Isaiah's Love

by Kbrandan2004

Isaiah could feel Caleb shifting violently and almost wondered if he should wake him up. Isaiah looked at the clock that was showing in big red letters that it was now four 'o'clock in the morning, it frustrated him because he had just managed to drift off to sleep and now he was right back to square one. Isaiah closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep.

2. Chapter 2: The Party

Isaiah looked in the bathroom mirror that sat above his sink, he stood shirtless with a towel wrapped around his waist. He had just gotten out of the shower and after shaving had put some soap on his face. The foam from the soap sitting on his face was starting to tingle letting him know it was almost time to take it off. The sun was shining in the bathroom on him giving his newly washed skin a healthy glow. He looked at his body, it hadn't always been like it was now, he was in decent shape after lots of challenging work before he had joined the football team. Two years ago, Isaiah had first noticed Caleb, he was just an average teenager when he decided he wanted to join the football team. He secretly started to go to the school gym after making sure that he was going to be the only one there. He planned it out for almost a month and watched for when people would be there, so he could avoid them. After securing the regulars schedule he went whenever he would have to but he made sure he went everyday and researched everything he was supposed to do. The only person that noticed at first was Casey until he tried out for the team, unfortunately he didn't get to be as bulky as he would have liked but he still managed to maintain his slender muscular build. Isaiah turned the taps on and ran his hands under the water to check the temperature, he stared in the mirror, as the water started to steam it started to fog up. Isaiah filled his hands with the warm water and splashed it on his face rubbing lightly to get all the soap off. Isaiah shut the water off and stopped for a few seconds staring in the mirror, he could see the nervousness starting to shine through each step closer he came to being ready for this party. At this point he wanted to just go and get it over with, he was sure once he had gotten there his nerves would rest a bit more because he would able to at least talk to Caleb. He was going to try hard not to be awkward but right now his anxiety was almost overwhelming. Isaiah squirted some hair gel from a bottle into his hand and looked in the mirror again.

"Just remember, he asked you to come so you pretty much have to." Isaiah whispered to himself and started to rub the gel through his hair. The sticky feeling of the gel was something Isaiah had become used to, this was something he did every morning except for days before games for obvious reasons. He slowly styled his hair into an up do, positioning each spike individually with his hands as he finished he looked in the mirror and checked each side of his head then washed the excess gel off his hands. Isaiah stopped for a second then looked at his shirt sitting on the counter, slightly aggravated. He had forgotten to put his shirt on before doing his hair. "I'm worse off then I thought." Isaiah laughed quietly to himself then put his pants on, he slid his belt through each loop of his jeans. He didn't really need it but he liked the way it looked, he did up the buckle and picked up his shirt putting his arms into the sleeves. Isaiah slid the shirt carefully over his head trying desperately to avoid his hair managing to get it on without messing up what he had done. This wasn't the first time Isaiah had forgotten and put gel in his hair without putting his shirt on first. It had become a regular occurrence before tests and other events that racked his nerves, he had become somewhat of a pro at fixing the situation. Isaiah took one last look in the mirror checking his hair, sprayed on his favourite cologne and then walked out into the kitchen. Carla was sitting at the kitchen table doing a crossword and drinking from a coffee, something she would do often after she got home from work. Isaiah looked at the time, it was five to seven. "Mom, I'm heading out. Not sure if I'll be back tonight. I might stay with Casey."

"Where are you going anyway?" asked Carla looking up from her crossword book.

"Well, we won today. Caleb invited me over to the victory party at his place."

"That's good. Good for you to get out with your teammates once in awhile. Call me if you need anything okay." Isaiah made sure that Carla wasn't fully aware of what he really thought of most of his teammates or what they thought of him. Since Isaiah's father had died and her parents had been claimed in a car accident when she was young. She had a bad habit of worrying about him when it wasn't really necessary.

"Okay, I will. See you tomorrow." Isaiah put his shoes on and walked out onto the step leading up to the house door. Isaiah looked around at the outside for a few seconds it was a nice day and it was going to be a nice night. The warm, end of Spring, air blew across his face and the sun was still quite high in the sky, it was perfect weather for a party, or at least he imagined it was. Isaiah reached in his pocket and took out his cell phone, he opened it and looked at Caleb's number on the screen. His phone was an older model his mother had gotten a few years back, so it was a bit clunky. He only had a basic plan his mother paid for monthly just something she could use to keep in touch with him. He had gotten Caleb's number when he first joined he team he had never actually called it, it was only for an emergency should he have to miss practise or a game. Isaiah could feel his nerves building so he just hit the call button and exhaled as he put it to his ear. It rang twice before anyone picked up. "Hey Caleb?" Isaiah said quickly and obviously nervous.

"Nope," said the female voice on the other end. Isaiah almost panicked thinking if he had the right number or not. "Just a second Isaiah." He shortly realised it was Sheena answering Caleb's phone. "Caleb!" she yelled. There was a brief pause. "He'll be here in a second. So, you're coming tonight, right?" Sheena had an expectant tone in her voice that Isaiah had never heard from her before. Isaiah was still trying to suppress the nervousness in his voice.

"Um, yeah. I just don't have a drive." Isaiah did have a drive he would just have to wait until Casey decided to go but he wanted to get there and didn't want to wait. "I forgot when I said I'd come over." Isaiah laughed nervously.

"Cool, we'll get you here." Isaiah was curious as to why she was being so nice, he hadn't seen this part of Sheena before, she was in an unusually good mood. "Caleb should have thought of that when he was telling you to come, though." Sheena's attitude started to come through in her words making it slightly more familiar. "Oh, here he is." Sheena passed Caleb the phone and Isaiah took a deep breath.

"Hello?" said Caleb.

"Hey Caleb, um, it's Isaiah." Isaiah felt like he sounded stupid and felt the embarrassment move through him.

"Oh, hey bud!" Caleb's tone became slightly more up beat, almost happy to hear from him. "So, are you coming out tonight?" Caleb's voice made it easy for Isaiah to start to relax.

"Yeah, but I forgot I really don't have a way there."

"Oh shit. I can't come get you. Just hold on a second though, I'll call Jonathan. He's on his way here right now." Isaiah swallowed hard at the sound of the idea.

"Is that a…" It was to late Caleb had already placed him on hold. "… guess so?" Isaiah felt anxiety in the pit of his stomach he really didn't want to be alone in a car with Jonathan. A few awkward seconds pass Isaiah looked around as he waited for Caleb to come back almost getting impatient.

Caleb placed Isaiah on hold and looked through his phone for Jonathans number, he had already started drinking so there was no way he was going to drive in his condition. Caleb was sitting in his bedroom on his bed to avoid the crowd while he talked on his phone, Sheena walked back in the bedroom.

"Caleb why didn't you make sure he had a drive before you started drinking, you've done it for other people on the team for their first party?" she asked irritated. Caleb looked up at her with an annoyed look on his face, still not wanting to deal with her attitude he went back to his phone.

"I'm getting Jonathan to pick him up." Caleb selected Jonathan's number and hit the call button on his phone and put it back to his ear it started to ring.

"That's a great idea, what if Jonathan does something to him, you know they don't get along." Caleb gave her an irritated look and pointed to the phone, Sheena let out her trademark sigh and left the room. Jonathan picked up his phone after four rings.

"Hey C-man what's up? I'm just on my way over now."

"Good then I've got great timing. I need you to swing by and pick Isaiah up." Jonathan was silent for a few seconds Caleb was already expecting resistance, but Jonathan was the only person who hadn't already been drinking.

"Man are you serious, I don't want that faggot in my car." Caleb rolled his eyes at Jonathan's remark and chose to ignore it.

"Yeah I'm serious," Caleb paused, "Can you just do this? I'd go but I've already started drinking and I can't drink and drive, can I?" Caleb decided that guilt would probably work best on Jonathan being his best friend.

"No you can't I'll go get him." There was a brief pause, as Jonathan seemed to be thinking. "Why do you want that guy there so bad anyway?"

"No particular reason dude, I just think he's a good guy and if he hung out with us more then he would start to fit in better with the team."

"Alright Caleb whatever you say, I'm coming up on his street now tell him to be ready."

"Alright thanks buddy. I'll tell him." Caleb hung up with Jonathan and pushed the button on his phone to go back to Isaiah.

There was a click in Isaiah's ear and Caleb was back.

"Yeah, I got him. He's like right around the corner, so be ready. He's got that red beater he drives."

"Oh okay." Isaiah looked down the street and could see Jonathan's car turning the corner. "I see him."

"See you soon."

"Cool. Later." Isaiah closed his phone as Caleb hung up on the other end Jonathan's car abruptly pulled into the yard. The old red car Jonathan drove was something his parents gave him for his sixteenth birthday it was an old station wagon, the nickname for it at school was ironically enough the shaggin' wagon. At least that was what Jonathan told everyone, Isaiah had learned from Casey that it was still his parent's car they just let him use it and would often take it from him at the worst times. Isaiah walked down the steps and toward the car, with each step he could feel anxiety building. He feared what Jonathan might do to him since they were alone. Isaiah walked over to the side of the car and looked in the window, Jonathan leaned over and unlocked the door then motioned with his hand for Isaiah to get in. Isaiah opened the door and sat down in the car and pulled the door shut. "Hey."

"You're lucky that Caleb caught me so close." Jonathan turned to look behind him as he backed the car out of the driveway. He didn't really like the idea of Isaiah being in his car, if people saw him what would they think. The car backed out of the yard and got on the street. Jonathan decided that he was going to drive quickly so that people wouldn't be able to see him, he was only doing this because Caleb asked him.

"Yeah, thanks. I should have told Casey to come get me but she left pretty quickly to go get ready."

"She gonna be there tonight?" Jonathan got a look in his eye that Isaiah had become all too familiar with. When Jonathan talked about women he would get a smirk on his face and his right eyebrow would rise. Jonathan looked back and forth from the road to Isaiah as he drove expectantly.

"She's coming later on," said Isaiah wish Jonathan would just sit in silence for the drive.

"Cool." Jonathan paused as the car took a turn. "She say anything about me?" Isaiah figured the best way to keep from being in an anymore uncomfortable situation then he was already in was to tell Jonathan what he wanted to here.

