Chapter 26

"What about this?" Brianna said, holding up a soft, cotton bag for Tammy to see. "It's for your shoes so they don't get your clothes dirty in your suitcase."

Tammy was zipping and unzipping a rolling carry-on suitcase, obviously testing its durability. She looked up and shook her head. "Plastic bags from the grocery store are better AND cheaper."

Brianna thought for a moment. "Good point." She hung the bag back on the hook.

It was the day after Independence Day, and Tammy was helping Brianna get things she'd need for her trip to Washington, which was only a few short weeks away. Brianna was grateful for the help. This was her first trip real trip going anywhere, at least without her parents, and she was adamant about doing it without their help. It would also be her first time on an airplane. Tammy, on the other hand, loved to travel, and she and Dex had done so on numerous occasions, so Brianna was counting on her sister to keep her from buying something stupid.

"Oh, what about a fanny pack?" Tammy said.

"Ick! Never in a million years."

Tammy held it up so Brianna could see it. "But it's got 'Hello Kitty' on it." She batted her eyelashes innocently.

Brianna groaned. "It's obvious we need a break. Let's go get some ice cream."

Tammy agreed and they headed out into the mall proper, each carrying a couple of bags from various stores.

"Hey, thanks again for helping us with the troublets last night," Tammy said.

Brianna had gone with Tammy, Dex and the triplets—or troublets, as Tammy affectionately called them—to a holiday picnic, then on to watch the fireworks. She'd stayed overnight at their house so she and Tammy could get an early start shopping.

"No problem. I love the little munchkins, and I don't get to spend enough time with them. I need my auntie time."

"Speaking of which, you've been getting a lot more auntie time lately. Surely, you'd rather hang out with your friends."

Brianna thought of Merrigan, and her heart hurt. She DID miss her friend, but after their 'break up', she just didn't feel right about calling her. Not yet, at least.

"Actually, everyone's pretty busy. Besides, I get my fill of them during the school year."

Tammy cast a sideways glance at her sister. "Hmm ... well, remember, Merrigan is welcome to come with you any time. I think Chance is sweet on her."

The sisters were sitting on a bench between the food court and the cinema a few minutes later, enjoying their Cold Stone ice cream and chatting about whatever came to mind. Tammy was talking when she looked past Brianna's shoulder and stopped, mid-sentence.

"Speaking of Merrigan, she's standing in line at the movie theater."

Brianna's head whipped around. Sure enough, there she was, as amazingly beautiful as ever. She wasn't alone.

"Is that Ben Garner she's with?" Tammy asked, leaning forward a bit.

Brianna watched as Ben said something and Merrigan laughed happily. She hip-bumped him, then slipped her hand into his. Brianna felt the heat of tears in her eyes.

'Don't cry, ' she told herself, 'You want her to be happy.'

She wasn't lying to herself. She DID want Merrigan to be happy, and she just instinctively knew that if there was any boy who could make it happen, it would be Ben. That was why she'd pushed him in Merrigan's direction in the first place. Her plan appeared to be a rousing success, she ruefully thought. She felt a hand on her arm and turned to look into Tammy's concerned face.

"Is that why Merrigan hasn't been around?" Tammy gently asked.

Brianna froze. Did Tammy know about her and Merrigan? Did it matter? Brianna decided it did, because she had promised Merrigan she wouldn't say a word to anyone, and she wouldn't break her promise, no matter what. At least not again. Allison knew, but she was involved from the very beginning. Ben knew too, but he'd pretty much figured it out on his own. Brianna reasoned they didn't count. Even though she figured Tammy would be OK with it, it wouldn't be right if Brianna told her.

"Um, what do you mean?" Brianna asked in return.

"You kind of have a thing for Ben, and now he's with Merrigan and they are spending all their time together," Tammy matter-of-factly answered. "You want to tell me about it?"

Brianna breathed a subtle sigh of relief. Since she realized she DID have feelings for Ben, she went with her sister's assumption.

"It's ... complicated," Brianna said, as she wiped at her eyes.

"Love always is. Did she steal him from you, or did he choose her?""

Love? Did she love Ben? In a way, she probably did, though not like she loved Merrigan. Still, both relationships WERE complicated.

