Lollipop Guild, for Grey Theory - Part Two

[evertruth]

Part One

Chester

"I saw nothing but shadows of tall trees, smelled nothing but the fresh honeysuckle and walking iris, rosemary, and gopher apple. I could hear the small buzz of air around the silence, alert creatures of the forest moving at controlled speeds, and taste the moist atmosphere that surrounded me. I was alone, and no one was coming for me because no one knew that I was alive." I close the novel as I finish the last sentence of chapter seven for the class.

"Excellent job Chester, thank you. Now someone tell me, what does it mean?"

I raise my hand. Usually I take it easy in English, give everyone else a chance to answer, but ever since Rob came into the picture, I've felt the need to prove that there's a brain underneath my hair gel. "It means ignorance. Sage, she was taught to live by her senses, The Professors thought they covered everything they needed to in order for her to survive, but the first mistake they made was just revealed, they never told her what darkness was. She thinks she's losing her sight, when all that’s happening is, the sun is setting, and she doesn't know how to react."

"Very good, anyone on the defense?" I can tell Mrs. Sessions wants to get away with keeping her words short today.

I look around, daring someone to tell me I was wrong, I know for a fact that I am right. Rob raises his hand. It looks like more of a wave, though, I don't mind. His bored demeanor always interested me, it might have even made him hotter. It was like he was trying to tease me, his back against the armrest of the desk, body turned to give full view of the entire left side of his body, one foot in front of me. He’s wearing his glasses today, a pale blue button down with the sleeves rolled up, over a white t-shirt and jeans that fit tight in all the right places. I;m already undressing him with my eyes when he clears his throat, "I think the author made a mistake." There is an awkward silence after Rob pauses. He obviously isn't going to continue.

"Oh? How so?" Mrs. Sessions urges.

"The walking iris only grows in Brazil."

Mike and Liv snort along with a few others in the class. I look over in time to see Brad roll his eyes.

"That could be intentional." I say in a low voice, meant for Rob's ears only. He throws me the intense stare he'd always give me, but before we go into our usual staring contest, Mrs Sessions cuts in.

"What was that, Chester?"

I twist to get comfortable, my shoes squeak as I adjust my foot, "Um, the misplaced flower, it could be in the forest with Sage intentionally. I guess what I'm saying is, the author obviously has a thing for flowers and plants and shi- I mean stuff, so why not create a subtle metaphor, you know?" I blush when I almost curse in front of everyone. Mrs. Sessions is a total rat, and word would've gotten to my dad by the end of the day.

"So you're saying the walking iris in the middle of a deserted forest in 2039 Florida is a metaphor, a metaphor for what exactly?"

I hate it when she makes me explain things thoroughly, why can't she just accept what I said and shut the fuck...

I forgot what I was thinking about when Rob starts talking again.

"Sage, right? She's a science experiment, she was created in a lab where she was for her entire life, and when The Professors put her in a crowd of people in the city, they were expecting her to die from shock or a heart attack, but she didn't. She's not suppose to be alive, neither is the walking iris, because of the moisture... right?"

"Exactly..." I can't control my smile as Rob explains what I was trying to say better than I ever could.

"Excellent point, guys."

"Well, of course the queers know all about flowers."

I frown at the immaturity of a group of losers in the back of the classroom, led by Nathan Powers, the only person I can call an enemy. Before Rob or Mrs. Sessions can say anything, I shoot back, "Say, Nathan, doesn't your Grandfather own a flower shop..."

He blushes faster than he could answer me, "Plants, he sells exotic plants, asshole."

"Boys!"

"Power's Flowers?"

I can barely hear the teacher over the laughter, "Not another word from either of you!"

The bell rings and I’m out of the room before either can say anything else. I have some catching up to do in third period and I have to get it done fast.

I don't want to be late for my date with Rob.

~

I meet him in our usual spot, the restroom five doors down from our Economics class, the only place and time we had privacy. Within seconds I’m pinned to the wall, my legs around his waist and my tongue running along the roof of his mouth. He moves his hand up my leg as far as it could go into my temporary, horribly designed gym shorts and squeezes my thigh.

