Right Turn

((Hello everyone! Thank you for reading! It's marvelous that so many are enjoying this as well! (Besides me - hee hee) And THANK YOU to everyone who is a faithful reviewer! You all keep me writing this as often as I do! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!

THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO: Earthgurl. Happy Birthday, honey!

::Anon: Oooo... hints, hints, hints! You gotta loves those. ;)
::Yue! Yay! You do catch everyone when it comes up! That's awesome!
::Haywire_Hakaze: Thank ya! Hee hee. And can't wait myself! ^__^;;
::anon: Well, I've read through last chapter and if you got lost, I apologize! ^^;; I could have delineated better. However I wanted it to remain slightly confusing. I suppose that whole chapter reminds me of someone far older than Ben has been in my mind. Maybe he's growing up? *LOL* I don't know. As for your questions: Ben and Jack are friends. Ben and Kyler and Claire are friends. Jack crashed the party - because Ben waved him over. And I do realize that there was a huge gap there in time. As of last chapter, we're at 2 weeks prior to graduation.
::EarthGurl: You lovely wonderful woman! :) I'm glad you liked it! Hee hee. I think I wrote that dream sequence with Devon too much on my mind. (So you can imagine where it all came from! That boy has a one track mind! *placing all blame on Devon and hiding before he can dispute it*) Thank you SOOO much for reading this! You know how much I appreciate it!
::some chick: LMAO!!! Oh my gosh. Then if Jack ends up being the guy, I should expect a public tongue lashing, eh? ^^ I like Ky too. Of course, I like Jack too. He's turning out to be different from what I'd expected at the beginning. Heck, all of them are! I hate that when C's change around on you.
D-Puppy: Oh dear... them being seniors is a bad thing? I had no idea! I'm sorry!!!
Ashlee: Darn Kyler. The only excuse I have for him not being in the story enough is that he's supposedly in the mail right now. *w*

So from here on out, you just go straight and miss the last...))

Right Turn

"Ben?" his mother called, "Have you picked up your gown or do I need to do that?"

Jack smiled from where he sat in the chair at the dining room table. "You haven't picked yours up yet?"

"Shut up," Ben laughed. "I'll do that today, mom!"

His mother, a slender, bird like woman, entered with her hair drawn back into a pony tail. She was a beautiful woman when she tried. Otherwise, it was easy to underestimate her. Something her colleagues at the Icanis Corp. had done for the first year. Until her research findings proved the making of the company. And the respect for her in the field had only grown when she refused to take an administration job, remaining on the research level.

Her drive made her severe looking, yet she smiled as she nodded to Jack and ran her hands through her son's hair.

"I just combed it, mom," Ben grumbled and finger combed it back into place, messing it up in the way he'd wanted it messed.

She laughed. "Hi Jack. Are you ready? What college are you thinking of going to?"

Jack shrugged and smiled secretively at Ben. "I dunno. I was thinking of maybe taking a year off. I wanted to go on one of those English teaching years in another country maybe. See what's over there and then come back?"

"Oh? Do you know any other languages?" Ben's mother asked.

"Two years in German. I don't know what that will do for me. And if I can't do that, I might grab a friend or two and just go overseas for a while. My dad was a real traveler and wants me to get a year in before I go to college." Jack smiled. "My dad is trilingual. I never got there."

"Ah, well you'll be sure to have plenty of beautiful pictures and experiences, I'm sure," Ben's mother added, but like all times when she was deep into a project, her attention span lapsed quickly and she was already onto something else. "Ben, don't forget. I don't want to have to remember for you tomorrow."

Ben smiled and kissed his mother good bye. "Sure thing mom. C'mon Jack."

Ben shoved his pack behind the seat and turned to stare at Ben. "I didn't know you wanted to go away next year." He hadn't been too seriously considering what colleges had teaching in them as opposed to just engineering, Yet he had to admit to looking at what was offered before he put in to the various universities.

Jack shrugged. "Sure. I mean, like I said. My dad wants me to take time off."

"What about your mom?" Ben asked uncertainly.

Another shrug. This one more diffident than before. "She doesn't care," he said and then, "Hey, so you're going to Senior Night with Claire and Kyler. You think I could tag along?"

Ben laughed. "I don't see why not. So long as you're not scared of Kyler and his big homophobic act."

Jack's eyes rolled. It was obvious that his initial worry over Kyler was gone and he stretched some with a clever look. "I dunno, maybe we can convince him to come over to the dark side."

And then he giggled. Ben could have broken out laughing at how cute it was. A giggle. And Jack giving him that sidelong look.

The rest of the day flew past and Ben managed to survive the drive home in Kyler's truck with Claire prattling on and on about how she'd get Jen to go out on a date with her. Kyler's calm responses were muted but enough to keep the girl talking and to keep them both off of Ben's back.

It was a sort of dreamy happiness that he walked in the rest of the week and really, it wasn't until the next Monday when things got confusing. Hard even. Jack continued to pick him up in the morning and Ben lived for those mornings. But more than that, was the way Jack had come to almost expect to be included, how he'd just walk up and attach himself to Ben with that beautiful smile of his. Often times a blush if Claire or Kyler looked at him too closely. But other than that, Ben got the feeling that he was getting a lot farther.

