. So for Justin, girls flourished around him all the time, which gave him protection in two ways. Firstly, being friends with girls is sort of like having collateral protection, more likely than not if a guy beat him up, his chances with all of the girls would be lost. Secondly, strength in numbers, and he was never alone, ever. Sometimes I had to push my way through a hoard of girls just to see him.

 School wasn't the worse or best thing in the world. Sure, we were left alone 99% of the time; some guys even started talking to us, even flirting, well, they flirted with Justin more, but I trusted him. Don't tell anyone but, the other guys that flirted with him weren't even that good looking, hehe. Well they weren't! It only happened the first week or so, when they found out he was taken they kinda backed off, others still talked to us though, as friends, and yet others still talked to us in the hopes of rebounding in case we broke up. Yeah, like THAT would ever happen! I still found it hard to believe that when we came out at the school, our popularity went up, I mean, you're popular whether you're known for being hated or the captain of the football team, but this was the good kind, everyone knew us and our social lives skyrocketed. It was hard to keep up with all of the people I had known all these years that now had a newfound respect for me. It was kinda cool, and wasn't that hard either. I mean, first we came out in our gay-straight alliance club, and then let rumors be rumors and within two days everyone knew. It was bound to happen, even if it was supposed to be confidential, one girl would say to her other friend, "Hey you know Deke? Well I just found out that he's gay! Yeah, I never would have guessed either." It was as simple as that.

 Justin and I stopped our little tongue-wrestling match and separated from each other before we got horny again. We started at about eleven and since then we must have both spunked three times. Man, I was so drained after that, yet I still wanted to kiss and suck on every part of his angelic body. Unfortunately we both knew that if we both got hard again it would start to hurt. There had been enough sweating and screaming and moaning and panting in that room, thank God his mom was away, visiting family or something back in Texas for the holidays. I had a feeling Justin requested to be left home that year, how cute he was. It was two in the morning anyhow, three times in three hours wasn't so bad. At that rate we could have had sex eighteen times, but that would require lots of energy pills or something. I don't think Superman could last more than five times, he has super duper orgasms though, probably strong enough to kill a man, or woman. So we just held each other for now, resting after a well-needed fantastic night, and just gazing at each other's presence.

 "Was that my Christmas present?" I joked to him.

 "I wouldn't let you get your Christmas present early." He giggled. "This was an early two-month anniversary and coming out present." He said and kissed me again. "I'm proud of you honey, it's been two months and you have minimal battle scars." Referring to my healing black away. It was only visible if I pointed it out to someone.

 "Hooray for me then, but how come this was an early present?" I asked.

 "Well, our real two-month anniversary would be on Christmas…and…well…I didn't think we'd have enough stamina for BOTH presents." We both giggled silently to each other.

 "It was a lovely present then, thank you sweetie." I smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

 "It was my pleasure darling…if you must know, I think I had a better time giving you the present than you did receiving it!" He snickered and I hit him in the arm playfully. "Ouch, strong arms, you must be getting lots of practice somehow."

 "Yeah, like fighting a bunch a girls just to get see my boyfriend. Lord knows I've had to do that plenty of times." I said as I broke eye contact with him and rolled onto my back, staring up at the ceiling, he followed suit and did the same.

 "Are we playing this game down? Come on babe, you know exactly what those girls mean to me…"

 "Absolutely nothing!" We both said in unison. I'm sure you can guess how many times we've been through this conversation.

 "Yeah, so what's the problem. Have I ever blown you off because of them, ever?"

 "Well, no."

 "Have I ever favored them over you?"

 "No…" I said sheepishly. Shit, he always did this to me.

 "Then…what is the problem? You're getting jealous for no reason, for the silliest reason. Over a girl? Please, give me some credit here. I'm never seen someone come out of the closet only to go back in, have you?" He giggled and tickled my belly with his index finger.

 "Hehe, no!" I laughed, he knew I was ticklish.

 "And as always…who loves you babe? Come on, you gotta say the chant." He snickered and propped himself up on one shoulder, facing my direction as he awaited my response. He knew I was gonna say it, and he knew I had to say it or our dispute wouldn't be over. So I raised my left hand up, high into the air.

 "You do! You do!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, and I heard the unstoppable giggling coming from my left side.

 "Hehe, ok good enough. What do you want me to do then? You want me to tell them to fuck off?"

