Angst

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not write about frank sexual situations, nor do I have any desire to.

This is a story about teen love and discovery. Still though, it is a gay work of fiction.

If such work offends you or you are not old enough to read in your area, then do not continue reading.

Please do not copy and paste onto another website without emailing me first. In most cases I'd be glad to let you post on another site, as long as you ask first!

Angst Episode 30 "The Senior Trip"

"Stop it now!" I exclaimed.

They were still going at it. And they seriously needed to stop before we got thrown out. Or worse. It was like 2 a.m. after all, and we were still a bunch of teenagers at a supposed-to-be-closed-movie- theater.

And I wasn't even sure what they were fighting for.

Christian wiped the blood from his mouth and faced Gino.

"Just stay away from my friends" Gino exclaimed.

"Hey, what's going on?" Adam asked, Vanessa in tow.

I looked down at them holding hands. It felt weird seeing that but I didn't have time to think about it for long.

"What the...aw shit," Alex mumbled, rushing to try and break up the fight.

"Stay here," Adam said, letting go of Vanessa's hand to go help.

"Aww, I was hoping they'd take off their shirts and grab each other in their happy places," Michelle pouted.

"Michelle, shut up," Krystal said.

Things were getting out of hand fast, as by now, everyone else had gotten wind of the fight and were forming a big crowd.

Like cattle to the prod.

"Guys, come on," Alex said.

"Get out of my way Rodriguez!" Chris exclaimed, looking ready to fight Alex too.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...I do NOT think you wanna fight me," Alex replied.

Chris glared at Alex.

"Gino..come on man," Adam pleaded. "Walk away."

"Oh give me a break, Adam," Gino replied. "Move out of the way, this doesn't have anything to do with you."

"But it can," Adam replied sternly.

This was a nightmare. A total nightmare. I just wish I had some sort of idea what the hell it was all about.

"Alright that's it. You don't wanna move, I'll make you," Chris said.

Three days earlier.

Senior Trip this. Senior Trip that. It seemed to be all anyone talked about. Including my friends. When they weren't constantly asking me how I felt and if I needed to talk.

It had been a good three weeks since the whole thing with John, and ironically since he disappeared, I'd stopped having my nightmares. You'd think that with the guy being unaccounted for, I'd have even more. But they just stopped. And I was glad.

But now I was never left alone. My parents took less hours at the hospital to be home more and my friends were getting on my everlasting nerve in the fact that they were once again smothering me.

And on top of all that, all any one in the 12th grade at the Angst had been able to talk about was the upcoming senior trip.

Every year the seniors did something that no one else ever gets to do. Last year the seniors got to stay on a specially designed Boeing 757 double decker airplane overnight. Well actually two of them as there were that many seniors. But the aircraft was grounded and inside a large aircraft carrier where the outside was set up for dancing and games and other fun stuff. And it lasted from 8 pm until...well 8 am.

This year, however, was different. This year we had something here that the graduating seniors last year didn't. A movie theater had been built over the summer and had recently just opened. Recently being last week. And thanks to Krystal and the other people on the student council, that was to be the place where we'd take our own senior trip to. We'd pay a flat rate of fifty bucks, and then we'd get to see any movie in the theater as many times as we wanted and got free popcorn and candy to boot. Only the senior class would be the only people allowed into the theater. Us and the people who worked there of course. But we weren't limited to just watching movies. Krystal promised more surprises and so naturally everyone was excited. All nine hundred eighty two of us.

I was excited, sure, but probably not for the same reasons that everyone else was.

"Oh come on Krystal. Just tell us what the big surprise is already!" Vanessa pleaded. "I'm gonna find out anyway."

"Not before Friday you won't," Krystal replied.

"Don't worry, we can always torture her," Adam replied.

His arm was wrapped around Vanessa's shoulders. They looked like a decent enough couple. When I wasn't picturing her without her eyes in their sockets.

"Hey how'd you manage to get the school to agree on letting nine hundred horny seniors spend the night in a movie theater anyway?" Alex asked.

"Remember all those bags of popcorn and other shit we had to sell last year?" Krystal asked.

"We? None of us sold anything," Alex replied.

"That's because I never asked any of you guys to," Krystal replied. "But everyone else.....the money went into our senior activity fund. And I just cashed in just about all of it for this trip so you guys better enjoy it."

I was hoping to enjoy it. I needed a little fun in my life at the moment.

"Hey!"

I turned around.

"Hey Chris," I replied.

Despite the fact that the two of us had swapped spit a few weeks back, things progressed just as natural as ever between us friendship wise. In a way, it took what happened between us for me to finally see Adam in a new light. Unfortunately it was too little too late, as he was already with Vanessa. But at least I no longer hated Adam.

That was a start.

But my tolerance of Chris meant that there was a still a stale point in my friendships with Gino and Alex, who I noticed both seemed to stiffen a bit as Chris approached.

Chris gave Gino a weird look before turning his attention to Alex.

"So football star, how are things on the old green? Winning any games?"

"All of them so far, actually," Alex replied, stiffly.

Oh great. Chris just had to bring up football.

I noticed Adam's arm drop from Vanessa's shoulder as he took a small step toward Chris.

