Right Turn

((Okay! For everyone's information! I'm working my butt off to get this over with today!!!! I want it out of my hair. Isn't that awful? ^___^;;;; I always know its bad when I lose my control over my tenses. *hee hee*

::Yue: *laughing* I had thought I'd get out another chapter before anyone saw it. But look at you! You review within like five minutes! I swear you MUST have a radar or a proximity alarm set or SOMETHING! You're amazing! Hee hee.

Hope you enjoy the last few installments of...))

Right Turn

The phone call in the morning clinched it. Something about Jack's sister having a baby and he had to go. Sorry, he'd be back before graduation. Talk to you soon. Take care.

Jack didn't have a fucking sister.

Ben stared out of the window in the silent truck. Claire worried quietly about something he couldn't hear and Kyler was just as struck by the down air of his friends. It sucked. One of them should have been up. Not that it would have changed anything.

"My life is over," he finally managed into the lull of the already lulled cab.

Claire glanced at him. Kyler didn't even look. Big lot of help they would be if he ever chose to become a drama queen.

"What happened?" Claire finally asked, but something in the way she asked it, made it sound like she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Fuck her. He had to tell someone. "I told him. I told him I love him. I'm such a loser. And then he calls up this morning. He's got some non-existant sister. He tells me she's having a baby. What the fuck ever. That's bull shit. He can't even just... "

Ben stopped, already on the verge of tears, then in the silence, while he watched the world pass on by outside the window, the rain streaking the glass, "I swear it was so cool. He's got this... inside spirit that's so fucking beautiful. I mean, he's gorgeous and shit. But it's the quiet, smart, sweet guy I really like. He could be as ugly as... fuck.. Mickey maybe, and I'd still like him."

Claire gave him the obligatory chuckle. "That's pretty ugly."

"Fuck yeah," he murmured. He shoved a hand over his face. "You guys, I'm such a loser. Why do I have to be gay? I mean, is this some fucking joke? I meet a nice guy and it's not like I can be out and tell him and shit, even though I'm out. Then I get the guts and... and he .. Fuck."

"Jack has two sisters," Kyler's rumbling voice breaks in, uncomfortable and lumbering, unwelcome. "They're both older."

Ben could feel anger rising inside. "How the fuck would you know?"

"He joined my church group. My mom's become friends with his dad." Kyler's jaw was clenched when Ben glared over at him. The other boy looked like he was on the verge of punching something too. Ben frowned.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked a question that might have been belligerent only he softened it, suddenly aware that everyone else was having a bad day too. And it was odd to see Kyler so stone faced. Granted the boy would glare and glower. But he rarely looked like... like... "Are you gonna cry?"

The driver made a sound that was hard to confuse with anything but a small cry of pain and slammed on the brakes. Ben's seatbelt cut into his neck as they skid to a stop beside the road. Ben stared in shock as Kyler made a soft, "I'll be right back," and stepped out, slamming the door and stalking back the way they'd come.

Ben stared after him. Then something Kyler had said came to the forefront. "So he's known Jack all along?"

"Nah. But his mom and Jack's dad just started dating about a month ago. He found out about it over the weekend. It's sorta throwing him for a loop I think."

"You can say that again." Ben rubbed his brow. "Wait, Jack's dad is married."

Claire looked at him in confusion. "Is this the same Jack? Dude, Jack's dad is a widower. His mom died when he was ten or eleven, something like that."

Ben shoved open the door and followed the stiff backed athlete at a distance. He wasn't sure what he was going to say. He didn't even know what was going on. Kyler didn't normally tell him anything.

Not like he often gave the other boy a chance to tell him what was going on in his life at all, really. And it wasn't like he wasn't doing this for a selfish reason. He was confused. Jack... what did Jack have to do with all of this?

"Hey," he said softly as he approached. Kyler's back stiffened further but he stopped his pacing, fists at his side, he kept his face averted from Ben's sight. "Look, Ky. I'm sorry man. I totally didn't mean to throw that shit at you about your mom and Jack's dad and all." He'd have to figure out Jack and his dad later, somehow. And Jack's sisters? It was fucked up. Something was way off.

Kyler made a sound like he was laughing, only Ben knew he wasn't. "Don't worry about it, Ben," he said only his voice sounded strangled. "Look, get back in the truck. I'm okay."

Ben could see that wasn't true too and he took another step nearer, warily. "It's my fault though. I mean, I know I was having a shitty day, but really that's like, something that maybe I can work out. This.. this isn't."