 "Hey you do what you want. I'm sure you could last without em for a little while, they could hang around Tommy and Jon, they REALLY need them, they can't fight for themselves really."

 "What do you mean? They seem fine on their own, they'll make it."

 "Make it? Did you HEAR what Tommy said when Mike Hunt called him `queer pimp'?" I asked, I had to chuckle to myself, because `queer pimp' was probably the stupidest insult I'd ever heard.

 "What?"

 "You don't remember? He told him he couldn't tie his shoes while saying his name five times fast."

 "WHAT? That was Tommy? I thought that was just a silly rumor!"

 "Oh, it's all too true. You think they can survive like we can? Come on, kill two birds with one stone. And…" I rolled over and wrapped my arms around Justin, kissing him on the lips fully. "I'll make it worth your while." When I pulled away from him, lying on top of him, he smiled up at me.

 "Well, now who's the `queer pimp'?" He said as I rolled my eyes at him. "Ok ok, your wish is my command. Now, make it worth my while!" He chuckled at me.

 "Yeah right." I giggled. "I'm so fucking exhausted, if we don't get to sleep soon I'm gonna be dead in your arms any minute now." I joked while yawning and laying my head down on his comfy shoulder.

 "Well, I like the `in my arms' part of it." Justin whispered as he wrapped his arms around me, making me feel so relaxed with him. "You're no good to me dead. And if you were dead, well, I'd have to turn into a necrophiliac pretty quick."

 "Aww, that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Now go to sleep." I commanded, feeling so tired. I needed to sleep after that triorgasm, talk about too much of a good thing.

 "Yes dear, and sleep we shall right now, and I won't let you go all night long." He said and we both settled into each other until we were comfortable, not that it took too much effort. I closed my eyes and held onto Justin as I began drifting off to sleep slowly. Yes, finally it was bedtime, after a fantastic night alone, peace with each other. I felt his heart palpitating through his skin; it was such a lovely beat. I was so relaxed now that I could have stayed there all night. Yep, nothing at all was going to move me from my hunk, nothing at all…except fate. Justin let go of me and rolled me off of him moments after the loud noise cascaded through the room. He jumped off of the bed and banged the button on his alarm clock, then he rushed to his dresser and desperately rushed to get dressed, mouthing profanity to himself. I sat up in the bed and rubbed my eyes in astonishment, confused as hell.

 "Did I miss something here?" I asked Justin as he put the last of his clothes on and his keys in his pants.

 "I…I forgot all about it, I have to do something."  I could hear the anxiety and fear in his voice.

 "You have to do something at two in the morning…" I said in disbelief.

 "Yes! Look I'm sorry, I'll be back soon." He ran back to the bed and kissed me on the lips quickly. "I don't have time to explain." Yeah, and I was gonna sit here while Justin went and did something at this time of night? I don't think so!

 "Oh yes you do, because I'm coming with you." I told him as I got out of bed and put my clothes back on, meeting him at the front door.

* * * * *

 Justin and I slowed our pace as we neared our destination. You wouldn't believe where we were going, of all places, we were going to the airport? Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. Maybe it was a bad idea for me to come along on this wild goose chase. It was too early in the morning, I needed sleep after a wild night of sex, and I didn't know what was going to come from all of this.

 "Ok, so let me recap. We're going to the airport." I said slowly to Justin, beginning to relax more now that we were nearing the airport fifteen minutes before three o'clock, when we had to be there.

 "Right, we are going to the airport." He said, his eyes off in space somewhere, I think just getting the issue out of the way.

 "And we're picking up…the boyfriend of an Internet friend you've been talking to."

 "Uh huh…"

 "And why is he coming and not your friend with him?" I asked.

 "I…I don't know…he just sent me this weird e-mail this morning, telling me he was coming and asking if he could stay at our house. He sounded desperate, how could I say no? I'm not an imbecile."

 "No, but, doesn't this all seem odd to you? Really short notice, to here of all places, without his boyfriend…"

 "Yes! It does seem weird; not one part of it makes sense. I have no reason to trust him, except by his word, and that's what I'm believing, and that's what you're going to believe, too. So when he comes we're going to be hospitable to him and treat him like one of us, understood?"