Adam and Alex took their football seriously. And justifiably so, as they hadn't lost a game all season. And in Texas, football was everything.

Something Chris knew very well. I think he may have been a little bitter that football seemed to be the only sport anyone in school cared about. That and the fact that he had to sort of split his popularity between Adam and Alex.

"Relax, Ventura. I'm not here to start a fight."

"What a surprise," Alex said.

I knew things could get really ugly really fast so I quickly came up with a way to get Chris away from everyone.

"So Chris," I started, putting my arm around his shoulder. "Why don't we go talk about this senior trip thing."

I turned and mouthed that I would see everyone later as Chris and I started down the hallway.

"Why do you have to hang out with them anyway?" Chris asked.

"Ah, they're my friends," I replied. "And aren't you the one that forced me to reconcile with them when you thought I was being a dick?"

"That's because you were being a dick," Chris replied. "And besides, I'm talking about Gino and Alex, not the rest of them."

"Chris, just because you have a problem with them doesn't mean that-"

"I know." Chris interrupted. He stopped to the side of the hallway to avoid the rush of kids in the halls. "I'm sorry, it's just they get to me, you know?"

Actually I didn't.

Neither Chris nor Alex had filled me in as to why they hated each other so much and as far as why Gino and Chris seemed to dislike each other....well, that was even more puzzling, to say the least.

Still though, I learned my lesson the hard way about not letting certain people in and treating others wrong. So I was determined to stay friends with everyone this time around, regardless of whatever problems some of them were having with each other.

"Maybe I'd get it if you told me why you guys don't get along," I said carefully.

And for a moment, Chris actually looked as though he were about to finally tell me. But he never got the chance as he was interrupted by the sudden arrival of yet another one of my friends on the odd end out, Ryan.

"So," Ryan said, putting his arms around Chris and my shoulders. "Senior trip. Who's going?"

"Well," Chris started, shaking Ryan's arm off. "Let's start with who's not going."

I looked over at Chris.

"Wait, you're not going?"

Chris didn't reply.

"Chris!"

"Look I told you the day I met you, I'm not like everyone else. I change a lot about me all the time," Chris stated.

"What, so today just happens to be the day where you turn into the loser jock who doesn't go to a school party?"

"What if I told you that I'm actually busy Friday?"

"Chris, what could possibly be more fun than staying overnight in a brand spanking new movie theater?" I asked.

Because really, this could be considered the opportunity of a lifetime. Not many people get to spend 12 hours locked in a movie theater doing God knows what.

"Look can we not talk about this right now?" Chris asked. "I have to get to track practice anyway."

"Yeah, whatever," I replied.

So far I hadn't seen one of those other personalities Chris claimed to have. I mean, I'd certainly seen him dress like he had multiple personalities. But he was still always just Chris. Not that that was a bad thing.

Ryan sucked in his lips before letting them go.

"That was weird," he replied.

"Yeah well so is Chris," I mumbled.

He was a complicated guy, I understood that better than anyone. But a lot of people were complicated and it seemed like Chris just wanted to be different. And it was really starting to bug me.

Ryan and I started a slow walk down the hallway.

"So are you going on the trip?" Ryan asked.

"Of course I'm going," I replied. "And what about you?"

"Well..."

"Oh not you too," I groaned.

"I'm not exactly everyone's favorite person to be around anymore," Ryan replied.

"I don't think you ever were," I pointed out.

"So you can see why I don't wanna spend half a day trapped with all of the Angst's most likely to cause me a headache."

Well when he put it that way...

"Ryan, you can't not go to the trip," i stated. "What am I supposed to do without you?"

"Hm well let's see. There's Adam. And Alex. And Jade. And-"

"And you."

"Yeah, I don't know about that. We'll see."

I knew that I was going to have to do everything in my power to make sure that he went on the senior trip this Friday. I wanted all of my friends to have fun our last year of high school and it looked as though the senior trip would be the perfect way to cap off the year. After all, in a few weeks we'd be looking at Christmas followed by New Years.

Ryan left my side to go off somewhere and it wasn't long before my right arm was laced in between Jade's and we were walking down the hallway together.

"So senior trip. You're going right?"

"Obviously."

"Good, you can be my date," Jade said.

"Date?" I asked.

"Well it is a school function. It's like a dance, only with no dancing," Jade replied. "The in thing to do is to have a date."

"Oh," I replied. "And what about everyone else?"

"Well Krystal's taking Alex and Michelle is going with Gino," Jade replied.

"And let me guess....Adam and Vanessa, right?"

Jade flashed me a sympathetic look.

"So what, are you into Adam now? Is that what this is about?"

Truthfully, I wasn't sure if I was into Adam again. I certainly didn't feel as angry towards him as I once did. But it kind of bugged me seeing Adam with Vanessa.

"Look I'm all for Adam's happiness and if being with Vanessa is what makes him happy then what kind of a jackass would I be to say anything?"

"Sounds to me like you want him more than you know."

That couldn't be it. I didn't feel like I wanted him that badly. Maybe I did and didn't know it.

Then again, there was no use dwelling on what couldn't be if Adam was straight again.

