Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 14:21:51 -0600 From: Karla Schulz Subject: Carrots and Celery Part Two Chapter One Yeah. Part two. And I have to tell you, it's even longer than part one. What can I say - this story is a beast. Think of it as an epic. If you don't find that too annoying and lame that is. Anyway, read it if you like. You might be glad you did. Props to Ed, who did another bang up job editing. Hey, so I'm back. Just went on one of those temporary hiatus things. Did ya miss me? Of course you did. But don't worry, I'm going to fill you in on most of the stuff you missed, so it's really not that big a deal. Let's start off with how much you missed, shall we? Well, for starters, school's over now. Exams and final papers and all that stuff. We both did really well, if you care. And you know what, who knows, maybe you even do. Stranger things have happened. It's about mid July at the moment, so all in all it was about 6 weeks. That's about three weeks of school and three weeks of summer. Things have been really great, but not terribly exciting in the sense that anything of the new and different has occurred, so again with the not feeling too bad about missing out. At the end of our last day, we all went out for a celebratory malt from Kildonan Place (you've gotta go to Kildonan Place, man! Malts from malls are always cooler), Kyle included. He'd been done his year for awhile by then, but he still felt like celebrating. It occurs to me that I've never mentioned what he's taking. Well it's really kind of funny. He's going to be a nurse. When he first told us, me and Celery couldn't stop laughing, just 'cause we kept thinking of that old Saturday Night Live skit with Mel Gibson and saying, "Kyle Vasskez - male nurse!" over and over in our heads. Anyway, he's done his first year now, and he likes it a lot, so that's cool. It's not like there's actually anything wrong with being a nurse if you're a guy, like, that's totally fine, but, whenever there's even the slightest opportunity to razz the hell out of Kyle - for whatever reason - you've got to take it. Jonas had fun with it when he found out too, so it's not like me and Celery are the only ones. I was talking about something completely different when I started this, do you know that? Oh well. We're all familiar with my near constant digression by now. Back to the matter that used to be at hand. All of us having malts in the parking lot of Kildonan Place, leaning against the Le Baron and generally making loiterers of ourselves. It was then that Celery asked me if I knew what we were going to do all summer. I told him I didn't. He grinned. "But I do." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "So what are we going to do?" "Everything." That's basically what we've done too. Everything and anything that's sounded fun, interesting, or otherwise worth the effort. Many days have been spent at the beach (you probably don't think beaches when or if you ever think Winnipeg, but it gets insanely hot here in the summer, and beach is very necessary for survival). Many more days have been spent watching things. Movies, Celery skateboarding, Jonas and Kyle pretending to make out. That's moved into the realm of no longer freaking me out, so I don't even mind. It's pretty hilarious actually. But sometimes I honestly don't know about those guys. They still don't date much (Sam is basically history), and they are definitely in the freakishly close ranks. But that doesn't have to mean anything. Straight guys can have incredibly close friendships without becoming huge fags for each other. That really doesn't happen that often, or so I hear. Anyway. It's been a great summer so far. Much chillin and illian like a bunch of villains (who doesn't love gangster rhyming?), much fun, and a considerable amount of love. This summer has been a good time to be me and Celery. The twins are at soccer camp, Kara being over at Sue's is pretty much a constant, some of the other bakers take time off so my parents are really busy with the bakery, and Kyle and Jonas know how to give us our space. If it's possible for us to have gotten any closer than we were six weeks ago, then we've done it. I think in total, since our last exam, he's spent two, maybe three nights at Their house, and the rest have been here. Even before that it was getting to be almost nightly. Kyle teases us about it some. Like, earlier into the summer, Cel was feeling kinda sick, and he was afraid I'd like catch it or something, so even though I told him I didn't care, he insisted on not spending the night. When Kyle found me alone in my room he was all, "Wow, this must be like the first night in weeks he hasn't stayed over." While playing up his exaggerated shock. Sort of an exaggeration, but not really. But it's like, not only do we miss each other like crazy, our sleeps are shit if they aren't shared. So for