 "Of course, you got it babe." I said, calming him now. "Just chill out, ok? Everything's gonna be fine if he's who he says he is, don't worry." I would do all that if Justin wanted me too. Truth is, I was also too tired to do any arguing. I only had enough energy to walk and speak, the rest of my mind was stuck between dreaming and being awake, thinking about this mystery boy entering our lives. It was like someone with something covering their face, a mask, no, a helmet, a black helmet, with this irregular breathing, and .
cloaked by a dark cape. It was almost as if he looked like, no, WAS Darth Vader, and I was Luke Skywalker! And we were engaged in a battle on the Death Star, yeah, that's right! Oh geez, looks like I'm in another fantasy, but, whatever makes the time pass by. So me, Luke Skywalker, get out his light saber and wave it near Darth Vader's face. He gets pissed and follows suit, whipping out his big, red-hot light saber. I knew right then and there I wanted it, I wanted it bad. It was so long too, longer than mine, longer than my old friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi's, light saber. I envied what Darth Vader had. We circled each other with our light sabers swinging all around, not sure where they would strike next. I noticed that mine kept getting longer because I was getting more tuned into the Force. Then I looked at Darth and he looked at me, and then we were on top of each other! My breathing became hard and I struggled to get hold of his light saber, I could tell he wanted to feel mine in his hands, too. Suddenly our light sabers touched and we both immediately pulled away, because that's what you're supposed to do or they stick from the heat. We circled each other again, and then I noticed Darth Vader's light saber begin to shrink. He noticed too and he knew he was loosing the Force fast, so he was all over me again in a matter of seconds, so he wouldn't lose it and try to get it back. He thrust his huge, long weapon at me, trying to get it into the spots that would produce the greatest effect. If he succeeded then he would have much more Force on me, stealing MY Force too! And he would use the Force to his advantage, as an extra weapon, and he could keep Forcing and Forcing on me with the use of his light saber, making me helpless under his power. I couldn't let that happen, and I couldn't let him grab my light saber! So I summoned all of my strength and used my Force on Darth, pummeling my sword at him as hard as I could, harder than I thought I could Force. There was sweat all over my face; our long rods of heat coming together made me so hot sometimes. I thrust again and again at Darth Vader, overpowering him at every turn. Then all of a sudden Chewbacca came into the room. How did he get in here? That didn't stop our actions and movements though, I almost had Darth Vader's light saber in my hand! Chewy just stood there, making his roaring sounds, almost like moans, watching us, staring at us. I didn't mind. Then Han Solo came into the room, and just as I grabbed Darth's red treasure, Han screamed and said. "What are you two doing? Don't you know you're father and son?" A shocked look strewed about my face and I let go of Darth Vader's light saber. How could I do that to my own father, handling his own light saber? Then we all went to the lounge and played on the snooker table. Oh god, I need sleep, quick.

 When we arrived at the airport there was no one around, except the occasional shuttle bus that let off three or four passengers at the airport and picked up a few more. Justin and I stood beside the entrance quietly, standing in one of the many dark spots, since the moon was on the other side of the airport, way down below, hiding in the pitch-black sky. I yawned tiredly, using the indiglo on my watch to check the time, almost three in the morning. Even though I promised to be good and accept what was happening, I was still baffled by the mystery of all of this. Was this kid really the one who Justin was talking to online all alone and he was just pretending to be a non-existent boyfriend? Why would he do that, though? Duh, are you blind? Do you SEE what is yours? Ooooooooooh, yeah! That was a logical theory, and that explained the lateness of it all. He would have to make Justin come get him late because he'd know that when they got back to his house, Justin would be too tired to make a bed and just suggest they sleep in the same bed. A little undressing for bed here, an innocent feel there. And badda bing, badda boom! They're all over each other like Bill Clinton with a cigar on an intern, and I'm out of the picture. Or maybe he didn't believe Justin really had a boyfriend, it's possible. Well, if that's what was going on here, this punk had another thing coming to him.