"I think that maybe I'm just a little unwired. I mean, after everything that's happened the past few weeks, maybe I'm slowing down while everyone else is just...zooming along," I said.

"Oh come on," Jade replied. "You were never such a downer last year."

Last year I had a boyfriend. And there was no John to bog me down this time last year either.

But I was being a hypocrite again. I couldn't keep talking about last year. I had to live in the here and now.

"Oh cheer up," Jade said, pulling me a bit. "You still have me, remember?"

"And what would I do without you?" I smiled.

Chris looked up slightly when he noticed the door to the bathroom opening.

"We gotta stop having these little bathroom meetings, man. Wouldn't people to get the right idea about you?" he said, as he zipped up his pants.

Gino walked over to a urinal a few feet away from Chris.

"Just like you to think the world revolves around you," he started, as he unzipped.

"Wait...so...it doesn't?" Chris said sarcastically while walking over to the sinks to wash his hands.

"You know I still don't see what Brandon sees in you," Gino said.

"It's called twenty twenty vision. When was the last time you had your eyes checked, anyway?"

"See, you and I both know that you're just a stupid jackass with an agenda," Gino started.

Chris chuckled to himself.

"Which must be the reason why I keep attacking you in the school restrooms. Oh wait a second, I got that backwards."

Gino zipped up and walked over to the sinks next to Chris.

The tension in the bathroom was pretty high.

At the current moment, Gino was wishing that somebody, ANYBODY, would walk into the restroom so he'd have an excuse to leave.

But no such luck.

They were both probably the only two kids out of class as it was.

"You know it's not really all that hard to...attack you, as you call it," Gino started. "There's just SO much to start with."

"Circumstantial, I'm sure," Chris said, reaching for the towels to dry his hands.

"See that's what I'm talking about. You always have to be a smart ass."

"Trust me, my ass isn't that smart."

"See!"

"Gosh Gino, and here we were just a few weeks ago talking about nearly the same dumb shit," Chris stated. "No wonder Brandon doesn't want you."'

Gino made a move towards Chris but Chris just smirked, crossing his arms.

"You really wanna talk? Let's start with how it was your friend that caused what happened to Brandon to happen in the first place."

"Hey you don't know anything about-"

"Really? Because the way Brandon tells me, it seems like he blames you for what happened."

Gino sucked in his stomach and looked down at the ground.

"Me?" he asked.

Chris moved past Gino and walked over to the sinks, looking into the mirror above them.

"We can keep going back and forward with this thing concerning Brandon," he said.

He turned around to face Gino.

"But we both know there has to be a reason why he's closer to everyone else but you."

The two stared at each other a little longer before Chris walked past Gino and left the restroom, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Finally it was time for lunch. I skipped dinner last night in favor of working on my English paper and breakfast this morning in favor of trying to fix my stupid printer so that I could print it out. But it was to no avail as I wound up having to print it with blue ink anyway.

I hated skipping meals, even when I wasn't even hungry, so I was more than ready to scarf down anything that was shoved down my greedy throat.

Okay...that sounds wrong on so many different levels.

"You know I was thinking, why don't we try this little game I heard they do at some college parties for the senior trip," Michelle said, once she sat down.

"Oh god, not another one of those games of yours," Krystal spoke. "This one doesn't have anything to do with licking other people's body parts does it?"

"Not if none of us wants it to," Michelle replied. "Although that licking people thing was never a part of any game I thought up."

"Well then who......okay yuck. Nevermind," Krystal groaned.

"No but this one will definitely be fun, I promise," Michelle replied.

"What'll be fun?" I asked, taking a seat at the lunch table.

Everyone grew insanely quiet once they saw who I had with me.

"What the hell did you bring him over here for?" Alex asked.

"Alex!" I exclaimed.

"You know what, it's fine. I'll just go-"

"No Ryan you're staying, right guys?"

No one said anything.

"Right guys?" I repeated.

"Ahem..so anyway, like I was saying," Michelle started, symbolizing that apparently, Ryan was staying.

Ryan and I exchanged glances while we both settled in.

"It's sort of like seven minutes in heaven," Michelle continued.

"Wait, is that the game where you spin a bottle and go into a closet with whoever it lands on for seven minutes of make out bliss?" Vanessa asked.

"My my my, aren't we awfully informed?" Michelle quipped.

"You're the one who brought it up, Michelle," Adam replied.

"I was just saying," Michelle pouted.

I looked over at Adam. He had his arm around Vanessa. Ugh. Was she really that needy?

"Anyway, there won't be any cheesy bottle spinning involved with this game because all the names of the participants will be randomly chosen, and they'll be locked.....well....somewhere, for longer than seven minutes," Michelle explained.

For some reason, I felt a twinge of excitement rush over me as I listened to Michelle explain to us about the game. For some reason, I was hoping that maybe Adam and I would be locked together if he played. But I knew that was wishful thinking on my behalf, seeing as though there were a lot of people going on the trip, and it all depended on how many people played.

"Sounds interesting," Vanessa said.

"It sounds like a reason for people to have sex, actually," Jade replied.

"Oh don't even Jade," Michelle argued. "You know you're gonna wanna play."

