Right Turn

((Ooo! Two different ideas of who it could be. Jack or is it Kyler? Awe, I won\'t say but I don\'t mind y\'all knowing, so if you\'ve got a handle on this, then yay! Hopefully it doesn\'t ruin the story for ya.

Isakuu: Jack IS sweet, isn\'t he? I adore him. He\'s such a cute little (not so little) band boy!
V: Erk! I wish I could say either way, but it would be anti-authorship laws if I did. *w* Still, for your question - I was hoping that the darkness, coupled with the whispering, low voice (both for Jack, since he\'s not really talked to his crush yet, and for Kyler in that Kyler has only been loud and obnoxious to this point), and the paradigm where he \"knows\" it\'s Jack, would almost make it a safe bet for Ben to be oblivious should it not be Jack. It\'s sort of under the rule of \"I KNOW I put my keys there! I NEVER put them anywhere else! Oh..wait.. they\'re in my pocket. Shoulda felt them, but I KNEW they would be in my purse so I didn\'t notice.\" But then, maybe it\'s some crazy stalker dude! *g* And he\'s got a degree in imitation and he imitates Jack and then he like... does his FX make up like Jack and so - so - so... umm... Oh, wait. I guess that\'s too far-fetched. Dang. Until then, hope you can suspend reality and try not to think of Ben as a complete idiot for the Kyler version of that scene. *w* And THANK YOU for the review! I love the ones that make me think!))

Right Turn

It was almost eleven by the time Claire dropped Ben off at home. Still he didn\'t feel in the least bit tired as he made his way into the computer room with a Pepsi and turned on the internet. In fact, he felt as if his entire world had turned into something hazy, unreal, and energized throughout by random splashes of emotion; awe, nervousness, excitement, delight, amazement. All from one kiss. But it had been one fine kiss, though.

He grinned to himself and let the machine power up, jiggling his legs and opening his pop. It took forever to get his chat client up and he bypassed any websites he might have perused while waiting. Jack was going to meet him online. That was what was the best part of all of this!

Though he\'d been trying not to hope too much, he still felt a jolt of electricity run through him at the sight of BestKSSD17 being online. He wiggled a bit in his chair, trying not to make noises of happiness, but surprised nevertheless at the little whine that made its way out. Better than the laugh out loud he felt he could have done if his family weren\'t all asleep. It would have to do.

Even better, was the message that came up instantly.

BestKSSD17: Hey. How are you?
ImKawaii: How am I? Shit, you\'re supposed to ask that when you see someone after a few months apart! I\'m fanfuckingtastic! I just got mauled in a locker room by this cute, short goth girl.
BestKSSD17: I wasn\'t sure what to say.
ImKawaii: You gotta fall for that sometime. Really though. I\'m flying high and it has nothing to do with the drugs my friend Claire pumped into me.
BestKSSD17: Claire gave you drugs? You are silly tonight.
ImKawaii: I don\'t mind being silly. Just so long as you think I\'m cute too.
ImKawaii: You DO think I\'m cute, don\'t you?
ImKawaii: It\'d be weird, considering we were doing tonsil hockey and if you thought I was bag ugly or something.
ImKawaii: You there?
BestKSSD17: LOL I am. The window tells me when you\'re typing so I thought I\'d wait for you to get your thought out all the way first.
ImKawaii: Awe! You\'re so damn cute! Or no. That\'s ME! I\'m the cute one in this dark corners kissing thing we got going on. But really. I\'ll keep on typing so just interrupt me, kay?
BestKSSD17: kk.
ImKawaii: You really don\'t know what to say do you?
BestKSSD17: LOL I was trying to figure out a way to say you were cute.
ImKawaii: ::blush:: You think so?
BestKSSD17: Yes. I\'ve thought so since the first time I saw you. But it\'s hard. I didn\'t know what to do.
ImKawaii: You still don\'t!
BestKSSD17: True.
BestKSSD17: What should I do?

Ben stared at the screen. It would be easy to say something to the effect of how Jack needs to come out, face the music, start dating Ben, say fuck off to the rest of the world. But that wasn\'t exactly the best thing for everyone. Not everyone could go about their coming out the same way as Ben had. (Albeit, he\'d not had himself to date at the time - but the rest had been him.)