those reasons, plus like, summer, Celery's been showing up on way more than a semi-regular basis these days. I, personally, couldn't be happier. Oh wait, yes I could, if he stayed permanently. Yep. That would definitely make me happier. But I've explained why I'm not going to push for that and I'm sticking to that. A little too much pain for the possible gain. The summer routine is pretty much the same as the school one, minus the going to school and doing homework. Sunday is still official family and Kyle and Jonas day, we're still mostly on our own Saturdays, and the rest of the week is spilt pretty evenly down the middle. A fun - though often confusing - thing about summer, is the way the days seem to run together. Like, I personally never know what day it is in the summer, except when someone suddenly informs me it's the weekend. And I do sort of have an internal 'it's Saturday' clock, but that's about it. Alright, I think I've pretty much caught you up to speed, so, why don't you rejoin the present tense party. Everything's pretty typical, it's Sunday afternoon, Jonas is over and Kyle's around. It's kind of rainy, so we're not at the beach. There's a movie on but no one's watching, it's just background to our conversations, insults, jokes, and goofing around. Every once in awhile Celery will do something way too cute not to merit one and I'll kiss him, which (no surprise here) causes Jonas and Kyle to protest loudly. That or, you know, they'll start making out themselves. Arms around each other and a lot of fake moaning, no actual lip contact. Somehow, this is all a part of their self-appointed duty as proud representatives of the straight community. If it wasn't all in fun, we'd have to kick their asses, but since it is, we fight back the best (not to mention most fun) way by kissing harder and more passionately the louder they protest. They've gotten to know just how long to push before a line is crossed and we lose ourselves in the kiss. If that happens we're out for 15 minutes at least. Mock whining and fake making out is only fun for so long. Kyle is teaching Jonas the rules of some college drinking game (my brother, ladies and gentlemen! The drunk!) when Celery grins at me, and I know exactly what he's thinking. "Dynasty shots?" I say, grinning back. He doesn't bother to say 'of course' but kisses me, which is what we always do when we've read each other. It's just so much fun we have to share the joy somehow and what better way is there? Before the love there was just a lot of grinning and the occasional knuckle connection, but I like this better. "Jeez, the more time I spend with you guys the more sickening you are to watch," Kyle whines. "Aww, you're just jealous," I accuse, my lips still half against Celery's. "I know I am," says Jonas, with an out of place seriousness. "What do you mean? I thought you were I-don't-really-want-to-be-in-a-relationship-right-now guy. Like you could have seen more of Sam - she's great!" He shrugs. "Sure she is. Sam's a great girl and I liked her a lot, but she wasn't not forever material. She didn't give me the 'feeling'. That spark, you know? It was just a high school thing. We had fun together, but she was no soulmate. Half the time I didn't understand her when she's talking, never mind when she wasn't." Celery and I look at each other, both confused by this and at the same time profoundly glad we've found each other. It's something I feel all the time, the gratitude, the deep appreciation, but the reminder that this thing we have is something few people ever get to experience really drives it home hard, making it seem all the more precious. Still, Sam is amazing. You'd think Jonas would have dug her more. She's not the kind of girl who deserves to be taken for granted. Or like, tossed aside. Dismissed as 'highschool' material only. But like, I mean, just because she's great, I guess that doesn't mean she's necessarily great for Jonas. After Jonas and Celery leave (Debbie's stupid mother who she hates is visiting for the weekend, and he has to be around, even though no one will actually acknowledge his presence), before I even say a word Kyle goes into 'lesson mode' and says, "Listen, this is something that I need you to understand okay, not all of us have had the freakish good fortune of exchanging produce with our soulmate at age six. It's not something that happens for everybody, so you've got to have some patience for those of us who aren't sure who we want or when or how or whatever. This whole love thing doesn't come as easy to the rest of us as it does for you and Celery," "Easy?!" "Alright, calm down," he says, grinning. "I didn't mean it like that exactly. I know the road hasn't exactly been free from problems, the getting together part, but the knowing you loved him came easily enough, didn't it? You've always been sure of your feelings," I shrug, feeling my anger dissipate. