Brent Wilson can fuck right off. The announcement for those that got into the school jazz band came out Wednesday and Brent has been giving everybody shit since then because the bass guitar spot was won by Jon. This is clearly because Jon is damn good at bass, but Brent? No, no, no. He's not having it. And you have to feel at least a little bad for the guy who's actually delusional enough to think that he was wronged because it couldn't possibly be because he can't play his instrument well and is also a dick.

The fifth period is trying to get started but Brent is stalling the entire jazz band by yelling at the poor teacher things along the lines of 'This is unbelievable' or 'Fuck you, Mr. Stump' and-- wait, that's not good. " Alright, everyone!" Mr. Stump calls to the rest of the class, seeming a bit uncomfortable in this situation, his back turned momentarily to Brent who's brooding by the door. "I'm just gonna hop on over to Principle Toro's office for a hot sec, so, um... just keep getting your instruments tuned up and yeah," he stammers out and hesitantly turns, asking Brent to follow him.

"Ryan!" Jon whisper-shouts to me from his spot over by the drum set with Brendon. Spencer's parents wanted him to focus more on academics this year and without a good drummer this whole class would have suffered but as it turns out Brendon is really good on drums so he got the position. As for me, I got rhythm guitar even though I was going for lead but that Ian kid is really impressive so it's all good. I carefully place my guitar back into my case and squeeze past the few kids in the horns section to get to Jon and Brendon. "What the hell are we gonna do about Brent?" Jon is still sitting down tuning his bass. Brendon is messing around on his drums.

"I honestly have no clue." I cross my arms.

"Yeah," Brendon cracks a grin, "he already hates two of us."

"He's still mad at you?" Jon finishes tuning and rests over his bass.

Brendon absentmindedly taps a stick on the rim of one of the drums. "I think I annoy him in general now. He just says really unintelligent things so it's a bit hard to hold back, you know?" He stops tapping for a second, "Like how the fuck could he just cuss at Stump?"

"Well, if God is sending that asshole to Hell for anything it's gonna be for swearing at that poor small man." The other two hum in agreement with my statement. Just then Mr. Stump walks back into the music room still looking distressed from the small conflict and we all get back to our seats. He settles everyone down and gets everything started having Brendon count off into our first song.

My chair is positioned so I'm facing the drums from the other side of the room. As I sit strumming my parts I watch Brendon just going at it on the set. He plays them in such a specific way, like when Spencer plays he moves around a bit but Brendon moves his whole body to the beat, making these stupid immersed faces. In the middle of bopping his head around, he looks in my direction and gives me a goofy smile. My insides feel warm and I almost fuck up the next chord from being distracted but I quickly recover.

Besides obvious Brent issues, everything has been good. Really good actually. Brendon and I have rekindled... whatever we had this summer. Nothing too serious but some sneaking around which feels a hell of a lot better in the context of me getting to fuck Brendon again; now it actually feels like something worth hiding which adds to the fun. There's an added rush to it all. I hadn't even realized this-- I don't think Brendon did either-- but he's not actually out to our friends. This became clear when Vicky asked if he was interested in any girls at the school yet during lunch two weeks ago and Brendon and I just made this wild eye contact from across the table. He responded with a vague They're not really my type. The moment everyone else moved onto another subject Brendon flashed me a smug grin, clearly satisfied with his statement's double meaning. Later that day when Stump had sent us out to the supply room in the big gym to retrieve some more chairs, I asked him why the fuck he was voluntarily re-entering the closet. With the supply room door closed he pulled me in by the belt loops on my pants for a deep, hot kiss. He removed his mouth and left a light trail of saliva along my cheek as he moved up to my ear and said, voice husky, I just thought it'd make sleeping around with you a bit easier. Also keeps things a little more exciting.

You can probably imagine how that ended.