BestKSSD17: I\'m sorry. Did I make a mess of things?
ImKawaii: Sorry, no. I\'m thinking. I wasn\'t sure how to answer that question. You see... I think that everyone comes out to the world differently. And if you want to come out all loud and shit, then I\'ve got just the plan for you.
BestKSSD17: LOL I think, I\'m not much into the loud and out there. You seem good at that, though.
ImKawaii: Hell yeah. You should have seen the way everyone treated me. Took them months to figure it out. But Claire stuck by me and I would stick by you, hon. :P Had to call you \"hon\" just once. Man, that was so nice to say that out loud!
BestKSSD17: I don\'t know how to write a blush.
ImKawaii: You just did. ;)
BestKSSD17: Maybe - loud wouldn\'t work for me?
ImKawaii: You could wait. Some people wait til they\'re in college. It\'s not so scary to do it there. Like my older brother. He has a few bi friends and everyone seems okay with it.
BestKSSD17: You have an older brother? I knew about your sister but I didn\'t know about your brother.
ImKawaii: Sure do! He\'s a punk. He\'s 20 next month. Studying physics. ::gahrins:: You can\'t do nuthin in our family and not come away with some kinda masters PhD shit. My parents are big on the college degrees. I\'m going to get a degree in Engineering I think. I\'m good at math and it pays well. Or I could teach it? Better than being a rocket scientist.
BestKSSD17: LOL I\'d never be good enough to be any of those things. I was hoping to go into teaching kids.
ImKawaii: Really? That\'s so sweet! You have any brothers or sisters?
ImKawaii: I mean, not that I want to be too nosy, but you brought it up. Talking about siblings and all.
BestKSSD17: LOL No. I\'m a single child.
ImKawaii: Okay, shot gun questions. Parents?
BestKSSD17: Shot gun?
ImKawaii: Sure! Shot gun! I shoot them off and you answer them as fast as you can! Shot gun! Got it? So... parents, babe! Married? Divorced? What?
BestKSSD17: Divorced. Mom\'s single, dad\'s remarried.
ImKawaii: Pets?
BestKSSD17: Dad\'s got a shop and mom is a secretary. My step mom works with my dad. That\'s how they met.
BestKSSD17: Oops. Sorry. I wasn\'t paying attention.
ImKawaii: Hee hee. You\'re so neat.
BestKSSD17: I feel odd, blushing and not having you see it.
ImKawaii: Awe. I FELT it tonight!
BestKSSD17: LOL I\'ll bet you did.
ImKawaii: Okay, pets!
BestKSSD17: Pets? Dog. Bird. Fish.
ImKawaii: Names? C\'mon! Names!
BestKSSD17: Names? Dog - Bradley, Bird - Noodle, and Fish? They have names?
ImKawaii: Guess not. Favorite food?
BestKSSD17: LOL Chocolate? It\'s my mom\'s too.
ImKawaii: Pop? Candy? You use a nightlight? Do you have nightmares? Do you want to kiss me again? Do you get along with your step mom? Favorite color?
BestKSSD17: LOL That was a machine gun.
BestKSSD17: Dr. Pepper
BestKSSD17: Butterfinger bar
BestKSSD17: Yes (don\'t tell anyone)
BestKSSD17: No
BestKSSD17: Wish I could do a blush again. Yes. Someday. I would really like to kiss you again.
ImKawaii: Butterfinger? EWW!!!!
BestKSSD17: Yes. Better than with my mom.
BestKSSD17: Dark Brown. It\'s the color of your eyes.
ImKawaii: Damn. Can I keep you? You\'ve got to be a dream.
BestKSSD17: And I\'m acting like an idiot. I\'m probably tired. Night Benjamin. Thank you.
ImKawaii: You have to go? ::whine, sob, cry::
BestKSSD17: I\'m trying to take this slow.
ImKawaii: Fuck slow! Come over!
BestKSSD17: Now? Oh no. That would not work. Please? Just wait a little longer?
ImKawaii: You are really freaked, huh?
ImKawaii: It\'s okay, you know. You don\'t have to come over. I was just.. hoping and shit.
ImKawaii: You okay? I didn\'t scare you?
ImKawaii: I can be a real idiot.
BestKSSD17: You\'re not an idiot.
ImKawaii: Okay. : ) Thank you! But what were you thanking ME for?
BestKSSD17: LOL For not pummeling me into the ground. For - well, I guess for kissing me back. I\'d write in a blush if I knew how.
ImKawaii: ::Blush:: that\'s how I do it. You can do it any way you want to. And I wasn\'t thinking of pummeling you into the ground, handsome.
BestKSSD17: LOL Okay. Night. My step mom is coming up stairs. See you at school Monday.