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that." "That's all I was saying. Some people have a much harder time deciding what their feeling for another person is. It's confusing, so just cut him some slack, okay?" "You got it, big bro." He cuffs me affectionately. "Smart ass." And according to Celery, a pretty sexy one to boot. I wait up for Celery until about 11:30, but finding myself surprisingly tired, and figuring he's just doing the good but unloved grandson thing, go to bed. The second I open my eyes in the morning I have to immediately shut them again. If I hadn't, chances are they would have popped out of my sockets. I take a few seconds and then open them for the second time. Yep. I was right. There he is, just like a second before, lying asleep beside me. The beauty of him distracts me from his presence in general. Once I've snapped out of that (which took awhile, just so you know), I go back to being surprised and a little panicky. He looks fine physically at least, so that's something. And yes, this isn't really all that of an unusual thing anymore, waking up with him in my bed, but when has rational logic ever stopped me before? The answer is never, and most of you actually got it. Good job. I try to calm down and let him sleep which turns out to be not all that hard, as I slip back into the very enjoyable activity that is staring dreamily at the one I love. By the time his eyes are starting to the rapid succession of blinks that always indicates his ascent into wakefulness, I'm almost totally at ease. "Hey," I say, in my almost totally at ease voice. "Hey," he returns and leans (I'm guessing unconsciously) in for a kiss. I meet him halfway. To hell with morning breath. "So, um, you're here," is my statement/question once the kiss is finished. He smiles. "Good to see you picked up on that." "Any particular reason or just 'cause?." He's lying on his stomach, inches away, fiddling with the end of a pillowcase. "I, like," he mutters shyly. "What," he peeks at me, an adorably shy and embarrassed smile on his lovely face. "I missed you. I couldn't sleep on my own last night. I tried, but I couldn't. Dinner and mandatory sitting in silence with everyone in the living room ended so late I wasn't going to come but I was so tired and I wanted to be near you so bad I caved in to myself and dragged my sorry ass over here." I beam. "That's awesome. I'm really glad you came, I missed you too." "You did?" "Yeah. I kept reaching out for you in my sleep and then waking up 'cause you weren't there. Plus, it took me forever to get to sleep fully in the first place, even though I was really tired." "I got here around 1:30 and it looked like you'd just nodded off." "You walked over here at one in the morning?" He shrugs. "Sort of," "Sort of?" "I skated." I nod. "Of course." "So we've officially reached scary, huh? One half night away from each other is more than we can handle?" I shrug. "I'm not too worried about it." He smiles, already moving closer. "Neither am I." It doesn't really matter that it's Monday, just that it's a weekday. That's the only thing that will in anyway affect what we do. Well, that and who's working. We all have jobs, but some of us more than others. Like, Celery works about three days a week at Boarders Anonymous, and Jonas about the same at the Polo Park Silver City. Kyle has roughly 4 shifts a week at the bakery, working downstairs either at the till or in the kitchen itself. Kyle actually likes it down there, in the thick of things, but yech, the heat. So far I've escaped that extremely hot and stressful fate, but there have been dark hints about me, downstairs, and the month of August. What I do now is really boring (but at least cool) stuff like filing and other office type stuff. Sure, I have to put up with guff from Kyle about being like too delicate and stuff to work in the actual bakery, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not the one who's boiling on a semi regular basis. Boring, yeah, but it's really not so bad. Plus, I got to help with the design of the new sign we got last year, which was pretty cool. Both me and Kyle have been like, learning the family business or whatever since we were 15. That's the age when all Vasskez kids get put to work. The whole family always ends up pitching in around Christmas during the rush, which is by far the most insane period of the year, but it's not so bad in the winter. During 35 degree heat, the bakery is absolutely sweltering. Though, even in the winter I usually end up taking phone orders and helping Mom manage stuff. This has less to do with my being delicate than that I'm basically crap at the whole baking thing in the practical sense. Anyway, none of us are working today, but I think I heard Kyle mention something about paint ball. Him and Jonas have already gone a couple times since the break. I personally do not understand the