Chapter 31B

It was dark in front of Aaron's house, and I was staring blankly out the passenger window. He hadn't said a damn thing when he got out of the truck. No thank you to Seth, nothing. This probably shouldn't have surprised me. I guess I shouldn't have wasted my time feeling disappointed, either. But I was disappointed. Not just in the situation, but in Aaron in general. Not that this was a new thing. I guess it was just hard for me to understand how someone could spend so much time making other people miserable and not even feel sorry for it.

Just as Seth had predicted, Aaron didn't go to his front door. Instead, he started walking around the side of the house, probably to go to his brother's window. He didn't make it that far, though, and just as the truck began to move, Aaron doubled over again.

I frowned, and before I could stop myself, I was opening the passenger door, and Seth was slamming on the brakes.

"Rory!" he called after me, seemingly annoyed, but I was already out of the truck and on my way to Aaron.

It seemed stupid, really, since I was the one who'd been so adamant about letting him deal with his own problems. But, I just couldn't do it. As I remembered everything he'd told me about his parents, somehow leaving him outside of his house like this seemed even more dangerous than leaving him in the parking lot at that apartment complex would have been.

Aaron actually flinched when I placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to get him to stand straight.

"Just get the fuck out of here, Seth," he said somewhat angrily, and I stepped back, feeling a little surprised. But I pushed aside my annoyance over the fact that he assumed that Seth had come after him, and I grabbed his arm again.

"Where's your brother's window?" I asked, and Aaron spun around, glaring at me almost accusingly as he clumsily fell back against the side of his house. My frown only deepened when I caught sight of his red, watery eyes and I caught myself wondering how long he'd been crying. "Aaron, just let me help you get inside, okay?"

"Why?" he demanded, and I was shocked to find that he actually seemed suspicious of me. And I just stared, because I really didn't have an answer for him. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea why. I was furious with him. So much so, that it actually hurt to look at him. I didn't know why. I just knew that some part of me really did care.

I jumped when I felt hands close in over my shoulders from behind and I turned my head to see that Seth had caught up to me. He wasn't looking at me, though. He was glaring at Aaron.

"Do you need help getting in?" Seth asked him shortly, and I watched Aaron swallow hard as he glared between us and then finally shook his head. "Rory, come on," Seth insisted, surprising me as he physically pulled me back until I was turning and walking more willingly with him. Seth walked me all the way to the passenger door of his truck and held it open for me, looking like he needed to see me into it before he actually went to his own side. "What are you doing?" he asked, seeming confused.

"He could get in trouble..." I started to say, and Seth looked bewildered.

"I thought that's what you wanted... What about wanting him to pay for his own mistakes, and..."

"I'm sorry, okay?" I cut him off, somewhat shortly. "I'm not thinking."

I got into the truck, and Seth stared at me for a full minute before he finally closed the door and walked around to his side. But he wasted no time in driving us out of there once he was in his seat. We were passing the park before I finally spoke again.

"Aaron told me how his parents freaked out when they figured out Luke was gay," I explained. "It kinda got me thinking about what would happen if they caught him tonight... it was stupid. I mean, it's not even the same thing. I guess..."

"You still care about him," Seth said, looking obnoxiously sure of himself. I regarded him as if he'd just insulted me.

"It's not like I still have feelings for him, I just..."

"You don't want to see him get hurt," Seth replied. "I get it."

I just nodded, finally understanding why Seth couldn't have felt right just leaving Aaron there. I still cared. Damn it. That was a hard admission to make. Things were easier when I hated Aaron. For now, I settled for hating that I had puke on my shirt, and Seth smiled at me as I suddenly made a disgusted face and pulled it off before I moved closer to him, until I was able to reach his hand.

"He got his ride home. Don't worry about him now, okay?" Seth insisted. "Aaron does this kind of stuff all the time... And his parents aren't that bad, you know. I mean, if they caught him like he is now he'd be grounded for months, but..."

"They sounded like jerks when he told me about them," I replied.

"Look, Rory, I've heard a lot about his parents, too. I mean, I probably got the same story you got about Luke, but..."

"You don't believe it?" I asked curiously.

"I'm sure something happened," Seth replied carefully. "I'm just not sure it happened like Aaron said. I've met his parents. I mean, his dad can have some pretty conservative views about things, but he really doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would throw Aaron out on the street for being gay. And his mom's not that bad either. I don't think the problem is them--I think it's Aaron."