"Claire told you, huh?" Kyler sounded worse than before and Ben wasn't sure, but he thought he saw the taller boy take a gulp of air, a sob that you'd take while you were trying like hell not to cry. "Well, she can fuck off too. Fuck off, Ben."

Ben smiled. "Yeah, that's what Claire always tells me when she's pissed. And I always tell her that's not what friends are for." He took another step in. Then, another.

"Well, I'm not Claire."

"No, you're not. But you are my friend."

Kyler was quiet at that.

"Look," Ben sighed. "Things happen for a reason. I'll bet there's a reason for all of this. I mean, you never know." He was trying to put a graceful spin on things but he wasn't quite sure what it was that was the part that most bothered Kyler. The fact that Jack was gay? Or the fact that his mom was going out with someone? Or.. what? It bothered Kyler, that was true. And where the hell was Claire?

Ben looked over his shoulder and was amazed to see Claire remaining in the car, not even looking at them. Bitch. He needed her out here!

Taking a deep breath, Ben gently touched Kyler's back. The other boy was suddenly wooden, but he didn't do anything nasty like strike out or anything.

"Is Jack so bad?" he asked, taking a stab in the dark.

Kyler shuddered as if he'd been struck somewhere deep and painful. His head fell and the strong young man went to his knees. It was an action in slow motion, frightening by how devastating it seemed. It was that bad? Shit. Ben wasn't sure if Kyler would like his rubbing his back, but this was just way too weird.

"Yeah," Kyler said brokenly. "Yeah, he's so bad."

Ben knelt down beside the other boy, off to one side, then picked at some grass alongside the road. "You know, being gay's not a terrible disease. It has some downfalls, yeah. But the downfalls are more for the gay guy than for the world in general. And we all have our own particular load to carry." He chewed on his lower lip and sighed. "I mean, if you want to get down and fundamentalist about it - it's everyone's choice. It is something between them and God or them and whoever the hell they follow, or just between them and them. We all have to live our lives and you can expect others to abide by your rules, and I don't mean yours in particular. I mean like, we can expect others to abide by OUR rules. Or we can live our lives as well as we can and hope that others will understand. We hate who we hate, we love who we love, we go on about our lives and know or don't know what's each other's truth and right and all that shit."

Kyler wasn't looking much better. In fact, he looked far worse.

Ben groaned. "I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything. I don't need your pity, Ben. Pity from you is the last thing that would do me any good."

"It's not pity, dammit."

Kyler looked around and Ben was shocked at the hurt on that face, the tears clinging to the corner's of Kyler's eyes. They made Kyler's eyes look more like mercury than grey, more moving and shifting colors of silver than anything. They made Kyler...

Well, fuck what they made Kyler. It didn't matter.

Kyler glared at him. "Then what the fuck is it, O Gay Guru of Libby High?" he sneered.

Ben had a come back for that, but he held it in. Instead he ground his teeth a moment and then shrugged. "It means, that I'm sorry your mom is marrying a guy who has a gay son. Jack won't be a terrible step brother and if you think about it, he'll be out of the house because he's leaving for Europe after school's out."

Kyler stared aghast. Maybe he didn't understand.

"Look, and it's not like he's completely gay either. He's bi. He might find a nice girl and then you don't have to be totally embarrassed by that, you know?" Ben couldn't understand the look Kyler was giving him.

"My mom isn't marrying Jack's dad," Kyler stated in a bland tone. "They're dating, but... that's not too big of a deal."

Ben was really confused now. "Then why're you upset?"

Kyler seemed just as confused. "Because Claire told you."

"Told me what?"

"About me!"

"What the fuck about you, Ky? We were talking about Jack and then she said your mom was dating his dad and... what the hell are we talking about?"

Kyler rocked back on his heels. He gave a small smirk. "Haven't a fuckin' clue, Benjamin."

"Ben, dammit. If we're having a heart to heart, the least you can do is call me Ben!"

"No, heart to hearts require a Benjamin."

"Fuck you, Ky!"

And suddenly Ben was encased in a pair of long arms, the smell of earth and vanilla, and something sweet, like candy. "Thank you," a soft whisper in his ear and he was released.

He stared at the other boy's retreating back and touched his cheek. It was his imagination of course, but had Kyler just... kissed his cheek?

"You comin' heterophobe?" the call danced over Kyler's back and Ben laughed.

"Asshole." He shook off the feeling of whatever had just passed and stood up to follow. He wasn't about to try and unravel all of what had just happened. And it wasn't until much later than he realized that Kyler hadn't told him what had gotten him so upset, but that it definitely hadn't been over Jack's dad and his mom getting together.

And boy oh boy, but Jack was going to get a serious talk when he got back!