attraction of chasing people around and shooting them with paint, but I'm big on all that to-each-his-own stuff, so whatever. It's something for them to do just the two of them, and as they've been pretty much best friends since day one, it's a good thing for them to have. I don't exactly object to the alone time it affords me and Celery either. But, now that we've just enjoyed a very satisfying round of one of my favourite kinds of alone time, I'm ready to go out into the world a little. After we've taken our shower I ask, "Wanna go skating for a few hours?" "Yeah!" he says, grinning enthusiastically. There's a surprise. "Okay," I say with my indulgent, loving boyfriend smile. We've already used up the coolest part of the day, but Celery's happiness is worth nearly perishing from heat exhaustion for. "You've got your board here, right?" He nods. "Yup. I rode it over here, remember?" Oh right. "Where's yours?" "I dunno, somewhere. I haven't ridden it for awhile," "You don't know where your board is, man?" he asks, in mock disapproval. Or at least, we're hoping it was only mock. I'm not really entirely sure to be honest. I shrug. "It's probably in my closet, I'll go look," I race up the stairs to do just that. For Celery, a board lasts for about every two months if he's skating all the time. Sometimes he won't even make it through the whole summer on the board he gets in spring. In the winter when he's only doing about a session a week at the Edge (that's Winnipeg's skate park), they'll go longer. He doesn't really like parks, but he's too hooked on it to go cold turkey the whole like 5 months of winter we've got down here. I need a new board maybe once a year. We both always buy our equipment at Boarders Anonymous, which for those people who weren't listening before is where Celery works during the summer, so we get discounts and stuff. Which seriously helps, 'cause decks and shit aren't exactly cheap. You can get a good one for like 80 if you're lucky. Celery's decks have to be pretty wide, cause he's so big and stuff, so his are usually more. His summer employment keeps him amply stocked, but like, he could work more if he wanted. When Celery's talking about skateboarding it's like his shyness magically disappears, and he's super knowledgeable, so he's a well valued employee. They'd take him all year round probably. But during school, he's mostly too busy with sports, and well, me. "Got it!" I shout, heading back down the stairs, hoisting up my board for all to see. Celery's the only all, but so what. "Great, let's go," So we go skate for a few hours, and somehow manage to avoid groping each other almost the whole time. Thanks for that sarcastic 'good job'. I really appreciate it. We're just starting to skate home when Celery catches a rock and gets thrown from his board. I've seen it happen to him like a million times before, but watching him fall still freaks me out every time. Like, I'm just into the beginning stages of panic, and he's already up on his feet grinning, but still with the freaking. He gives me a quick hug, kisses my ear, and we get going again. "Are you ever going to get used to that?" he asks, almost teasingly. The almost because he knows it genuinely upsets me, and Celery's much too nice to make jokes about my pain. "No." I leave no room for debate. There's simply no hope. He falls, I get worried. End of story. The number of times I see it happen does not, nor will it ever, change that. " 'Cause, I'm fine. I'm always fine." And I always freak. No matter how many times you fall or we have this conversation. "I know," and he knows about that stuff up there, so I don't have to go repeating it to him. "It's just.." "I know. You hate to see anything take away from the purely joyful experience that is skateboarding. It doesn't. Really, it's all part of the fun," "You getting upset is part of the fun?" "Sure. Or, no. Not the FUN, but the whole package. Like, you can't go to Disneyland without getting freaked out by those giant Mickeys and Tinker Bells. But you still go, and have fun, right?" If it was anyone else but Celery, I'd be getting a 'you're totally insane' look right now. He just nods. "Yeah. I guess." It's no wonder I love him. I'm pretty sure no other person on the planet would have come up with that response. Never mind actually mean it. But that just goes to show you that nobody understands me like my boy. We skate for a little while longer (we're taking the long, meandering route back) and suddenly we're nearing this corner where four guys are playing hackey-sack. I've never been any good, but Celery is. He really likes it too. It's like this mellow, skater sub-culture thing for him. For me, the major attraction is getting to say stuff like, 'can we join your hack?' and other sentences using the word hack. That's just pure fun. We get closer, and I realize one of the guys is Kaleb. I'm not sure how