"Neither. I don't think either of them knows how I feel about him."

Brianna glanced back at her friends, but they had already gone inside the theater. She sighed and looked down at her partially eaten treat—her favorite sweet cream ice cream, filled with pecan pralines. Tammy held out her cup of Chocolate Devotion.

"Let's switch," she said, with a smile. "You need chocolate more than me."

"Hand me the wrench," Jack said, as he surveyed the brake assembly of Tanner's bike. "No, the other one, the hex."

Tanner handed him the tool, and Jack loosened the anchor bolt.

Tanner watched silently for a moment before clearing his throat. "Hey, um, I never said thanks for what you did for me yesterday."

Jack glanced up for a second before turning back to his work. "And what was that?"

"Inviting me to play basketball; stopping and playing with kids I go to school with."

"Hand me the pliers. It was no biggie, Tanner. We were glad to have you along."

Jack sat back on his heels while Tanner dug for the wrench.

"Maybe not to you, but it was to me." He handed the pliers to Jack. "You could have just gone on to play where you normally do. I know why you didn't, though."

Jack half-smiled; he knew Tanner would figure it out. He was a smart kid, and Jack wasn't trying hard to hide his intentions. Still, he wanted to hear Tanner's take.

"You mean other than that court was closer and saved us time?" he asked. "OK, squeeze the brakes while I pull the cable."

Tanner squeezed the brakes. "You knew that me being seen with you guys would really help my reputation."

Jack used the pliers to pull the cable until it was taut. "It wasn't hard to figure out. I mean, being considered part of Marcus Dillon's crew would help anyone's rep, me and Seth included." He grabbed the wrench and retightened the anchor bolt.

"Well, I appreciate it. Though I'm not sure I want to be friends with people that only like me because I know someone famous."

Jack stood up and flipped the bike over. "OK, test it out."

Tanner climbed aboard and rode around the parking lot, squeezing the brake lever to make sure they didn't slip.

"Works great," Tanner said, as he climbed off the bike. "Thanks for helping me with this, too."

"No problem." Jack started gathering his tools. "Sometimes you have to use certain things to your advantage to help get your foot in the door. It works in business, and I think it works in this case, too. You met two older guys who you'll be in school with in the fall. Sure, it was probably because of who you were with, but by the end there, I could tell they really liked you for YOU. They were treating you almost like a kid brother."

Tanner looked contemplative as he digested Jack's words. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Here's the clincher, though," Jack continued. "When school starts, you can't be all shy and clam up. They said to look for them, so you need to, and you need to show them the Tanner they saw at the end of the games yesterday—the good-natured, interesting kid with the sharp sense of humor and the pretty impressive bank shot. Who you know can open doors, but it won't do a lick of good if you don't put forth some effort."

Tanner blushed at Jack's description of him. "I'll do it. They seem like good guys."

"What about their friend, the tall guy with the attitude. What was his deal? He just kept scowling at you. Did you know him before yesterday?"

"Not really," Tanner said as he looked away. He shuffled his feet nervously and avoided looking Jack in the eye. "He and some other guys—not Craig and Jeff, different guys—used to kind of pick on me, call me names and stuff. Called me queer, fag, and stuff like that."

Jack sat down on the curb and gestured to the spot beside him. "Ah, I see. Did that bother you?"

"Not really." Tanner sat next to Jack. "I mean, it hurts to be picked on, but what they said didn't really bother me."

They were quiet for a minute. Finally, Tanner looked at Jack. "What ... what if it's true?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if I am, you know, gay?"

Jack wasn't surprised at Tanner's admission. He shrugged his shoulders. "So what? True or not, it's none of their business, and they are dickless for making it an issue."

Tanner nodded, but was quiet for another few moments. "So, um, what do you think about me ... being gay?"

Jack didn't answer right away. It didn't bother him if Tanner was gay, but he saw another opportunity to use this as a lesson.

"Let me ask you a question. Why do you think you're gay?"

Tanner blushed hard and looked away again. "There's a ... guy ... I really like, you know, like more than just as a friend..." He looked back at Jack and furrowed his brow. Then he took a deep breath as he seemed to come to some kind of decision. "I'm attracted to you." He hurried on. "Oh, I know you aren't gay. I mean, you have Abigail and Allison."