"Just that she thinks you're hot." Isaiah wouldn't say anything that he thought Casey didn't want Jonathan to hear.

"That's good." Jonathan paused as the car took another turn, it was obvious to Isaiah that they were taking the back roads. "Is she right?" Isaiah heard the question but wasn't sure if he was hearing correctly. Isaiah looked at him confused for a second before speaking.

"What?" he asked. Isaiah was now extremely uncomfortable but was trying to ready himself for what was about to come. Jonathan had an almost fiendish smirk on his face.

"Well, is she right?" Still not sure Isaiah tried to draw out the question.

"I don't understand what you mean?"

"Am I hot or what?" Isaiah was starting to become frustrated he could see what Jonathan was doing.

"I'm not sure what you're getting at, but you being who you are kinda gets in my way." Isaiah paused, crossed his arms and looked out the window, the passing scenery let him know that they were only a minute or so away from the Caleb's house. They were getting into the more well-off part of town. The houses here were large and expensive looking most of them having a pool or some other luxury that most people didn't have in a regular house. "Why are you so determined to find out who I'm into, anyway?" Jonathan's smile faded, and he looked intently at Isaiah, the car started to slow down. Isaiah wasn't sure what to expect but didn't want to look at him for fear of what he might see.

"What are you implying?" Jonathan's tone was accusing and irritated. Jonathan was trying to get Isaiah to say that he thought another guy was attractive to confirm his suspicions. If Isaiah had said yes Jonathan planned on pulling over and beating him senseless then saying he had made a pass at him. This wasn't something that Jonathan expected, usually Isaiah submitted to him pretty easily, he was never this brave before.

"I'm not implying anything but you're pretty into my sexuality, is all," said Isaiah frustrated. Jonathan stayed silent it was apparent that Isaiah had made him uncomfortable. The car started to move at a normal pace again and Isaiah looked at Jonathan briefly then back to the road. They could see the house as they approached, there were cars parked on both sides of the road, Isaiah could see people walking from their cars and into the house. There was definitely a large turn out for the party, given it would be or could be the last one of the season at least at Caleb's place. As they got closer Isaiah could see several familiar faces including people from the team itself and other people from school. Then there was the people that he didn't recognise at all that were most likely friends from the area that the other students knew. He would always hear about the crowds of people that would flock to these parties but never witnessed it in person. Jonathan remained silent as they arrived at their destination, as the car parked several members of the team approached them and Jonathan got out of the car walking to meet them. Isaiah sat in the car awkwardly thinking for a moment before he got out of the car and walked over to them, they seemed to ignore him at approach. "Hey guys what's up?" Andrew and Mike were the only two people that even looked at him from the group.

"Never see you outside of practise and games. Where do you spend all your time?" Andrew's question was short and to the point, Isaiah was surprised that he was speaking to him at all.

"Yeah, I'm around I guess. A lot of schoolwork. I'm taking a lot of university prep courses this semester." It was true only recently had Isaiah really had time to breath, he had been so bogged down in homework. This was another of the many reasons he didn't come to these parties, although it was a minor reason, it was one of the ones he would throw out there more often. It was probably the reason that most of the team thought he was a bookworm.

"So you're not going for a football scholarship like the rest of us?" Andrew looked at him not surprised at all. He didn't really think Isaiah was good enough to get a scholarship, and he certainly wasn't big enough to carry on into the university scene.

"Nah, I've already got academic scholarships lined up." Isaiah was pretty confident in his intellect and because of this was sure he would end up at whatever university he wanted. There was a bit of an awkward silence and Isaiah looked down at his feet, he wanted to go find Caleb, but he didn't want to be rude and just walk away either. Mike looked at Isaiah and could tell he was for the most part the cause of the awkward silence. He knew that Jonathan wasn't going to speak with him there and could also tell that Andrew was being unusually nice to him for the sake of public appearance.

"Caleb is in the house somewhere, I think; probably the kitchen," said Mike breaking the silence, "There's plenty of drinks in there for everyone too." Isaiah rejoiced inside that Mike was trying to shoo him away and put on a fake smile as he spoke.

"Thanks, Mike." Isaiah looked up at the house that was a decent distance from where they stood right next to the property line on the sidewalk. "I think I'm gonna go see about that. I'll see you guys later." Andrew and Mike nodded to him as he walked away. Isaiah let out a sigh of relief as he walked up to the house. He walked up the paved driveway, Caleb's house sat some distance away from where they were standing. The property was large and like the other houses on the street they were far apart from their neighbours, making it the perfect place for a party, the music could be loud, and no one would complain because no one would hear it loud enough to bother. There were people scattered in groups all over the property as he walked Isaiah began to realise why everyone came to the parties here, because everybody else did. The groups scattered about were all different cliques of people, gothic, punk, hip-hop, the "smart kids", the jocks, and even those who were considered the "outcasts" of the school. Isaiah made it to the door and stared up at it almost intimidated to open it. He could hear the music blaring loudly inside, something he didn't recognise but it was some kind of rap music. Isaiah exhaled and put his hand on the doorknob turning it and walking in, the music seems to hit him like a ton of bricks, it was so loud he could hardly hear himself talk let alone anyone else. He walked into the house the large living room was packed with people, Isaiah couldn't believe that there was this many people there, word must have spread quickly after Jonathan's open display on the bus. Isaiah pushed his way through the crowd, seeing several familiar faces, most of which he knew from classes, but he did have a few fans amid all his time on the team. A few members of the team acknowledged him, others didn't, a few of the girls that regularly hung out with the team gave him a random hug. He finally pushed his way through the crowd and made it to the kitchen door.

Caleb was sitting in the kitchen; the party was blaring in the living room, but he couldn't seem to get himself into the partying mood. Sheena's excessive amount of attitude was still taking its toll. He sat against the counter and looked at the cold beer in his hands, he had only had two, he started to think maybe that had something to do with him not being in the mood yet. As an unset rule he would probably have about eight for the night, if he wanted to have a heavy night and at this point he did. Even though Sheena was kind of bringing him down the fact that Isaiah was going to be there was something that made him feel a little happier. He looked up at the kitchen clock Isaiah would probably be there any minute he had gotten off the phone about fifteen minutes ago. Caleb took a drink of the beer in his hand and drank half of it down almost instantly trying to hurry the process up a bit. He swallowed the last of what was in his mouth, it went down hard the fizz burning the back of his throat as it often did. Caleb wasn't particularly fond of the actual process of drinking he just liked the feeling he got from it and he really disliked the taste of beer. The only reason he drank it at this point was because it was the easiest for him to get a hold of, his father kept it in the house for easy access when he was home. His parents didn't mind him drinking at their house because they could see what he was doing having security camera's in the living room and kitchen. Caleb's father although he was a lawyer, had a bit of fancy for electronics and gadgets and he had all the money he needed to try out the latest security system or computerized mechanism like the one in Caleb's truck. If he wanted to keep the truck from Caleb, he would just use his computer and basically flick a switch and set a time and the truck wouldn't start. Caleb thought about Sheena for a minute. How could anyone that supposedly loved him treat him this way, she talked to him all the time like he was an idiot, if he was talking it couldn't be worth saying. All she did was hang off him in public and in private, unless she was trying to have sex with him or get him to buy her something with the credit card his parents gave him, then she was yelling at him or giving him some kind of attitude or calling him stupid. Thinking about it Caleb's eyes started to well up, it was something he felt that he really could not talk to anyone about. His parents were gone all the time with work, he didn't feel that his friends were the type of people he could show any emotion to without being teased or seen as weak. The only person that he could even come close to talking to about his feelings was his uncle Caesar who was also their housekeeper, but he still didn't like talking to him about this type of issue. Caleb wiped his eyes and just as he lowered his arm Isaiah walked through the door. Caleb was happy to see him, though he didn't really know why, he still had a distraught look on his face that he was trying to hide.

"Oh, hey man! Glad you could make it. Thanks for coming." Caleb reached out and shook Isaiah's hand with a smile on his face. Isaiah smiled back at him obviously happy to see him.

"No problem, dude. What's up?" asked Isaiah. Isaiah looked at him almost suspiciously as he pulled from the hand shake.

"Oh, not much." Caleb tried not to seem distracted as he spoke, but it didn't seem like it was working.

"You okay?" Isaiah tried to look Caleb in the eye, but he turned his head quickly looking at the fridge.

"Oh, ah yeah. Just a little distracted." Caleb walked over to the fridge and looked in at the vast supply of alcohol. There were bottles and cans of all assorted brands and colours. "So, you want a drink?" he asked.

"Yeah for sure. What are my options?" Isaiah walked over and stood beside Caleb glancing in at the alcohol he had never seen so much alcohol in one place before.

"Oh, well…" Caleb glanced in at all the different labels. "Ha, yeah, take a look and see what you want, man. Everyone brought some." Caleb left the door open and walked back over to the counter to his original position. Caleb watched Isaiah closely while he chose his drink from the fridge, he caught himself staring as Isaiah stood up with a can in his hand and looked at the ground.

"Cool, thanks." Isaiah turned around and smiled at him as he opened the can and took a sip from the drink shutting the fridge behind him. The brief look of surprise on Isaiah's face from the taste of his drink told Caleb that Isaiah wasn't anymore of a drinker then he was, probably even less. Isaiah walked over and stood about three feet away from Caleb and stood in front of him. "So what's on your mind?" asked Isaiah. Caleb looked up at Isaiah clearly caught off guard that he was picking up on how distraught he really was.

"What?"

"You said you were distracted. By what?"

"Oh, just lady trouble. Sheena is moody today. I think it's that time of the month or something," said Caleb laughing it off.

"Ah, I know how that is." Isaiah blatantly lied, he had never had a girlfriend to compare the experience too. The closest thing he had was Casey and when the time came for her to start having mood swings she would just disappear for a few days or make up some excuse not to hang out with him.

"Yeah." Caleb was uncomfortable with the topic and tried to think of a new subject quickly before it continued. "So, I don't think you and I have ever really talked in detail, but I do know some stuff about you." Isaiah and Caleb both smiled at each other staring for a few seconds.

"Oh yeah, like what?" asked Isaiah curious. Isaiah had never imagined that Caleb paid any attention to him let alone knew anything about him.

