Guy's POV:
As I shuffled slowly outside, hauling my bag behind me, the harsh December wind dragged sharp talons across my face, waking me up in a hurry. The morning dew had hardened to frost, making the grass crackle and crunch under my feet as I walked. The sun had not yet fully risen, and the sky was bright pink, like cotton candy, darkening to red at the bottom, the horizon a glistening gold. An early morning mist hung low to the ground, giving my lower legs a faded, slightly unreal look.
I joined Connie and Julie and set my bag down beside me, now focussing all my energy on my struggle to stay awake. "Don't you just love mornings like these?" Julie sighed happily, and I had to suppress the urge to throw something at her. "They're so full of possibilities, and just think, in about three hours we'll be at the lodge, and we'll still have the whole day ahead of us!"
I gave a shudder of revulsion, while Connie, who was used to Julie and her good girl ways, just smiled. "Shut up, Julie," I muttered.
"Oooh, what's wrong, Mr. Cranky Pants? Didn't you get a good sleep?" Connie teased, tickling my chin in that way she knew I hated.
"No. Averman kept me up all night watching old episodes of Blossom."
"Ha! Now you too know my pain." I jumped at the sound of Ken's voice, who seemed to have materialized beside me out of thin air. Kenny had roomed with Averman for a while during the Goodwill Games, and I had only laughed at his complaints of Averman's obsession. I didn't think it was so funny anymore.
In an effort to put Joey Lawrence out of my mind as quickly as possible, I changed the subject. "Where are Charlie and Adam? My brother and his friend should be here any minute."
"I'm here!" a voice called out, and we turned to see Charlie walking towards us, dragging three large suitcases. "Adam's still trying to wake up the Bashes."
"Fulton and Portman are coming after all? Awesome!" Kenny said.
I agreed. The Bash Brothers were many things, but boring was not one of them, and having them along promised to liven up the trip considerably. I just never knew what those two were going to do next. As if on cue, the front doors opened and Adam came out, dragging Fulton and Portman by the wrist, both of whom seemed less than pleased, and less than conscious. They stumbled along as they tried to keep up with Banks, who was looking rather harried. When they reached the area where the rest of us were gathered, he let go of their arms with a sigh.
"I gave them some caffeine pills a few minutes ago, but they don't seem to have taken hold yet. Maybe I should have upped the dosage. I doubt the manufacturers had guys like them in mind when they came up with it."
Portman immediately closed his eyes and leaned heavily against me, throwing me off-balance and nearly knocking me to the ground. He squinted at me sleepily and mumbled an apology before turning and placing his head on Fulton's shoulder, who was looking down in bleary-eyed confusion at the tag that emerged from the neck of his shirt to rest against his Adam's apple. And I thought I wasn't a morning person.
I leaned toward him and whispered conspiratorially, "Looks like you got your shirt on backwards there, Fult."
"Huh?" He turned to look at me.
"Shit! What happened to you?" His lower lip was swollen and cut, and his right cheekbone was badly bruised, also sporting a cut just below the eye.
"Damn, Fulton, you get in a fight or something?" Kenny asked with a trace of admiration in his voice.
"Yeah, but you should have seen the other guy," Fulton said with a smile, stifling a huge yawn.
"So, we have something to tell you guys," Portman managed between yawns, and as we all turned to face him he shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he fiddled nervously with the buttons on his black leather motorcycle jacket. "Well, you see...um...oh fuck this." He grabbed Fulton and spun him around, dipping him over his knee like a tango dancer and kissing him passionately.
After they separated, nobody said anything for a long while. "You've got to be kidding me," Connie mumbled disbelievingly.
When Fulton and Portman only smiled slightly and shook their heads, I knew it was for real, and I couldn't help it, I started to laugh out loud.
"What are you doing? Stop it man, they'll kill you!" Kenny whispered to me urgently, tugging on my arm.
I finally managed to stop laughing, and put my hands up in a gesture of peace. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, it's just the last thing I expected. I mean, what do you guys do, sit in your room hatching plans on how to shock us next?"