this will work. We could just skate by, or wave at least, and then keep going. I'm not really thinking joining this particular hack would be the right move. I look over at Celery. He's doing the blank stare thing, but his eyes are doing a pretty good impression of the concrete, so yeah with the not stopping. Kaleb just waved though. We wave back. Uh-oh, he's calling us over. This has not good written all over it. Still, potential catastrophe or not, we get off our boards and walk over. "Dudes!" He's tanned nicely, I notice. Damned good looking Kaleb who likes 80's movies and probably Buffy too. "Hey, Kaleb," I say. Celery can't seem to choke out a greeting, but he nods at least. And in some countries that thing on his face could pass for a smile. "How's your summer going?" "Really good, yours?" His grin's like tripled in size. It's kind of a weird one too. All proud and gleeful and stuff, like a little kid's. "It's been awesome." Hold on! Note dreamy tone! Note blushing of cute blonde fellow hack member! "Yeah? That's great - done anything especially exciting or have you just been like hanging out?" More proud and gleeful. More blushing from blond fellow hack member. "Um, well, exciting, I'd say." He scratches his forehead a little and then grins up at us again, like he's getting over his case of the shy. "Especially this one thing actually," he looks over at the blushing blonde, who ducks his head but still doesn't say a word. "Carrots, Celery, I want you to meet Shane, he's my boyfriend," "Dude," Shane reproaches in a voice so soft it's barely even a whisper. It sort of suits him though. He's not exactly girly, but everything about him is sort of gentle. But he gives off a really sweet, nice vibe. And he's very cute. I like him already. Celery is also clearly a fan. He may even be warming up to Kaleb. "Nice to meet you, Shane," I say. I think if I tried to shake his hand or something it would probably like spook him, but I try to convey my sincerity in my smile and tone. "Yeah," Celery speaks with a gentleness I don't possess, and with that one little word Shane totally relaxes. Maybe Cel's putting out shy guy pheromones or something, but whatever it is, it's done the trick on Shane. "Wanna play for awhile?" Kaleb asks. Celery looks at me, and I shrug. Then he looks at the other two guys in the hack. They smile. "The more the merrier, dudes," one says. It's like, man, where did all the surfers come from? This the is fucking prairie here, people! Oh well. I say dude too sometimes. It's time to check my judgmentalness at the hack. You'll notice I've been saying 'hack' as much as possible. That's because it's so much fun! I told you guys that. "Kay, cool." So Cel falls into the hack and they all do their mellow rhythm thing for awhile, but I stay on the sidelines watching. Happy to be watching. After a few minutes Kaleb breaks away from the others, and stands over by me. "Wanna go for a quick walk around the block?" he asks me, grinning shyly now. I look over at Celery, and big surprise, his eyes are fixed on us. But here's the surprise part, there's no concern or turmoil in them, just your everyday curiosity. The way he'd look at me if I was talking to Jonas about something he couldn't hear, or Kyle. Definite getting of a major happy about that. "Yeah, sure," I say. I smile at Celery, and he smiles and nods 'see you soon' back. Kaleb blows a sweet kiss to Shane, who gets all cutely embarrassed again, and then we start walking. "He's pretty cute, dude," I say, letting Kaleb know right away what the topic of conversation will be, though, I'm sure that's why he wanted to talk in the first place. "I know, and he's SO sweet, I really like him," "That's really great." He looks at me with all gravity. "He's not rebound boy. I saw you looking at him, all concerned, like you were afraid I was going to break his tender little heart. But it's not like that. I'm not settling." He sneaks another shy grin at me. "I had to chase him for awhile," I laugh. "How'd you meet him anyway?" "He lives on my block. I just never really talked to him before 'cause he goes to a different school. I met his friends first, you know, those guys Matt and Aaron? The ones playing hackey-sack with us," "Oh yeah, right." "Matt works with me at Pizza Hut and Aaron's his cousin. They all live around here though, and they're like really good friends. They're straight, but they have wicked gaydar - either that or I'm totally faggy. Anyway, they pegged me right away. I was a little worried when Matt up and said, 'so you're gay, huh, Kaleb' one afternoon, but they're totally cool. We get along great. Like the second thing he said after that was, 'cause if you are, I know this really cute guy and I'm going to set you up.' That was like, it. The next thing I know, there's Shane. They didn't tell him what was going on, or even that I was gay, they just started inviting him