He breaks the kiss, "Why are you wearing this?" he says, biting his bottom lip. His eyes travel from my neck down to my t-shirt clad chest and stomach, and stop at the bulge in my shorts.

"You don't like it?" Of course he doesn't like it, I look like a fool. Like I'm headed to basketball practice any second now. I almost ditched English so he wouldn't have to see me like this, but I'd rather him see these clothes than the tragic salesman suit my dad made me wear to his speech last night.

He kisses me again, slower this time. He runs his tongue along my bottom lip and sucks it into his mouth. I slide my hand into his hair and pull on as much as I can grab from his short cut. He always moans when I do that, it always makes me wonder how rough he is in bed. I'd kill to know, but we've never done anything but make out in this restroom, the only place we could be together.

"I think it's hot." he mumbles when he moves his amazing lips down to my throat.

"Liar." He squeezes the skin of my neck between his teeth and I let out the lamest squeak and giggle. I try to cover it up by talking. "Um, I didn't have time to go home and change."

"Where were you?"

I let out a low moan when he sucks on my ear. "It's... a long story." I catch a glimpse of my watch when I pull him closer. "We had better get to lunch."

He sighs heavily and pulls away. He holds me steady until my feet are on the ground again. Turning toward the sink and mirrors he shakes his head in disappointment. I made him angry again.

"We don't have to."

"I'm sorry, but we do," I can hear my phone buzzing in my bag I dropped on the floor. I know it’s Mike, I knew he would be looking for me by now. I grab it out of the side pocket and answer it, "I'm coming." He knew I didn't bother with 'hello' when I was irritated.

"Okay," he says, sounding irritated himself, but I don't care to hear him say anything else, so I end the call.

"No, we don't. You just don't want anyone to know about me, do you? To know about us, is that it?" His cheeks are red and his eyebrows creased. He looks adorably frustrated. Although he is right, I don't want him to be.

"No, that's not it. I told you I just don't want my dad to find out."

"Find out what? That you're gay?"

"No, that I'm seeing someone. Trust me he'll find out and he'll grill the shit out of you, Rob!"

"Who said we were seeing each other? Besides, I'm a big boy, I know how to answer a few questions."

I’m stunned into shock at his words. I feel really used all of a sudden. I can feel tears stinging at the corner of my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I blink as I look to the floor, then the wall next to me, anywhere but Rob.

"Oh."

"I asked you out remember? I asked you to dinner and you said no, you didn't want your daddy to find out. So I assumed that meant you didn't want to date me, I thought you just wanted to fuck, well I'm sorry Chester, I'm not gonna fuck you in a public bathroom at school, no way."

"You make it sound like I always bring guys I'm not seeing in here to fuck."

He crosses his strong arms over his chest and shrugs, "I don't know, do you?"

I let out an incredulous laugh, "Oh, yeah that's real nice, Rob. I'm going to lunch." I grab my messenger and leave the room before he can say anything else to hurt my feelings.

~

"What's up guys!" I yell over the loud music to anyone who can hear me.

"Chester!" shouts most of the people in the backyard of Kevin's parent's estate. It always makes me feel good to see that people are happy to see me.

I've never been unpopular, but my father's job has put a stiff wall between myself and a lot of people. I hate him for causing a rift in my personal life. And I hate him even more for providing me with twenty four hour babysitters on the weekends, courtesy of the United States government.

I close the wooden gate as I come in.

"Chester!" Frances gets out of the huge pool and hugs me as best she can without getting me too wet. Her curly dark hair is soaked and her modest one-piece swimsuit clings to her body like a second skin.

"Well don't you look like you just left a photo shoot for Victoria's Secret," I tease.

"That was last week, silly." She giggles. "Where did you get your top, it's cute!"

"You gave it to me, remember?"

"I know, I was just checking. Blue plaid is a good color for you." I love Frances, she's so weird.

I wore blue especially for Rob, it’s his favorite color. "You think so?"