To my extreme relief, Portman, who had been looking confused and rather hurt at my outburst, cracked a grin. "You know it, baby."
Just then, my brother Jacques and his friend Mikey pulled into the parking lot, my brother in his old Chrysler station wagon, and Mikey in a brand new Range Rover. They were both on their way home from NYU for the holidays, and had agreed to drop us all at the bus station on the way. We loaded up the cars in silence, still trying to digest these new developments. Fulton and Portman were gay? I knew the news would take awhile to sink in properly. I mean, come on, the Bash Brothers?
Connie and I got into Jacques' car, but when Fulton and Portman tried to join us, Charlie held them back. "Oh no, you don't. Portman, get in the Rover with Adam and Julie. Ken, you go, too. This way we can each grill you for details on the way to the station. I mean, this is big news!"
Portman laughed and hopped in the back seat beside Kenny, nearly squishing him in the process, but Fulton looked horrified. Charlie saw this and smiled. "Relax Fult, it'll be painless, I promise. Besides, this is what friends do. They tell each other stuff. Otherwise they're just strangers who know your name." He spoke gently, patting Fulton on the shoulder as he sat down beside him, but Fulton didn't look convinced. I wished I was in the SUV, to be honest, because I knew Portman would be far more forthcoming than his (?) boyfriend.
As we drove along, Fulton did his best to answer all the questions we kept firing at him, speaking even softer than usual and looking at the ground as if he wished it would swallow him up. "It was during that weekend in November we went home for the concert... Yeah, longer than that... About a year, I guess... Just you guys and this friend of ours back home... We didn't want everybody talking about us the whole time... We finally figured fuck it, it sounded like too much fun to pass up... No, not yet... I have no idea... What the HELL kind of question is that?" He shot Charlie a look of mingled shock and amusement.
Charlie just grinned. "Hey, I had to ask. I promise we won't dwell on all this once we have all the particulars, right?" Connie and I nodded fervently, and he continued, "You guys really threw us off there, you know. I guess I can see it now, I mean, you two are always together and stuff, but you're still the Bash Brothers. I know Adam and I are no flamers, but it's just easier to see us that way than you two, I guess."
"Well anyway, congratulations, Fulton!" Connie said, slapping him on the back, and the uncertain, grateful smile he gave her was enough to break my heart.
"Yeah, welcome to the club," Charlie said with a grin.
"Yeah, man, good luck," my brother called back from the driver's seat. I hadn't realized he must have heard everything we said.
"It'll be alright," I said, "We got through it with Adam and Charlie, so what's two more?" I spoke with a bit more confidence than I felt. Four gay Ducks, and two of them the most feared enforcers in the league? We were gonna have a hell of a time when this got out, but I guess we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.
***
We were on the bus, heading north, when I remembered something. I leant over beside me to Connie, and whispered, "Hey Cons, does Julie still have a thing for Fulton?"
Connie winced and nodded. "Yeah, oh man, I totally forgot. I'd better go see how she's doing." As she got up I cast a glance around me for Fulton, but he was nowhere in sight. The Ducks took up the last two rows of the bus, each of which was comprised of six seats, split into threes by the aisle running down the middle. I saw Portman seated in the last seat of the last row and called out, "Hey Portman, where's your boy-toy?"
"In the bathroom. And I'll be sure to tell him you said that."
I was already on my feet. I went down the aisle toward the front of the bus, and met Fulton just as he was coming out of the bathroom. It was pretty funny, seeing him try to manoeuvre his sizeable bulk out of the tiny doorway. "Sit down, man, I gotta talk to you."
Fulton slid into an empty seat, and I took the one beside him as he regarded me apprehensively. "Relax, it's nothing bad, I just didn't want Julie to hear."
"Julie? Why not?"
"It's just that she's kind of had a thing for you for a month or two now, and I just thought that with you and Portman coming out--"
"Woah, back up. What do you mean, she has a thing for me? You're kidding, right?" He looked at me expectantly, but I just shook my head. "Oh. So what should I do?"