 My watch beeped to indicate the hour and all of a sudden I saw this rather large shuttle bus pull up to the airport and open it's doors at the same time as the airport doors flung open. A huge hoard of people ran from the airport to the shuttle and from the shuttle to the airport at the same time, carrying all of their luggage and such, the airport had come to life! It was so fascinating to see, it was the three o'clock in the morning rush, two lines of people, one exiting and one entering. It was amazing, something previously devoid of life now flourishing with activity. But of course, all good things must come to an end, so as quickly as it began, it ended. Everyone was gone, well, I should say, almost everyone. One person was left, standing at the other side of the entrance. He was carrying a bag over his shoulder, it seemed as if he was in the middle of this mob and had pushed his way out of it. Poor boy, if it was a boy. I focused my sites on him and realized it was a boy, a very exhausted looking one at this, no doubt he was our target. I nudged Justin's shoulder and motioned my head over to the boy's direction. He turned and saw him. "Hmm, yeah, that's definitely him. You can't forget a face like that." He said, grinning in my direction. I rolled my eyes and we started walking over to him. I saw him notice us walking towards him, probably not even knowing who we were yet since we were still in the shadows, but then we stepped into the lights and I was sure he knew who we were immediately. He was blond, more blond than Justin was. He was pretty cute now that I saw him more closely. Actually, I thought he was cute considering he looked like he had just gotten run over by a train, but that was a compliment. We weren't any better, except I wasn't good looking all the time like he was. He could probably throw mud on his face and look even cuter. I was struggling to hide the spunky smells on my clothes and body. As I looked at him, his face seemed to turn from fear to confusion, looking at me, then back to Justin. There was an odd silence among the three of us, he knew who we were and we knew who he was, yet no one made the effort to break it. I hoped Justin wasn't going to put the pressure on me, I made a conscious effort to stand behind him so I wouldn't have to do it. Someone had better speak up soon, because I wanted to get to sleep, like you didn't know that already. When I thought I was going to die from the silence here, Justin began to whisper something to himself. I couldn't hear it though, then he repeated it more clearly, actually he yelled it.

 "Yes! It is you!" Justin exclamated, a smile on his face. Then out of enthusiasm he hugged him, saying, "I wasn't sure at first but I definitely recognize you from your picture." Wow, it was like the reunion of the century, I sure felt awkward, and so did the boy too, whatever his name was. Justin broke off of him eventually and turned to me happily. "It's him, see? I told you!" I nodded my head and yawned, not that I didn't care but I was damn tired.

 "Yes, I owe you a diet Coke, hun." I said, not even realizing what I called him. Oh well, I thought, he probably knew about us already, hopefully. Hey, he was already gay! I'd like to see a gay guy beat up another gay guy because he's gay. And we were OUT anyhow! Then there were introductions and shit. Yada, yada, my name is Danny, yada, yada, I'm Justin and this is my friend Deke. That sort of stuff, so I learned his name was Danny, which followed Justin's trademarked wrapping his arm around me and kissing me on the cheek. It was like our little way of telling people about us, but not. I would have gotten annoyed with it by now, but the kiss on the cheek just made me so happy and lifted things in me, in more ways than one. And of course after that Danny inquired very flavorfully about us being out of the closet and that crap. I was so tired I didn't really remember all of those minor details about that night, just the juicy ones. I do know that Danny did swear in his exclamation about Justin and I being out. After that we started on our way home, by my calculations we would arrive back home in exactly the same amount of time that it took us to get to the airport. That was just a theory thought. As we walked, Danny catching up with us with his one bag over his shoulder, I guessed he didn't have many clothes or packed in a rush for some reason, Justin kept holding my hand. It was nice, as it always is when we did it in public, but this was different. He was more relaxed, and it wasn't our fatigue, Justin was more comfortable being affectionate around Danny, I quickly figured out. He wasn't even this comfortable at James's, almost like Justin put his whole trust in this boy that he only talked to, seen, and met five minutes ago. I figured not to say anything, firstly because new issues were at hand, soon enough at any rate, and I rather enjoyed Justin holding my hand more loosely than normal. It was just pleasant and it gave me the energy to keep going, literally.  So why bother?

 Like I said, there were other, newer issues to deal with. It was what explained…well…just about EVERYTHING that I was confused about. Ok, brace yourself as I tell you this. I swear to God I'm not joking about this and it actually happened to me. Danny, yes that Danny that we had just met, well his boyfriend, the one who Justin always talked to online apparently, was kidnapped by some crazy punk with a personal vendetta against Richie (Danny's boyfriend), and taken to Ft. Lauderdale, the town that borders ours. I kid you not, he told me this and it actually is what happened. Richie had been taken earlier that day and Danny had to get a short notice flight out here. It was weird and wild stuff, and my life was almost normal again. I could tell Danny was really trying to keep it together, he was a strong willed person, all the way. We promised him that we would help first thing in the morning, I knew some places we could go for information, and Justin had nice connections, too. It was like we were inducted into the teen gay Mafia, minus the guns and violence part. The rest of the walk home we talked Danny through some things, trying to comfort him best we could. Funny how I turned me getting whacked with a book bag into a funny anecdote and helped Danny to feel better. Well, whatever I could do to help was fine by me. Then I just stuck by my promise to Justin and treated Danny like an equal, asking him stuff just to make conversation and help get his mind off things.