We chat until we reach the back entrance to the house, where the real party is going on. Frances went to find her missing clothes while I went to the kitchen in search of a drink.

In the kitchen Mike sits on a stool by the island, trying and failing to flirt with Beverly Bernard, a semi-cute blonde from the school volleyball team. People would pick on her and call her Saint Bernard in junior high, before she grew boobs and got a nose job. Now she's starring in some b-list teen movie that just came to theaters. I always thought it would be classic if she starred in a Beethoven sequel.

Brad and Liv are sitting on the other side of the island practically in each other's laps looking through a magazine. How pathetic that they need such a lame excuse to touch, I'm sure Brad could be more creative. After his arrival, it only took me three weeks to jump Rob in what's now our secret make out spot... but that was just my attempt at changing the subject after I turned him down. Even still, I don't see why his stepbrother couldn't take the same first step.

I approach them, as they look more promising for conversation than Mike and Beverly. "Hey people."

"Hey Chaz," Liv put a friendly distance between herself and Brad as she turns to greet me.

"Do my eyes deceive me, or are you guys reading at a party?"

"Shut up Chester, you know Liv can't read."

Liv playfully punches Brad's shoulder, "Ugh, you're so lame. Anyway, where have you been, the party started forever ago."

"What did I miss?" I grab an unopened beer in a cooler on the counter behind them.

"Ouch," we ignore Brad's late reaction. He is obviously trashed.

"Chelsea and Lisa finally brought out the claws!"

She tells me all about the fight I missed and how Kevin had to break it up, as they were fighting over him. People can be so juvenile sometimes. "Where is the birthday boy anyway?"

"Getting lucky, probably," Brad laughs.

"Right... so where's your brother?" I get to the point of why I’m even here.

Brad rolls his eyes, like he always did when Rob is mentioned, "My stepbrother is around here somewhere."

Eventually I venture off into the rest of the house to find Rob. It feels like my body is on the verge of spontaneous combustion when I see him sitting on the end of a crowded sofa, next to Nikko.

Nikko was mostly my only source of release before Rob rolled into town. I could fuck him, and count on him not to tell anyone about it the next day.

I made the mistake of having sex with a complete stranger at a club in San Francisco on my sixteenth birthday. Of course he told everyone he knew that he fucked the President's son, but the whole world found out when reelection came around and I went from being the President's gay son to the President's wild sex-crazed, drug addicted, party monster son. I was on double lock down then, I wasn't even allowed to celebrate my next birthday. I was almost home schooled for my last two years of high school, but my dad's advisors told him to let everyone see that I was a 'normal' teenager, rather than a promiscuous crystal queen.

I watch as Nikko flirtatiously touches Rob's leg and my blood boils. Nikko has a lot of dirt on me, but I am a normal teenager - I want to go to parties and concerts and fuck like every other teenager, and I don't give a shit what my dad or some old guy on the news has to say about it.

Rob is probably still mad at me, so I try not to look so jealous when I dodge all the drunken kids to get to the couch he’s sat on. Nikko sees me first, he scowls and says something to Rob and they laugh.

I stop by the armrest where Rob has his elbow. I have to practically yell over the music to get his attention, "Hey Rob, could I talk to for a sec?"

I’m shocked when he smiles and says, "Yeah, sure." Maybe he’s drunk.

"You just did." Nikko puts his hand on Rob's bicep to keep him from standing up. He can be a real bitch sometimes. "We were talking."

I sigh, "Rob?"

We both watch him expectantly, waiting for him to choose between us.

"I'll see you later," I almost laugh at Nikko's wounded face. Feeling impatient and making sure Nikko is looking, I take Rob's hand to pull him along with me. I hope Nikko gets the message.

We step out of the front door into the yard. We can still hear the music, but we don't have to yell to hold a conversation.

After a moment of silence he slightly squeezes my hand, "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"I thought PDA wasn't your thing."

"Everyone's so drunk, they won’t remember anything later." Dammit, that came out wrong, he probably thinks I meant it as a good thing.