He looked utterly perplexed, and once more I had the urge to laugh. It was as if he had never even considered the possibility of a member of the opposite sex being attracted to him before just now, and, knowing Fulton, he probably hadn't. I just don't think he sees himself as a valuable commodity.
"You might want to talk to her, just see if she's okay."
"Right. Thanks."
We stood up and headed back to the others. Connie was back, so I nudged Fulton in the direction of Julie's seat. "You'll be fine." He gave me a weak smile, took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and walked over to where Julie was sitting, looking out the window.
"Hey Jules, can I talk to you a sec?"
***
Julie's POV:
I stared out the window, watching the world rush by. I felt as if my emotions were travelling at the same high speed. Zip! There went a farmhouse, and just like that, tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about Fulton. Then, as we passed a field, I saw that someone had arranged the gigantic round bales of hay to form a man waving at the passing traffic, and the tears were gone as quickly as they had come, replaced by the belief that I should be happy. Fulton was lucky enough to fall in love with his best friend, I should be happy for him. As we passed a young girl dragging her little brother behind her on a toboggan in front of their house, I told myself that schoolyard crushes were stupid and meaningless, and then Fulton appeared in front of me and I forgot all that. I even forgot to breathe.
"Hey Jules, can I talk you a sec?"
I could only nod wordlessly and gesture to the seat beside me, where he sat down. He didn't speak for awhile, just sat there looking down with his hands between his knees. I thought I knew what he had come to say, and I wanted to make this easier for him, but I didn't know how.
"Guy, um... he told me that you, uh..."
"Yeah, I did."
He looked up hopefully. "But not anymore?"
"Well, it seems kind of stupid, now that I know you're gay," I said, a hint of bitterness creeping into my voice.
He looked at me with such a stricken expression that I would have done anything to take my words back. "I'm sorry, Julie. I didn't mean to hurt you, or cause any trouble--"
"No, no," I broke in. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault you're gay, or that I have a stupid crush on you. I'll get over it."
"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" he asked me timidly.
"Not really. I never had time. I always figured if I did get one he'd have to play hockey with me, or else I'd never see him."
"Listen, I know it's not my place but..."
"But what?"
"It's Kenny. He likes you."
"Kenny? Are you sure?"
"Oh yeah. Not to push anything on you, but he's really great."
"Yeah, I know, I just never thought..."
"Well maybe you should." And with that, he got up and went back to join Portman, leaving me alone with my thoughts, which were now threatening to break the speed of light.
Kenny? Kenny Wu? I looked over to where he was sitting beside Adam. He was kneeling on his seat and talking to the Bashes over the headrest, since Charlie and Adam seemed to be occupied with each other for the moment. He threw his head back and laughed over something Fulton said, and a light seemed to go off inside of me.
Careful, Julie, he doesn't deserve to be a rebound guy. I knew that, but I also knew that since I'd never gone out with Fulton, he didn't exactly qualify as a rebound. Besides, how cool would that be? Charlie and Adam, Connie and Guy, Fulton and Portman and Julie and Ken. I liked the sound of that, I thought to myself, turning the situation over in my head as I stared out the window once more. I tried to think about it calmly and rationally, consider all the angles. I liked to think things through before I got into them, because I liked to succeed at what I did. Still, feelings should play the largest role in something like this, right? How did I feel about this? I wasn't sure. Kenny Wu? Maybe. Maybe.
*As I began what will likely be several chapters set during the trip, I knew I would have to try something different. I have a lot to get done with my Ducks over two weeks and a few thousand words, and lately I've been having trouble keeping my entries to a reasonable length, so I figured multiple POV's were the best way to go. Look for more of it in the next couple chapters, and forgive me for forgoing some of the depth I wish I could add for the sake of cramming more stuff in there; I want some developments for all the characters, not just the Bashes, so the scenes will be shorter than average. I'll do my best, though.*
As I shuffled slowly outside, hauling my bag behind me, the harsh December wind dragged sharp talons across my face, waking me up in a hurry. The morning dew had hardened to frost, making the grass crackle and crunch under my feet as I walked. The sun had not yet fully risen, and the sky was bright pink, like cotton candy, darkening to red at the bottom, the horizon a glistening gold. An early morning mist hung low to the ground, giving my lower legs a faded, slightly unreal look.