"Aaron, a problem?" I feigned shock. "No!"

Seth smiled at me. "You know how I said he likes attention?" He continued. "Well, he doesn't exactly get a whole lot from his parents. I think that's part of the reason why he makes a big deal out of being gay when it comes to them. He knows they wouldn't like it, and he makes it out to be the end of the world because he knows it'll just give them another reason to think his brothers will amount to more than he will."

I had to laugh at that. And roll my eyes. "Cody? Right."

"Hey, Cody might be a brat, but he's a really smart brat," Seth insisted, and when I made a face he looked at me curiously. "You don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

"Cody's been skipping grades since kindergarten. Last year, Aaron was pissed as hell when they finally ended up in the same one. His parents are always telling him that he should apply himself like Cody. Their favorite thing to point out is that Cody's probably going to graduate before Aaron."

"So? Why can't Aaron just be happy for his brother?" I responded, and Seth shrugged.

"I think part of Aaron's problem is that he thinks he's been dealt some really shitty cards, you know? He's jealous of his brother, and last year he had to give up the one thing he had in common with his dad because of everything that happened with Luke."

"What do you mean?"

"Wrestling," Seth responded, as if it were obvious. "Most of the guys on the team took Luke's side--not that they shouldn't have. Aaron's had a pretty bad year, though. With Cody becoming a junior, and then losing his friends..."

"He deserved to lose his friends--a normal person would have figured that out."

"Yeah, but in Aaron's head... You know, I actually think he believes that Luke should have understood why he lied, and that if Luke cared about him, he would have gone along with it."

"But that's just stupid!"

"Yeah," Seth agreed. "All I'm saying is that Aaron doesn't seem to know that."

"I shook my head in disgust. Then explain to me again why we still care about him?"

Seth smiled at me.

"We're not Aaron."

"Okay," I agreed. "So is it like... wrong to hope that one day he'll stop sitting on that stick and turn into a decent human being?"

"No... as long as your expectations aren't that high."

I got home ten minutes late. But it didn't seem to be a problem as I went in to find that Eddie and Jase were asleep and the only light visible was coming from the stairs leading down towards the basement. I tried to feel somewhat happy as I went towards it. I guess you could say that at this point, I felt cheated. I felt cheated out of part of the night I was supposed to have spent with Seth, and as I got out of his truck, the feeling had hit me somewhat harshly. I'd been cheated. And why? Well apparently, Aaron was under the impression that he had it worse than anyone else, so he had a right to treat people like shit for that reason. Or maybe, he had no regard for anyone's feelings because he wasn't aware that anyone else had feelings. In Aaron's world, Aaron was the only one who mattered. Selfish.

And, whether or not he knew that I was with Seth tonight, his call still seemed selfish to me. Even if he really did need help I felt cheated out of that last hour and thirty minutes with Seth. And yes, that was probably me being selfish, but at least when I was being selfish, I knew it.

It was safe to say that I was back to being mad at Aaron Keslin.

I found Luke and Dave in the basement, shirtless and wearing bow ties for some reason. I didn't ask, and tried to look excited when they revealed that they had a tie for me, too, as Dave spent ten minutes bragging about how he'd kissed Angela Conner. On the cheek. But, he had asked her out, and she'd said yes. Luke didn't look entirely thrilled as Dave told the story, but I guessed that was because he'd probably heard about it repeatedly before I showed up. I was happy for Dave, but I probably would have been happier for him if I wasn't so busy missing Seth. Yes, I knew that was really pathetic, given the fact that I'd just gotten out of his truck. Like I said: cheated. I did feel better when I decided to call him, though. He was already home and getting ready for bed. He promised to call me in the morning.

I showered and then put on my bow tie, wondering why we were wearing them. There really didn't seem to be an explanation. We watched Dave's movie. There actually was some lesbian sex in it. I really have no further comment on that. We ate noodles, because Luke got hungry, and then I showered and went to bed. It was around three in the morning then, and I really was ready to sleep, but plans seemed to change when Luke snuck into my room and pounced on my bed. I'd seen him coming this time, though, and my stomach was spared.

"I believe you promised me details," he said, deciding that it was a good idea to reach over and flick on the lantern nearest to the bed.

"Did I?" I responded, and as he slid to lie next to me, hogging my pillow, he nodded.

