Right Turn

((Oh boy. Well... this story has all but taken over my imagination. I can't wait for it to be DONE!!!! *sob* Hee hee. I'm so glad everyone is enjoying this as much as I am. It's made me realize what a lonely business it must be for some writers and how glad I'm only a hack amateur so I don't have to do this alone! *s*

Yue!!!! YES! MORE! Your veesh ees my coh-mandah.
Some Chick: Hee hee. I take it as a serious compliment when more than one review comes up in a row. Woo hoo! And however it ends, I hope you enjoy it. :) We're nearing the end! Only about three more weeks left "story time" wise.
D-Puppy: *sob* I do remember! I had intended for it to be like a one shot only done over a few days. Four short chapters at best. Sad for me! *boo hooing* And Kyler's sexuality... I don't know! And even if I DID know, I'd never say! Muahahahaaa! Oho oho oho ohooo.. oh the powaaaahhh! *sniff, wipe eyes* hee hee.
Mvixy: Heh. Okay.. I promise there'll be some smut somewhere... though the way I'm watching the pair that ends up, things might not be until the last chapter. Hopefully though.. there'll be another smooching session between Ben and his two lead guys (heh) NO! not all at once! Ewww! Ben would kill me!!
Dana: *S* Just reviewing is wonderful! I don't mind time lapses! Reviewing ONCE is marvelous in my book! Stuck between which of the guys is best, eh? I like them both too. I'm not sure, but I think it would be fun if the odd man out (Heck, might be BEN! *L* Ky and Jack would be a nice couple too, dontcha think?) could have his own romance later on down the line? Dunno. Just a thought.
Some child looking entirely into things: Hee hee. You have some very nice arguments there. I'll have to take them under consideration. :)
Penguin17: Ooooo... You think too? I love black haired, grey eyed guys. Probably from having a crush on Tarzan when I was a kid. Something about the Lord of Greystoke being all tan and with those steel grey eyes... nummmm.. *L* I read too much when I was a kid.
Kristin: Ooo! Hey! One review is more than enough! And I'm glad you're enjoying it enough to want to review!

And left of the stop light on Main, just past the Seven Eleven you just take a...))

Right Turn

Kyler proved to be no help at all. The idiot stood there, acting like he was enjoying the show while Ben proceeded to make a bigger ass out of himself than he'd already managed to do. He was just short of getting onto his hands and knees.

"Claire, please. You know I can be an ass. You know that and I'm a prick too and a jerk and everything you told me I was. I just.."

Claire turned to look at him for the first time in nearly five minutes of wheedling to fix him with a stare.

Hey, it was progress. Now if she'd just blast him. That was the problem. Normally Claire would have hit him with both barrels. She'd have given him every single evil thought in her tiny, cute, cheerleaderish body. He knew he was in deep shit because when he'd come to up her, she hadn't said a word, hadn't looked at him.

Kyler had only sniggered. The idiot was enjoying the show.

"Baby, I'm a neanderfuck. You know, like a neanderthal only way, way worse? I'm stinky and hairy and I've got a bad habit of putting my foot into my mouth. You gotta forgive me, Claire. You gotta take me back. Fuck, I sound like you dumped me!" Ben was feeling a bit better, getting a bit goofy, happy that Claire was watching him, looking at him with her impassive expression, her cold gaze. Hell, she hated him so much she wasn't even glaring at him. But she was looking at him!

"Maybe you need to make a deal with her like you did with me," Kyler, Oh Unhelpful One, spouted off.

"You made a deal with him?" Claire asked Kyler with a frown, turning away from Ben.

Ben groaned and slumped against the side of the locker. "Ky, you're making this out to be something nasty. It's not like I promised to give you head if you - " he stopped at the look from his now, painfully ex-friend. "I didn't offer!" he held up his hands. "I'm such a geek."

"Sure are," Kyler agreed.

"Shut up, Ky."

"Anything you say, Benjaminnnn" Kyler grinned evilly.

Ben had made a huge mistake in agreeing to that.

"Look, guys," Claire's voice sounded exhausted, almost... beaten down, to Ben's ears. "I don't have time or energy to referee your stupid get-into-each-other's-pants fights. You'll have to do it on your own." She hefted her books in her hand and slammed the locker. "I gotta get to class." She didn't look at either of them but grabbed Jen, who had been silent the entire time's hand and dragged the other girl off down the hallway.

Ben smacked Kyler in the chest. "Thanks, Jock Boy."

Kyler smiled and slumped next to him. Ben was painfully aware of how warm Kyler's arm was next to his, but he wasn't about to give anyone the satisfaction of making him move out of discomfort. "You know," the athlete murmured, "I think you really hurt her feelings. She has been bitchy for days now. She misses you."

Ben frowned, looking up. "Me? Fuck-ever. She hates my guts, man."

"Didn't your parents teach you about language? You swear like a sailor."

"My dad was a sailor."

"I thought he was a scientist.. like a lizard scientist or a bug guy or something."

"Whatever is right. And he was a sailor before. For the navy. Look, Ky. That didn't help."

Kyler rubbed his scalp and gave a sigh of resignation. "Yeah, well, I"ll explain it to her. Hey, we were going to run to my folks' restaurant for some burgers. You wanna come?" The larger boy was studying his shoes, turning them from side to side in much the same way Ben had been the other day, checking to see if there had been any ..erm... feces... on them.

By way of noticing, Ben gazed down at those feet too. Kyler's feet were huge compared to his. It made him feel like a little kid.

"Sure," Ben shrugged. "Claire will kill me, but it'll give me a chance to talk to her, you think?" he looked up sidelong at Kyler only to see the other boy turning to look down the hall after the now departed back of their friend.

"Yeah. That's just what I was thinking."