I joined Connie and Julie and set my bag down beside me, now focussing all my energy on my struggle to stay awake. "Don't you just love mornings like these?" Julie sighed happily, and I had to suppress the urge to throw something at her. "They're so full of possibilities, and just think, in about three hours we'll be at the lodge, and we'll still have the whole day ahead of us!"
I gave a shudder of revulsion, while Connie, who was used to Julie and her good girl ways, just smiled. "Shut up, Julie," I muttered.
"Oooh, what's wrong, Mr. Cranky Pants? Didn't you get a good sleep?" Connie teased, tickling my chin in that way she knew I hated.
"No. Averman kept me up all night watching old episodes of Blossom."
"Ha! Now you too know my pain." I jumped at the sound of Ken's voice, who seemed to have materialized beside me out of thin air. Kenny had roomed with Averman for a while during the Goodwill Games, and I had only laughed at his complaints of Averman's obsession. I didn't think it was so funny anymore.
In an effort to put Joey Lawrence out of my mind as quickly as possible, I changed the subject. "Where are Charlie and Adam? My brother and his friend should be here any minute."
"I'm here!" a voice called out, and we turned to see Charlie walking towards us, dragging three large suitcases. "Adam's still trying to wake up the Bashes."
"Fulton and Portman are coming after all? Awesome!" Kenny said.
I agreed. The Bash Brothers were many things, but boring was not one of them, and having them along promised to liven up the trip considerably. I just never knew what those two were going to do next. As if on cue, the front doors opened and Adam came out, dragging Fulton and Portman by the wrist, both of whom seemed less than pleased, and less than conscious. They stumbled along as they tried to keep up with Banks, who was looking rather harried. When they reached the area where the rest of us were gathered, he let go of their arms with a sigh.
"I gave them some caffeine pills a few minutes ago, but they don't seem to have taken hold yet. Maybe I should have upped the dosage. I doubt the manufacturers had guys like them in mind when they came up with it."
Portman immediately closed his eyes and leaned heavily against me, throwing me off-balance and nearly knocking me to the ground. He squinted at me sleepily and mumbled an apology before turning and placing his head on Fulton's shoulder, who was looking down in bleary-eyed confusion at the tag that emerged from the neck of his shirt to rest against his Adam's apple. And I thought I wasn't a morning person.
I leaned toward him and whispered conspiratorially, "Looks like you got your shirt on backwards there, Fult."
"Huh?" He turned to look at me.
"Shit! What happened to you?" His lower lip was swollen and cut, and his right cheekbone was badly bruised, also sporting a cut just below the eye.
"Damn, Fulton, you get in a fight or something?" Kenny asked with a trace of admiration in his voice.
"Yeah, but you should have seen the other guy," Fulton said with a smile, stifling a huge yawn.
"So, we have something to tell you guys," Portman managed between yawns, and as we all turned to face him he shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he fiddled nervously with the buttons on his black leather motorcycle jacket. "Well, you see...um...oh fuck this." He grabbed Fulton and spun him around, dipping him over his knee like a tango dancer and kissing him passionately.
After they separated, nobody said anything for a long while. "You've got to be kidding me," Connie mumbled disbelievingly.
When Fulton and Portman only smiled slightly and shook their heads, I knew it was for real, and I couldn't help it, I started to laugh out loud.
"What are you doing? Stop it man, they'll kill you!" Kenny whispered to me urgently, tugging on my arm.
I finally managed to stop laughing, and put my hands up in a gesture of peace. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, it's just the last thing I expected. I mean, what do you guys do, sit in your room hatching plans on how to shock us next?"