"You were late."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I was with Seth."

"Yeah, I know. Where?"

"After the club?

"Yeah," Luke decided.

"We went to eat, and then to his house, and..."

"So which one of you is going to be limping tomorrow?" Luke cut me off impatiently, looking very much like a little boy who was about to be handed a double scoop of his favorite ice cream.

I raised an eyebrow, not quite catching his meaning. "Huh?" He gave me a look in response, and my eyes momentarily widened. "Oh! Neither of us. We didn't..."

"Oh." Luke had the nerve to look disappointed, and I laughed at him. "You know, if it's because you don't know how, I could..."

"Luke! I think I know how, I mean... I just don't know if..."

"Hey, it's cool. I mean, I'm not trying to pressure you--just live vicariously through you. I have no sex life, you know."

I rolled my eyes at him. "You know, just because we didn't do that, doesn't mean that we didn't do anything."

"How was it then?"

"Good."

Luke stared at me for a long moment, and then laughed out loud.

"Good? That's all you have to say?"

"It was good," I repeated, laughing, and trying really hard not to blush. "And I like the way Seth looks naked."

"Well how does he look naked?" Luke seemed truly amused by all this.

I thought about the question, and after developing a brief mental image, I shook my head.

"I'm not going to tell you how he looks naked; but, it was good, and he did things Aaron wouldn't, and he was just--Seth."

I found myself staring at the ceiling for a moment, finally going back to the pre-Keslin part of the night. I decided that I could have good dreams now--if Luke would get out of my room. I turned my attention back to him, only to find that he was watching me with a bemused expression on his face.

"You do realize you're glowing, right?" Luke teased, and in response I elbowed him so hard that he rolled off the bed, still laughing. I leaned over the edge to playfully glare at him as he sat up again.

"Shut up," I retorted, a little late.

"So I guess you were late for a good reason?"

"No, that was a while ago," I admitted. "I really don't think we lasted very long." That must have come out wrong, because Luke's eyes widened before he cracked up again. I glared at him.

"Then why were you late?" he asked, and that brought me to explain everything that had happened since leaving Seth's house--everything about Aaron.

"I felt sorry for him," I concluded. "I mean, he was being such an asshole, but I felt sorry for him... just a little bit."

"You know it's a very bad idea to start feeling sorry for Aaron, right?" Luke replied. "Plus, if he was that fucked up it's his own fault."

"Yeah, I know... and, I know."

I ran my finger's through Chey's short hair, hoping that she didn't decide to get up and move anytime soon. Currently, she made a good pillow, even if she was a pillow that was panting loudly while she watched Luke, just as I was, as I lay stretched out on the grass with her. We were at the park, eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, and after getting almost no sleep the night before, I didn't see how Luke had the energy to run around with a horde of other guys playing a game of tag football, which looked more like pushing-and-shoving football. Currently, I was looking at all of these guys as possible suspects. Or rather, each one as a guy Luke could possibly be crushing on.

I immediately eliminated Brian and Rick as possible suspects. Luke spent absolutely no time checking out Brian's butt, and he spent way too much time when we first got there lecturing Rick over the way he treated Meg, who, Luke had decided, was a good dance partner and friend. I eliminated Dave because he was Dave and Luke seemed to pay no attention to him after he'd left the game to go look for Angela, who as far as I could tell, wasn't there yet. I hoped she'd get there soon, though, but that was only because Seth was bringing her.

That morning, Eddie and Jase had woken us up to join them for breakfast way too early. But I was actually happy about this, because it made things seem normal between Eddie and me, something I was grateful for because the day before, the last time I'd talked to him, it had been the awkward conversation about my grandmother. During breakfast, Luke and I had had to listen to Dave tell Jase and Eddie all about his date with Angela, something he'd seemed excited about until Jase asked him when he'd be taking her out and Dave realized that they hadn't gotten that far in their conversation before he and Luke dropped her off at home. That was when Luke had talked Dave into calling Angela to see if she wanted to meet them at the park, while Luke used another line to call Brian and Rick to see if they wanted to meet there, too. Luke asked me if I wanted to go, and I'd immediately thought of Seth and decided to decline, knowing that I'd be calling him right after breakfast; but five minutes later, Seth called me just to say I'd better be at the park with Luke because he was already on his way to get Angela, who'd called and asked him for a ride so she could meet Dave.