Right Turn

((Okay... I'm almost done. I keep saying that and then the characters keep shouting out that they're not finished just yet. I'll see if I can bully them into behaving.

Venus: Hee hee! Oh I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I hope this update was soon enough! : )
Kikvws: Anyone who calls a story smashing has to have good taste. ;) Thank you so much! Hopefully it continues to delight.
Earthgirl : You like Ky? Me too! Though he sure is a jerk at first. Hopefully that'll all be cleared up eventually. I like them all. Jack and Ky and Claire and of course, Ben. They sure are a fun group of kids! And thank YOU! Oh my gosh. Two reviews from you in one story! I'm all happy! Been dancing and all that. Hee hee!
Dana : Oh I'm so glad you liked Ben! I was tempted to let him do the self involved, I'm the center of the universe, drama-queen, angst riddled thing and be a priss about it all. Only he assured me that he'd not get the guy he wanted if he were that stupid. (Plus, Claire told me that she'd never talk to him again if he acted like an ass when she finally needed him - and as I need HER to do the story, Ben and I had to ensure he would be a half way mature seventeen year old in this story. *w*)
D-Puppy : Awe! I'm so sorry you're confused! Tell you what. You go ahead and email me and I promise I'll answer all of your questions. Or, if you'd rather, you can hang in there to the end and then ask the questions if it's still confusing. I'll do my very best to clear things up for you!!! Nothing worse than reading a story where you're confused (and I don't mean in a good way! *L*) So please, feel free to email me. I'd love to know just where you're confused. Might help me straighten things out for other readers who aren't as willing to express their confusion.

And without further ado!))

The Right Turn

Friday night was spent with Claire. Ben and she camped out at a local coffee shop until seven in the morning. Claire didn't want to go home and Ben had called his dad and told him not to bother waiting up, that he would talk to him in the morning.

Saturday went by in a blur. Claire chose to stay the day and crashed on their basement couch while Ben slept until just past lunch. When he got online that day, there was no one on the other end that he cared to talk to.

Sunday was the day that Claire's mother was scheduled to get out of the hospital. Claire left early Sunday morning and Ben went to church with his family. It was the one thing Claire couldn't ever understand.

"You're gay. Granted, you're a virgin which is weird in a guy your age, but then, it's not like there've been guys screaming out that they're gay too. You are way liberal. You hate the Church. Why the fuck're you going to church?"

He wasn't sure it was an argument he'd ever win. Because it was more the way he was brought up. His father was deeply spiritual and rather open minded. It helped to be raised that way and it appealed, perhaps, to some need for paradox in his life. So he went to church on Sundays - not for the society but for the other ideas on things he already had his own ideas on.

He figured it kept him realistic. And any other reasons he kept to himself. His spirituality was about as personal to him as the underwear he wore every day. Not many people saw it and that was only those who could appreciate it. In fact, he felt almost the opposite about it. He wasn't ashamed of being gay. He was ashamed of being christian. It seemed almost anti-gay to believe in things that people like Claire openly hated.

Just another of those paradoxes.

When he returned home from church, he put in a phone call that he never would have believed he'd do.

"Hi, you've reached the Davis family, please feel free to leave us a message."

Ben coughed after the beep. Suddenly nervous, he vainly sought words that would work for what was happening, what he had promised to do. "Uh, hi. This is Ben and I'm calling for Kyler. My number is... well, you probably have call waiting, but it's 57-"

The line stuttering and the sound of a double stated, "Hello?" in a deep, pleasant voice brought him up short followed by the loud beep as the machine was turned off.

Ben blushed. "Kyler?"

"No, sorry. Kyler is just outside. We were doing some planting. I came in to get a glass of water. I'll get him."

"Really? Well, you don't have to if you don't - " Ben stilled as he realized he was talking to no one.

He listened to the silence on the other side, a sound like a dog barking in the background slid soft and easy over the line. Ben found himself wondering what kind of world Kyler lived in. It wasn't the one he'd always expected. If anything, it seemed almost like the idyllic peasantry ideal. Horses, fields, planting, family working side by side.

The phone scraped on a table or something before a breathless voice cut in. "Hello?"

"Kyler?"

"This is. Who's this?"

"Ben. Umm, Claire wanted me to call."

"Claire. Is she okay?" Kyler sounded slightly out of breath still, like he'd been working outside. That brought to mind the unpleasant sense of what Kyler would look like, sweaty and a bit dirty, with his perfect hair falling around his brow in a black tousled mess, his golden arms showing through a short sleeve -

Ben shook himself. "Huh? Oh.. yeah. I mean. She's okay. She stayed with me yesterday and went home this morning. Her mom is coming in and she's going to stay home today and tomorrow. She said she'll call you if she needs anything." Ben couldn't help keep the acidic tone out of his voice. Claire hadn't said that about him. She'd just thanked him for being there. Ben tried to believe that it was because Claire knew for sure he'd be there if she needed him. But he couldn't help feeling slightly stung.

"Oh, okay," Kyler said quietly. Then he added, "Maybe you can help with this. My stepmom said she'd send some food for them and Claire wasn't sure her dad would say okay. I mean, they don't know my family very well. But maybe we could work something out and get it to them without them really knowing where it came from?" Kyler sounded hopeful. It was a nice change from his usual tense, angry words. It wasn't too bad having a truce with the other boy, Ben realized. And more than ever, he could see what had attracted Claire to Kyler as a friend.

Ben frowned. "Well. Maybe you guys could get me the food. My mom is close to her mom. If you don't mind doing it ass-backwards? We'd add it all to the food we're making." Food he was making actually. His mom was working on a project and was barely around. She'd promised to stop by and talk in a week, after Claire's mom had gotten settled back in. His parents were weird sometimes.