 He was still kind of down even though he laughed here and there. If you must know the truth I was actually starting to care about him and I worried that he wouldn't be able to sleep for the night. It wasn't that I despised him or anything at first, he was kinda nice and sweet too. His boyfriend, wherever he was, must be really happy. When we got to the house though, his whole mood changed completely when he saw Justin's mailbox. He hopped around wildly like a madman, I thought he'd gone insane for sure! I didn't know why at the time, though I soon found out.

 "Dude, your last name is Friars." He asked Justin with a huge grin on his face.

 "Heh, yeah, why?" Justin asked, as confused as I was.

 "As in Justin Friars?" He asked back with much enthusiasm.

 "That's my name!" Justin said, a smirk on his face in even more confusion. "Is there something special about that?"

 "Yeah!" He yelled out. "Did you live in Texas last Spring?"

 "Yeah, how did you know that. Unless…"

 "Uh huh! I know all about you now! That was some weird shit that happened to you, and by your English teacher out of all people, but then to win a SHIT load of money as well!" He seemed proud of himself, and then it faded a little. "Err, sorry, it must've sucked lots, but you were a very large topic of discussion in my school. Because of it we had to write an essay." Then he regained his happiness. "But my God, I thought I knew you from somewhere, I saw a picture of you in the newspaper, that's where I recognized you from. You're like a celebrity! Wow, I'm friends with a famous person, cool!" Justin and I turned to each other, exchanging nervous expressions. I never really saw Justin as a famous person before, maybe because I had never heard about Justin before. Evidently Justin and his story had made quite a few papers across the country. It DID sound like something that would be though. Gay teen gets pushed by a bully, no one cares. Gay teen gets wounded and bruised by a teacher, then all reporters have to get the scoop.

 Justin got out his keys and opened the front door to his house, smiling to himself and humoring this astounding turn of events. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I had a feeling that Justin liked publicity. As soon as we got inside I said goodnight to Danny and ran upstairs to our room and stripped down to my boxers and got into bed. I didn't even wait for Justin; I laid my head back onto the pillow and let a big, long sigh escape my lips. It felt so good, so right, so peaceful. I couldn't help myself, I was so friggin exhausted from having sex three times and then walking to and from the airport, my eyes closed involuntarily and then I opened them, and it was day again…

 Actually I was woken up by the telephone, but when my eyes opened I did notice it was light out. I turned over, noticing that Justin had gotten out of bed to pick up the phone, still in just his boxers. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, getting them focused for the day. I got my site back and looked over at Justin talking on the phone. Boy, he was a site for sore eyes, seriously this time! His ample beauty being the first thing I saw in the morning was just what I needed to wake myself up. Fuck Folger's coffee, I had Justin! My gorgeous, charming, and famous boyfriend. Now that I thought about it, it was a pretty cool thought, except for all the girls hanging off his shoulders, which really made me believe he was a publicity star of some sort. He deserved it though; anyone who had been through what Justin had to go through deserved all the good things in life. Now if he only had an earring or two, that would complete him perfectly. His ears were just right for it, too. Not too big, not too small, exquisite. When he got off the phone he told me that Tommy and Jon were going to meet us at James' in an hour, so we had to hurry and get over there. So we gathered our clothes and got dressed (in new clothes, you think we wear the same clothes every day like some cartoon?), then went to the guestroom where Danny was sleeping. Guestroom number one I should say, there were two more, not including his mom's room and our room, or the kitchen, living room, TV room, study, basement, and bathrooms. I bet there were still empty boxes in the other two rooms, and Justin had probably never been in those two rooms since he moved in here either. We knocked on the door and waited a few moments for the door to open. Danny answered in the clothes he was wearing yesterday, either he had slept in them or didn't bring any clothes with him, but he must have, I mean, he DID bring a bag with him, and I don't think Playboys were in it. Danny seemed to be in better spirits than he was last night, looked well rested, but I think we ALL looked more well rested. Well, at any rate, he looked better, much better, ready to tackle a new day. We had to get a lot of work done, well, after breakfast.