To my extreme relief, Portman, who had been looking confused and rather hurt at my outburst, cracked a grin. "You know it, baby."
Just then, my brother Jacques and his friend Mikey pulled into the parking lot, my brother in his old Chrysler station wagon, and Mikey in a brand new Range Rover. They were both on their way home from NYU for the holidays, and had agreed to drop us all at the bus station on the way. We loaded up the cars in silence, still trying to digest these new developments. Fulton and Portman were gay? I knew the news would take awhile to sink in properly. I mean, come on, the Bash Brothers?
Connie and I got into Jacques' car, but when Fulton and Portman tried to join us, Charlie held them back. "Oh no, you don't. Portman, get in the Rover with Adam and Julie. Ken, you go, too. This way we can each grill you for details on the way to the station. I mean, this is big news!"
Portman laughed and hopped in the back seat beside Kenny, nearly squishing him in the process, but Fulton looked horrified. Charlie saw this and smiled. "Relax Fult, it'll be painless, I promise. Besides, this is what friends do. They tell each other stuff. Otherwise they're just strangers who know your name." He spoke gently, patting Fulton on the shoulder as he sat down beside him, but Fulton didn't look convinced. I wished I was in the SUV, to be honest, because I knew Portman would be far more forthcoming than his (?) boyfriend.
As we drove along, Fulton did his best to answer all the questions we kept firing at him, speaking even softer than usual and looking at the ground as if he wished it would swallow him up. "It was during that weekend in November we went home for the concert... Yeah, longer than that... About a year, I guess... Just you guys and this friend of ours back home... We didn't want everybody talking about us the whole time... We finally figured fuck it, it sounded like too much fun to pass up... No, not yet... I have no idea... What the HELL kind of question is that?" He shot Charlie a look of mingled shock and amusement.
Charlie just grinned. "Hey, I had to ask. I promise we won't dwell on all this once we have all the particulars, right?" Connie and I nodded fervently, and he continued, "You guys really threw us off there, you know. I guess I can see it now, I mean, you two are always together and stuff, but you're still the Bash Brothers. I know Adam and I are no flamers, but it's just easier to see us that way than you two, I guess."
"Well anyway, congratulations, Fulton!" Connie said, slapping him on the back, and the uncertain, grateful smile he gave her was enough to break my heart.
"Yeah, welcome to the club," Charlie said with a grin.
"Yeah, man, good luck," my brother called back from the driver's seat. I hadn't realized he must have heard everything we said.
"It'll be alright," I said, "We got through it with Adam and Charlie, so what's two more?" I spoke with a bit more confidence than I felt. Four gay Ducks, and two of them the most feared enforcers in the league? We were gonna have a hell of a time when this got out, but I guess we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.
***
We were on the bus, heading north, when I remembered something. I leant over beside me to Connie, and whispered, "Hey Cons, does Julie still have a thing for Fulton?"
Connie winced and nodded. "Yeah, oh man, I totally forgot. I'd better go see how she's doing." As she got up I cast a glance around me for Fulton, but he was nowhere in sight. The Ducks took up the last two rows of the bus, each of which was comprised of six seats, split into threes by the aisle running down the middle. I saw Portman seated in the last seat of the last row and called out, "Hey Portman, where's your boy-toy?"
"In the bathroom. And I'll be sure to tell him you said that."
I was already on my feet. I went down the aisle toward the front of the bus, and met Fulton just as he was coming out of the bathroom. It was pretty funny, seeing him try to manoeuvre his sizeable bulk out of the tiny doorway. "Sit down, man, I gotta talk to you."
Fulton slid into an empty seat, and I took the one beside him as he regarded me apprehensively. "Relax, it's nothing bad, I just didn't want Julie to hear."
"Julie? Why not?"
"It's just that she's kind of had a thing for you for a month or two now, and I just thought that with you and Portman coming out--"
"Woah, back up. What do you mean, she has a thing for me? You're kidding, right?" He looked at me expectantly, but I just shook my head. "Oh. So what should I do?"