Jade smiled.

"Yeah well, it's senior year right? Gotta live a little," she said.

"Great," Vanessa mumbled.

"What?" Adam asked.

"I forgot I was supposed talk to one of the guidance counselors about some of my old records from my other school," Vanessa replied. "I kinda don't know where to go."

"Oh well I can take you," Adam replied. "Although, I don't really know where the counselors offices are once we get up there."

"Oh, well I can show you guys," I offered. "I've been up there enough times."

Funny how I remembered that....somewhat, anyway. I mean, I'd been to the counselors plenty this year, but when I said it....I felt like I was talking about last year.

Both Adam and Vanessa stared me in the eyes for a brief moment before Adam took his arm from around Vanessa and stood up.

"Alright then, let's go," he said, ready for Vanessa and I to follow him.

Vanessa and I exchanged glances before we got up to follow Adam, leaving the Krystal, Jade, Alex, Michelle, and Ryan alone.

"Okay so I need to get down to Ms. Shases to put the finishing touches on this party," Krystal said, standing up.

"Good luck," Alex mumbled.

"Um, you two are coming with me," Krystal replied. "I need two non student council members with me to vote on the activities to take place on the trip."

"Ugh, why me?" Alex asked.

"Just get up," Krystal replied, yanking Alex out of his seat.

"The things I do for you ladies," Alex grumbled.

"Ugh, hello, you can't leave me here with...." Michelle looked over at Ryan.

Ryan and Michelle exchanged wary glances.

"So...find any random guys to fuck lately?" Ryan asked.

"Your idea of small talk. Fascinating," Michelle sighed, gathering her stuff to leave.

"You know there used to be a time that I worshiped you. Would even die for you," Ryan said.

Michelle stopped moving and stared at Ryan.

"What is this, your lame excuse to try and get back with me?" Michelle asked.

"Why, do you wanna get back with me?" Ryan asked.

Michelle sighed and looked down at the table.

"Ryan, what we had....that was a lifetime ago-"

"It was last year Michelle."

Michelle looked up at Ryan.

"Look, I think it would be best if we just stayed away from each other," Michelle replied, standing to leave. "That way we don't make any more stupid mistakes like we did last year."

"So is that what we were....a stupid mistake?" Ryan asked.

Michelle looked over her shoulder.

"I have to go Ryan," she replied, turning to go.

Ryan looked down at the food he was no longer hungry for.

He hoped that Michelle didn't think they had been a mistake. Of course, he also knew that would probably be asking too much out of his former girlfriend.

"Okay....so this is it," I said, showing Vanessa the door that she was to go into.

She gave me a sideways glance before she turned to Adam.

"Will you wait out here for me?" she asked.

"Yeah sure," Adam replied.

"Thanks," Vanessa replied.

And with that, Adam leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. While it lasted no longer than a second, it still made me feel a little like vomiting.

Adam and I both watched as Vanessa walked into the counselors office, leaving the two of us alone.

The office was just outside a narrow hallway, just big enough for a couple of people to walk through side to side at one time.

Adam leaned against one side of the hallway while I stood on the other side.

The two of us stared at at each other for a few moments. It was weird that I felt completely comfortable just staring at him.

But it was also obvious that Adam wasn't so comfortable with the staring, which was evident when he looked away.

"Sorry," I said nervously, looking down at my suddenly interesting Adidas.

"No, it's okay," Adam said, smiling a little. "I was staring too."

Now that I wasn't staring at him, I felt strangely unable to talk to him.

It was obvious that this was a very high tension filled situation for the two of us to be in. Especially when we both knew that all I had to do was just leave seeing as though I was the one who was out of place.

But I didn't want to leave. I wanted to be alone with Adam for some reason. I found that odd because it wasn't like I wanted us to make out or suck each other off or anything. I didn't feel sexual attraction to him. But I was attracted to him again. And it was probably only a matter of time until I started to become sexually attracted to him.

"So how are things going with you and Vanessa?" I asked.

Adam smiled and looked back towards the office door.

"Uh, great actually. She's...different."

"Different? Really?"

"Well, she's not like Michelle, that's for sure," Adam laughed. "And..well........"

He stared me in the eye with a serious glare.

I knew what he was thinking. Vanessa was different from Michelle and me.

Aside from the more obvious reasons, I couldn't help but to think that maybe Adam meant that she was different in a good way. Like she was better for him than either I or Michelle. And that hurt a little.

"What?" Adam asked, cautiously.

"Nothing.....just...well I don't really know Vanessa so I can't really say much about her can I?"

"Well you and her should spend some time together. You'd like her just as much as I already do."

I shuffled a little.

"Yeah...I don't know....I mean-"

I stopped when I noticed the door to the office opening and Vanessa walking out.

"Hey," she said, greeting Adam.

She had some papers in her hands but otherwise looked pretty much happy.

"Everything okay?" Adam asked.

"Oh yeah, sure," Vanessa replied.

She turned to me with a weird little smile on her face and said nothing before turning back to Adam.

"Come on, let's get to class," she said.

Yeah. There was no way I wanted to spend some time together with Vanessa. Not any time soon, anyway.