 The place we went to was where we always went to on the weekends or when we were bored and wanted to have a little fun. It was called James' Town, a nice place, owned by two college guys. As a matter of fact it was the same two guys who we had met the day Justin and I decided to come out, one month ago. James and Trent, the ones with the stupid `everything' shop, and the ones we playfully gave some tips to so they could improve the place. Well, I guess our words carried more weight than we thought, because the next day the place was shut down, they got a HUGE loan to start a new business, and remodeled it all, right down to the last detail. Three weeks later we walked into it to find that they had turned it into a gay friendly diner, café, and hang out place, complete with a new staff, including waiters, chefs, cute waiters, and a cute bartender. No wait, Trent was the bartender, but he still was cute. We automatically were their friends and they let us in even on the adult only nights, sometimes even getting the good seats when the place was packed, and it was packed plenty of times, mostly in the evening hours and VERY late night hours. The number of customers they had unquestionably justified the quantity of money they had borrowed in order to get the place running, they must have paid it off by now. It was a lovely place, there was music, nice people, lights, even carpeting! It was in a good neighborhood, right next to the gay IHOP in the gay part of our town. They got the coffee crowds, who came from the IHOP, and the IHOP got the couples and groups of guys who met a James', it was the perfect setup!

 We walked into the place, seeing that there weren't many guys in there. There usually aren't until the second half of the day, when the real fun starts. I'm not saying that the joint wasn't fun already, but you know what they say, the more the merrier. And no, I'm not talking about orgies, I'm talking about conversing, socializing, mingling, you know, partying! The only down side to it is that most of the guys that come are college students. Occasionally there will be high school students and of course…middle aged guys, but not many kids our age are out like us to that narrows it down a bit, and this place is too loud and fast paced for older guys, no offense.

 The three of us sat down on the barstools at the counter, which was empty. Where was Trent now? We sat there for not even ten seconds before Trent popped out from beneath the counter quickly, making a `boo' sound. It was probably the most pathetic attempt to scare someone in the history of scaring people, I didn't even flinch!

 "It didn't work yesterday, and it isn't gonna work today you freak." Justin said to him while rolling his eyes. "I don't think you even scared HIM." He pointed to Danny.

 "Maybe a little, but that was only when I saw his face." Danny said jokingly and giggled to himself. Trent tried to look pissed but I guess he either knew that we were certain he was full of shit, or he couldn't resist Danny's charm. Heck, I probably wouldn't be able to if he used it on me. So Trent just smiled and asked what we were doing here.

 "Well, we were hungry, and we went to the other place we eat at every day, but then we noticed that we had never been there before in our lives, so we settled on this place." I said, and Trent's smile faded.

 "Sorry to break it to you guys but, kitchen's closed for today." Trent said.

 "What? Why?" Justin said surprisingly.

 "Well, the frying thingy is broken for…some reason, and we're just waiting for the guy to come and fix it." Trent said and cleared his throat nervously. I looked at him in doubt.

 "It broke for some reason? You didn't…" I began to say.

 "No! No way…" He said, but he couldn't hold it in any longer. "Ok just once, but we didn't think it would do anything to it, it looked pretty sturdy to us!" He began grinning.

 "Was it worth it?" Danny asked. I guess he caught on quick.

 "Yeah, YEAH! Always is, heh. Sorry thought, we're never really thinking who it would affect, I'd treat you to lunch, but I have to stay here for when the repair guy arrives." Trend said, and before anyone could say anything else the door flung open from behind us.

 "Hey ladies! How's everyone doing this fine Christmas Eve?" Jon said to us as he and Tommy stepped in. The three of us swung around in our seats to look at them.

 "Crappy, we have to eat somewhere else, Jon, they broke the fryer." I said morosely. Now there were five disappointed teens in the room.

 "Ya gotta be kidding me!" Tommy exclaimed, sighing in disappointment.

 "Afraid not, sorry guys." Trent said. Jon walked up to the counter with a pissed off look on his face.

 "Fuck! You know how I like eating here you fucking fa…" Jon stopped himself before he blew up completely. It was true he had a temper problem, even to the point of saying derogatory things that he just wouldn't say on a regular basis. He was gay, all the way, but if he didn't take his medication and drank too much he would go off on anyone, ESPECIALLY gays. He was too weird; at least we liked him when he was nice. He didn't throw off Danny though.

