Dale's POV

Breathe.

Please.

I begged my lungs as they gasped with every sob. My hands were shaking as pried open the car door.

"Don't come back, faggot," My uncle screamed as I sped down the driveway.

"They're all I had left," I muttered under my breath, my childhood neighborhood flying past my eyes.

I tightned my fingers around the steering wheel, choking back another wave of hysterics. Seeing those pictures, the ridiculous grin on his face made my entire body go cold.

"We can't stay here all day you know," Seth commented, brushing the hair out of my eyes.

"Why not," I whined, pulling myself closer to his partially clothed body.

"I have several methods of entertaining you," I whispered, feeling the goosebumps on his neck rise.

He reached over the side of the bed, making sure he kept one hand secured around my waist.

"Smile," he whipped out the poloroid camera I vaguely remember helping Cleo pick out for his 10th birthday and snapped a picture of us.

"You are hideous," I teased, surveying the film as it developed.

"We have to convince Cleo to come to the party tonight," he yawned, crawling off me to start the shower.

I sighed at the loss of contact. The poloroid picture had developed fully, showcasing the flawless cheekbones and beautiful smile of the man I called mine. I checked over my shoulder to make sure Seth was safety tucked away in the bathroom before dropping the poloroid in my shirt pocket. I yawned a final time before pulling off the remaining semblance of my clothes and heading toward the bathroom to join him...

The honking of a neighboring vehicle pulled me out of my thoughts, reminding me of my current situation.

My hand shook as I dialed the number of the only person I knew would answer.

"Please pick up," I muttered under my breath, praying that the death metal song I changed her ringtone to was loud enough.

"Hello?" Cleo's voice sounded, filling me with relief.

"C-Cleo," I choked out, my voice cracking from the screaming match earlier.

"Dale," she demanded, "What's wrong? Where are you?"

"He k-kicked me out," I only sobbed harder, the reality of what had happened finally dawning on me.

"He found out and I.." I trailed off knowing that she didn't understand a word of what I was saying.

"Dale, where are you?" She asked again, desperation creeping into her voice.

"Denny's," I whispered into the phone after surveying my surroundings and picking the closest location to me.

"Dale, I need you to go inside and wait for me ok? Dale, baby, I'll be there soon, don't hurt yourself, please just go inside."

I felt a lump growing in my throat and clicked the line off before she could hear me fall apart.

***

"Just coffee for you dear?" A tired hostess asked me, concern etched into the wrinkles lining her face.

"Yes, thank you," I smiled at her, making her exhausted eyes lighten a bit.

The front door chimed, bringing in a half dressed Jay and a dishivled Cleo. I watched as Jay exchanged words with the waitress and surveyed the restaurant looking for me. His eyes landed on me and fear filled his face immediately. He gently nudged Cleo and pointed me out to her. I got up from the table and stared at her, the similarities between her face and Seth's being too much for me to handle. She saw the break in my mask and threw her arms around me. I said nothing, just buried my face further into her neck.

"Dale what happend?" She finally asked, breaking apart our embrace and moved into the booth.

I pressed my temples in a vain attempt to calm myself from the inevitable truth that was about to surface.

"I got home around 11," I started out, making an extreme effort to keep my voice steady, "My mom was having a schizophrenic episode and I took her to the hospital. Normally we manage it, but she was going to hurt herself and I didn't know what else to do. The hospital called my Uncle and he came over to stay with me," I cursed myself internally for letting my voice slip at the end, the anger in her eyes let me know that I had just comfirmed what she had suspected.

The unsaid knowlage of my uncles abuse passed between us wordlessly.

"He knows," I said, breaking my gaze with Cleo and putting it onto Jay.

"Knows what?" Cleo asked, furrowing her eyebrows together.

Pity rose in Jay's eyes, "How did he find out?" He asked gently.

"Pictures," I answered, suddenly unable to meet either of their eyes, " they were all I had left of him, he found them and.." I left the sentence unfinished, knowing that they could piece together the rest.

"We can't, their waiting for us downstairs," I hissed in his ears. He moved my thighs so that I was straddling his waist.