He looked utterly perplexed, and once more I had the urge to laugh. It was as if he had never even considered the possibility of a member of the opposite sex being attracted to him before just now, and, knowing Fulton, he probably hadn't. I just don't think he sees himself as a valuable commodity.
"You might want to talk to her, just see if she's okay."
"Right. Thanks."
We stood up and headed back to the others. Connie was back, so I nudged Fulton in the direction of Julie's seat. "You'll be fine." He gave me a weak smile, took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and walked over to where Julie was sitting, looking out the window.
"Hey Jules, can I talk to you a sec?"
***
Julie's POV:
I stared out the window, watching the world rush by. I felt as if my emotions were travelling at the same high speed. Zip! There went a farmhouse, and just like that, tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about Fulton. Then, as we passed a field, I saw that someone had arranged the gigantic round bales of hay to form a man waving at the passing traffic, and the tears were gone as quickly as they had come, replaced by the belief that I should be happy. Fulton was lucky enough to fall in love with his best friend, I should be happy for him. As we passed a young girl dragging her little brother behind her on a toboggan in front of their house, I told myself that schoolyard crushes were stupid and meaningless, and then Fulton appeared in front of me and I forgot all that. I even forgot to breathe.
"Hey Jules, can I talk you a sec?"
I could only nod wordlessly and gesture to the seat beside me, where he sat down. He didn't speak for awhile, just sat there looking down with his hands between his knees. I thought I knew what he had come to say, and I wanted to make this easier for him, but I didn't know how.
"Guy, um... he told me that you, uh..."
"Yeah, I did."
He looked up hopefully. "But not anymore?"
"Well, it seems kind of stupid, now that I know you're gay," I said, a hint of bitterness creeping into my voice.
He looked at me with such a stricken expression that I would have done anything to take my words back. "I'm sorry, Julie. I didn't mean to hurt you, or cause any trouble--"
"No, no," I broke in. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault you're gay, or that I have a stupid crush on you. I'll get over it."
"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" he asked me timidly.
"Not really. I never had time. I always figured if I did get one he'd have to play hockey with me, or else I'd never see him."
"Listen, I know it's not my place but..."
"But what?"
"It's Kenny. He likes you."
"Kenny? Are you sure?"
"Oh yeah. Not to push anything on you, but he's really great."
"Yeah, I know, I just never thought..."
"Well maybe you should." And with that, he got up and went back to join Portman, leaving me alone with my thoughts, which were now threatening to break the speed of light.
Kenny? Kenny Wu? I looked over to where he was sitting beside Adam. He was kneeling on his seat and talking to the Bashes over the headrest, since Charlie and Adam seemed to be occupied with each other for the moment. He threw his head back and laughed over something Fulton said, and a light seemed to go off inside of me.
Careful, Julie, he doesn't deserve to be a rebound guy. I knew that, but I also knew that since I'd never gone out with Fulton, he didn't exactly qualify as a rebound. Besides, how cool would that be? Charlie and Adam, Connie and Guy, Fulton and Portman and Julie and Ken. I liked the sound of that, I thought to myself, turning the situation over in my head as I stared out the window once more. I tried to think about it calmly and rationally, consider all the angles. I liked to think things through before I got into them, because I liked to succeed at what I did. Still, feelings should play the largest role in something like this, right? How did I feel about this? I wasn't sure. Kenny Wu? Maybe. Maybe.
*As I began what will likely be several chapters set during the trip, I knew I would have to try something different. I have a lot to get done with my Ducks over two weeks and a few thousand words, and lately I've been having trouble keeping my entries to a reasonable length, so I figured multiple POV's were the best way to go. Look for more of it in the next couple chapters, and forgive me for forgoing some of the depth I wish I could add for the sake of cramming more stuff in there; I want some developments for all the characters, not just the Bashes, so the scenes will be shorter than average. I'll do my best, though.*