He also had a new appreciation for Claire's issue with Jen. It wasn't as if they were dating. But given the darker looks Kyler sometimes gave or the winks Claire would send his way, they must have seemed to be.

And Jack didn't want to be out yet. Ben didn't want to, but it was one of those gotta talk about it things.

So instead of having Kyler pick him up, he'd begged Jack to do it instead. And now they sat outside Davis Burgers with two shakes and the quiet sitting in the car with them.

"I don't know," Jack finally broke in, answering Ben's question. "I didn't ever think of it that way, that we were acting like we were going out? But you're sure? I mean, no one has said anything to me about it."

For a guy who was worried about coming out, Jack was taking this rather well. Ben frowned. "Well, Kyler's always glaring at us. That's usually a good sign. His gay-dar is almost as good as mine."

Jack laughed. "Then it's not that good. You didn't know I was bi for weeks. Everyone said you were asking. Or maybe it only works for straight gay guys?" he lifted a brow.

Ben, who hadn't really ever tried to figure out how far along the spectrum Jack was, couldn't quite contain his surprise. "Well, I don't know. You sure you're bi? I thought you said you were gay."

"One part of me is," Jack nodded. "But if I say it, I usually say I'm bi. You know. It makes it easier to figure out that I'm not covering myself and keeping to the closet when I date girls."

"But you are keeping to the closet," Ben puzzled.

"In a way, yeah. I guess I am. I mean, I don't go around broadcasting it. But how're we gonna let everyone know the truth? I mean, that's sort of what you wanted to talk about right?"

"You want them to know the truth?" Ben fiddled with his straw, jacking it up and down in his cup.

"Why not? It would be easier, don't you think? Then we can deal with Kyler and all that," Jack blushed. He was cute when he blushed.

"Sure, I guess it would be." Ben couldn't shake the feeling he was missing something very important here. Something that he should know. As if they were talking on two very different planes. Had he been honest enough? Were they both on the same page? "We are talking about you and me, aren't we?" he asked softly.

Jack nodded. "Exactly. I mean, we don't want you to be all alone in this, because you're not. Alone I mean," and Jack reached out and took Ben's hand.

Ben swore he'd never wash his hand again. He cradled it all night, only okaying its use when he was typing a hello to the gorgeous guitar player that night.

BestKSSD17: Hey. You're on early.
ImKawaii: Why wouldn't I be? I get a chance to be with the most amazing guy in the world. I would be flying hi, hon. I swear, I'm babbling already. Stop me! Kiss me! Come over! You can, you know. We totally need to break through this thing.
ImKawaii: And you can't tell me that you don't want to. You can't tell me you don't want to spend all of Senior night with me, kissing in the back room. Doesn't that sound just awesome? Fuck em all and what they think, hon.
ImKawaii: Yeah?
BestKSSD17: Woah, you're... are ... lol Are you feeling okay? What's caused this huge change?
ImKawaii: Well, it all started with this weird dream I was having. See... and I'm gonna use names now. I was having a wet dream the other day. A while ago. I was in class, only I was at home.
BestKSSD17: Hunh?
ImKawaii: And I go to the door and there's my brown haired guitarist standing there and I'm like, "Shit, what would he think if he knew I was having a wet dream about Kyler? Especially after we talked about Ky after the pizza thing. I mean, I know he's hot and all..." but that's freaky in a dream. So we're like kissing (the dream was weird - hence a dream) and then my guitarist boy with the gorgeous green eyes is feeling me up and I'm like... oooooo. LOL!! Only he smells like Kyler did when I had to go work with him to shovel shit. And this is a really twisted thing. Why am I telling you this?
ImKawaii: What do YOU think? Can you read anything in that?
BestKSSD17: no
ImKawaii: Me neither! LOL Dunno why I brought it up. I was just trying to show you what it all means. I mean, how I feel about you. I wanna be kissing the real thing, you know? I want you to come over or I want to drag you off during senior night. I'm an eighteen year old virgin, baby... and you're the guy I want.
ImKawaii: Please don't say I'm pushing. Don't say I'm pushing, okay? I mean, this is just me. you know me. I'm crazy. You love that about me. But dammit, it's not all hormones. You're amazing. You listen to me. You want to know what's going on in my life. You're really smart and funny. I've enjoyed our talks here more than anything. I love this Fairy Tale that we've made. I want to make it into a reality.
ImKawai: Hon?
ImKawaii: you there
ImKawaii: ?
ImKawaii: Hello?
BestKSSD17: Ben, I can't do this. I'm sorry.
ImKawaii: WTF? What do you mean? Are you listening to me? Did you even HEAR what I'm saying to you? I want this to be real. Why can't we be real? You're almost real now! What have you got to lose?
ImKawaii: Hello? Dammit! Will you answer me! Don't go off misunderstanding what I'm saying. You're really freaking me out here. You think you can just wander around and be wonderful and not have me fall in love with you? You hear me? I LOVE YOU. It's not that hard to understand.
ImKawaii: say something, huh?
:BestKSSD17 is offline:
ImKawaii: Jack?

"Shit."