Chapter 10:

Kevin waited for Connor outside the math building, sitting atop the concrete ledge along the stairs entering the building. He'd been sitting there for a good ten minutes since his dad dropped him off. From there, he managed his way to the math building and positioning himself atop the ledge. The only thing now was getting down without hurting himself even more. To kill time, he fiddled around on his phone; playing Othello online with other people of course. So far, he'd won six games out of eight that he'd been playing.

Children started to exit the building, which indicated class was finally over. Kevin saw the students and put his phone away, completely abandoning the game he was in. He scanned the crowd for his short ginger friend.

"Kevin!" he heard as he saw a flash of red run up to him.

"Hey," he smiled to Connor.

"What the hell happened?" Connor asked, voice full of concern when he saw Kevin's bandaged ankle.

He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I'm an idiot."

"What did you do?" he asked again.

Kevin carefully jumped down from the ledge, thankfully landing on his good foot. He grabbed his bag and crutches that were sitting against the side of the ledge. Connor rolled his eyes and grabbed Kevin's bag for him.

"Thanks," he nodded to him.

"What happened?"

"I went for a run yesterday morning. Got done around about nine or something then found the gym."

"Ok, so you hurt it in the gym? This is why you always have a spotter-"

"Not that gym. The actual gym. I found the basketball quart. Felt the need to shoot some hoops and that's when I hurt it. I went to do a lay-up and when I landed, I landed on my ankle wrong and felt like I twisted it… again," he laughed lightly, "So I called my dad and told him what happened and he said he'd pick me up and he took me back to his apartment. So I was there all night and he took me to the doctors the next morning."

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Just hurt like a mofo yesterday."

Connor smiled up to him, "I'm glad you're alright though."

Kevin couldn't help but smile a little, "It's happened before; it's not a big deal."

"But still, I'm glad you're alright," he looked to the ground, "I want to apologize again for Saturday night. I shouldn't have pushed you to-"

"Connor," Kevin laughed lightly, cutting him off, "It's alright. Really. Ya never know unless you try it out."

He nodded, "You're right. Oh, by the way, Elle's looking for you."

The colour left his face, "I don't feel like getting my face pounded in…"

"Don't worry about Steve," Connor reassured, "She just wants to apologize to you for her brother's stupid actions."

"They're related?"

"Shocker I know," he laughed, "If it weren't for her, I'd've never met Steve."

"Really?"

Connor nodded, "Yup," he popped his 'p'.

"Story time?" Kevin pried. He was genuinely curious to how they even met in the first place. A guy like Steve being with a guy like Connor.

"There's not much of a story. Steve is Elle's older brother. I knew Elle since high school. Steve was here when I used to hang out at her house. One day he was home from school and we kinda just hit it off instantly. Love at first sight," he smiled, "And we've been together ever since. It's not much of a story. It's pretty lame actually."

"It's not lame," Kevin said honestly, "It's cute."

"He's a douche, and I know that for a fact," his face fell and his voice turned serious, "I'm just afraid that if I told him I didn't love him anymore, I don't know what would happen…"

"Hey now," Kevin stopped and made Connor look at his face. Connor failed to at first, but Kevin lifted his chin to meet his eyes, "Listen to me. If he lays a hand on you in any wrong or hurtful manner, I will not hesitate to hurt him. And I'm pretty sure some of the other guys would too."

A small smile crept onto his face, "Thanks, Kevin. Really. It means a lot knowing my friends got my back like that."

"Of course, Connor," he smiled and nudged him a little.

"Come on," he nudged him lightly back, "Let me get you to your next class so you can get off that ankle of yours."

Kevin chuckled lightly, "Alright."

The two walked to the English building as Connor went off on what they had discussed in their math class. Kevin had to remind himself to go back there at some point to make up the test he had missed. Connor did his best to give him hints without actually giving the test away to him. With enough studying, anything was possible, even in a few minutes of glancing.

Connor felt obligated to help Kevin up the stairs to the English building entrance. Kevin had insisted that he was alright, but Connor just felt like he had to help him up. When they got into the hall, loud arguing was there to greet them again. Kevin just assumed that every time they were all in a class together, they'd argue over something stupid or important to them of course.

"I can make it up here, thanks a lot Connor," Kevin smiled as he grabbed his backpack back from him, "I owe you one."