"Well," Caleb began feeling like he may be getting ready to take a step into the uncomfortable zone and he wasn't sure how Isaiah would react, but he kept going anyway, "I know you're a smart guy. Knowing that, I don't know why you decided to join the football team. I know you're taking a ton of university prep courses. I don't know how you do it all at the same time and still manage to do well in both." Caleb stared at Isaiah watching for any sign of him being offended but he didn't see anything. Isaiah smiled, his green eyes seemed to be shining under the fluorescent light that hummed above their head. Caleb repositioned himself against the counter and smiled back at him again, Caleb began to feel a deep comfort just being in Isaiah's presence. He still didn't know why but he enjoyed making this connection with him.

"Yeah, this is why I don't come to many of these parties," said Isaiah.

"Many?" Caleb stood up straight and took a sip of his drink. "You mean any!" Isaiah shook his head agreeing with Caleb who was being rather enthusiastic.

"Okay, I'll give you that!" he laughed. Just then a girl walked through the door and walked over to them. She was dressed rather scantily in a low-cut shirt, showing off her cleavage, and a short frilly skirt. It was clear to both of them that she was only there trying to get with one of their teammates, she almost looked like a shorter version of Sheena.

"Hi Caleb," she said. The girl was clearly not very smart, her personality seemed to be close to that of Stephanie and Caleb had in his head summed it up in one word, ditzy. "Awesome party! Thanks for letting me come." Caleb shot Isaiah a glance then looked at the girl, clearly having no idea who she was.

"Hey, no problem." Caleb was almost unsure as he spoke, not sure what to say. "Happy to have you here." She smiled at both of them then walked over to the fridge and grabbed a couple of bottles from the bottom shelf. Looking at them one last time she giggled and walked out of the kitchen. Isaiah stared at the door for a few seconds then looked at Caleb with a confused look on his face.

"Who was that?"

"Pft. Hell if I know! I guess she's been here before though!" Caleb laughed. Caleb gulped the last of his beer and grabbed another one from the fridge. He was starting to feel better, he wasn't sure if it was the alcohol doing it or if it was the conversation with Isaiah that made him feel this way or if it was a combination of both. "Well, I guess I better go and keep up my appearance."

"Okay. Maybe I'll talk to you later."

"For sure." Caleb turned and walked through the door back into the living room. Isaiah followed closely behind him. Caleb stepped out into the living room and clapped his hands into the air getting the attention of most of the room. The playlist that had been going had apparently ended because the music was not playing. "Alright biotches, let's get this party started!" Caleb grabbed a remote control off a small end table sitting by the door and the music starts to play again but louder then before. The crowd began whooping and hollering and Isaiah shortly followed through the kitchen door. Casey emerged from the crowd and walked up to him while Caleb seemed to disappear into the crowd.

"Thanks for ditching me, asshole," Casey leaned into Isaiah and spoke into his ear over the music. "You could of at least called me."

"Sorry. I just wanted to get here and get it over with. I was nervous about coming." Isaiah crossed his arms as he spoke into her ear. Casey looked at him not really believing him.

"Sure," she said sarcastically. Casey figured Isaiah was just trying to get more time around Caleb she had noticed them both come out of the kitchen. She was sure he was confusing his excitement for nervousness. Casey looked around at the crowd, this was certainly the most people that she had seen at one of these parties. The only people that she even recognised were the guys from the football team. "Wow, there's more here then I've seen in a while. Word travelled fast, I guess." Isaiah nodded his head in agreement then leaned into her again.

"Did you talk to Jonathan? He was asking about you earlier."

"Yeah I talked to him already. I'm going to his house after the party, whenever that'll be." Isaiah looked at Casey surprised that she would go home with Jonathan just like that.

"I don't know. I have a feeling Caleb isn't about to keep this going all night. Sheena's been a huge bitch lately. He seems really stressed about it but only time will tell, I guess." Isaiah leaned in closer and cupped his hand around his mouth, so she could hear him better. "Seems pretty interested in sparking up conversation with me though. I don't know what changed." It was true Isaiah didn't realise what was any different in their situation then before.

"Really? Did you get to the part about you joining the team just to get close to him?" Casey smiled widely at Isaiah waiting for a response. The look on Isaiah's face changed to panic obviously worried about who might hear her talking, even though she wasn't lying.

"Not quite, and keep your voice down!" Casey looked around at the people standing close to them, most of which were heavily involved in conversations of their own or they were dancing. The music was so loud she was sure she could scream at the person standing next to her and they still wouldn't hear her unless they were trying.

"No one can hear me over this music," she reassured. Jonathan walked up behind Casey and put his arms on her waist and started to kiss her neck. Casey looked back at him and smiled.

"Hey baby. What are you guys talking about? Let's get wild up in this place!" Jonathan urged. Casey awkwardly glanced at Isaiah then back at Jonathan.

"Sounds like a plan." Casey turned to face Jonathan and they started to dance. Isaiah didn't particularly like the idea of dancing he was too scared about what he might look like. He decided he was going to go and explore the house and maybe a bit of the outside, some air would do him good. Casey looked at him as he started to walk away she placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned into him. "Loosen up, have a little fun." Isaiah forced a smile and started to make his way back through the crowd. He walked passed Sheena and Caleb dancing. Caleb looked up and smiled at him, he reached out and stopped him then leaned away from Sheena who flashed a quick smile at Isaiah.

"You're not leaving already are you?" said Caleb in Isaiah's ear. The smell of Caleb's cologne was almost intoxicating to Isaiah as he talked. His breath touched as Isaiah's ear and it almost sent chills down his spine.

"I… I was just going for a walk. I need some air." Caleb smiled at him.

"Don't go far." Isaiah smiled and continued to walk through the crowd of people. Caleb watched as Isaiah walked away then slowly moved back to Sheena who was looking at him with a questioning look on her face.

"Is he alright?" she asked.

"He's just nervous cus' he's never been to one of these parties before." Sheena looked in the direction that Isaiah had walked and saw the door open as he walked out.

"Well do you wanna go see if he's okay?" asked Sheena. Sheena had an unfamiliar look of compassion on her face, Caleb knew that Isaiah was the only team member that she liked or at least tolerated. So he decided he would take the opportunity to follow Isaiah to make sure he was ok.

"Yeah I'm going to go. I'll be back soon." Sheena nodded her head and they kissed then she touched his face and smiled. Caleb nodded at her and started his way through the crowd. Almost all the people there were people that Caleb either went to school with or was a team mate. As he walked past everyone nodded and smiled or gave him a high five or some other congratulatory gesture. As he walked he made sure that Isaiah wasn't amongst the crowd. Caleb didn't see him, so he assumed that he had gone outside and opened the front door and walked out. As Caleb stepped outside the fresh air hit face forcing him to realise just how hot it had gotten inside. The sun was still visible and the evening sky was starting to show all of its colours. Caleb took a deep breath of the fresh air taking in the smell of the grass and the late spring evening. Caleb looked around and couldn't see Isaiah anywhere, but he had spotted Chris standing with a group of people and walked over to them still looking around to see if he could spot Isaiah. "Hey, Chris, what's up?" Chris greeted him with a smile. "Having fun so far?"

"Yeah buddy. You?" Chris smiled and raised a drink to him. "Great time as always here."

"Good, good." Caleb touched his beer to Chris's drink and lowered it back to his side. "Hey, did you see Isaiah come outside?" Chris looked at Caleb confused caught off guard by the question.

"Um, not really why?" Chris stopped and thought briefly.

"Oh I just wanna make sure he's having a good time, it's his first time here you know."

"Yeah… he might have gone over to the pool. I didn't see him leave." Chris's tone was suspicious. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine man I don't like it when people come here and don't have a good time you know this." Caleb laughed to break some of the tension and walked over toward the pool and sure enough he could see Isaiah, he looked as though he were looking around. Caleb walked up behind him unheard. Caleb didn't say anything for a few seconds. He had never seen Isaiah dressed up like this before, he really liked the way his hair was done tonight, he had seen it spiked before just tonight seemed different. The clothing he was wearing was definitely different then anything he wore to school, his tight fitting black tee with white sleeves covering his arms and blue jeans really seemed to fit him well showing off the work he had done to his body in the last year or so. Caleb remembered he time he first saw Isaiah, he was the definition of nerd, he wasn't very tall, nor was he in any kind of shape. Caleb always thought he was a cute kid but when he tried to get into shape he really tried and researched it. He thought no one was around at the gym sometimes and Caleb would watch him workout from one of the steps outside the gym that he could see inside the window just by sitting down there and pretending to read a book. Caleb couldn't explain how he felt for Isaiah but up until only recently it had never been so strong before and he wasn't sure how he was going to deal with it. "Hey… you okay?" he asked. Isaiah turned around startled and stared at him for a second. Caleb smiled at Isaiah and he could see him relax.

"Yeah I'm okay. I just needed to breath it's really hot in there with all those people," said Isaiah. Isaiah smiled but then looked at Caleb strangely. "Did you follow me out here?" Caleb looked at Isaiah caught off guard by the question.

"Well, no not really." Caleb looked awkwardly at his feet then back at Isaiah. "Well okay yeah I did, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Caleb could feel the blood rushing to his face he was sure he was blushing. "I know you're uncomfortable here and I like to make sure everyone is having a good time." Isaiah looked at Caleb for a few short seconds watching his dark skin get a tint of red to it as he blushed. He was showing a lot of concern for him.

"Honestly I am okay, just a little bit of sensory overload going on in there," explained Isaiah. "Go back in I'm not going to go far I promise." Caleb turned slightly to start walking away keeping eye contact.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Isaiah didn't really want him to go but he didn't want to seem needy.

"Yes go," he laughed, "I'll be fine." Caleb turned and walked away then smiled back at him as he spoke.

"Suit yourself, I'll see you inside." Isaiah smiled back at him and continued to watch him as he walked out of site. Isaiah could hear people all on the deck talking and decided to walk out front but before he could act on the thought Stephanie came walking around the corner. She saw him and walked over to him.