along on all the stuff they were doing with me.Even though it was like a set up, I couldn't help but like Shane. And I was pretty much ready for that too, you know? Like, by the time I was ready to admit it was time to get over you, I was already nearly there, you know? That was the hardest part, actually saying to myself I had to give it up. That was more of a hurdle than getting over the feelings themselves after that, or like, that was when I started dealing with the fact that I was dealing with them. I know I'm probably making like no sense whatsoever, but I'm just trying to make you understand that I'm really serious about Shane. I think I might even love him, I don't know. It's a totally different thing than it was with you. With Shane, I WANT to fall in love, with you I had to do everything in my power for that not to happen. I only sort of succeeded too," He looks over me again. "Am I like boring you?" "Not at all," I say, meaning it totally. I'm like riding the joy wave here. We might finally get to be friends! Plus you can just like HEAR the love in his voice when he's talking about Shane. It's so beautiful. Like, make jokes if you want, I know that's a dorky thing to say, but it's like true and stuff. Kaleb deserves to be happy, and I think he finally is. This is like make my week type news. "Please continue." He's all grin all the time. "So like I was saying, set-up or not, there was no stopping the big like. He's so cute, I mean, the way he acts too. If you get to know him, you'll understand what I mean. He's nothing like you, or me," I don't comment. "But I love that about him. He like challenges me to be more sensitive and gentle. And he's SO shy! It took me forever to win him over. I knew he liked me, but man, did that take a long of cajoling to get out." He sighs, no other way to put it, blissfully. "But it was worth it. We've only been going out for like, I don't know - okay, that's a lie, I do - 8 days, but it's been so intense. The whole time before the actual event of getting together was supercharged too." "When did you actually meet?" "The day after exams finished, Matt brought him over after work. I think I fell right then actually, just seeing him in the in the doorway of my house, almost too nervous about meeting someone new to even step inside. The way he kept tucking his hair back and smiling shyly whenever I talked to him," more with the blissful sighing. "Definitely not a random crush. I feel so insignificant in comparison," I'm actually joking about the fact that he used to like me! This couldn't get any better! Kaleb laughs. "Well, you missed your chance, what can I say? I'm all Shane's now," that's one more sigh for the blissful big board. "For as long as he wants me." We've just been circling the block, and we're back at the curb now, ready to stop I think. The second we're in view, two things happen. Or, the same one thing happens to two people. Celery locks me in a gaze that I swear is powerful enough to physically pull me over to him, and Shane does the exact same thing with Kaleb. We break the killer gazes with our boyfriends to grin at each other, and then we like lazily sprint over to them. I take Celery's hand, and Kaleb wraps his arms around Shane's waist. Matt and Aaron complain about gay love fests in the middle of the street and the further decline of public decency. It's a great moment. We do a little more corner chilling before doing all the great to see you, see ya around stuff and skating off. "Are you mad at me?" "Mad at you?" he says, laughing. "Why, did you make out with Kaleb while you were on that walk?" "No!" I say, hitting him with his hat. "Dummy." Instead of giving him his hat back, I keep it. Every once in awhile, I like to wear it. It makes me feeling like I'm wearing a part of him. "But, like, I left you with three total strangers, I know that isn't exactly your dream situation," About half way down the block I'd realized what I had done, and I almost doubled back, but the need to talk things over one final time with Kaleb had overridden that. I told myself it was just me doing the irrational freaking anyway, which probably wasn't worth going back for. "It was okay. All we did was play, no big." "Well, good." I'm not really all that surprised. Celery likes it so much 'cause he finds playing hackey-sack relaxing, so I figured the activity would counteract the strangeness of the people involved. "How'd your talk go?" "Great!" I say, finding my enthusiasm once again. "He's like totally in love with Shane, it's so cute." He nods, smiling. "That was pretty clear. I think it's very kick ass. No more unrequited for him either - that's for sure. It was really sweet, the whole time we were playing, you could totally tell how distracted Shane was, waiting for Kaleb to come back. It wasn't even that he was worried or anything, he just didn't seem to be able to stand not being in