"Let them wait," he murmured into my ear, testing every but of my self control.

I gave in and pressed him back into the bed, our lips moving in prefect sync. I fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it off to reveal the skin I couldn't get enough of.

"Are you guys ready to go... holy shit..." Jay's voice sounded while the door swung opened.

Jay whirrled around, letting the silence overtake us all for a long moment, "Is your shirt back on?" Jay asked finally.

"Yep," Seth answered in a strangled voice, his body had moved away from mine, leaving only his hand on my thigh.

Jay slowly turned back around, a bewildered expression on his face.

"So um, are you guys, you know um, together?" He asked, akwardly scratching the back of his neck.

Seth nodded, holding onto my thigh tighter. I watched as words passed between them silently.

"I'm happy for you guys," Jay said finally, "even though that image will forever be ingrained in my memory," He winced slightly but kept his humorous undertone.

"So if you're ready to go.." Jay trailed off, impatience the better of him.

Seth threw a pillow at him, "Who said we were finished? "

Jay's eyes widened and he took off sprinting.

"I have never seen him run that fast," Seth laughed.

He flipped me over on the mattress, "Now where were we?"

I resurfaced from my thoughts just in time to catch Cleo's words, "Pictures?" The fustration was written all over her face.

"Cleo," I took a deep breath. The truth had to come out sometime.

"I'm gay."

Her eyes widened with a mixture of shock and betrayal.

"He found the photo set my boyfriend and I took and he didn't take it too well," I said as gently as possible.

"Boyfriend?" She whimpered in disbelief.

"Wait but the pictures were the only thing you had left?" I could see the wheels turning in her mind, the memories resurfacing.

"I can't be gay," I insisted, desperately trying to free myself from Seth's grip.

"Look me in the eye," Seth said, his voice dripping with hurt, "and tell me you feel nothing for me. Look me in the eye and tell me that you don't love me, that it was a mistake."

I looked into his eyes and shook my head.

"I can't," My head drooped against his chest and I welcomed his arms around me, knowing that he was the only things keeping me steady.

***
"I'm in love with you."

I stared at his lips in disbelief of the words that had just come out of them.

He looked flustered and glanced down at his calloused hands, "I mean if you don't love me that's ok.. It was stupid to say and I am being stupid and..."

I cut off his rambling with a kiss. "I love you," I whispered in his ear.

****
"I love you ok?" I told the lifeless body that I refused to believe was Seth.

"I will never stop loving you. You are the best part of me. Forever." I placed a lingering kiss on his cold forehead, my heart not believing this would be that last time I would ever touch him.

I walked towards Cleo and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know it's not ok now but someday it might be."

I left her standing there, knowing the words I had uttered were more for me then anyone else.

Cleo's eyes found me and I nodded, telling her the conclusion she came to was right.

Her face turned guarded, like she was seeing me for the first time.

"That night you lost your brother," I whispered, looking her dead in the eye, "I lost the love of my life."

****
The rest of the night was a blur. Cleo completely shut down and I couldn't blame her. She had a faraway expression on her face, one of being trapped in the past and afraid to face the present. The only person she responded to was Jay. He was her anchor and tonight he was the only thing keeping her in place.

"She's had a long day," Jay came out of Cleo's room, "I think it would be best if we deal with it all in the morning."

The dark circles under Jay's eyes were evidence of stress or lack of sleep, or maybe both.

"Go to sleep," I nodded at Jay and pushed him back toward Cleo's room.

The edge in my voice made it clear that arguing wasn't an option.

"Night," he muttered while disappearing into the dark room, leaving me to an empty house filled with memories.

I roamed the hallway, my feet knowing where inevitably I would end up.

The door to Seth's room was tightly shut, a fine layer of dust gathered at my finger tips from twisting the handle.

It was exactly the same.

Every book, trophy, sheet of music was untouched and neat.

The smell of Seth's cologne was faint but present as awalys. His sheets felt exactly the same. The bed felt exactly the same.

That was the problem.

Everything was exactly the same. My life was altered but nothing else changed.

I pressed myself deeper into the pillow, inhaling the scent of what I once knew as home.

But home was never a place and always a person.