The rest of the week went by pretty well. Talk about the senior trip was at it's peak and was especially heavy now that the trip was closer to reality.

In less than an hour I'd be locked in a movie theater with most of my senior class and friends for 12 hours doing any and everything.

And I had my own share of excitement welling up inside me concerning the trip. And while I may not have had a definite idea of what was going to happen, I did know that I was going to be with all my friends, so everything was probably going to be alright.

Never can be too sure. But still.....

"Okay so were carpooling," Krystal said, as she whizzed past me and into the kitchen of my house. "Gas prices are at an all time high."

Krystal was followed in by Jade, Michelle, and Alex.

"No Adam and Vanessa?" I asked as I shut the door.

"Yeah they're gonna pick up Gino and meet us all over there," Jade replied, taking a seat on the living room sofa.

Alex walked into the kitchen with Krystal and grabbed a soda from the fridge.

"This night has to go off without a hitch," Krystal stated, opening her bottle of water. "Otherwise we might not be able to have any other senior functions the rest of the year."

"Yeah well we have a few idiots planning on showing up to this thing," Alex stated. "I wouldn't count on everyone being peachy keen."

"That's why I hired extra security," Krystal said. "If anyone so much as sneezes the wrong way, their ass is out."

Michelle sighed as she flipped through a magazine.

"You know Ryan's gonna be there," she said.

"Yeah, so," I said.

"I think we can go ahead and file him under the night wrecking idiot category," she replied.

"Careful Michelle, you might wind up getting Ryan for that game of yours," Jade said.

"Then I'd really know there's no God," Michelle replied.

"Alright people, let's head out," Krystal stated, exiting the kitchen and walking into the living room.

"Wait, what about Gino?" Alex asked.

"I'm not sure what's up with him," I replied.

Truth was, I hadn't seen much of Gino after Tuesday. It was weird, but it almost seemed like something bad had happened to him but he wasn't telling anyone. And given that he wasn't around much other than when I saw him in class, there really was never time to ask him about it.

If there was even something to ask him about. Gino was still a mystery to me, and truthfully, out of all my friends, he was now the person I knew the least. Well, not counting Vanessa. But she wasn't my friend.

"Shotgun," Alex called out, as he headed for the front door.

"With Krystal driving that's probably the most dangerous place you can be," Michelle joked.

"Ha ha very funny," Krystal said.

Bring on the party! **********************************************************************

Call me crazy, but things definitely looked like they were shaping up to be one huge party.

As soon as I arrived at the movie theater I noticed that no one really seemed to be in a movie at the moment. All either outside or in the very spacious lobby talking with friends.

People had brought their own radios and gadgets, which was understandable seeing as though we were pretty much going to be spending half a day locked inside the place.

Needless to say, however, with the lot of personal items and people chatting or shouting rather, things were pretty noisy.

"I'm gonna go find Jackie and see how things are going," Krystal announced, leaving our side just as soon as we were inside.

"Looks like a party to me," Alex replied.

"Yo, Alex!" someone called out.

Alex turned to see some of the guys from the football team calling him over to them.

"Ah I'm gonna go mingle," He replied, leaving us all too.

"Man, we're getting smaller and smaller, huh?" I said.

Michelle, Jade, and I walked over to the concession stand, where there was currently no one working at, and stood in front of it.

"So, what exactly are we supposed to do now that we're here?" I asked.

"Well, if you're like the other six or so hundred other people here, you fuck," Michelle replied.

At least she was honest.

I stood watching everyone else talk for a few minutes before I finally saw something that interested me.

"Hey look," I said, pointing in the direction of the front doors.

It was Adam. Along with Vanessa and Gino.

Apparently they had seen us as well because they were standing in front of us in no time.

"Look at this place," Vanessa said. "It's packed."

"Yeah well not many people miss an opportunity to party, now do they?" Michelle spoke.

"Hey Gino," I said, somewhat cautiously.

Gino flashed me a weak smiled before I notice him start looking around.

"Um, what's going on?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, nothing...just looking for someone," Gino replied.

I wasn't sure who, but I wasn't going to press him on the matter.

"Ah so where are Krystal and Alex?" Adam asked.

"Mingling," I replied.

For some reason, even though the place was pretty crowded, I felt like the only two people in the room were me and Adam.

What I wouldn't give to be alone with him.

Apparently though, Vanessa must have sensed this.

"Ah, come on Adam. Let's go find Krystal," she said, yanking Adam away before he had a chance to say anything.

"Oh great," Michelle said, distaste evident in her tone.

"What?" Jade asked.

"Ryan's here," Michelle replied, looking over towards the front doors.

And she was right. Ryan had indeed just entered the place and was looking around. Probably for me. Or someone else he knew.

I decided to relieve Ryan of his searching duties and waved him over to where the rest of us were.

"Brandon! What are you doing?" Michelle asked, sounding panicked.

"Michelle he's my friend, you know that," I replied.

"Ugh," Michelle pouted.

She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, looking away once Ryan was standing by my side.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Hey," Ryan replied.

So far I had seen everyone I knew except Christian. I knew that he said that he wasn't coming and that he was probably busy, but a part of me was kind of hoping that he'd show up.