"Hey cutie," she said smiling. Isaiah new what kind of girl Stephanie was, he reputation for being easy was well talked about within the football team. He wasn't about to be another stamp on her card from the team. "What'cha doin?" He didn't have a problem with her personally he just didn't like her reputation and Casey couldn't stand her.

"Not much, I was just about to head back in." Stephanie stepped closer to him and looked him in the eye for a short second smiling at him. "So," he hesitated, "Are you having fun so far?" Stephanie stayed silent and leaned in and kissed him. Isaiah was caught off guard and pulled back. He hadn't kissed a girl since he joined the football team and he had no intention of kissing one today. Isaiah looked at her surprised, she was just as surprised as he was, he could tell as she looked back at him with disappointment in her eyes. "I'm sorry you…"

"I didn't mean to scare you jeez its just a kiss."

"It's okay just a little warning would have been nice." Isaiah wiped his mouth off and looked at her for a second.

"Come on was it really that bad?" Stephanie still looked at him with the confusion in her face. "What, are you a fag or something?"

"Excuse me?" Isaiah was insulted at her insinuation just because he didn't kiss her.

"Sorry I guess I'm just not used to the rejection." Stephanie's face changed to a smile as she looked at him. "You should come dance with me." Isaiah decided it best to avoid the potentially awkward situation this could create.

"Sure," he said simply. Stephanie smiled at him and took his hand and led him quickly back into the house and amidst the crowd of people. She pulled him through the crowd over to Sheena and Caleb who were dancing rather close. Sheena looked over at the two of them as they started to dance and suddenly Stephanie made sense. Caleb looked back and smiled with a bit of surprise on his face. Isaiah was not the type of person who liked to dance. Not that he didn't feel he could he just wasn't comfortable with dancing around other people especially people he knew. He was terrified of what they might think of him, awkwardly he went with the flow of the music. As the two of them danced Stephanie began to get extremely seductive touching and rubbing his body. She smiled at him as she danced and began to put her hands up his shirt lifting it slightly. Caleb looked back at Isaiah dancing still as Stephanie touched him and lifted his shirt he couldn't help but stare. He was particularly impressed with Isaiah's core it was one of the hardest things to get yet he managed to get and maintain an almost perfect six-pack. Isaiah nervously lowered his shirt and took Stephanie's hands to prevent her from doing it again.

A few hours had passed, and Isaiah now found himself standing out on the deck with Caleb, Sheena, Chris, Stephanie and Jonathan. They were standing by the pool; the wind blew slightly the warm summer nights air smelled like fresh cut grass from one of the other houses nearby. Isaiah was actually having a good time, he was glad he'd shown up. The only thing he was particularly not fond of was the fact that Stephanie had been hanging off of him all night. He hadn't been able to get away from her since they danced together, and it was getting tiring entertaining her, but he didn't want to be rude to her nor did he want Caleb thinking he might be interested in her. At this point she had been drinking for several hours, and she wasn't the only one. Although Isaiah was still nursing the same one he had taken from the fridge when he first arrived, he had noticed that Caleb had probably downed about 5 drinks and was feeling pretty good. Sheena, Jonathan and Chris were all pretty well off and he was sure they were all drunk. He wondered how far gone Casey had managed to get herself but with Stephanie around there was no way she was going to approach him. Stephanie and Sheena were having random conversation about things no one else seemed to be interested in. Isaiah was not listening to them in any case, he wasn't really interested in what they had to say at any point. He noticed that Caleb had looked over at him, Isaiah smiled at him then turned away and took a drink of his now warm can of beer. Caleb smiled at him.

"So, you enjoying yourself so far, dude?" he asked.

"Yeah man, it's pretty cool. I'm sorry I've never come to these before."

"Yeah, it's pretty much the same all the time, just people getting together to have some fun." Caleb took another drink from his bottle of Coors and looked at Stephanie and Sheena who had just stopped their conversation. Stephanie once again turned her attention to Isaiah smiling at him.
"Yeah Isaiah, I'm glad you decided to come too." Stephanie leaned in and touched his chest. "You look really hot tonight." Stephanie was clearly drunk at this point this type of conduct was certainly something Isaiah was used to. He didn't think that any of the girls in school were interested in him and the only one he had ever gotten a compliment from was Casey, but that, he was sure was just patronization. Isaiah awkwardly forced a smile.

"Nah, I'm pretty average," said Isaiah embarrassed.

"Hey man, learn to take a compliment," laughed Caleb.

"I love this shirt on you." Stephanie began to rub her hand across Isaiah's chest.

"Um, thanks Stephanie." Isaiah accepted the compliment reluctantly. Caleb could tell that Chris and Jonathan were clearly uncomfortable. Caleb starred at the ground as the exchange took place but could still see that Jonathan was even beginning to squirm. He was uncomfortable with Stephanie hitting on Isaiah as well, not only because it was Isaiah she was hitting on but because he was aware of her track record and was sure that Isaiah really wouldn't be.

"Isaiah," Caleb lifted his head and looked in Isaiah's direction who met his glance, "did I ever tell you about the time Jonathan and I went to the mall and this chick kept following us around?"

"Awe man, that chick was such a dog, dude," laughed Jonathan. Sheena suddenly had a disgusted look on her face.

"Caleb, that story is so stupid," she interrupted as Caleb took a breath, "I hate it when you tell people about it. It just makes you two look like idiots." Sheena turned to look at Jonathan still with the disgusted look on her face. "If she was such a dog then why did you end up fucking her in the bathroom?" Isaiah looked back and forth between Sheena, Caleb and Jonathan caught off guard by Sheena's blatant disrespect for Caleb. He was sure that this would be the argument that would set Caleb over the edge.

"Oh, fuck off would ya? Pussy is pussy." Caleb's steady smile quickly faded as the exchange took place. He looked at Chris then to Sheena and Stephanie, it was clear that he was angry, Sheena had embarrassed him again and this time for no reason she just couldn't keep her mouth shut. Caleb quickly thought of a reason to get out of there for fear that he might blow up at her, he discretely checked his drink it was almost gone.

"Anyone need a drink refresh? I'm getting a little low." Chris looked at him awkwardly then checked his drink.

"Um yeah, I could use one if you're going, bud," said Chris handing Caleb the bottle he had.

"Cool. How about you, Isaiah?" Caleb looked at Isaiah knowing that he could tell he was angry.

"No thank you," said Isaiah shaking his head accordingly.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Caleb walked back into the house. His emotions were running at an all time high this was it he was done, he couldn't deal with her anymore. He was hoping that they would be able to make it through the party without any kind of incident, but it was clear to him that with Sheena this was asking far too much. He had decided to take the long way to the kitchen, so he would have more time to think of what he would say to her. Caleb walked around the house and in through the main door to the living room, there was still a lot of people in the house and the air was stuff even with the air conditioner running almost full tilt. The music had been turned down and now only added to the background noise that was now most people's voices chattering. He heard glass shattering and stopped to look around to see someone quickly sweeping up the mess, he ignored it and kept walking. Thinking of the mess he was going to have to clean up tomorrow there was no point in doing any cleaning now. Caleb felt a force behind him almost knocking him over, he turned quickly one of the guys from school that Caleb didn't really talk to had fallen into him. Caleb's irritability was getting to a point that he may not be able to control it, he was breathing heavily, and he was sure the look on his face was reflecting his mood. A girl that must have been with him came up and steadied him the guy was extremely intoxicated and almost couldn't stand on his own.

"Hey Caleb, dude, awesome party man," he slurred. The person looked at Caleb with glassed over eyes. The girl with him, who was significantly less intoxicated, and could see that Caleb was not in the mood to deal with her boyfriend right now.

"I'm sorry Caleb."

"Yeah." Caleb nodded and turned back to where he was going and pushed through the rest of the crowd he walked through the door and into the kitchen. There was a group of people standing at the other end of the kitchen talking amongst themselves. Caleb sat the bottles in a box on the floor and then opened the fridge to get replacements. He starred in the fridge for a few long seconds at the selection that had gotten significantly thinner, more then two thirds of what was there was gone.

Caleb had just walked away from them and everyone was still staying quiet Isaiah was extremely uncomfortable being with the very people he didn't like.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," said Jonathan clearly looking for an excuse to leave the situation. Jonathan walked into the house through the glass door that led to the kitchen, leaving Isaiah with Chris, Sheena and Stephanie. The three of them seemed to be ignoring him as Sheena took a step closer to Chris with a seductive look on her face, clearly flirting. Sheena put her hand on his chest.

"So, Chris, you're looking pretty hot tonight. What are you benching now anyway?" she flirted. Chris smirked at her as the two of them began to get close.

"Like one-forty." Chris put his hand on Sheena's. Isaiah didn't like watching what was happening, Sheena had just completely disrespected Caleb and now she was flirting with Chris, who was supposed to be one of his close friends. Isaiah wasn't sure what was worse at this point, what was happening or the fact that Chris wasn't stopping it.

"Very nice," she said, "Caleb is doing one-sixty right now."

"Caleb is a big boy," said Chris.

"You know he really is." Sheena and Chris were so close that they looked like they were about to kiss. Isaiah decided since he was being ignored anyway he would get out of there before he was witness to something he didn't want to be.

"Um, I better go find Casey. Make sure she's staying out of trouble." Isaiah gave an awkward smile and Chris stopped what he was doing and glared at him.

"Yeah, you do that." Isaiah felt belittled as he walked back around the house to go inside. This type of treatment had gone on for so long, but he still hadn't managed to get used to it yet. He walked into the now quieted living room, people were still scattered around the room most were pretty heavily intoxicated. The only sound in the room was the drunken banter of the party patrons. Isaiah could see Casey and Jonathan talking he walked over to them. Casey was obviously drunk and hitting on Jonathan before he walked over to them, he smiled at Casey as he walked over.

"Hey guys, what's up?" he asked?

"Not much. Just avoiding that mess out on the deck," said Jonathan.

"Yeah tell me about it, dude." For the first time it seemed that Jonathan and Isaiah had found a common ground. Isaiah thought it was probably the alcohol speaking on Jonathan's part.

"I'm sick of her voice. It doesn't take long." Jonathan leaned on the wall and took a drink of his beer.

"I don't know why he stays with her still. She's crazy; I've said this for years," Casey laughed. Caleb quickly walked by them with a couple of drinks in his hand heading toward the deck, he had an angry look on his face.