Kaleb's presence," remind you of anyone? "You know he's you, right?" He laughs a bit, but then he says, "Yeah," both serious and happy. He turns on his board, a little ahead of me and we're face to face. "Just like Kaleb's you," It may sound weird, but that's pretty much the way it is. You must have noticed the freakish similarities between us. I've even been like trying to point them out to you, you know, to help the slower ones. And it doesn't take much to see Shane's a smaller, slightly shyer, Manitoban surfer dude version of Celery. I feel a heavy sense of peace. It's all as it should be now. I'm here with the rest of me, with my other half, and now, finally, Kaleb's found his. And when it comes to boys like us, we need our Celerys and Shanes desperately. They make us happy and they make us complete, and if nothing else, we need them to keep us in line. Home, rested from our skating, Celery and I are just getting over a heavy make out session when we hear door slammage and rowdy talking emanating from the hall. Jonas and Kyle have returned. This fact is proved beyond a shadow of a doubt when they stroll through the living room doorway a few seconds later. I know, what were we doing on the couch. It's not like I don't have a bedroom, with a bed, and like, a door that locks. I don't know what to say! We're hooked on it! It's a thing. We sit on the couch, we TRY to watch a movie or channel surf, but instead, we inevitably end up with our tongues down each other's throats. Blame it on the hormones, man. That, and how ridiculously hot Celery is. "Hey, guys," I say. "Have fun?" They're still a bit battle scarred, and there will be bruises later, but there's that whole glow thing going on as well. Grins too. I'm thinking, yeah to my question. "Course! Always," Jonas says enthusiastically. "You dudes HAVE to come along sometime," "Can't do it, man, it's just not our thing," "That's what you said about the party!" "Give it up, Jonas, there's just no talking to some people. I've been trying for years, and they shoot me down every time. It's not in the cards." Jonas doesn't look ready to let it go. "Before I die, you will have played a round of paint ball," he says all serious predicty. "Whatever," Celery says, dismissively. Probably wants to move on to another topic. One a little less paint ball related, I'm guessing. Like, say, anything. "This is where I say anyway," I say. "I need a shower," Kyle announces. "Me too," Jonas agrees. They look at each other. It's a VERY freaky moment. There's eye lockage. There's eerie silence. "You go first," I try not to let out too loud a gasping breath. This naturally doesn't stop them from all laughing at me. The bastards. I thought we were past this. "Sorry, dude, but that was WAY too perfect. How could we pass up an opportunity like that?" I glare at him, Jonas. "Bah humbug to you all," I say, getting up. You know how I like standing for effect. Or you should. I've done it before. "You're mad at me too, baby?" Celery asks, hurt baby puppy dog voice, big droopy eyes, stuck out lip. Double bastard. "No," I sigh, annoyed to have been beaten by his look. He kisses me. And pulls me into his lap. I feel better. The lap thing is pretty standard issue with us now. It seems like he's forever pulling me into his lap these days. I tease him about it sometimes, saying he only does as a cover to spare himself from embarrassment (no, I'm not going to explain to you what kind, figure it out yourself), but, actually, once or twice, that's really been true. Not this particular time though. Pretending to be disgusted with the whole thing, Kyle heads up the stairs to take his shower. Jonas plunks himself down on the carpet, avoiding the furniture 'cause of the like paint residue and stuff. "So, since you weren't off doing the sensible thing and playing paint ball with me and Kyle, I'm forced to ask this question, what were you up to?" Oh no. I groan. Jonas is confused. I nod over at Celery, he's grinning. "Last time I checked? About 6' 4"," Is that not the CORNIEST joke you've EVER heard? There's too much corniness to even comprehend. Jonas puts my groan to shame. "That was BAD, dude." Everywhere! The word 'dude' has taken over the planet! "Survival tip number one - absolutely crucial to successful friendship with Celery - NEVER say that. Never say anything that can be made into a bad pun. For example, do not, whenever it can be avoided, say 'so' and then nothing, do you know why?" He laughs. "Don't tell me - no, but I knit a little?" "That's right. Also, try not to talk about solos," You know. I'm singing a solo - yeah! So low you can't hear me! Isn't that something you'd want to avoid? "How long has this been going on?" I shake my head. "Forever. Since he was like 7. The doctors tell me there's no cure." About now, Celery's had enough, so he smacks my shoulder and tells me to shut up. "Kay," I'm in a real giving