"Right..." he trails off and looks up into the tall tree on his other side.

I don't say anything else out of fear of sounding like an asshole.

"Do you want to go to my place?"

I takes me a few seconds to register his words. "Erm... well," his laughter cuts me off. I've never heard him laugh so much.

"Your face is all red."

"Have you been drinking?" I can't help but ask.

His laughter dies down as his trademark sarcasm returns to the surface, "Says the guy with a beer in his hand." He lets go of my hand and grabs my beer that I barely sipped and sits it on the concrete ground. "I don't drink. Are you coming or what?" he walks backwards as he waits on me to reply. I hate it when he does that, it makes me feel rushed.

"I should probably tell someone where I'm going first." I automatically reach for my phone in my back pocket, but stop as Rob throws me an exasperated look. "Okay, or not..." I was so used to following the rules I became comfortable with it, but it hasn't put a strain on my relationship with anyone like this before. I like Rob a lot, more than I probably should, and I hate making him upset.

After a second of deliberation, I decide to change the rules for a while.

~

I park my car outside of Rob's house and wait by the front door for him to park his in the garage. He parks beside a similar car, I assume his dad's, as his mom's car was small and green.

I've met her a few times, when Brad invited me over. She's a total sweetheart and she always has some kind of freshly baked treat in the kitchen, and that's pretty rare in this neighborhood. Your family is considered weird if you don't either eat out every night or have a maid or something cook your family meals. I wish my mom was as nice and skillful in the kitchen as Brad's. Instead she's a rancid bitch who likes me as much as the rest of the country, but I'm not allowed to say that out loud...

My nerves and disappointment grow at the same time as I realize Rob's dad is home and I’m probably about to meet him, and I’m probably not getting laid because of it.

We enter the house and he leads the way to the kitchen where a man stands hunched over a laptop computer with yellow mug in his right hand. He is the mirror image of Rob, except taller and his hair is longer. He’s wearing gray sweat pants with yellow stars all over them and a loose black t-shirt. "Hey guys," he says while inspecting whatever is inside the yellow cup. What is it with this family and yellow? It's everywhere, the walls, the accents, the toilet bowl in the guest bathroom, the house! It’s pretty gay if you ask me...

"Dad, this is Chester," Rob voice is muffled as he was halfway inside the giant refrigerator.

His head snaps away from the computer and he locks eyes with me. His face went from surprise to that dissolved look other parents give me when they recognize me. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were Brad," he sits his cup on the counter and comes over to shake my hand, "I'm Eli."

"Nice to meet you."

Rob comes out of the refrigerator, hands me a bottle of water, and pops open a can of soda for himself. I want to grab him and kiss him for remembering something as simple as me not liking soda, not that I need a reason.

He takes my hand and pulls me toward the hall, "We're going to my room." It doesn't sound like he’s asking for Eli's permission, just letting him know.

"Wait Rob, um I'm leaving for the hospital in a few minutes," he raises his eyebrow.

We pause by the doorway, "Okay..." There’s an awkward silence as he and Eli seem to have a conversation with their eyes. Eli throws me and our connected hands a quick glance and looks back to Rob expectantly. I shift uncomfortably.

"I'll see you tomorrow, dad."

"Rob!"

"Goodnight."

"Um, nice meeting you Eli, and nice PJ bottoms!" I had to raise my voice in case he can't hear me as we turn a corner and go up a set of stairs to the second floor. We enter the first room on the right, the walls are white with different paintings on every side. The cherry wood furniture is slightly darker than the hard wood floors and the bed is covered in blue sheets and pillows.

Rob closes the door behind us and sits on the bed, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Um, I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry... for everything," I say.

"You always start with 'um' when you're not sure what to say," he sits his soda on the nightstand next to the bed.

"That's not unusual..."

"I only notice it with you, though... come sit down."

I realize I’m just standing in the middle of the room and awkwardly move to sit next to him. "I'm sorry for what I said to you in school yesterday."

"The thing about being ashamed of you or thing about me being a slut?"