"Oh, here we go," said Jonathan smiling. Isaiah looked at both of them then watched Caleb not wanting anything bad to happen. Not really sure as to what he could do if something were to happen he decided to follow Caleb.

Caleb walked quickly around the house and back up to Stephanie, Chris and Sheena. As he passed Chris his drink he had noticed that they had gotten unusually close. Caleb was quiet for a few long seconds as he saw Isaiah come up behind him. Sheena walked back over to him and smiled at him she could tell he was angry by looking at his face and she ignored it. Caleb took several steps back from her staying away.

"You know what, Sheena? Why don't you just take off for the night! I'm sick of your shit today," said Caleb angrily. Sheena quickly adapted a venomous expression on her face.

"Excuse me?" Sheena was obviously caught off guard. Caleb looked at her with a expectant look on his face.

"You heard me. I'm not in the mood for this anymore today. Just leave, okay?"

"Um, okay," said Sheena with uncertainty strong in her voice. "Are you at least going to drive me home?" Sheena was furious that Caleb would actually throw her out of the party, she couldn't believe that he was doing this.

"Sheena, I've had like seven tonight so far. I'm not going anywhere in any vehicle unless it's in a passenger seat." Caleb would drink at his house for this reason, he would never drink and drive and he certainly wasn't about to start for Sheena. Caleb was staying out of arms reach, Sheena often tended to get violent when she was drinking and angry.

"Oh my god, you're such a bastard sometimes. I'll see you tomorrow, Stephanie." Sheena looked at Stephanie and smiled one last smug smile then looked at Caleb, still smiling, Sheena threw her glass at him. The glass hit Caleb and splashed her drink all over his shirt. "Fuck you!" Sheena screamed and quickly walked through the yard and down the driveway to her car.

"Stupid bitch!" yelled Caleb. Isaiah was nervous to say anything, but Caleb looked like he was just hung out to dry his shirt dripping with both her cheap alcohol and his own embarrassment. He didn't want to leave him just sitting there with people looking at him. He walked up beside him and looked at him.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Um, sorry." Caleb seemed like he was in a bit of a daze as he wiped his hands over his shirt. "I need to change my shirt." Caleb looked at Isaiah the confusion apparent in his face. "Come with me?" Isaiah didn't really understand why he was asking him to go with him, he nodded, and Caleb started to walk.

"Ah okay." The two of them walk back into the house through the patio doors into the kitchen. They walked passed Casey who made eye contact with Isaiah after looking at Caleb's shirt and smiling at both of them. Jonathan stood with her but just gave Caleb a confused look after noticing that Isaiah was following him. Isaiah followed Caleb through the kitchen and into the living room where the party was still happening. They pushed through the now thinned crowd and walked over to the large elegant staircase that led to the upstairs. Caleb looked back to make sure he hadn't lost Isaiah in the crowd and started to walk with a quicker pace to get up stairs. Isaiah thought of how embarrassing it must be for everyone to see him at a party with a stain on his shirt from the cheap wine Sheena was drinking, everyone had to know what happened by now. If the situation reversed, Isaiah would most likely have curled up under the deck until the party was over to hide from the stares that people were giving Caleb. They walked into Caleb's bedroom, Isaiah had never been here before. As they stepped in Caleb turned on the light revealing the large bedroom, Isaiah was almost in awe at how large the room was. It was almost as big as his mother's room, he looked around slowly as he took it all in, the bed in the centre of the room was bigger then he was used to the computer among other various electronics found in most teenage boy's rooms caught his eye. Isaiah looked at the wall beside the bed, at Caleb's trophy case, Caleb had had his hand in almost all sports that were available at their school before he became the captain of the football team and he managed to excel in everyone one of them. There were several trophies in the case wrestling, soccer, several from football, hockey, basketball, and baseball. Isaiah was quite amazed at Caleb's ability to do well in all these sports at the same time when he was doing them. He didn't think that anyone would consider that being captain of the football team would be a break, but imagining what his schedule used to be he was beginning to consider it. The trophies ranged from all years, he had been collecting them since he was younger, there was even a couple of academic trophies from his earlier years. Caleb walked into the bedroom and took his shirt off throwing it on the floor, Isaiah's attention immediately went to the situation at hand.

"Ah, why did you want me to come with you?" he asked. Caleb walked into his closet seemingly ignoring the question. Isaiah walked over and investigated the closet not having seen a walk-in closet before he was quite impressed by it. Caleb's clothing hung on either side of the closet filling the racks with several different articles of clothing and it seemed to be separated by occasion. There was an entire wall of casual clothing that one would wear to school, a section for his sports gear, his dress wear which was where he was currently picking through and a section for formal wear Isaiah could see several suit and tie ensembles hanging there.

"Sorry you had to see that. She's just been really getting to me this last little while," said Caleb as he continued to look through his shirts.

"I couldn't believe how she just dissed you like that in front of everyone."

"Yeah, she does that too much. I'm sick of it." Caleb took out a blue silk button up and held it up over his chest still on the hanger. "Think this is okay?" Isaiah looked him up and down briefly.

"Um, yeah, it looks good." Isaiah didn't expect the question and just stared at Caleb as he turned back to him to put the shirt on. He watched as Caleb took the shirt off the hanger and put the hanger back on the rack. Isaiah stared at Caleb' body as he turned around to put on the shirt fiddling with the buttons to get it open, he watched as Caleb's skin rippled over the muscle of his back not wanting to be caught but not able to turn away. Everything about Caleb was perfect to Isaiah, the way the musculature in his back moved was almost hypnotizing to him, his skin looked so soft it took everything in Isaiah's person to keep from reaching out and touching him. "You'd look good in anything," Isaiah whispered quietly to himself. Caleb looked back and smiled at him Isaiah quickly shot his glance down at the shoes that lined the floor trying not to be obvious unable to tell if Caleb had actually heard him terrified that he did. This was another thing that Isaiah took notice of the different pair of sneakers and shoes that Caleb had, there had to be at least fifty pairs again for all occasions. Caleb put on his shirt and walked passed him exiting the closet, Isaiah followed him out and he shut the door.

"Cool. Let's get back to the party," said Caleb smiling as he did up the final button. Isaiah smiled at him and they walked out of the room. Caleb shut the light off and closed the door behind him. The two of them headed back downstairs to rejoin the party.

Isaiah and Caleb had just walked passed Casey and Jonathan. Jonathan had already deduced that Sheena had gotten upset with Caleb and threw her drink at him, having seen her almost run out a few minutes earlier and now seeing him with a wet shirt. He was obviously going upstairs to change but it bothered him watching Isaiah follow him. Jonathan felt that Isaiah really didn't have any business being there and he couldn't see Caleb asking him to follow. He stared at them confused as they walked up the steps neither of them looking back. Jonathan wanted to follow them, he knew what Caleb could be like after he and Sheena would get into an argument of this stature. Although they would never really talk about it Caleb would get into a mode where he would be somewhat emotional or even sensitive. Jonathan didn't know for certain, but he thought that Isaiah would be looking to take advantage of that. It sickened him the way Isaiah would sometimes stare at Caleb when he thought no one was looking but Jonathan was almost always watching if he was in eyeshot. He could never really bring it up to Caleb simply because anytime someone tried to talk to him about Isaiah he would get almost defensive. The thought of what might happened made Jonathan sick to his stomach, he started to walk up behind them when Casey grabbed him by the arm.

"Where are you going?" she asked. Jonathan looked at Casey knowing he would have to watch what he said if he wanted anything to happen with her tonight. He hated Isaiah, but he was still horny and that would more then likely prevail at the end of the night.

"I'm just going to make sure Caleb is okay. Did you see the look on his face?" he said. Casey looked at him knowing that his friendship with Caleb was long lasting at this point, but it was by no means that kind of friendship. "What?"

"Jonathan he's fine Isaiah is going with him." Casey took Jonathan by the hands and turned him toward her even though he was still looking up stairs and Isaiah and Caleb just walked out of sight.

"That's what I'm worried about. Caleb's drunk, and whenever Sheena and him fight like that he always gets emotional." Casey put her hand on Jonathan's face and forced him to face her then kissed him. Jonathan relaxed as they kissed him suddenly forgetting what was happening. Casey pulled back briefly and smiled at him.

"Mind your own business, you have enough going on right now."

"You're right." Jonathan smiled and leaned into a deep kiss with her. After a few seconds of kissing Jonathan pulled back and smiled at her and took her by the hand. They started to walk, and he led her to the small downstairs bathroom. They stepped into the bathroom and Jonathan locked the door behind him. The bathroom was significantly simple, all it had was a mirror cupboard for pharmaceuticals and toiletries. Across from the standard stand up shower there was a storage closet for towels and face cloths. Sitting under the mirror was the bathroom sink and counter. Jonathan started to kiss Casey again and back her up against the counter. Jonathan started to undo his shirt and she finished for him and opened it up rubbing her hands against his broad chest. Jonathan knew that this was what they both wanted and made no qualms about getting started as soon as possible. He lifted her up on the counter and while still kissing her started to undo her shirt while she took his belt off. Casey pulled back from the kiss briefly and smiled at him.

"You have a condom, right?" she asked. Jonathan was breathing pretty heavily and smiled at her as he pulled his wallet out then quickly took the condom out and sat it on the counter. Casey got down off the counter as she started to undo her own pants, Jonathan lifted her shirt over her head and began to kiss her breasts. Casey dropped her pants and pulled his down the two of them were both only wearing a shirt and their under clothing. Casey grabbed Jonathan's package then ran both hands up his body. She ran her hands over his defined abdomen and on to his evenly built chest, eventually running her hands through his hair and pulling his head back to kiss his neck. Jonathan put his hands down on Casey's waist and started to lower her panties, he didn't care about any foreplay or even if Casey enjoyed herself he just wanted to get off, but she seemed to be enjoying it, so as far as he was concerned it was win win thus far.

"We can't be in here to long someone will come looking."

"Who?" asked Casey with a confused look on her face.