"Mm, you know we could try that. You guys asked and they're okay with food from you?"

Ben laughed. "Nah. We're just gonna drop by and give it to them. My parents don't ask and neither do I. We just do shit when it's the right thing, y'know?"

Kyler was quiet for a moment and then softly stated, "I guess I - my family likes to be sure things are going to be okay first."

"Better to pray for forgiveness than ask for permission," Ben grinned.

Kyler chuckled gently. That sound with the idea of sweat and the smell of earth on Kyler's body was something any gay boy would have swooned over. It sucked because it was something natural for the guy. It wasn't like Kyler was trying to act sexy. But it gave a whole new reason to not want to be around him.

"I promised I'd call. She'll call if she needs you. Otherwise they're taking it easy. So see ya." Ben almost hung up the phone on Kyler, he felt unsteady and the last place he wanted to be was there, on the phone with that velveteen voice on the other side, so unlike the angry, sharp broken tones he was more accustomed to.

Sunday night Ben found to his delight that Jack was online. After their greetings, Ben made himself some popcorn and watched a television show that Jack was watching and the pair of them met up afterwards once more. It was laid back, just chatting. While Ben was dying to ask questions and rush into it all, he had to admit afterwards that there was something really nice in the comfortable manner in which they acted.

He promised himself he'd do the questioning the next time around.

The next time around was Tuesday. The weekend chat had loosened the boy up and the pair of them talked during Band about stupid things. Things like Chicago and Ben's mother's obsession with her newest research project. Ben did most of the talking and Jack didn't protest.

Then again, they hadn't had much time to talk either and they didn't share any other classes but Band. Jack's locker was (Ben had discovered) in another hall because he'd come in late so he'd been put in the Junior hallway. And Jack wasn't in any elevated classes which most of Ben's classes were.

Tuesday flew by though, despite the lack of Jack in it. Claire still wasn't back and Kyler hung around only minimally; enough to get updates on Claire. This last was a great cause of contentment for Ben who still felt shafted in that Claire hadn't told him she'd call him. It soothed the hurt some in that she had called him and told him plenty as well as asking him to come and visit that night. She'd needed a coffee run.

Claire had told him he could invite Kyler if he wanted to. Ben didn't. The reason was obvious. Claire was his right now. And she hadn't called Kyler, she'd called him. He told her straight out that she could invite Kyler next time if she wanted to.

"Don't know what you have against him," Claire mentioned later as they sat next to one another, curled together like lovers, her knees up and his legs stretched across the underside of the table to the other side. Coffee and an appetizer sampler sat on the cheap imitation wood table.

"Umm. I don't know," Ben said in a snide manner, "He's rude. He's an idiot, he's ugly as shit, he is homophobic, a prick, thinks he's everything to everyone, a jock, an ass, and... did I mention he's an idiot?"

Claire laughed, smacking him lightly in the chest. "You know, Ben. You haven't ever gotten to know him. You can be such a queen sometimes, shit."

Ben shrugged. "That's why I'm the gay guy of Libby High, baby."

"You're not the only one now."

"Oh?" Ben looked down at her in interest.

"Well, there's Louis in the junior class. And then a group of sophmore guys are all gay and bi and shit. And you can't tell me that your Jack cutie, oh shit I'm gonna faint, isn't gay. He's bi at least. Hell, he has been all over you since like day one." She laughed. "You know there's a bet? About what exactly he is. Someone even has money down for him being a transgender girlie boy."

Ben couldn't help it. He snickered. "Well shit. He's gorgeous and he'd look good in a skirt."

Claire snorted and then snuggled in close again. "I knew you'd go for him." She sighed and closed her eyes. Then in a soft whisper, added, "Thanks."

"For what?" Ben took the top off of his coffee cup and placed it to the side.

Claire reached out and tapped the upturned lid, letting it fall back and rock some before she tapped it again. "For being there. Kyler's sweet and it's nice when I have someone to talk to. I don't want to be totally dependent on you. But I missed you."

"Kyler's a shit. That guy hasn't a sweet bone in his body."

Claire pushed her face into Ben's chest and muffled her laughing. "I can think of a sweet bone he has," she said in a hoarse whisper before burying her face again and shaking with suppressed giggles.

"What?" Ben asked before he gasped in horror and broke out in a loud, "Eww! Disgusting! Shit woman! That's so gross!" He tried to shove her off of him but she held onto him tight and laughed more.

It was good to hear Claire laugh like that. She needed it.

The weekend came too soon. Ben and Kyler had managed an open truce which they rarely broke. Kyler didn't shove Ben as hard into the wall and Ben was more careful about how he insulted the athletic boy. Working together to help Claire out helped, of course. By Friday, the three of them were an item of sorts. And while it sucked having to share Claire, having Kyler as a "friend" was an almost even trade off. For one thing, the other jocks left him alone. Ben figured that Kyler had had a talk with them. It helped because while Ben had gotten comfortable with the regular verbal abuse and less common physical abuse (not counting Kyler's routines - which if Ben was honest with himself, had never been harmful, just fucking annoying), he still found himself relaxing his guard and enjoying himself more, now that he didn't have to worry as much about the casual hurtful things that surrounded him day by day.

March was upon them and with graduation just around the corner, Ben found himself looking forward to the summer. Claire and Kyler would have made the summer all right. But this summer he had Jack. And nothing could be better than that.

Of course, he had to be sure to secure Jack completely. And that meant - he had to get Jack to come out of that damned closet. Somehow.