A/N: Those of you who know me, feel free to laugh. Posting schedule? Yeah right. HAHAHAHA!

I was totally blown away by the response to chapter 1. Seriously, I really didn't expect so many people to give such an unusual pairing a try. Thank you so much for all the reviews and interest that you've shown so far.

Thanks to all the usual suspects for pre-reading, betaing, brit-purging and generally egging me on.

The knowledge that Riley's gay too, even though he didn't use that word, leaves a warm feeling curled in my chest for the rest of the day. I remember the way that he looked at me in the locker room and the way that he leaned in close to confide in me on the bus. I'm pretty sure that he likes me, as more than just a friend.

I'm lying on my bed after dinner. I'd been trying to do some school work but all I can think about is Riley. I keep looking at my phone on my nightstand. We exchanged numbers during the week, but neither of us has actually called or texted the other yet. I pick it up and hold it; even just thinking about sending him a message makes my heart beat faster. For fuck's sake, he's a friend. I can just text him and see if he wants to meet up this weekend. Why is this so difficult?

I type several versions before I settle on one that sounds suitably low key - I hope.

Hey, just wondering if you wanna hang out sometime over the weekend?

I press send before I can chicken out. Then I try and read again but I give up when I realize that I've read the same sentence about five times and it still doesn't make any sense to me. Just as I'm putting the book down and wondering what to do next, my phone buzzes.

I grin as I read Riley's reply. Sure, that would be cool - tomorrow?

Yeah, do u wanna come over here? We could study together maybe. I figure that if we have a focus it will be less awkward to start off with.

OK, is 10.30 good for you?

Yep, fine. cu then.

I put my phone down with a huge-assed grin spreading across my face. I'm gonna get to spend time with Riley, just the two of us. I can't fucking wait.

XOXOXOX

The next morning I get up earlier than normal and tidy my usually chaotic room. My mom raises her eyebrows at me as she catches me stuffing my dirty laundry into the basket.

"That makes a nice change," she says. Usually Mom complains that she has to collect it from my floor once in a while just so she can find the carpet.

"Riley's coming over later," I say by way of explanation. "To do some studying."

"That's nice," she smiles. "It'll be good to meet him. He can stay for lunch if he wants. I'm making soup, there'll be plenty."

"Thanks, Mom. I'll ask him." I hope that he'll say yes, then he can stay here much longer.

Riley arrives just after half past ten. I take this as a good sign that he's as eager to see me as I am to see him. There's a little awkwardness as I let him in and we stand in the hallway, smiling and muttering our greetings. I'm so drawn to him physically I want to touch him and I have to consciously stop myself from putting a hand on his shoulder or standing too close to him.

I take him through to the kitchen where Mom's peeling vegetables and Leah's sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal. She looks up when we enter and Mom turns and smiles, wiping her hands on her apron as I introduce Riley.

"Riley, this is my mom, Sue. And Leah, my sister - but you've seen her around school of course."

"Yeah. Hi, Riley," Leah raises a casual hand in greeting. She looks at him appraisingly and I feel uncomfortable. My sister's quite perceptive; I'm pretty sure she knows that I like him - that I like him, like him.

My mom distracts me as she comes and takes Riley's hand, greeting him formally but with a warm smile too. "Hi Riley, welcome to La Push. I hope you and your mom are settling back in okay."

"Yes, thanks," Riley smiles back. "It's all new to me, I was a baby when we left but I think Mom's glad to be back."

There's an uncomfortable moment as the conversation comes to a halt. I catch Riley's eye.

"Do you wanna..." I gesture with my head to the door.

"Yeah, let's go get some studying done," he nods.

"If you'd like to stay for lunch, Riley, you're very welcome," Mom says as we turn towards the door.

"Thanks, Mrs Clearwater, that would be great." Riley smiles as he accepts.

"Call me Sue, dear," she insists. "It makes me feel younger."

He grins. "Okay."

"Come on, then," I beckon, impatient now. I want him to myself for a while.

I gesture down the narrow hallway and he walks ahead of me. He has his phone in his hand and is already texting. "I'm just letting my mom know that I won't be home for lunch."

He pauses at the first door. "It's the next one, second on the left." I squeeze past him and open the door to my unusually tidy room. It's small - our whole house is small - but it doesn't look too bad when I pick all the shit up off the floor.

He looks around and I wonder what he's thinking. It's not really a typical teenage boy's room. The clutter is fairly typical I guess, but I don't have any pictures of bikini models on the wall, or even football teams. The walls are mostly bare. I like them that way. They're painted white and I like the light, I find it peaceful. The only picture on my wall is a huge poster of the moon. It's a perfect photograph, every crater's visible. I've had it since I was a kid when I was really into learning about space for a while. I used to have a bunch more of the solar system and stuff but I kind of grew out of those. But the moon one has stayed; it's beautiful and I never get tired of looking at it.