Jack WAS surprised this time. Not that Tanner knew about him and Allison— Tanner's mother's relationship with Analise made it practically inevitable— but that he was attracted to Jack. Allison had commented that Tanner appeared to be fixated on Jack, especially after he had stopped Ronnie Winkle and his friends. Jack had just chalked it up to hero worship. Now how should he deal with THIS revelation?

"You probably hate me now," Tanner sadly said, as he prepared to stand.

Jack put a hand on Tanner's shoulder to keep him in place.

"Not at all, I'm flattered, really. It always makes me feel good about myself to think that someone is attracted to me. Though, why does your attraction to me mean you're gay?"

"Um, I'm a guy, you're a guy."

"There's nothing wrong with finding someone of the same sex attractive, but it doesn't mean you're gay."

Tanner blushed. "It's ... It's more than that. I think about, you know, doing stuff."

Jack blushed as well. "What about Allison?"

"What about her?"

"Do you find her attractive?"

"Well, yeah."

"How does it make you feel if you think about doing things with HER?"

Another blush. "Um, kind of like I feel when I think about doing stuff with, um, you."

"So if you want to label yourself, then you probably could label yourself bi-sexual, sexually attracted to both genders. But let me give you a few things to think about." He waited for Tanner to nod. "First, I assume you don't really have any experience with sex, so what you are right now is just curious. You say you are gay, but you have no basis for that. Second, why are you trying to label yourself? You didn't introduce yourself to those guys and say 'Hi, I'm Tanner. I'm gay and a brain.' And they didn't introduce themselves as 'I'm straight and I'm a jock.' If you are doing a profile for Match.com, then fine. Otherwise, you are Tanner, and you have a gazillion different facets to what makes you you. Does this make sense?"

Tanner thought about it for a minute and then smiled. "Yeah, I guess it does."

"Good." Jack wanted to share one more thought, something that Allison said once. "A friend of mine once said she doesn't consider herself any of those labels. She's attracted to who she's attracted to, regardless of gender, and doesn't worry about trying to fit into anyone's stereotype."

Tanner nodded and looked down at his feet for a long time. Jack was content to let him think, so he excused himself and took his tools to his apartment. As he was coming back down the stairs, Abigail's car was pulling into the lot. The girls—Abigail, Allison, Analise, and Deb—had gone out to the lake AGAIN. He teased them about trolling for new men, to which they responded by thanking him for the good idea.

"Your mom's back," Jack said, when he reached Tanner.

Tanner stood up and brushed the dirt off his shorts. He glanced at Jack. "Thanks, Jack, for, you know..."

Jack smiled and put his arm around Tanner's shoulders. "You're welcome." The stood for a second in companionable silence while the girls got out of their cars. Allison waved.

"So, um, how did you know about me and Allison?" he quietly asked as he waved back.

He felt Tanner shrug. "I'm pretty observant. I figured it out months ago. So one day I just asked Allison, and she admitted it. Mom knows, too, but she told me to drop it because it wasn't any of my business."

"Hey, Boys," Allison said, as she sauntered over, "Have a good afternoon?"

"Oh, definitely," Jack answered. "We used tools and fixed things and grunted and everything; total man day."

Allison giggled. Abigail and Deb joined them. The two younger women were similarly clad in bikini tops and short shorts, with oversized sunglasses perched on top of their heads. Deb was wearing a sundress over her swimming suit.

"Hi, Jack," Deb said. "Tanner, give me a minute to rinse off in the shower, then you can help me with dinner." She lovingly rubbed his arm and went to her apartment.

Abigail stepped up to Jack and gave him a long, deep kiss, then broke the kiss and gave him a big hug. She softly blew into his ear.

"All those guys ogling my body made me horny," she whispered. "Give us five minutes to clean up and you can have your dessert before your dinner."

She released Jack, kissed Tanner on the cheek, and headed up the stairs.

Allison had a knowing look on her face. She stepped up to kiss Jack on the cheek, but he decided that since Tanner already knew, he would throw caution to the wind. He turned his head at the last second and met Allison's lips with his own. A second later, his tongue teased her mouth open and gave a quick lick inside it. When he pulled back, he almost laughed at Allison's shocked expression.