"Connor Rory McKinley!" Schrader yelled down to them, sensing that they weren't alone anymore. That and a break in their argument.

Connor rolled his eyes, "Eric Benjamin Schrader," he yelled back jokingly, "What?"

"Five o'clock at my apartment for recording session!" he smiled.

"What did you have in mind?" Connor asked as he walked up the stairs to the guys in the back to talk easier. Kevin followed him up slowly, making sure he didn't fall… again.

"I was goofing around with some riffs last night… and watching the new released Jersey Boys trailer-"

"Wait! They released the movie trailer already?"

"Yeah they did! It's like a twenty second teaser, but it's so amazing. Anyway, they had a short clip of "Who Loves You" at the end of it, and they had a guitar riff to it and so I was messing around with it and got something down solid."

"Where do I come into play?" Connor asked.

"I recorded the basic guitar riff last night," he paused, "And Oliver hates me for that right now, but I digress. I just need someone with a higher octave voice to sing Frankie's lines."

"Who else is doing this?"

"Oliver and I of course, and you if you say yes," he smiled to him sweetly.

Connor contemplated for a moment before sighing, "Alright."

"You are my new best friend," he smiled happily.

"But he's my actual best friend," Chris smiled, cutting into their conversation like the little kid he secretly was at heart.

"And where the hell were you this morning, mister?" Connor crossed his arms over his chest.

"Lake house," James and Chris spoke in unison with the same guilty, but proud, smile.

"Where the hell were you yesterday, sir?" Eric asked Kevin with a laugh.

"Uh, twisting my ankle like a pro," Kevin laughed, finally reaching his friends without hurting himself or anyone else.

"Oh, dude, I'm sorry," he apologized quickly.

Kevin laughed a little and waved him off, "It's fine, really. Not the first time that it happened."

"I feel like a dick now," he said bluntly.

"You are a dick, and you know it," James reminded him without hesitation.

"Ok, who asked you?" Eric snapped back at him. He pondered over the thought and then said, "Ok, just because I am a dick doesn't mean a damn thing."

The guys simmered down a little and had just entered an awkward silence. Someone had to break the ice eventually with a new topic or something. It would've been quiet enough to hear a pin drop if the heater wasn't on. Connor pulled out his phone to check the time. He stood.

"Welp, I'm off to class to suffer."

"Bye," the others replied to him as he left.

The other three returned to silence, unsure of what sort of conversation to go onto next. Eric wanted to pipe up and ask what they all thought of the book and what notes they took, but he didn't feel like talking about class work in their little period of down time. Chris snuggled up awkwardly against James as he let out yawn, followed by a little squeak. James smiled a little and kissed the top of his head before wrapping his arms around him carefully.

Chris felt James's phone go off in his sweatshirt pocket. He groaned and moved, "I just got comfy too," he complained.

"Sorry, babe," he answered, barely managing to wiggle the phone out of his pocket. He checked the caller ID and his body stiffened up. Before answering the phone, he pulled Chris back into his body, "Hello?" he answered.

Almost breaking his neck, Chris tried to turn around to see James and who he was talking to. James only hugged onto him tighter in response. Eric looked over and saw the way James was holding Chris; tightly around the shoulders so he wasn't completely choking him.

James didn't say anything for a while, just listening and slowly hugging more tightly onto Chris. Slowly, he nodded, "No sir, I am not." He went back to listening for a while before saying, "Yes sir, I understand." There was another short pause before James said, "Crystal." He hesitated before asking, "Can I talk to mom? Please?"

Once hearing the word 'mom' come out of James' mouth, Eric and Chris both exchanged the same look; worry and concern. They both looked at James and how his whole outlook changed in that brief moment. From hesitant and almost scared, then back to his normal self all in a single phone call.

The phone call didn't last long before James hung up the phone. Chris felt him loosen up and relax in his seat. He moved again and let James return his phone to his pocket, just before Chris snuck him a quick kiss.

"What did he want?" Eric asked, barely getting the word 'he' out.

"Dick face? Just asking if I'm straight yet and if I'm joining the baseball team in the spring. Both answers are no," he kissed Chris's head.

"Why don't you join the baseball team?" Chris asked, looking up at him, "You're good enough to be on the team."

"No. Only because he wants me to. I stopped listening to his shit a while ago."