mood. "Since I actually sort of care, let me rephrase my question. What did you guys do today?" "We went skating," "Okay. Try it again for the millionth time," Jonas says, nodding. "But on our way home, things got a little more interesting," Celery feigns hurt. "You didn't find skating with me interesting," "Being you is always the highlight of my life, love, you know that," I say, doing the gentle loving tone followed by a kiss thing even though I know he was joking. I have to keep up with him with my sweetness points. "And once again, my question gets abandoned on the roadside," "Oh, sorry, Jonas!" I say, ending the lip lock. "Back to the tale of what was interesting. As we were skating home, we ran into an old friend." "Who?" "Kaleb." He gets a bit tense. "What'd he do?" I laugh. "Nothing! Well, introduced us to his new boyfriend," Jonas grins. "Really? That's kick ass," "That's what I said," Celery butts in. "And he's totally cute, and really sweet too. We think they're in love." "Well, good for Kaleb." And then for the pause wherein Jonas shoots me a slightly dangerous looking mischievous look. "Cute, huh?" Oh yeah. Way to be a pal. Really. Thanks SO much. Celery jumps right on the bandwagon. "Yeah! Checking out the sights eh! Hussy," Forget about that other stuff. What's most disturbing here is, that's not the first time he's called me that. You'd think a 21st Century teenage male would come up with a slightly more up to date insult. But, Celery's old-fashioned boy, so I don't know why I'm surprised. "Whatever. I was only looking out for Kaleb, he deserves a hot boyfriend. But since he can't have me - at least a okay looking one." "What I love most about him is his modesty," Celery whispers confidentially to Jonas. Who nods in the same down low conspiratorial manner. Everybody's a comedian. "I thought what you loved most about me was my ass?" That's another win for me. He's blushing his pants off. Jonas is back on my side too, laughing off his. What can I say? I'm the greatest. Celery's about finished his pouting, and Jonas is down to the occasional chuckle by the time Kyle comes rolling down the stairs, still towelling his hair and wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. What the hell? We don't walk around shirtless in this family. It's just not something that's done. He grins at me, and I glance over at Jonas. I'm not 100%, and yeah, it was probably just my imagination, but I think I saw him look. At Kyle I mean. But like, LOOK. Hungrily. The me looking at Celery without a shirt look. Then it's gone, and he's getting up off the floor. "My turn," I watch Jonas bound up the stairs, and so does Kyle. When my eyes move to look questioningly at Celery, he shrugs, as confused by the whole display as me. "Kyle?" I actually had to snap him out of a reverie. WHAT'S going on?! There's no way this is all some elaborate plot to get me to freak out. All this work for one laugh at my expense? Not even Kyle would go that far. At least, I don't think. "What?" Way too genuine a what. Too hazy, too, emerging from my dreamy daze. I'm swimming. I have no clue what's going on. I mean, IS something going on? You tell me. 'Cause I'm completely wigged. Jonas comes back from his shower, and when everything just goes on as normal, I decide it was all in my imagination. Like, so he looked at Kyle. How is that a big deal? I mean, I looked at Kyle. That doesn't mean anything. He's my brother. He's Jonas's best friend. I just overreacted. That's all. Summer keeps going by until it's suddenly into the final days of July. Hot days and humid nights. Work, play, sleep, love. Days blend together like they do, and time just passes. The best thing about this summer so far I'd have to say, is how much closer we're all getting. There really wasn't much closer for me and Celery to get, but the four of us are really growing together. Kyle and Jonas are like totally tight, and it's really great to see. I can't remember seeing my brother more happy. And Jonas has certainly blossomed from the razor-tongued kid we first met all those months ago. He was always cool, but his whole Zen philosophy only started to show itself in the past like two months or so, since we've all been getting close. I'm glad to have Jonas in my life, for himself, and also because of how much closer I've gotten to Kyle because of it. It's like we've gotten back the closeness of our youth, and I think I have Jonas's presence to thank for that. It was really only after Jonas started hanging around that Kyle became such a regular fixture in my life again. I finally know what it feels like to have more than one close friend, and add that to being more in love with Celery than I even thought possible, and I think I can confidently say I'm about the happiest guy in the world right now. --- What's that? Could that be ominous music I hear starting to play softly in the background????