"I never called you that," he tries meet my eyes but I look to the floor.

"No, but you were thinking it, just like everyone else."

"No I wasn't... I'm not everyone else, Chester."

I’m not sure if I believe him, so I try to change the subject. "About a year ago I met this guy named Steve... he was in college so I skipped school a lot to be with him. He wanted to go out on a date, a real date. It took me a while, but I finally agreed, and he broke up with me the next day." I turn to Rob to see his reaction.

"Why are you telling me this?" He furrows his eyebrows.

"Because... when my dad was re-elected around that time, he wanted to make sure that I was staying out of trouble, and so he had these... government agents following me around sometimes. I hadn't been out in a while, so there were a bunch of photographers taking pictures, too."

Rob looks up in thought, "So what you're saying is, you were constantly being watched by the CIA-"

"Former members, and only on the weekends..."

"And this Steve guy was creeped out about it?"

"Yeah, I guess. He didn't really..." I trail off when Rob starts laughing uncontrollably again. I shove him, "It's not funny,"

He takes deep breathes to calm himself after he lands on his back. He pulls himself onto the bed more so his legs weren't dangling over the edge; I do the same. "Sorry it's just seems so surreal." The skin of his stomach is peeking from under his thin gray t-shirt and I have to stop myself from touching him. Propping his head on a pillow he rubs his temple before twisting his head to look at me. I lay on my side resting some of my weight on my elbow, studying his every move, briefly wondering if Eli is gone yet. His eyes seem to light up for a moment, "So the agents, where are they now?"

"Um," I pause and curse myself for saying the word again. "well, Sid was with me today, but I convinced him to let me do my own thing for tonight. He's the only one that let's me off the hook sometimes, as long as I'm with Mike or someone he knows."

"Why is everyone so protective of you?"

I smile, "When you have as many death threats as me, you're bound to feel at least a little paranoid."

"Death threats? From who?" His serious tone makes it uncomfortable to talk about.

"All-American, fag hating conservatives with nothing better to do. Not all of them were for real, though..." I trail off.

Rob is silent for a minute, then speaks again, "Why?"

I shift to lay on my back, "Can we talk about something else please?"

"Oh, okay," he sits up and reached for his soda, "like what?"

"Like, one David Ray Cox," he cranes his neck to give me a bored look, "What?"

"Not you, too,"

"Brad told me about your argument the other day, and I think you're right-"

"Wait you guys are talking about me now?"

I blush, "Well, we always talk about you, you're a hot topic in first period computer apps," I sit up beside him, opening the forgotten water that is still in my hand, "why do think Cox knows so much about you?"

"What does Brad say about me?"

I sigh and take a sip of my water. When I’m done, I reach over him to sit the bottle on the nightstand, but instead of sitting in the same spot, I straddle his lap and rest my right hand on his shoulder while my left touches the soft skin of his neck and runs down his chest. "Don't change the subject."

"Do you really think I want to talk about Cox while you're touching me like this?" he leans back on his hands.

"Yeah," he rolls his eyes and smiles when I giggle immaturely. "It's just, I've never been too nice to him, but we sort of grew up together, so to speak and I saw how out of it he was yesterday, it was weird! I know how much he was looking forward to-"

"This isn't my problem." Rob's voice is stern.

"I know, but if you could just talk to him, make him understand, you know?"

"He's already wasted three minutes of my life, I don't think I have anymore extra,"

I give him the best glare I can manage, "Without your searing wit and sarcasm, please." He avoids looking at me by staring at my shirt. "Rob?" I lift his chin to meet his eyes, but I’m distracted by his lips. "He started writing his graduation speech a year ago,"

"Okay, I'll just tell him to change all the 'valedictorians' to 'salutatory.' Worries resolved."

"I think you're misunderstanding, I'm not worried about his feelings, I'm worried about his reaction. He's made some rash decisions in the past, and he's liable to go insane."

"Right," he snorts.

"I'm serious, you know he trashed a classroom after Liv told him she wouldn't go out with him freshman year? He almost got expelled."