"Well, Mike, Chris… Andrew," Jonathan paused. "Come on you know you want this." Jonathan made a gesture grabbing himself then took her hand and placed it on his fully excited piece. Casey smiled at him and pulled him into her she hopped up on the counter as Jonathan lowered his underwear exposing himself. He grabbed the condom package off the counter and tore it open with his teeth and pulled the latex, yellow coloured condom from its package. He awkwardly stopped what he was doing to slide the condom onto his member, he smiled at her then spit in his hand and rubbed it on himself. "Are you ready?" Casey nodded at him in acknowledgement and Jonathan took a step forward. Casey braced herself on him as he pushed himself into her with his head down. Jonathan stayed still for a minute and looked up at her, they kissed for a few long seconds before he started to grind into her. Sex was one of the few things that gave Jonathan pleasure in life, so he took it from whatever girl was willing to give it to him. The other things he enjoyed alcohol and whatever kinda drug he could get his hands on, these both being simple things to acquire because his mother worked all the time and his step father was often out to some kind of bar. Anything to get his mind out of his family's reality was welcome since it had gotten so bad recently when his brother, Luke, moved to Vancouver to go to University. Casey grabbed Jonathan by the neck and pulled him into her she could see the strain in his facial features as he was getting ready to reach climax. The sweat ran down his face passed his dilated blue eyes that were staring at her intently. "Almost there," he whispered. The two of them started kissing as Jonathan continued to thrust himself upon her. Casey gripped his shoulders with both of her hands dragging her nails down his back as he gave one last violent thrust into her as he climaxed letting out a series of quiet grunts and moans. Exhausted Jonathan pulled back and leaned against the wall with sweat dripping down his chest. He stood still for a second looking at Casey who got down from the countertop and pulled up her pants. "Awe man, that's probably the best quickie I ever had." Jonathan pulled the condom off himself and dropped it in the toilet quickly flushing the evidence of anything they did.

"Shut up and pull your pants up," said Casey doing up her pants and putting her shirt back to the way it was. Jonathan laughed to himself at her irritation as he pulled up his pants and buttoned them then fastened his belt. Jonathan wiped his chest off with the hand towel then put it back and started to do up his shirt. "Where are you going after the party?" Casey looked at him in the mirror as she fixed her hair that was slightly askew from their encounter.

"Depends on how drunk I get but I'll probably just stay here for the night," said Jonathan as he fixed the collar on his shirt then put his hair back to the style he had it in. "You wanna stay with me? This doesn't have to be over for the night." Jonathan watched as Casey smirked at him then took one last look in the mirror.

"We'll see." Jonathan new full well she would but she seemed to think she could play with him, so he just nodded at her and walked out of the bathroom ahead of her. Casey took one last quick look in the mirror and then walked out of the bathroom. She could see Isaiah standing with Caleb, Mike and Chris among others, so she walked over to him and looped her arm through his. He looked at her; she smiled at him and silently urged him to come for a walk with her. He smiled at Caleb who was talking to the other guys and walked off with Casey they walked outside and sat on the small step leading to the front of the house. By now the moon was high in the sky and everyone at the party had migrated to either the pool deck or were inside. The sound of crickets chirping, music quietly playing and a quiet hum from the voices inside were all that could be heard from where they sat. "So why did he ask you to go up there with him?" Casey looked at Isaiah with an expectant smile on her face.

"I don't know to be honest, it was really random," said Isaiah not sure what Casey was expecting, "I asked but I think he avoided the question."

"So, did she actually throw her drink at him or just on him?"

"She threw the entire glass at him. I can't believe she would do that to someone she supposedly loves." Isaiah shrugged his shoulders. Casey looked at Isaiah almost scared to tell him she'd probably be staying the night and he would have to get another way home or another place to stay. She wasn't going to try and drive, she expected to be a fully drunken mess by the end of the night.

"You know she doesn't love him she just loves the idea of what people see when she's with him." Isaiah looked at Casey with a confused look on his face she knew that he wasn't believing this was the reason for her bringing him out here. "Sorry," she laughed slightly, "I'm not going home tonight that's why I brought you out here." Isaiah stared at Casey for a few seconds.

"Well yeah I figured that much." Isaiah sat and looked around for a few long seconds. "Maybe I'll walk home it's not that far."

"Are you crazy? It's far at night," Casey paused not sure if he was upset or not, "you're not mad at me are you?" Isaiah had a bit of surprise in his face when he cocked his head to the side to look at her.

"Why would I be? It's a party Casey we're supposed to have fun, I'm a big boy I can take care of myself," he laughed. Casey laughed and looked around. Isaiah leaned back resting his weight on his hands behind him and stared straight ahead. "So I saw Jonathan come out of the bathroom ahead of you. What did you guys do?" Casey looked at Isaiah completely caught off guard, she didn't think anyone saw them come out of the bathroom.

"Just a quickie, that's all," she said in a giddy tone. Isaiah looked at her almost disgusted but seemingly trying to hide it.

"Casey how can you bring yourself down like that?" Isaiah's disgust began to show through quickly as he spoke. "I know we've been through this but come on."

"Isaiah I'm not a little kid and you're right we have been through this so why did you even ask. I'm pretty sure it was obvious." Casey paused, and Isaiah looked at her and then looked around. "So, are you at least having a good time tonight?" Casey's obvious attempt to change the subject didn't go unnoticed but it also went unchallenged.

"Yeah, I'm actually getting to spend a lot of time with Caleb, surprisingly." Isaiah leaned forward and rested his arms on his knee. "I don't know why but he seems like he's really trying to get to know me tonight."

"Maybe tonight's the night," said Casey flashing a wide grin at him.

"No way. That'll never happen."

"Well him and Sheena have been fighting more and more lately maybe he's looking for a way out." Isaiah just looked down at the ground and shook his head.

Caleb stood talking to Chris, Mike and Andrew as Isaiah walked away and Jonathan took his place. He didn't really understand why but he wanted to be close to Isaiah right now. As Isaiah watched him walk away he watched him walk out the door a few minutes ago as one of the others were talking about something random. He sat in wait as the others talked to one another for one of them to bring up the fight he and Sheena had. He knew their pattern one of them was just waiting for an opening, he didn't want to give it to them. Caleb had heard and talked enough about her for the night. Caleb seemed to be spacing out he clearly wasn't paying attention to the conversation at hand, he stared at the ground with his drink in his hand randomly taking a sip from time to time.

"Caleb?" said Chris. Caleb looked up caught off guard, someone had asked him a question, but he didn't know who or what the question was.

"Sorry guys I spaced," said Caleb shaking his head, "what were we talking about?" As Caleb spoke the last word of his sentence he realised that he had unintentionally given them their window of opportunity. He waited to see which one of them would bring it up first, usually it was Jonathan, but he seemed distracted in himself for whatever reason.

"Man, that bitch has you so fucked up," said Andrew. "She throws a glass of whatever cheap whine she was drinking at you and now she's gone and you're still the one sitting here like you did something wrong."

"Nah man it's not even like that." Caleb shook his head. "I was just thinking about stuff, just trying to enjoy what's left of my buzz. That stuff she threw at me was cold," he laughed trying to steer them away from the topic. The three of them that were paying attention just looked at him, his strategy clearly not working.

"Come on, all the times you guys have fought that's gotta be the worst hide you have ever played," laughed Chris.

"Caleb you've got to leave her, there's just no way around it. Your guy's relationship is completely toxic the longer you're with her the worse off it gets," said Michael. Of the four of them that complained about his relationship with Sheena, Caleb respected Michael the most. He said the same thing that the other said but he just had a better way with words then they did so it was almost easier to take.

"Guy's I've told you all a hundred times, I know this, but I just," Caleb paused, "I just feel trapped sometimes. I want to break it off with her but she's just so god damn crazy I know that when I do she's going to flip." The other guys all laughed, this was why Caleb usually didn't try to get to deep with them, he looked at his drink realizing it was probably the alcohol that let him open up like that to them.

"You got that right," laughed Chris, "Just make her leave you, do something so extreme that she'll hate you instantly and leave you for it."

"Yeah then once the claws are out just keep running," added Jonathan getting back into the conversation once he realised the topic. Caleb would often get frustrated with them for this type of behaviour, for continuing to make light of a serious situation for which he was directly involved in. Whenever they had something serious happen in their personal life he made sure he was there for them, it was expected of him as the team captain. When Jonathan's brother left for Vancouver because his family life was so bad, Jonathan came to him a complete wreck. Mike and Andrew had at one time or another come to him with several menial problems that didn't seem to be a big issue to him but he listened all the same. Chris was the only one of the group that hadn't come to him before for any type of help, but only because he believed he was better then everyone else and would never let anyone else think he was anything but perfect. Caleb's frustration was showing in his facial features he was sure of it he was all but ready to walk away when Casey walked up behind Jonathan, he looked around and Isaiah had walked up beside him, he had been to occupied with his own thoughts to realise it. Isaiah smiled at Caleb as he looked at him and Caleb's frustration seemed to leave him temporarily.

"What's up guys?" he asked.

"Oh, these guys are just telling me how I need to leave Sheena," laughed Caleb, "you know the usual." Caleb took the last drink of his beer and sat the bottle on a nearby table. "What do you think I should do Isaiah?" The others stared at the two of them obviously feeling weird about Isaiah even being brought into the conversation. Caleb watched as Isaiah looked around at the circle then looked up at him.

"I don't know to be honest, what do you think you should do that's what really matters right?" asked Isaiah timidly.

"Fuck that he needs to leave her ass, no if ands or buts about it," said Andrew obnoxiously. Caleb glared at him showing his disproval, knowing that if someone else had said it Andrew's reaction wouldn't have been so obnoxious. Isaiah's opinion was refreshing, Caleb wasn't used to anyone leaving it up to him like that nor was he used to someone caring what he thought. Caleb smiled at Isaiah and smiled at him.

"Thanks for the input man, it's nice to get an educated opinion once in awhile," he said gesturing his beer at the others. Isaiah let out a small laugh, Caleb laughed with him as the others just stared awkwardly drinking from their drinks and looking at the floor. Casey and Isaiah smiled at each other.