But seeing as how he hadn't come over to talk to me yet and that I hadn't seen him here, it was a clear indication that he wasn't around.

"Here," Krystal said.

She'd seemingly come out of nowhere and was holding small sheets of paper and a few pens.

"Write your names on these," she said, dispensing the items.

"What for?" I asked.

"If you wanna play the couples game, you gotta write your name on those sheets so we can draw them."

Everyone seemed to be looking each other over. As if to decide if we all really wanted to play the game. Michelle looked the most hesitant, even though it was her idea. Although, it probably had something to do with Ryan being around.

"Oh come on, Adam and Vanessa are playing," Krystal stated. "And me, of course."

"Oh, well in that case," I said, grabbing a pen and a sheet.

If there was a chance that I could be partnered with Adam for this thing, then I was all for it.

Seeing that I was doing it, it wasn't long before everyone else started writing down their own names to participate. They were all still hesitant, but they wrote them down regardless.

"Okay, so I'll go do everyone else and then I'll do the drawing," Krystal said.

"Wait how many people are doing this?" Jade asked.

"Well there's not enough closet and empty theater space for everyone. So I limited it to like...oh...fifty or sixty people," Krystal replied.

Out of the five hundred people here, those were even better odds.

"I'm praying I don't get stuck with you," Michelle said, looking in Ryan's direction.

"Too bad everyone up there stopped listening to your prayers years ago huh?" Ryan said sarcastically.

When I looked over at Gino I noticed that he still seemed to be looking around. Nervous somewhat. So I pulled him to the side to talk to him.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked.

"Chris isn't here, is he?" Gino asked.

"No....why?" I asked.

Gino sighed and ran his fingers through his spiked hair.

"Nothing...just forget it okay?"

He put on this fake smile, as if to assure me there was nothing wrong. But I knew better.

"You know Gino, you've been acting strange all week," I pointed out. "It wouldn't have anything to do with Chris would it?"

Gino was about to respond to me but was cut off when the both of us heard Krystal shouting for everyone's attention.

"Okay so for those of you participating in the first round of the couples game, here are the rules," she started.

Things grew considerably more quiet throughout the lobby.

"Now this thing is completely random, meaning you could get partnered with a guy or you could get partnered with a girl. Who knows."

Everyone continued to listen, despite the few groans coming from some of the people.

"But regardless of who you get partnered with, you can't leave until someone let;s you out for the next round. Now while you're in there, no sex whatsoever. And trust me, I'll know...this place has eyes everywhere."

A lot of the people in the room laughed and Krystal waited for the noise to die back down before continuing.

"Okay so, the first pair is...."

She reached into a large bucket which presumably held the names of all the participants and pulled out two sheets of paper.

"Rodney Kincaid and Sarah Larenger!"

"Are you kidding me? They know each other," Michelle grumbled.

"Shhh!" Jade said.

"Alright....couple number two is-"

I stopped paying attention when I noticed someone.

Chris. Was here. He came!

He was standing off to the side with two kids I recognized from when we went on the trip to Disneyland and was dressed like some kind of punk rocker. It was weird because earlier today he had been wearing his Abercrombie and Fitch like normal. Or at least on the days he dressed that way.

He didn't seem to notice me and it didn't look like Gino noticed him either. Chris and his friends were standing pretty much all the way inside the arcade, which was lit with dark purples and blues, pretty much making it hard to see him anyway. But I had.

And I felt a little better seeing him. If I couldn't get partnered with Adam than I at least wanted to be partnered with him. That is, if he was even participating.

"Alright....the next couple is........Ryan Nikels and...... Michelle Lewis," Krystal said.

I could tell that Krystal instantly regretted pulling out those two names and wanted to help Michelle out, but it would look hypocritical on her part to do so.

Michelle looked pissed I noticed and Ryan looked really annoyed, but they each followed a girl back to where they were going to be locked in while the rest of us awaited the next couples.

"Hey," Adam said, joining my side.

I looked around for Vanessa.

"Hey," I replied. "Where's Vanessa?" I asked.

"In the restroom," Adam replied.

"Oh, " I replied.

"So you excited?" he asked.

As long as I got him, yeah. Anybody else and...not so much.

"It's just a stupid game, right?"

Adam smiled.

"Right."

"Okay so the next couple is going to be............Gino Liongson and Christian Murphy."

"What?" Gino said out loud.

He sounded angry and when I looked over at Chris, I could tell that he was as well.

"No, I'm not doing it," Gino said.

"Gino, you have to...you put your name in, remember?" I pointed out.

Gino looked as if someone was trying to tell him to shoot his own mother.

"Ah, guys...they're waiting to take you back," Krystal said from the front.

Gino and Chris exchanged angry glances.

"It'll be fine, Gino," I assured him.

I wasn't exactly sure what the problem was between them, but it couldn't have been too bad. I mean, as far as I knew, they hadn't spent too much time alone together.

Gino finally relented and followed Chris and a girl back to where they were to be locked up.

"Hey, did I miss anything?" Vanessa asked, joining Adam's side.

"Well they didn't call either of us if that's what you mean," Adam replied.