"That's nice."

I forget my argument as his hand moves up my thigh and unclasps the buckle of my belt.

"What does Brad say about me?" He asks again.

"I don't think I should say," I watch as he uses two hands to unbutton my shirt.

"Why?"

Brad would be upset if I told him, but maybe it had to come from someone else for Rob to understand. I put my hands over his to stop his movement. "He... he says he's always wanted a brother, and now he realizes if he had any sense when he was a kid, you and he would have been a kick-ass brothers, even now, but... you're too stubborn and immature."

"Oh."

"See? Now you can kiss and make up. No more arguing,"

He shakes his head, "I'd rather kiss you," I can feel him loosen his hands from my shirt, but I hold them to my chest.

"I won't stop you if you try."

"Shouldn't you be leaving soon?"

"No, I wanna stay." I push his hands away and unfasten the rest of the buttons on my shirt. "Please? I won't leave, I promise."

He brushes my shirt off of my shoulders as I press my lips to his desperately. Forcing his tongue into my mouth, his cold hands pull me closer by the waist. I can feel his erection under me when I grind down on his crotch. I run my fingers through his soft hair as I suck on his hot tongue. My nose burns at his natural scent of vanilla and sweet aftershave. I yelp when he suddenly flips me onto my back, I almost come at the sensation and excitement his domination gives me.

I watch as he stands and strips of everything he’s wearing, First his shoes and socks, then his shirt. His chest is smooth and hard like the stomach that I felt so many times in the school restroom. His cock steals my attention after he removes his jeans and boxers, it is long and perfect. I want to touch him so bad, more than I want to touch myself. Leaning onto the bed, he finishes undoing my pants before sliding them off along with my briefs. He climbs on top of me again, bringing my knees up and turning my head to the side so he can suck on my earlobe. I let out a soft moan and move my hands down his sides. He grunts loudly in my ear when I take his erection into my hands. I squeeze and stroke him while he covers my face and neck with sloppy kisses.

After a while, I can feel him dripping onto my upper thigh. He catches both of my hands and pins them above my head. Locking both of my arms with one hand, he pulls my leg up and over his shoulder.

"Wait Rob... um," I shake my head and try to remember how to form a sentence.

"What is it?" he lets go of my arms with a worried look on his face, like he had done something wrong.

"What if your dad's still here?" I whisper, like he might be close by.

He sighs, "This isn't exactly the time to talk about my dad. I heard him leave when you were ranting about 'one David Ray Cox.'"

"Oh... what about Brad?"

"Brad has no reason to come upstairs, and before you ask, my mom is out of town. Anymore questions or do you want me fuck you now?"

I capture his lips again in a passionate kiss. I bite his lip when he burrows his massive cock inside of me. I feel every inch of him as rams in and out at a steady pace. I groan when twists my nipple and grazes my prostate at the same time. "Harder," I barely recognize my own voice as I demand more. I want it harder and faster, I want him to fuck me harder than he's ever done anyone, I want him to fuck me over and over until he can't go anymore.

The room echoes with our grunts and moans when we come the first time. He lays on top of me, gathering his strength, his sweat gathers in between my fingers when a run my hand up his back. We roll onto a spot of the bed that isn't damp, me on top this time, and I move myself up and down, riding him slowly until his cock is as hard as mine.

~

New Year's Day

I love my friends, they're always there for me, even when I don't want them to be. When I'm not sleeping, getting rid of them is nearly impossible, Mike and Dave especially. They want to know where I am all the time, and if they don't know they freak out. I used to be okay with it, because I was afraid to be alone and I was comforted by the fact that someone always knew where I was. Every possibility was taken into consideration, and everyone knew what to do if something bad actually did happen to me. No one ever dreamed of what would happen afterwards.

"How could you be so fucking stupid?" I yell.

"I'm sorry."

"What is wrong with you? Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"I wasn't thinking."