A couple hours had passed since Sheena had left and it was now close to one in the morning. Caleb had gone to the bathroom; rather distraught the guys tonight just wouldn't let up about him leaving Sheena and now they were so drunk they were practically incoherent. His buzz had long left him and now his drinking just made him more depressed, feeling that he should have stopped when Sheena left he stared in the mirror in the bathroom sink. Caleb bent down and rinsed his face off with icy water. He couldn't help but to think of where his life was right now and the only thing he didn't like was Sheena, but the others were right unless he did something extreme she wouldn't let him go. He really didn't know what he was going to do. Caleb dried his face off and walked out into the hall. There were a couple people waiting to get into the bathroom, he smiled at them as he passed them still keeping up his image and went downstairs. Casey and Jonathan were making out heavily on the couch and Isaiah sat in the loveseat across from them, looking uncomfortable. Casey and Jonathan had been drinking heavily in the last two hours and were both extremely drunk as well at this point. Caleb knew they weren't going anywhere tonight and was waiting or Jonathan to ask him if he could use the guest room. Not that he minded them using it, but there had been times in the past where Caleb had gone in a day later and found a pile of puke in one of the corners or on the bed. Caleb walked over to the love seat Isaiah had been sitting in the middle but moved over as Caleb approached. Isaiah smiled as Caleb sat down but his smile faded quickly, able to tell that something was bothering him.

"Come on, baby. Let's go upstairs," slurred Jonathan, "Caleb, we're using the guest room. I'm too drunk to go home." Jonathan stood up slowly and helped Casey stand up.

"Yeah man, I don't care. Just don't puke in there this time…" Caleb paused for a few seconds, "… please."

"I won't buddy, I promise." Jonathan and Casey stagger upstairs supporting each other and clumsily taking each step slowly. Casey flashed a smile at Isaiah as they staggered out of site up the steps. Isaiah let out a small sigh in frustration.

"Well, I guess there goes my plan!" Isaiah leaned back and looked over at Caleb who was already looking at him with a questioning look on his face.

"What was that?"

"I was, uh, gonna stay with Casey tonight, but I guess not."

"Oh that. No worries. You can stay here. I'll drive you home tomorrow." Caleb watched Isaiah's features almost light up as he spoke, thinking that he was probably just thankful he wouldn't have to walk home.

"Are you sure? Thanks, dude. I don't wanna be any trouble," said Isaiah looking down at his drink. Caleb looked at the drink Isaiah had in his hand and was pretty sure it was the same one he had gotten out of the fridge at the first of the night.

"Bah, no worries. It's not like I have to worry about gas money. Just look around." Caleb paused for a moment and glanced around. There were several people passed out around the room, none of them he knew. Chris, Mike and Andrew were sloshed, and each had some random girl hanging off of them. The music playing was something he wasn't familiar with all he could tell was that it was hip hop by the beat and the lyrics, it was playing quietly, the remote to stop it was sitting on the table in front of him. He made up his mind that it was time to stop this he wanted to some peace and quiet for the rest of the night, he wanted to sleep. "Man, I think its time for this thing to end. I'm not in the mood to deal with this many people right now." Caleb stood up and put a smile on his face as he picked up the remote, he pointed the remote toward the sound system and switched off the music. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at him, most of them had a look on their face where they seemed to know what was going to happen. Caleb put his hands up and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, guys. Been great, we all had fun, but I'm tired and I trust y'all on the field but, quite frankly, not in my house without me watching. Party's over!" Caleb dropped his hands to his side and put the remote back on the table.

"Awe, man," said Mike disappointed.

"That sucks," said Andrew as he turned his attention to Caleb. Chris walked over to the two of them with a girl hanging off of him and took the last drink of the can of beer he was holding.

"No worries, guys. Party's not over, we're heading to my house," Chris called out, "Just grab your liquor and let's move out." The people that were left started to file in the kitchen to get their alcohol. Caleb had to wake up the rest of the people he didn't want anyone left in the house that he didn't know when he finally got to sleep. He leaned into Isaiah, so he could hear him over the sound of people getting ready to leave.

"Man, can you help me wake up the people that are passed out?" he asked. Isaiah nodded and stood up to help him. Caleb walked over to a boy who was passed out of the ground behind the couch and nudged him with his foot, the person opened his eyes and sat up confused at the commotion that now went on around him. "Hey man, party's over. Time to go." The person rubbed his eyes and stood up quickly.

"Awe man, really sorry, Caleb," he said sounding tired. The person stood up and headed out the door. Isaiah walked over to a person who had passed out on the step and bent down to tap him on the face.

"Hey, Caleb says the party's over," he said quietly trying not to startle the person too much, "We have to take off." Isaiah rested his hand on the person's head and shook him lightly, he looked up at him not saying anything but giving him a strange look then got up and left. Caleb walked over to a girl that had passed out against the door and bent down. He had a bit of worry whenever a girl had passed out at the parties knowing what most teenage boys were like, particularly Jonathan. He tapped her shoulder and she opened her eyes and smiled at him, he recognized the girl from the kitchen as she opened her eyes.

"It's time to go everyone is going to Chris's house if you're going to keep partying otherwise gotta leave," said Caleb. The girl smiled and reached up and touched his face.

"Can't I just stay here with you," she asked. Flattered, Caleb smiled back at her but shook his head no.

"You know I can't," he whispered. She put her finger on his lips and nodded.

"I know… Sheena." The girl stood up and braced herself on Caleb's shoulder then, cradling her forehead, walked out the door. Caleb walked upstairs to make sure no one was in the bathroom or hall way, he didn't think he would have to worry about his bedroom, so he didn't bother. He walked into the bathroom there were two people, a guy with his head hanging over the toilet and a girl kneeled beside him rubbing his back.

"Is he okay?" he asked.

"Yeah he just had a little bit too much, and he mixed," the girl explained.

"Okay well the party's over when he's done you guys should head out everyone is going to Chris's if you're planning on still partying," said Caleb, "Otherwise you ain't gotta go home, you know the rest." The girl smiled at him fully understanding what he meant.

"No problem we'll clear out." The guy took his head out of the toilet and wiped his mouth, he braced himself on the toilet and stood up. Caleb watched as he flushed the toilet and went to the sink and rinsed out his mouth. The two of them walked passed Caleb and headed downstairs. Caleb followed them and could see Isaiah leading one more person out of the house. Isaiah walked over to him and smiled.

"Did you check the bathroom?" asked Caleb.

"Yeah no one was in there." Caleb walked to the kitchen he passed a few faces as he went in and mostly everyone had cleared out. He checked the fridge; all of the alcohol had been taken. He walked out onto the pool deck from the sliding door in the kitchen that had been carelessly left open. No one was around to be seen on the back part of the property. He walked down off the deck and walked around the outside of the house seeing as he headed toward the house that several cars were still pulling out. He had hoped that there had been enough designated drivers but doubted the thought afterwards. He walked back in the house through the main door passing the last of the people exiting the house. Isaiah was sitting on the couch as he walked in he stood up and walked over to Caleb. "That's everyone." Caleb smiled at him feeling a weight lifted from his shoulders. It appeared that just as quick as the event had begun it was over.

"Man, you wanna get some air or something? I'm going to open the doors for a half hour or so and let the air out." The air in the house smelled strong of alcohol, cheap perfume and cologne, and sweat and it was making Caleb slightly sick to his stomach.

"Okay. Yeah, sure." Isaiah could see that Caleb wasn't feeling the best the stress from the situation with Sheena had been showing in his face all night. They walked into the kitchen, Caleb propped the door open with a chair to let the air flow through. They walked out onto the deck overlooking the pool and Caleb put the screen door across. The two of them walked over to the railing overlooking the backyard. Caleb looked at Isaiah the slight wind that blew was causing the tips of his hair, that wasn't held by the gel, to move quickly. The once warm night air was now cooled slightly to the point where it was still comfortable and quite refreshing. "So, are you okay?" asked Isaiah.

"What?"

"It's obvious that this whole thing is bothering you Caleb." Isaiah turned to face the house and leaned back resting his shoulders on the railing. Caleb could feel that he was about to lose the plug that he had on his emotions all night and felt bad that Isaiah was the person who would get the brunt of it.

"Man, I just don't know what to do about her anymore. Everything I do just seems to piss her off," he explained, "I can hardly even say a word and she's jumping down my throat." Isaiah stared at Caleb with a compassionate look on his face clearly sympathizing with him.

"I don't know what to tell you, dude. I know the other guys are always after you to leave her and all that, so I'm not going to tell you that. But, in the end, you've gotta do what you've gotta do to keep you happy. If you're not happy, then it's not worth it, right?" Everything Isaiah said was analyzing their whole situation and hitting his feelings right on the head.

"Yeah, that really gets annoying. Like I don't know that she's difficult. I know she loves me but…" Caleb drifted off mid sentence not sure of what he was about to say. He looked away then looked back at Isaiah hesitating to finish the thought.

"… Do you love her?" Isaiah asked looking him in the eye asking what he knew Caleb was hesitating to say.

"Of course, I do." Caleb looked away and the doubt was shining through in his voice like the sound of a fluorescent light in a quiet room. Isaiah looked at him obviously able to hear it.

"I can hear the doubt in your voice when you say that. You need to be sure after three years." Isaiah was right, and he wasn't sure anymore.

"Well, I know I did when we first started, but you're right. Lately, it's really hard to tell sometimes." Caleb shook his head as he spoke. "Sometimes, I think she just wants me for sex and money." Isaiah let out a sigh and looked away clearly uncomfortable. "Oh, sorry. I guess I got too comfortable. I'm not sure if it's the alcohol making me like this or if it's just the fact that I can talk to you." Caleb rested his hands on the railing and leaned forward in a stretch looking down at the boards of the deck. The ten beer he had managed to down through out the night were making themselves known now. "Man, I'm so drunk. I shoulda stopped when she left. Felt good at the time, though." Isaiah's uncomfortable feeling seemed to quickly fade as he changed position leaned forward on the railing again and looking to his side at Caleb.

"Well, either way dude, I'm always open for a chat for the most part."

"I don't see why we never really talked before." Caleb took the same position as Isaiah supporting himself on his elbows and hanging his hands over the pool.

"Well, you're the popular "Captain of the football team" and I'm the guy people call "fag". The high school hierarchy won't really let us be friends, right?" Caleb didn't like hearing that something so stupid was not "letting" them be friends.