 "You're English…" Danny pointed out. Jon turned to him slowly and smiled.

 "You're Californian, nice to meet you, too." Jon said, then paused. "Who are you?"

 "Well this is my old friend Danny, right out of California!" Justin said quickly.

 "Ahh, on vacation ehh mate?" Jon asked.

 "Something like that, and I'm trying to track another old friend down, perhaps you've seen him, his name is Richie." Danny said, and not a second later produced a small photograph from his pocket and handed it to Jon. I didn't get a good look though, but from what I caught a glimpse of Richie looked cute.

"Hmm, I don't recall seeing him before." Jon said, studying the picture. "I'll keep an eye out though, you mind if I keep this?" Danny shook his head and Jon put the picture in his shirt pocket. I could see the face more clearly now, the top was sticking out of the pocket, definitely cute. Danny and Richie were both very lucky to have one another. "Well, I suppose we should go find some place else to eat then, I'm starving!"

 "Hey! I need to eat to!" Trent chimed in. "Someone can go get food and bring it all back for us, I'll pay." Well how could we reject that offer? "Ok cool, so who's gonna take a trip to Burger King?"

 "Jon." Justin said.

 "Jon." I said.

 "Jon." Tommy said.

 "Umm, I can't choose, ok, Jon." Danny decided, grinning quietly to himself. Jon sighed and didn't even argue, just swearing quietly to himself as he left. We all knew he wanted to go though, he loved doing that sort of stuff, because he got to keep the change and check out guys. What better thing was there to do outside of sex? Exactly, nothing. As Jon exited the must have slammed the door too quick and the glass on it shattered.

* * * * *

A loud buzzer rang throughout the studio, indicating the scene ending prematurely. I muttered a swear under my breath and walked off of the set onto my little, green, monogrammed, foldout chair. Taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat from my forehead. The make-up lady walked over to me and tried powdering my face up, but I pushed her away since I was supposed to have sweat on my face.

"Jon what the hell was that?" The director said over his megaphone. Jon walked back through the broken glass and shrugged his shoulders.

"No clue, dude I have no clue! The script tells me to slam the door and I did, I slammed it about a dozen times before and I did it the exact same way. It's stupid set crap, that's all." Jon said, getting out of that role and fake English accent.

"Hey, it took a lot of time to make that set so don't badmouth it!" The director said back. "Luckily we have a replacement, it won't take long. Fifteen minutes people!" As he said that Tommy shook his head and sat down next to me on his chair.

"This whole production is falling apart, I don't get any of this." Tommy said. "First I'm your boyfriend, then I'm not your boyfriend, then I'm barely in the show at all, and now we're running both of the shows at the same time." He took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it with his lighter. "I mean, what gives, Deke?"
 
 "I…I don't know. I think he's just winging it, you know? The scripts have been getting more and more hastily written, and I don't think there are going to be many more episodes…" I said sadly.

 "Yeah really. We haven't even gotten the episode fifteen script yet. I have a feeling we're going to be moving back in with your parents and finding guest spots on `If These Walls Could Talk' and `Queer As Folk.'"

 "Naa, we have money, and we have enough for our apartment. If we don't then we'll borrow some, simple as that." I said as Tommy took a long puff and blew out smoke rings.

 "No smoking on stage Tom, you know the rules!" The director yelled through his megaphone at Tommy. Geez, what was up his butt all of a sudden?

 "Sorry!" Tommy yelled back and threw his cig on the ground and stepped on it "…you fucking asshole." He said softly so only we could hear. "I'm not borrowing from Justin and Jon again. No way…"

 "No, no, not them, Richie and Danny said we could borrow money anytime we wanted to. Their show brings in a wider audience, so in turn they have some more money to spend. We'll be fine, we're having a dinner date with them next Thursday and if this production closes down and we really are desperate, then there's no harm in bringing it up."

 "I like them better than Justin and Jon, at least at Richie's and Danny's we're not bringing our work home with us." Tommy said angrily.

 "What was that remark all about? Are you jealous of Justin babe?" I asked.

 "Well, I do see you kissing and touching him every week. And those naked scenes…"

 "Acting! That's what we do here. Come on, what I pretend to like doing with Justin is what I really love doing with you every night." I managed to lean over and kiss him on the cheek quickly.