"I'll be up in a minute," he said.

She nodded and stepped over to kiss Tanner's cheek. She hesitated for a split second as if she expected Tanner to turn his head, too, but then kissed her friend's cheek and bounded up the stairs.

He looked at Tanner. "Did their outfits have the same effect on you as they did on me?"

Tanner's blush got darker, but the huge grin the spread across his face told Jack everything he needed to know.

Seth tried not to look pissed as he watched Heidi dancing, if that is what you could even call her bumping and grinding. It could practically be classified as dry humping. He took another swig of his beer and set it on the counter.

"Dude, you're fucking depressing me," Barry said. He was sitting on the stool to Seth's right. "If it fucking bothers you so much, go out there and tell the prick to get lost."

Seth grunted, but didn't say anything. It had all started with Barry asking Heidi to dance. She and Seth had already danced a bunch, and Seth needed a break, so he'd been more than willing to pawn the Energizer bunny off on his roommate who'd come along to the club because he had nothing better to do. Her 'one dance' with Barry had turned into a half dozen, and with each thumping minute, her dancing had become more sexual. Seth was pretty sure every guy who was watching was sporting an iron bar in his pants.

Finally, Heidi and Barry had returned for a drink, and Barry must have seen something in Seth's eyes, because he said he needed a bathroom break and was gone for a good fifteen minutes. Heidi had tugged Seth back onto the floor, but to his dismay, her dancing with him was almost tame by comparison. As the next song started, another guy turned around and started dancing behind Heidi. By the end of the song, she was grinding lustily with the guy, and Seth had wandered back to his drink. That was three guys and 10 songs ago.

"Dude," Barry hissed, "Either go get her or get over it. She's your fucking girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," Seth said.

"I know, I know, you're just two friends who like to hang out and have fun. Except it's obvious you're boning her, Man, unlike before I headed home for the summer. She's practically living in your bedroom."

"Still, that doesn't give me a right to be all possessive of her. I mean, we never committed to be exclusive."

"But she came here with YOU tonight."

"You came with us, too."

"But I'm not fucking you, Man!"

"Shhh!" Seth looked around at the people around him to see who had heard Barry, but no one paid any attention to them. "She's not my date tonight, Barry."

"Aaargh! You're fucking driving me nuts, Davis." Barry stood up as he took a big swig of his drink. He thumped the glass onto the counter, dug in his pocket, and slapped a few bills on the counter next to it. "I'm going back to the apartment."

Seth suddenly didn't want to be alone. He gave Barry a hard look. "Why did you come here?"

Barry shrugged. "I wanted to dance and get a bit of a buzz."

"No, I mean, why are you here, in Seattle? I thought you were staying home for the whole summer?"

Barry looked down at his roomie. "Job interview. Company's looking for an intern in the spring, and I have to do an internship, so here I am. Do you want me to crash somewhere else?"

Seth frowned. "Uh, no. I'm pretty sure there won't be a need."

"Fine, but I'm still going home." He smacked Seth on the arm. "Be a man, Davis. Go out on that floor and take charge."

Seth watched his roommate disappear into the crowd, then looked back at Heidi to see her giving her latest partner a big hug and simple peck on the lips. Seth ground his teeth. He shouldn't be getting pissed about this! He was the one who refused to be her steady boyfriend, claiming that neither of them needed that kind of commitment. She hadn't been happy about that, but since they had increased the "benefits" of their friendship, she'd been less obsessed with trying to lock Seth down.

So if he didn't want to be boyfriend/girlfriend, why hadn't he gone out with another girl, and why hadn't she gone out with another guy? And why did the thought of her going out with another guy make him almost as sick to his stomach as seeing all her dance partners practically feeling her up?

Because he really DID want to be her boyfriend, that's why.

Suddenly, a giggling dynamo was bouncing towards him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a loud, exaggerated kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, God, Seth, thanks for bringing me dancing. This is so much fun!" Then in a loud whisper, she said, "I'm sooo horny."

Seth practically inhaled his beer. He set his drink down hard. "You probably need to slow down a bit, you know, take it easy."

Heidi giggled and grabbed his beer, taking a big swig before he could react. He yanked it out of her hand. She gave a little burp and giggled again.