Vanessa looked over at me with an apprehensive look plastered on her face before she took Adam's hand into her own and cupped it tightly, definitely making sure I saw it happen.

What a bitch.

"Alright, so next couple is.............Brandon Jameson and Vanessa Martinez."

Okay...what...the...hell!

I looked over at Vanessa who stared right back.

"Hey, this is good right?" Adam said, a smile on his face. "Now you guys get to finally spend some time together."

Right. The ex boyfriend and the new girlfriend together in the same room. Trapped. That was going to go SO well.

Not wanting to cause a scene in front of Adam, I reluctantly followed Vanessa as the two of us were led away from the lobby and everyone else and back to where we'd be spending the next hour of our lives together.

"Stop looking at me, perv," Michelle shortly.

"I don't think looking at a person is considered perverted, Michelle," Ryan stated.

"It is when you're the one looking," Michelle replied.

Ryan just sighed and looked around.

He and Michelle were in one of the empty storage closets in the theater. Seeing as though the theater was less than a month old, the room was as clean as any unused month old room could possibly be.

They'd been....trapped for a good ten minutes and so far, they really hadn't spoken much to each other. Other than the occasional jabs at each other.

"Ugh, and god what is this place, some kind of janitors closet?" Michelle asked, looking around.

"Feel at home don't ya?" Ryan quipped.

Michelle faced Ryan and rolled her tongue on the inside of her cheek.

"You know, I don't know what I ever saw in you," she replied.

"Well as I like to recall it you said that I, and I quote, had a nice ass and big dick."

Michelle leaned against a wall opposite Ryan.

"Oh so now you're gonna throw stuff I said last year in my face?"

"You're the one who's treating me like I was never your boyfriend."

"That's because you never were, Ryan. You and I were having fun. That's it."

"Behind your boyfriend's back."

Michelle looked down at the spotless floor and sighed.

"I used to blame everything on Brandon coming into Adam's life," she replied. "But now I see how stupid that was."

"So what were we then?" Ryan asked.

"A mistake. Like I told you."

She looked up at Ryan who looked at nothing in particular to the right of him.

"In a theater and there's no movie. Ironic," Chris said out loud as he switched seats for the fourth time in fifteen minutes.

"Why watch some sappy drama or horror flick when our lives are entertainment enough?" Gino spoke.

Chris eyed him carefully.

"You know, Brandon thinks you're weird."

"What?" Gino asked.

"It's true you know. I mean he didn't exactly use those words, but-"

"I don't believe you."

Chris eyed Gino for a few moments before replying.

"You don't have to."

"No, I mean about everything. All of it. I don't believe what kind of person you are and how wrong you are for Brandon."

Chris chuckled to himself at Gino's comments.

"That's so pathetic of you. I mean, here you are, a guy who's known Brandon for like...a year and a half and yet he STILL doesn't know how you feel about him because you don't have the balls to tell him."

Gino listened carefully.

"And then there's me, a guy who's only known Brandon a few months and have already done more with him than you probably fantasize about in your little jack off sessions."

"Brandon told me what happened that day."

"Yeah but you weren't there were you?"

Gino looked down.

"Who knows what happened."

Gino was angry because he realized that part of what Chris was telling him was true. Chris had at least gotten to kiss Brandon, while Gino wished for something like that to happen to him.

And he had liked to think that he was waiting for the right time to tell Brandon how he felt again, the truth was, more than a year had gone by and Brandon still didn't know.

Granted, Brandon knew before the accident, but by pure accident when he and Ryan broke into his locker to steal that note. Gino hadn't told him then. And he hadn't told him now.

"Just accept that you're a hopeless loser who's never gonna have his way," Chris replied. "The rest of us do."

Gino looked down at the ground. He was beginning to grow angry.

"Just don't talk to me. When this is done I want you to stay away from me and my friends."

"And what friends would those be Gino?" Chris asked. "Last I checked, you didn't have any."

Gino was seriously upset now.

"They're my friends and I don't want you anywhere near-"

"Save it for your therapist Gino," Chris replied. "I'll do whatever the hell I want and talk to whoever the hell I want."

Gino could already tell that if things kept going the way they were, there was seriously going to be a fight before the end of the night. **********************************************************************

Oxygen.......need....oxygen!

I never thought I was claustrophobic before but being in this small little closet with Vanessa was starting to make me think twice.

"Are you okay?" Vanessa asked.

She was sitting opposite me on top of some unopened boxes that were stacked against the wall.

And while she had been sitting the past half hour, I had been pretty antsy. It was because I looking for a way out before I SUFFOCATED!

"Yeah..I'm fine," I swallowed, looking up at the air vent. "That thing is on, right?"

Vanessa looked up at the vent.

"I think so...."

When I looked up at her, her eyes seemed to be moving back and forward and it wasn't until then that I noticed that I was pacing around.

I stopped myself and took a seat on some boxes myself.

"Sorry, just...never really been trapped like this before," I explained.

"Oh I understand," Vanessa replied. "I don't think any of us really have."

"Yeah." I replied.

And suddenly, I understood the reason why I had been panicking before. It was because I was nervous to be alone with Vanessa.