I only have a single bed, there wouldn't be room for anything bigger. It's pushed up against the wall, under the window. There's a nightstand next to it. On the opposite wall I have a wardrobe with drawers built in underneath and a desk with a couple of rickety shelves over it. The shelves are crammed with a mixture of school books, other books and CDs. It's no wonder my room is always such a fucking mess; I just don't have enough space for all my crap.

"So, this is me." I shrug. "It's kinda small and messy."

"It's cool," Riley says. "My room's tiny too. Most of my stuff's in boxes under my bed at the moment."

He moves over to my bed and sits at the foot of it, leaning against the wall next to the window. He kicks his sneakers off and folds his legs up as he dumps his bag of books beside him. Seeing him sitting there, so casually, makes my heart thump harder. I move too and join him - sitting at the head of the bed, tucking my feet up too.

He's still looking around my room and his eyes rest on a framed photograph of my father that's propped up in front of the books on my shelves.

"Is that your dad?" he asks, turning to look at me.

I nod. "Yeah," there's a lump in my throat. I've been wanting to talk to Riley about him but now that I have the chance I don't know what to say.

"How did he die?" Riley asks.

It's refreshing to be asked about him. Most people just change the subject when they find out that my Dad died. They don't seem to know what to say to me and it clearly makes them uncomfortable. There's none of that with Riley.

"He had a heart attack one day when he was out hunting. No warning at all, he was always really healthy before. He died right away. Charlie, Bella's dad, was with him. He's a cop and he knows his CPR but there was nothing he could do."

I feel the hot swell as my eyes fill and my voice goes husky, but I don't feel any shame for my emotions. I look at Riley as a tear escapes and trickles down my cheek, I swipe it away with the back of my hand. I can see that our conversation is affecting him too.

"It must have been hard not getting to say goodbye," he says. "So sudden... I can't imagine how that would feel."

"Yeah... it was such a shock. It just didn't feel real... you know? Took a while to sink in." I take a shaky breath and pull myself together a bit, sniffing and wiping my eyes again. "But at least it was quick. I guess with your Dad it wasn't like that at all."

"No." Riley gets out his phone and pulls up a photograph. He turns the screen towards me and I move to sit beside him so that I can see better. It's a picture of a man, smiling. He looks a lot like Riley, only fairer, with light colored eyes - but the family resemblance is unmistakable. "This is him, before..." he clears his throat, "before he got ill."

"He has your smile," I say. Riley's leg's touching mine the way we're sitting now. I can feel the warm weight of it pressing against mine. It's comforting.

"He was sick for two years," Riley says quietly. "And for the last six months we knew there was no hope. He wanted to be able to go peacefully at home, but he had to go into the hospital to be treated for an infection and never came out again." His voice breaks and I feel the tears flooding back into my eyes again.

Without conscious thought I put my arm around Riley's shoulders and squeeze. He responds by angling his body towards me and putting his arms around me. I twist my body to meet him and we hug, a little awkwardly. His breath hitches and I feel my tears slick between my cheek and the warm skin of his neck as we cling to each other for a few long moments.

I'm not sure who lets go first, but eventually we pull back and he gives me a weak smile. His face is wet too and his eyelashes are stuck in starry clumps. He sniffs and wipes his nose on the back of his hand.

"Sorry," he chuckles. "That's gross I know... but at least it wasn't on your shoulder."

I laugh too and the mood lifts. It's been a while since I've cried for my Dad and I relish the feeling of lightness that always comes after letting out some of the sadness that I still carry around with me.

We pull out some books and I settle back up at the head of my bed again and we study for a while. An hour or so passes with periods of work interspersed with conversation until we're interrupted by a knock on the door. My mom tells us that lunch is ready so we finish up and follow her to the kitchen.

I sit beside Riley, facing my mom with Leah on my other side. Our kitchen is small and the table's only just big enough for four. I feel Riley's knee bump mine under the table once or twice and our elbows brush as we reach for seconds of sandwiches from the plate in the middle of the table.

"Did you hear about the body they found in the woods?" Leah asks us. "It was on the news this morning."

"No, where? What happened?" I ask.

"It was near one of the hiking trails a few miles up the coast," my mom says, frowning with concern. "The police haven't released any details but the rumors say it could have been an animal attack." She sounds doubtful. "That's the third one this year now."

The conversation moves on but I'm left with a feeling of nagging anxiety. Animal attacks so close to La Push are usually rare. This sudden cluster of deaths is making everyone in the local community uneasy. There have also been a couple of hikers reported missing but their bodies haven't been found.

We all help to clean up after lunch, but when the doorbell rings Leah rushes off to answer it, a smile lighting her face. She comes back into the kitchen with Sam, her giant of a boyfriend. He greets me and Mom and I introduce him to Riley, amused by the contrast of Riley's pale, slender hand in Sam's huge one.

"We're going to Port Angeles for the afternoon, is it okay if I head out now, Mom?" Leah asks.

"That's fine, honey. The boys will finish up here I'm sure. Have fun."

"Thanks, see you later." Leah grabs Sam's hand and tugs, he follows, turning to wave as he goes.

"Wow, he's enormous," comments Riley as the front door closes behind them.