Ben beamed, staring at the screen. Monday was going to be grand.

But Monday wasn\'t what he\'d expected. He hadn\'t expected much for the weekend and besides, his brother came to visit so no computer all weekend. Still, come Monday, flying high on the power of a kiss and a late night chat, he should have known better really, to expect much from the shy Jack. A look across the band room and the blush on Jack\'s face would have been enough. Only Ben thought they should at least be friends, kind of? Maybe?

He didn\'t want to ruin it for Jack. It took a lot of guts to try to connect with another boy. But it still felt like he was being strung along. And to make matters worse, Kyler kept trying to talk to Claire all day. It was probably because Kyler had been at the game the night before and had seen how she was rooting Jennifer on.

He was careful, then, waiting and accidentally having to work a clasp on his trumpet case as Jack gathered his music and walked past.

\"Hey,\" he tried, suddenly nervous.

Jack, startled, looked at him and then blushed. Licking his lips, the brown haired boy ran his hand along the back of his neck in a nervous gesture and then nodded. \"Hey.\"

They stood there for a few seconds that seemed to be hours of glaring uncomfortable silence when Ben finally added, \"Umm... I guess we haven\'t really met, yet. I\'m.. uh.. I\'m Ben.\" He held out his hand with a smile and the world of love and adoration in his eyes.

The invisible statement seemed to get to Jack because the boy blushed even more and held out his hand, taking Ben\'s and nodding. \"I know. I mean... I mean, you\'re talked about a lot.\" His blush grew worse. \"I mean - \"

Ben laughed, holding his hand back up and shaking his head. \"Don\'t worry. I know exactly what they say. Shit, you get tongue tied easy, don\'t you? I mean - I know you\'re kinda quiet and all, but you really get way tongue tied and stuff when things are face to face. You don\'t mind, do you? I mean. Me introducing myself?\" he watched his crush looking around as if he were uncertain of this conversation and where it would take them.

It made him want to shove Jack back into the room where they kept the stands and chairs and have his way with the quiet boy. Only he would be good. Jack needed to approach this carefully.

Jack shook his head. \"No. No it\'s okay. I was hoping you\'d umm... say hi.\"

Ben felt his knees want to buckle. Say hi? If that saying hi was what saying hi was in the letter - he bit his lower lip to keep himself from saying something inappropriate and instead just smiled. \"There you go then. Hi.\"

Jack laughed, softly, a sound that was sort of soft, sort of nervous, and purely gorgeous. \"Hi,\" he said with a reinstatement of his blush.

Jack was dragged off by some girls coming back to find him soon after. Ben leaned against a door frame and sighed in contentment. It was perfect. Jack - Jack was perfect.

Of course, Ben wasn\'t a lucky guy either and his happy smile died when a shadow crossed him and I\'m a Prick Kyler came up behind. Ben didn\'t even let him put in a word.

\"Yeah, he\'s cute and yeah I\'m flirting and if you say anything about it, wad ass, I\'ll tell Claire you\'re gay and she\'ll never talk to you again.\"

Kyler\'s eyes were round, his face pale at the threat when Ben turned and glared at him. It was going to be a good week. Bad luck be damned, he was five - oh with Kyler over the past couple of days. That had to say something about how love makes you more amazing than you were before.

Kyler didn\'t respond, only turned angry red and with his jaw clenched, shoved past Ben, careful to slam Ben into the door frame on his way out. It stung a little, but Kyler was being careful. He didn\'t want Claire thinking bad of him. Ben had the upper hand and it felt really damn good.