"Hey man, we're friends, and I hate hearing people call you that. It's gotta hurt." Caleb's emotions had finally come to an ugly head and he couldn't contain it any longer as he forced his smile and held back tears at the same time. Isaiah smiled at him, he was trying to hold back the excitement that Caleb considered him to be a friend until he saw the look of desperation in Caleb's face.

"Whoa, are you okay?" he asked standing up straight.

"I don't know anymore, man. This whole Sheena thing…" Caleb trailed off.

"Caleb, don't worry about it. I'm sure she loves you. People only get mad cuz they care, right?" Isaiah took a single step closer wanting to reach out and touch him as the he almost could feel Caleb's emotions flowing through him.

"I guess." Caleb looked down at the pool Isaiah noticed tears falling from his face.

"Man, you need a hug or something," Isaiah laughed nervously almost wanting to kick himself for making light of the situation. Caleb nodded at him but didn't say anything, Isaiah was slightly caught off guard not really expecting any type of an answer. "Okay." As Caleb stood up from his position he could feel the tears flowing from his eyes as he lost control of his emotions in full. Isaiah opened his arms to him, they embraced, and Caleb buried his face in Isaiah's shoulder. Isaiah's touch brought Caleb so much comfort as he cried into his shoulder, it had been so long since anyone had really hugged him. Caleb felt Isaiah's hands rubbing his back but still holding him tightly. Caleb moved his hands along Isaiah's back as he breathed in deeply, inhaling part of him. Everything just seemed to feel so right this way, it was all pointing Caleb in the same direction.

"Thanks," Caleb whispered quietly. Isaiah stood with his arms around Caleb, it was all like some dream was slowly coming true, though he couldn't help but feel he had taken advantage of an unpleasant situation. Isaiah rested his cheek against Caleb's head, he breathed in deeply the smell of Caleb's shampoo and cologne filled Isaiah's nose. The warmth of his body against him made him feel so happy he almost wanted to cry. He tried his best not to read too far into it, but even if this was all that happened tonight Isaiah could go home the next day and feel happy for helping Caleb through such a challenging time. Also knowing that Caleb considered him someone he could talk to made him happy beyond what words could explain.

"Hey man, it's okay, really. Everything'll be fine. You'll see that it all happens exactly the way it should." This was something that Isaiah had made himself believe when serious stuff happened, it had to of been meant to happen that way because he was still alive and stronger because of what had happened. He could feel Caleb's body jolting as he cried and warm wet feeling from his tears had sunk through his shirt. Isaiah continued to rub his back as he cried.

Jonathan sat up on the corner of the bed naked Casey laid in the bed next to him and smiled at him resting her head on the pillow.

"Will you go get me a glass of water?" she asked.

"Yeah I need one too. I'll be right back." Jonathan stood up to leave walking over to the door.

"Don't forget to put your boxers on idiot," Casey laughed.

"Oh, shit yeah." Jonathan scurried and grabbed his boxers off the floor. "Thanks," he said as he put them on. Jonathan stood up again and quickly walked out of the room closing the door behind him. The house was dark and completely quiet, Jonathan walked down the hall slowly trying to be quiet and on to the steps. He walked down trying to avoid making any noise as he got downstairs and realised that the door was open. Confused as to why Caleb would leave the door open and go to bed he walked over and shut the door making sure to lock it as well. He walked into the kitchen and moved the chair holding the door open wondering to himself if Caleb was trying to freeze out the last of the people at the party. He grabbed to glasses off the counter and filled them from the kitchen tap. As he turned to go back upstairs he saw Caleb and Isaiah outside on the deck locked in what looked to be a pretty passionate embrace. "Oh shit. Can't be what it looks like." At this point Jonathan was far to tired to even try to care so he shrugged it off and headed back to the guest room.

Isaiah was enthralled in their embrace and didn't notice Jonathan until he had turned to leave, he nervously pulled out of the embrace, Caleb stood staring at him and wiped his eyes on his shirt.

"Sorry, I get like this once in a while when I drink. It's getting late, though. We should hit the sack and try to sleep away some of this drunk." Isaiah nodded agreeing that it was late, he rarely stayed up passed twelve a.m. even on weekends, there wasn't much for him to do when he was at home, even with Casey the two of them didn't stay up all the late. Caleb headed back into the house and Isaiah followed him closely behind. They walked through the kitchen door that Jonathan had moved the chair from and into the living room. Isaiah walked around and sat down on the couch assuming that it would be his bed for the night. Caleb stopped and looked at him from the foot of the stairs. "What are you doing?" he asked. Isaiah looked back at him confused.

"Oh, I thought that…"

"… I'm not gonna make you sleep on the couch, man. Come on." Caleb started up the stairs. Isaiah still sat on the couch still confused and not sure how to take what was happening. Caleb stopped in the middle of the stairs and looked back at him.

"Come on." Caleb almost had a bit of frustration coming through in his voice, not wanting to change the mood of the current events of the evening, Isaiah shook his head and let out a breath then followed Caleb up the steps to the hallway.

"Okay. Where am I going to sleep?" he asked.

"You can have my bed. I'll sleep on the floor." The two of them walked down the hallway and into Caleb's bedroom. The room is dark but Isaiah can hear something moving in the bed. Caleb flipped the light switch and as the lights came on they could see a couple having sex in Caleb's bed.

"Oh shit," said the guy.

"Man, are you fucking kidding me?!" Caleb thought that he was pretty clear about the rules of his party he didn't really have many, he didn't care what went on but whatever did happen didn't happen in his bedroom. "Get the fuck out of my bed, you god damn dirt bags." The guy jumped out of the bed completely naked and struggled to put his clothes on.

"Man, I'm sorry Caleb. I didn't know this was your bedroom." The person quickly pulled up his pants and pulled his shirt on over his head. The girl had jumped out and quickly gotten dressed.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." The girl grabbed her undergarments off the floor after pulling her shirt on and skirt up.

"Don't feed me that bullshit. Just get out!" Caleb slammed his fist against the wall and the couple hurry out. Isaiah could hear the two of them scurrying down the steps and out the door. Caleb looked at him with a bit of disbelief. "Can you believe that?"

"No man, that's pretty crazy."

"Man, I'm so mad," Caleb looked away thinking that the situation was still pretty funny, "Can't friggen believe it." Caleb looked back at Isaiah with a smile on his face ready to laugh. "It is pretty damn funny, though. I was going to say you may want to change the sheets but now we have to." Caleb quickly ripped the sheets from the bed and threw them in the corner. He went into his closet and took out some clean sheets and a blanket. "We can just throw these on real quick." Caleb quickly and sloppily redressed the bed with the new sheets.

"Caleb, I don't feel right taking your bed," said Isaiah being completely honest. "You worked harder out there then I did today."

"Well I'm not going to let you sleep on the floor or the couch." Caleb tucked in the last corner of the bed sheets. "You're a guest in my house; it's pretty important to me." Caleb finished making the bed and grabbed a thick comforter from the closet and the other pillow off the bed. Isaiah watched as he sat down on the floor beside the end table. "Hit the big light will ya?"

"Okay." Isaiah flipped the light switch turning off the over head light just as Caleb turned on the table lamp. Isaiah stepped over Caleb and walked around to the opposite side of the bed and sat down. "Alright then, I guess there's no point in arguing. Well good night, Caleb." Isaiah took off his sneakers and put them on the floor next to the bed, he pulled down the covers and laid down fully clothed.

"Night." Caleb shut the table lamp off and Isaiah watched the alarm clock on the end table. He laid there in the big bed by himself reflecting on what had happened throughout the evening truly glad that he had come to the party. The silence and darkness was making him tired but he could hear Caleb's breathing as well as every move he made. The bed was so soft he felt like he was resting on a cloud. He looked up at the clock again and two minutes had passed. Caleb laid on the floor tossing and turning he really didn't want to sleep on the floor now that he was actually down here. The last time he slept on the floor was when he was only eight years old after having a nightmare, he had gone into his uncle Caesar's room. He was shy at that age, so he wouldn't sleep in the bed but just being in the room with Caesar made him feel secure. Caleb let out a sigh and sat up on the floor he looked over at the clock and only five minutes had passed. He slowly stood up and laid down on the bed, trying not to disturb Isaiah. "The floor's not as comfortable as I remember."

"Do you want me to go downstairs?" Isaiah sat up on one arm and looked back at him. Isaiah still wasn't sure about how the evening had been going everything just seemed to good to be true, he wasn't sure if he fully trusted the situation as much as he wanted to.

"No, unless you don't want to sleep in the same bed with me. I mean, come on! We shower in the same shower after games," Caleb laughed quietly.

"Yeah, no problem. I'll talk to you in the morning." Isaiah laid his head back down on the pillow and closed his eyes to try and sleep. Isaiah was so nervous he was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to sleep for most of the night, he could feel Caleb's breath on the back of his neck and couldn't help but think how much further this dream was about to go.

As Isaiah laid back down Caleb laid there on his back looking at him, he wasn't sure what he was doing and could only imagine the rumours that were going to start to float around or what Jonathan must of thought about the situation. Since the doors were all shut when they went to bed he had assumed that Jonathan had been up and around at some point when he and Isaiah were talking out on the deck. Caleb didn't really care either way he felt that if people really liked him like they all said they did he wouldn't have any problem with anyone. Caleb could smell Isaiah's cologne from where he was laying, the scent was unfamiliar, it definitely wasn't the cheap kind of cologne most guys their age wore, it was almost intoxicating. Caleb rested his hands on his stomach he decided to stay fully clothed since he noticed that Isaiah had done the same and it was uncomfortable for him, he never slept in anything, but his underwear be it boxers or briefs. Caleb shifted to his side and rested his hands under the pillow resisting the urge to put his arms around Isaiah. He still was unsure of how Isaiah would react to him, but he was still comforted just by his being there.

Isaiah laid still in the bed not able to get to sleep as he predicted he stared at the clock as the minutes slowly ticked by. Only three minutes had passed since Caleb got into the bed when Isaiah felt him shift toward him. Isaiah laid there wishing for Caleb to reach out and put his arm around him and mean it. There was still the possibility of all of this being brought on by the alcohol.