"Well…" Eric chimed in.

"Shut the hell up," he yawned and rested his chin on Chris's head.

Kevin had seen the way that Eric and Chris looked at each other with the same look of concern on their faces when James was on the phone. He was a bit lost with the whole thing, but he could assume that it wasn't a good relationship with his dad.

James snuggled up to Chris, but looked over at Price. "Most of the guys here have met the sperm donor I have to call 'dad'," he began, "He's not the kindest of people."

"I wanted to punch him the first day I met him," Eric noted bluntly.

"He's a dick," James continued on, "I hate him, so much. There's hardly an occasion where I actually call him 'dad'. I usually call him sperm donor or sir. There's literally only one thing I learned from him growing up."

"What's that?" Kevin inquired.

"Not to be a royal jack ass to my kids," he noted. His tone was straight forward and confident, "Don't lay a hand on them in any wrong way, be encouraging and supportive and also be the exact opposite of him."

"Alcoholic?"

"Big time," he nodded, "He was a betting man too. Was? I mean still is, sorry," he shook his head then, "He'd always bet on the Jazz for some stupid reason."

"They suck ass," Eric noted.

"I even know they suck and I don't watch sports," Chris chimed in.

"So, he'd loose his money then drink his despair away. Then… he'd… hurt my mother… a lot… it got out of hand for a while. Child services had to come in for a while and monitor my family it was that bad. Parents went to counseling. Did it help? A little, I guess. I don't know.

"Met this one-," a smile finally crept onto his face as he snuggled up to Chris a little, "-when I was living with my grandparents for a while in Salt Lake City. Kinda a jump from Cheyenne, Wyoming, but hell, it was away from my parents for a while. Met him and never looked back."

Chris smiled, "He was dealing with family issues, as was I at the time. When we met, my sister had died-"

"Which Connor told you about before," James noted quickly.

"He told you already, Kevin?" Chris asked him, a little confused.

"He needed to vent one morning, that's all," he shrugged.

"Alright, anyway; I was just turning sixteen when she died and my parents were in this slump, so was I and they were kinda doing this thing where they'd forget about me. You could say that we were each other's scapegoats of reality for a while."

"To quote the words of John Green 'we fell in love the way you fall asleep, slowly then all at once," James smiled down to Chris.

Kevin smiled, "That's adorable, really. And it's been four years?"

"Yup," they both nodded in unison with matching smiles.

"Wow, that's really impressive."

"My dad thinks I'm a disgrace of a son for being gay," James said with a smile, "And I could care less about it."

Chris shrugged, "My parents always knew or had a suspicion. Oh well. They accept me and they adore James."

"I call them mom and dad instead of my own parents," James admitted.

"Are you an only child?" Kevin asked James.

He nodded, "Yup."

"Same," Chris nodded slowly.

"Ditto," Eric chimed in.

"Are you?" James asked.

Kevin laughed lightly, "Oh no, no, no… I have three younger brothers and a younger sister."

All of their eyes widened as they stared in bewilderment at Kevin, "Four younger siblings?"

Kevin shrugged awkwardly, "Mormons."

They all nodded in agreement, "Ok, that makes sense," James and Chris agreed in unison.

"You met Noah," Eric began, "he has five siblings, not including him."

"Jazz has three younger sisters," James responded.

"Connor, he may only have one sister, but holy hell. His family is friggin huge!"

James shook his head, "Damn Irishmen…"

Kevin smiled, "This is so much better than Provo. Everyone is straight, white and Mormon around there. Out here, it's so much different and it's great. Everyone is so accepting of whom they are and what they believe in. there are so many different stories to be heard and I haven't really been exposed to a lot of this kind of stuff back home.

"Here, there are no parents and hardly any restrictions on being who you actually are. It's so nice to finally be free of Mormon restrictions heaving down your back. You guys have no idea how much of a relief it has been to finally see the world outside of Mormonism. Never want to go back to that damn place for a long period of time. I'm so used to this freedom. It's so exhilarating and there is no damn way I could get away with some of the crap I've seen here. Half this stuff in life I would've never known if I haven't stepped outside the walls of Provo."

Eric smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, "You don't have to go back. It's your life. Don't let anything hold you down. And besides," a smug like smile replaced his normal smile, "we're fucking awesome here and who would want to leave us?"