Kyler must have warned Claire that it was going to happen, that Ben was going to be there, because Jen didn't come and Claire didn't even look at Ben when they all piled into Kyler's truck. Ben, cognizant of how small spaces could be dangerous with overly enraged females, kept his mouth shut until they got to the restaurant.

"You guys stay out here and talk. I'll go and get us some food," Kyler offered helpfully and left. Ben scootched over to the driver's side and lifted a knee, turning to gaze at Claire. The blonde girl stared out the front window with her hands in her lap and her jaw set in a stubborn line.

"Claire," Ben let out a breath that he would probably need later, "I-"

"You never thought about me." She interrupted him and her fists bound up angrily. "You were so pissed at me when I became friends with Kyler. You never even tried to find out what it was about him that I liked. Instead, you just kept on being an ass to him and to me whenever he was around. Do you know how bad that sucked? I love you, Ben. You're an asshole, but I love you. And then I start really caring for Kyler and he's tried to be sweet about it. But you never tried to help.

"I don't know. If I'd never become friends with Ky, maybe I wouldn't have known how caught up in yourself you are. It's just he's so nice about everything. He puts me before his anger at you and how you treat him. He was willing to let you treat him like shit." She paused and turned her head slowly, as if she were under deep water. It reminded him of that drive they'd taken to Kyler's field and how she'd sagged against him and cried.

It hurt that she wasn't going to him for support now. Even though he'd been the one to make the trouble for her. Hypocritical, maybe, but who ever said emotions followed a pattern that was logical and realistic?

She was silent and he felt the pressure to say something. He couldn't keep her eyes and had to turn his eyes away. "Claire..." he knew there was something he should say there, right then. Only he wasn't ever that quick of a thinker when it came to patching up shit he'd spread.

She gave an exasperated noise of disgust and rolling her eyes, shoved the door open. "Never mind," she said in that voice that meant he'd just managed to make things worse.

"Fuck, Claire!" he ground out, reaching and grabbing her arm. "What do you want me to say? I can't read your mind. That's the reason I'm glad I'm gay, because I don't have to try and figure out this shit. I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry in a million different ways. I don't know what other way to say I'm sorry."

Relieved to find she wasn't leaving but worried because the car door remained ajar, he slowly let go and ran his hand up and down his leg, from knee to ankle. "I-" he stammered into silence but afraid that it would drive her away again, he dumbly ploughed into whatever would keep her there. "I've been talking to Jack online. He was telling me about being gay and maybe I just took it to heart a bit harder than I should. I was caught up in how hard it was to come out and how you'd always stuck up for me. Shit, you scared the piss out of anyone who looked at me funny. You were like Super Bitch, you know?" He smiled and felt his body wash with warmth as she chuckled and nodded. Getting somewhere, maybe.

"Well, I think I've wanted to do that for Jack too. He's so scared to come out, scared what everyone will think of him. And ..." he slumped. Truth hurt when it finally came to the surface. "Look, Ky's always been nice to me, no matter how mean I am to him. I guess, even when he was being an ass, he was still protecting me and it was always the way that I knew he was more being pushed to his limit and a lot less like he was trying to make me miserable? He's always been the safe one to try out my .." he laughed, "Kyler called it my 'heterphobia.' Neat word, huh?"

Claire snorted. "That fits you to a T, Ben."

"Me? I gotta friend who're heterosexual! You remember Mickey?"

"Mickey's bi."

"Shit."

Claire's laugh was so sweet. It made Ben smile.

Ben held out a hand and gave it a waggle inward, shifting his leg so that Claire could scoot back and lean against his chest. Tucking his arm around his friend he sighed in happiness. "I've been a jerk. And I swear I did apologize to him."

"Yeah, he explained it all," Claire chuckled. "He's got you eating out of his hand now."

"Awe, I'm still gonna talk mean to him. He just knows I don't mean it now." Ben shrugged and her head bobbed some on his shoulder.

Claire chuckled. "And you're sure of this?"

Ben laughed. "Sure, Ky knows I love'm.." he grinned.

"I do?" the amused voice slid through the slightly open driver's side window.

"Don't read anything into it, Ky," Ben smirked. "I'm still gonna make you pay for a new pair of shoes. I got shit all over my other ones and those things cost me like... sixty bucks!"

The door opened behind him but Ben straightened and shoved Claire over. They phased from angry uncertainty to a fresh scented comraderie like preschoolers do after a spat over who gets to play with the barbies. All of their hurt feelings left behind in the oil spattered pavement of Davis Burgers' parking lot.

Because that's where it belonged.

ImKawaii: Didn't see you. Sorry it took me so long to say hi.
BestKSSD17: That's okay. I figured you had something going. Hello.
ImKawaii: Thanks for the note today. I'm still blushing.
ImKawaii: I'd thought you weren't going to give me notes anymore. But I am glad you haven't stopped.
BestKSSD17: You liked it? Then that's good. I wanted to make you smile. You looked like you were having a rough morning.
ImKawaii: Yeah. But it's all good now. Mr. ... well, the guy I used to call Mr. Prick Wad (formerly known as lol!) and me made up so then Claire is talking to me now.
ImKawaii: And you know? He's not such a bad guy. You'd probably like him.
BestKSSD17: Oh. I don't know about that. I'd have to try talking to him maybe.
ImKawaii: Try it. He's cool.
ImKawaii: And my sister is being a bitch and trying to push me off so she can chat with her bf. He's staying in Florida right now with his step sister. I'm jealous. It's warmer down there.
BestKSSD17: Okay. Sleep sweetly, Sweet.
ImKawaii: You too. :) Take care. And you sleep good too. And hey! Only two weeks til graduation! WOO HOO!
BestKSSD17: lol! I agree!
ImKawaii: Damn sister. Bai!