I mean, she was Adam's girlfriend after all. And I was his ex boyfriend. Only, Vanessa didn't seem to be quite as nervous as I was.

"Uh...so how are things with you and Adam?" I asked.

"Oh great," Vanessa replied, smiling. "I think he's completely......uh....."

"Straight?"

Vanessa looked a little embarrassed but I didn't want to make it worse so I didn't push it.

"I hope you don't think that I'm trying to like...convert him or anything," Vanessa sad.

Oh no, why would I think that now? She's already done it!

She turned a perfectly gay teenage boy into what he was before he met me. Obviously Adam wasn't very straight to begin with if he turned gay in the first place. It just seemed like she was conspiring against me. I mean, she knew how much Adam was into me before she came along. And when they got together, obviously he still was.

"Adam's a really great guy. I can see what you saw in him," she said, trying to level with me.

"Yeah. He is," I replied.

Too bad Vanessa had him.

Things didn't go much better with Vanessa. We spent the last thirty minutes talking about anyone but Adam, but it was obvious that we still weren't friends when we came out.

And it didn't look like things had gone well for anyone else either. Especially Gino, who looked completely angry and upset once he was out.

I had spent the past 4 hours trying to keep him near me just in case he went off the handle on someone but after I had gone to the concession stand to go get something to drink, Gino was gone.

So was Chris.

"Uh, guys, I really think we oughtta find Gino," I announced as I rejoined my circle of friends.

"Why, the guys so weird anyway," Michelle said. "I say we stop worrying about him."

I would have liked to, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something very bad was about to happen.

"Has anyone seen Alex?" Krystal asked.

"Probably still with his football buddies," Jade replied.

Adam and Vanessa were absent as well but I took that to mean that they were probably making out or something. One thing to worry about after another.

"You think you can control who I wanna be friends with?"

It was loud and it sounded like Gino. I got up along with Jade, Krystal, and Michelle, and rushed over to where he was standing with Chris.

"Do you have to be a moron tonight? Dude, it's like two n the morning. Just give it up already" Chris exclaimed.

"Chris. Gino...what's-"

"Just stay out of this Brandon" Gino exclaimed.

They looked like they were about to fight.

"No no no, you guys can't fight. Not now," Krystal pleaded.

"There's not gonna be a fight, Krystal," Chris stated. "Gino knows he'd lose."

"What did you say?" Gino asked, temper flaring.

The two boys eyed each other down for the longest time while people around were starting to look their way.

"What a joke," Chris laughed.

That must have been the final straw for Gino because he was on top of Chris in a flash. He'd punched him twice in the mouth before Chris threw him off and stood up.

"Okay, you wanna fight. We'll fight!" Chris exclaimed.

"Guys-"

More people were looking our way.

"Stop it now!" I exclaimed.

They were still going at it. And they seriously needed to stop before we got thrown out. Or worse. It was like 2 a.m. after all and we were still a bunch of teenagers at a supposed-to-be-closed-movie- theater.

And I wasn't even sure what they were fighting for.

Christian wiped the blood from his mouth and faced Gino.

"Just stay away from my friends" Gino exclaimed.

"Hey, what's going on?" Adam asked, Vanessa in tow.

I looked down at them holding hands. It felt weird seeing that but I didn't have time to think about it for long.

"What the...aw shit," Alex mumbled, rushing to try and break up the fight.

"Stay here," Adam said, letting go of Vanessa's hand to go help.

"Aww, I was hoping they'd take off their shirts and grab each other in their happy places," Michelle pouted.

"Michelle, shut up," Krystal said.

Things were getting out of hand fast, as by now, everyone else had gotten wind of the fight and were forming a big crowd.

Like cattle to the prod.

"Guys, come on," Alex said.

"Get out of my way Rodriguez!" Chris exclaimed, looking ready to fight Alex too.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...I do NOT think you wanna fight me," Alex replied.

Chris glared at Alex.

"Gino..come on man," Adam pleaded. "Walk away."

"Oh give me a break, Adam," Gino replied. "Move out of the way, this doesn't have anything to do with you."

"But it can," Adam replied sternly.

This was a nightmare. A total nightmare. I just wish I had some sort of idea what the hell it was all about.

"Alright that's it. You don't wanna move, I'll make you," Chris said.

He lunged toward Alex who was about to take a swing but stopped when he noticed several security guards coming their way.

"Shit, this is bad," Krystal said.

"You kids fighting?" one of the guards asked.

"Ah sir, there's just been a little misunderstanding. No need to get involved. It's over now," Krystal said, sternly looking each boy in the eye.

Chris and Gino flashed each other grim looks before each looking my way.

But I turned away.

Here I was feeling concerned for the both of them when they obviously weren't even concerned with themselves.

Looks like I'd be cutting two more people out of my life. Again.

A/N

As always, if you want to read more Angst, my YahooGroup has episodes not yet submitted to Nifty as well as two other stories worth reading. The link is at:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/. I suggest checking out out if you haven't already in case you do want to get ahead with Angst. Once you're a member, you can always leave me feedback on the group if you'd like.

And if you're a Nifty-only type of person but still want to send me feedback, then you can send it to my personal email address at: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com.

Copyright 2005

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