 "Alright, alright. I guess I'm just stressed that's all. I'm sorry, I'm gonna talk to Derek and see what the deal is, hold on hun." Tommy said as he walked over to the director's chair to try to talk to him. All of a sudden there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and to my surprise it was Richie! I happily got out of my seat and gave him a quick hug.

 "Hey, what are you doing here? You're not in this episode I thought." I said to him. Obviously he was trying to keep a low profile and not attract too much attention.

 "I was just in the neighborhood, you know. Thought I'd like to see how things were going out here, check on Danny and everything, that sorta stuff." He said.

 "Everything has gone to hell man. I don't think we're gonna last much longer if things continue like this."

 "Yeah, I know." Richie nodded. "Danny is talking about script problems and all this crap. I looked over the script too and to be honest I didn't really like it that much either. I liked the cruise ship better; at least we weren't on a set like this, actually on a real cruise ship. But anyway, you know that `coming out' movie that there was an audition for?"

 "Yeah…"

 "There's a good chance I'll get the part!" Richie said happily.

 "Wow, that's great, who is the other actor in the movie." I asked him.

 "Err…Jonathon Taylor Thomas." He said disappointingly.

 "Oh, I'm sorry…"

 "Yeah, it's ok, ya gotta put up with some people in that business."

 "Amen to that." I said, then noticed Tommy walking back towards us, and he didn't look happy, not one bit. He and Richie waved to each other and then gave us the news as he joined us.

 "Ok, I talked to him, that bastard. Here's what's going on." He said and lit another cigarette, sighing out loud. "This is the last episode of our series, but we're still going to be in the next episode of your series, Richie, which is unfortunately the last episode of your show, too. He's dumping it and decided to work on other projects, some Sci-Fi crap, just like that. In two weeks we're going to be out of a job, I really used to love coming here you know." As he finished the buzzer rang again. Sure, I was too mad, sad, pissed, and depressed to go back out there, but that was our cue to head back on stage and finish the last five minutes of our show…

* * * * *
 

 Jon walked back in fifteen minutes later, balancing a large bag of food in his hand and sodas in the other. He ran over to the counter and put it on the table, catching his breath and sitting down on the barstool.

 "Your welcome." He puffed out as we all dug in, getting our burgers and fries out. Burger King has the best fries, and they make it your way, with every day low prices. (Note: Author does not work for Burger King nor is a representative of Burger King restaurant chains and/or Burger King foods and accessories.)

 "We're all appreciative, I'm sure." I said.

 "Yeah, you're not the only ones." Jon said, taking a bit out of his cheeseburger.

 "What's that supposed to mean?" Justin asked.

 "Well, this weird thing happened while I was there." Jon said with a mouthful of food in his mouth, then took a sip of soda to wash it down. "I didn't see who it was because this big bloody thing was blocking me, but I'm pretty sure some kid copped a feel at my nipples on my way out.

 "Get out of here, who'd ever wanna do that…" I joked to him.

 "Shut up, Deke, I'm not joking." Jon said with a disgruntled look on his face. "I was walking out, and I felt someone's hands at my…" He looked down at his shirt pocket and took something out of it, it looked like a small, white business card.

 "What's that?" Danny asked curiously.

 "I don't know, it's for the Ramada Inn… wait there's writing on the back." Jon said as he flipped the card over. Suddenly his mouth dropped open and a frozen stare of disbelief was strewed about his face. "Danny, what was the name of that friend you were looking for again?"

 "Richie, why? What's on that card?" Danny responded, just as confused as we were, then Jon handed him the card to let Danny read it. "Holy shit, this isn't a joke is it? If this is a joke I swear to God…" He raged at Jon.

 "No way! That's no joke, I swear!" Jon defended himself sincerely.

 "What's on the card, Danny?" Justin asked. I was dying to know what was so spectacular on it as well, and then he read it aloud to us.

 "Help, my name is Richie and I'm being held at the Ramada Inn, room 32, I've been forced to do tasks for my captures or I won't be sent home. That picture you have in your shirt pocket is of me…"
 
 

So that was the last of Deke, but the real conclusion to this story will be in Cruising for Love 14, so read that and find out what happens to Richie! As always comments appreciated at my website, in my guestbook, and in my e-mail. So, good-bye for now!

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