"No you weren't! And if you were, you would realize how much danger you put the entire country in!" I pace the hotel room, frantically looking for something to punch, something other than David Ray Cox. "Stealing my cell phone, and sending it on a flight to Puerto Rico? Sending an anonymous text message to all of my friends saying I was kidnapped? You know what Cox, I know for a fact that you were thinking, you've probably been planning this for weeks. You forgot that this is America, everyone is traceable!"

"Calm down, Chester,"

"No, I won’t Mike, he's fucking crazy! I can't believe I felt sorry for him." I shake my head at the surreal turn out of our senior class trip.

I paid some random guy who didn't know who I was to rent Rob and I the honeymoon suite of the hotel since we don't like being away from each other or in separate rooms on the same floor as the other students, and I didn't want Sid, who came along just in case, to ask any questions.

I didn't think much of losing my cell phone at the airport. While Rob and I were busy enjoying our secret room, and everyone else was sight seeing in Orlando, Cox decided to prank The President.

And for what?

"I just wanted to get back at Rob, okay? I didn't know he was with you, I figured if he left you alone for a while, I'd send the text just to make him squirm, I didn't know anyone was gonna call The President, and I didn't know he would act so hastily..." Cox's face is blood red and his eyes are puffy from crying at being arrested.

"Yeah, well Rob and I were fucking, and we turn on the TV afterwards, and there's my dad talking about infiltration strategies on Puerto Rico, and getting ready to fly down here! I leave to see what the hell was going on, and all my friends are in tears, praying for me while you sat in a corner, shaking like a scared little bitch."

"Chaz, come on, we gotta pack." I can tell Mike is getting sick of my rant.

"No, one more thing, Cox. In case you haven't noticed, my temper runs in the family, so when we get back to California, just chill out, okay? I pretty much just saved you from the death penalty, so the least you could do for me is stop thinking of ways to get back at my boyfriend for something that's out of his control, okay?"

He nods, "Yeah, okay." He was really shaken up after spending the night being interrogated at a military base. But I didn't care.

~

"-so lazy Brad, I can't believe you slept the entire time." I catch some of what Liv was saying to Brad when Mike and I join them, Joe, and Dave to wait on the shuttle bus to the airport, in the hotel lobby.

Rob is on his phone, probably speaking to his parents, "No, I already told you, I had it off... Yeah we're all fine... He's still lazy and uninteresting, so he's fine," a few of us laugh at the one sided conversation when Rob was obviously talking about Brad. Thanks to me, Rob makes an effort to get along with his stepbrother, but sometimes he slips up on the part where being nice is required. "We're about to leave now... I'm not a child mom, I can take care of myself..."

Brad snorts, he's been really out of it lately. Ever since he got some kind of trust fund the other week, he's been buying pot by the pound.

Rob comes over to me after he ends his call, "Where's Cox?"

"Still in his room, he has to stay here and wait for his parents to come." I take his hand and interlace our fingers. "You know, none of this would have happened if you had listened to me."

"I don't know what you mean," he shakes his head and smiles.

"You remember? You changed the subject to Brad."

"Huh?" Brad says.

Ignoring him, Rob squeezes my hand, "If you really had gotten kidnapped, who would've kidnapped you?"

"You, of course, but you'd have to take me to Ibiza."

"It's nothing to joke about you guys, I really did think you were in Puerto Rico," Mike says jokingly, but I can tell he’s somewhat serious.

"When did you go to Puerto Rico, Chaz?"

"Shut up Brad," Joe shoves him.

"What?" Brad looks at all of us.

"Oh gosh, he's for real."

Dave laughs, "Brad, where the hell have you been for the past twenty four hours?"

No one else seems to notice him steal a quick glance at Liv and blush.

"Oh Bradford, you dog you," I tease and wink at them.

Liv punches Brad as hard as she can on his shoulder, "Asshole! You told him?"

"Ouch!" He rubs his shoulder and watches as Liv stomps to meet the bus that hasn't stops yet. When the bus is closer, the rest of us gather our things. "So did you take pictures in Puerto Rico?" Everyone but Brad sighs and boards the shuttle bus. "What!"