But yeah we're trying to not have a repeat of what happened in early July. Drawing the line between being friends and being together. Again, it's been going really well.

~~~

It's Friday so everybody, minus Spencer who had a project to finish and Brendon who had a family thing, went to go see Vicky in the school play. It was a weird student-written production and I didn't understand most of it. It may have been some sort of social or political statement but the message got sorta lost with all of the aliens and interpretive dancing. Vicky did pretty well though so we bought her some flowers for afterward and since it was around dinner time we all drove over to burger joint to get her celebratory fried food.

We pour into the restaurant and are seated to a large round booth table. I sit at the end, to my left is Hayley, next to her is Vicky who is still wearing some of her colorful alien theater eye makeup, and opposite me are the nuzzled up Jon and Cassie. The place is themed like a classic 50s diner and is thoroughly packed because it's located just outside the Strip.

The waitress is a cute petite blond dressed in a classic 50s diner pinstriped dress and looks about our age. Her curls bounce as she enthusiastically comes in and introduces herself as Jac, handing us our menus. I catch Vicky glaring at her as she leaves our table. She does the same thing as she takes our orders. I decide to not ask.

"Do theater kisses ever get awkward?" Hayley asks Vicky.

She takes a sip of her milkshake, "At the start, yes. But that's mostly just because you have to do something that you thought for years was so intimate on demand with a person you don't feel anything for. Also two out of five times the boys would get tiny boners and you would just have to pretend that it wasn't there for the rest of the scene."

"Oh yeah. I remember when you played Audrey in Little Shop Of Horrors and the guy that played Seymour popped one in his khakis when you two pecked lips," Jon reminds us all of that fond moment. We all start to laugh and list off all of the other times while Vicky rolls her eyes at us.

Our food arrives I nearly shut everyone out because I am starving. I squeeze some ketchup onto the side of my plate to go with my fries and playfully nudge Hayley when she steals one of them.

Near the end of our meal Cassie pokes Vicky's side "Hey, V, what about the guy you shared that kissing scene with in this play? He was pretty cute," I see Jon bring her in a little bit more by the waist and she turns up to place a tiny domestic kiss on his cheek, "Not as cute as you, obviously, but for Vicky."

Vicky almost blushes, "Yeah, Travis is definitely cute but he's got a girlfriend. Plus, I've kinda got my eye out for someone right now."

"Saporta is like ten years older than you and married," I note and shove a few fries into my mouth. Yum.

"Well it's not him, I actually like someone," she spits back.

Hayley practically starts to jump in her seat, "Who? Who? Who? Tellme, tellme, tellme!"

Vicky just crosses her arms, "I'm not telling. I don't really know if he likes me back anyways; he probably would never see me that way."

Cassie places a hand on her shoulder, "V, what boy wouldn't want to date you? You're beautiful, smart, talented, charming--"

"Okay, okay, stop," Vicky is definitely blushing now. "I just... I don't know."

"I think you should go for it," I say in between chews, "Cassie's right, what guy wouldn't want you?" Vicky instantly lights up at my words and I smile encouragingly back.

The waitress sees that we're all done and comes up beside me with the check. "Please come back anytime," she smiles at us and lands on me. Her hand lingers on my shoulder as she places the bill right in front of me and then she winks while she walks away. Oh.

I look down at the receipt on the bill and a phone number is scribbled down on it, next to it a little 'Call me' and a heart. Oh wow.

Hayley leans over to see what I'm gawking at and giggles, "Damn, Ry. You got her digits. She was giving you the look all night."

I just sort of blink at her, "Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, she was," Vicky looks like she's clenching her teeth after she says that.

We all put some cash down to cover the bill and scooch out of the booth. The receipt is still in my hand when we get outside and I just look at it for a second.

"You gonna give that Jac girl a call?" Jon asks with his arm around Cassie.

I look at it some more and chuckle to myself. With not much thought I crumple up the receipt with the number in my hand and throw it in a nearby trash bin. "Not really my type"

We walk to our cars, Vicky finally seems a little happier.

~~~

It's only 8:30 pm so when I pull up to my house I see that my dad's car isn't there. I also see a familiar car parked across from my house. When I get out of my car a figure leaves the other car and comes towards me. I walk into my empty house and leave the door open to go turn on some lights. Brendon closes the door behind him and I can feel a grin on his lips when they finally meet mine. "Well, what brings you here?" I ask when we disconnect.

He massages my sides underneath my shirt with his thumbs, "Hmm. My homophobic aunt. She came over for dinner and her whispering to me under her voice that I'm going to Hell for being a fairy made me really want your cock."

I graze the warm skin of his cheeks with my teeth, "Isn't that defiant of you."

"Oh, shove it," he grabs a hold of both of my ass cheeks and kneads them in his hands. An unwarranted moan escapes my mouth into his and I guide him down the hallway into my bedroom.