"Yeah," I agree. "I think he's six foot four now, or something crazy like that. He shot up the last few inches since Christmas though, some weird growth spurt thing even though he's nineteen."

Mom leaves us to finish the dishes, saying she's heading out to Forks for a couple of hours. Riley washes and I dry and put things away. When we're done I turn to face him.

"X-box?" I suggest.

"Sure," he nods.

So, we go and sit in the living room for a while playing a racing game. We slouch companionably on the small couch, side by side with our feet up on the coffee table. I whip his ass at first, it's not a game he's played before but he picks it up fast and turns and grins in triumph when he finally manages to beat me.

By the time Mom gets back it's four o'clock. She pops her head around the door to say hello, and when Riley realizes the time he says that maybe he ought to get going.

"You don't need to," I say. "Unless you want to, I mean." I flush, embarrassed at how eager I sound.

"I can hang out a while longer, I guess," he looks pleased and I relax again.

"Wanna go back to my room? We can do more studying or something?" I'm not really sure what the or something is. I just want to prolong the time I'm spending with him.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

We resume our positions on my bed and we open some books but end up talking and not really doing any schoolwork.

I start to feel nervous because I know he'll be going home soon, and I really want to ask him about the conversation that we had on the bus - about girls, or rather about how he said he wasn't interested in girls. But I'm not sure how to bring it up. I don't want him to think that I'm desperate or something, trying to jump him just because he's the only other boy that I've ever known who's gay. The thing is, I really like him. And I want to kiss him. But I wanted to do that before I even knew that he likes boys.

All this is going on in my head and I realize that I've been silent for a while. Riley's still talking to me but I've zoned out and haven't been listening.

"Sorry," I say, catching his eyes, his expression's curious. I feel my cheeks heat. "I was miles away for a minute there."

He looks at me for a moment, considering. And then he takes the initiative, broaching the subject that I've been desperate to bring up.

"So... how long have you known that you're gay?"

Riley fixes me with his dark eyes and bites his lip nervously as his pale cheeks flush with color. The words are out there now and I don't want him to regret them so I answer quickly.

"I don't know really... but a long time. As soon as I hit puberty I guess. All the other boys started going on and on about girls and I just didn't get it. And then I had a crush on an older guy and it was pretty obvious then." I don't mention that the person I had a crush on was Sam. I'm over it now, thank fuck. But he was all I could think about a couple of summers ago. "How about you?"

"I was confused at first," Riley admits. "It never really occurred to me that I wouldn't like girls - it's just what people expect, you know?" I nod and roll my eyes in sympathy. "But I had a girlfriend for a while back when I was fifteen and it just felt wrong. And when I watched porn on my laptop I noticed that I was looking at the guys more than the girls... which was kind of a clue."

I chuckle. "Yeah, I get that. Happened to me too."

"So, have you ever had a boyfriend?" Riley asks me.

I shake my head. "No."

"A girlfriend?"

"Nope," I'm embarrassed to own up to my total lack of experience. I've never even kissed anyone. But Riley's eyes are kind without a hint of mockery. "With your girlfriend," I ask, "did you... you know... do much with her?"

I frequently imagine what it would be like to kiss and touch another boy but I really can't imagine doing anything with a girl. I've never wanted to.

"Not really," he says. "We kissed, of course. And that was okay and there was a bit of groping but only over clothes. When I figured out that I wasn't into it I broke it off pretty quickly."

"And have you ever done anything with another guy?" I break our gaze and fiddle with the corner of my book, picking at the binding where it's coming loose.

"No," Riley replies. "I've never really had the opportunity before."

There's a pause. The before makes hope and excitement surge in my chest and I risk a glance up at him. His eyes are fixed on me and I feel breathless.

We both jump as Riley's phone buzzes in his pocket, breaking the tension between us. He pulls it out, checking the screen before he answers.

"Hi, Mom... yeah sure, no problem... okay, see you soon."

He ends the call and smiles at me. "She was just asking me to get some milk from the store on the way home." He pauses for a moment, then adds, "I should probably get going."

My heart sinks. I want him to stay. I want to get the conversation back to where it was before we were interrupted - but I don't know what to say, so I just nod. "I guess so," I say, lamely.

Riley starts to pack his books away while I sit back and watch him, all twisted up with wanting more than this. I know I'm impatient, we're only just getting to know each other but there's something intense about our relationship even though it's so new. There's a connection between us that feels like something special and I hope that Riley feels it too.

"I've had fun today." He looks up and flashes me a quick smile, pink lips parting over white teeth. His cheeks flush slightly. "Thanks, Seth... for inviting me over."

"I've had fun too," I smile back, my eyes dropping to his lips for a moment before I drag them back up to meet his eyes.

I see him out, and he turns and waves as he reaches the sidewalk. "See you on Monday," he calls and I grin. I'm looking forward to it already.

A/N: I'd love to hear your thoughts again so please hit that review button.

As my posting schedule is already fucked up, the next update will depend on how the writing goes. It's likely to be less than a week though, as apparently I have NO SELF-CONTROL. But mostly I think this is a Good Thing.