Chris and Gordie have been working on their homework and science project all night, it is about five-thirty in the morning.
"No, Chris, its nuclei." Gordie explained in a tired voice.
"Man, I can't think, I'm too tired." Chris complained.
"You don't know this stuff when you're wide awake, Chris." Gordie joked, but was too tired to laugh at his joke.
"Man, seriously, lets go to bed, I'm exhausted!" Chris said as he laid his head down on the carpet.
"No, we've got to stay up! We haven't gotten nearly enough done." Gordie tried to convince Chris.
"But I'm tired Gordie, and we won't get anything done if we're exhausted!" Chris said with a yawn.
"One more hour, okay? You'll get you're second wind in a few minutes anyways." Gordie bargained.
"Fine" Chris said reluctantly.
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Chris was lying on the carpet next to the poster thinking. Gordie was right, he had gotten his second wind only minutes after Gordie had convinced him to stay up…although it hadn't really taken much persuasion on Gordie's part. Chris always ended up listening to him, it seemed stupid to upset Gordie over such a small thing. Not that he'd stay mad long, Gordie never did, he was Gordie. This got Chris thinking about something else…If he told Gordie how he felt, it wouldn't be that bad. No, he wouldn't suddenly declare his love for Chris, duh, but he wouldn't stay mad too long, because he was Gordie. Gordie would never stop being his friend. He'd undoubtedly be upset, but he'd be nice about it and he'd tell Chris he would always be his friend, and then they would go about things like normal. Yeah, he was going to tell Gordie right now, get it off his chest.
"Um…Gordie" Chris said uncertainly.
"Come one, just a few more minutes!" Gordie begged.
"No, its not that, I don't care if we stay up, I'm not even tired anymore" Chris said.
"Well then what?" Gordie asked, looking up from the poster and giving Chris his full attention.
Chris loved that about Gordie, he could always tell when something was important.
"Well…you see…" Chris said.
"What is it Chris? You can tell me." Gordie encouraged.
"Well um…I don't know how to say this, so I'm just gonna say it okay? I've been having these…feelings, so to say…" Chris felt his mouth go dry.
"What kind of feelings Chris?…is it your dad?" Gordie asked, that fire coming back to his eyes at the thought.
"No!…no. You see…well…I think I'm gay Gordie." Chris finally got out. He sat up, preparing himself for the worst.
"What? I don't think I understand." Gordie said with an extremely confused look on his face.
"Well…I kind of …sort of…think I might…have feelings...maybe…for you?" Chris said, looking anywhere but at Gordie, knowing he'd understand.
"Chris?"
"I'm sorry Gordie" Chris said quietly, he had been wrong, he shouldn't have told him…he had ruined everything.
"Chris?" Gordie said a little louder.
"Ha Ha! I got you! I was just playin man, that's sick. I had you goin there for a minute there!" Chris said laughing nervously.
"CHRIS?"
"Gordie would you please say something other than…"
Chris was suddenly shaken awake.
"Chris! Chris!" Gordie said, still shaking him.
"I'm awake!" Chris said to stop him.
"Man, if you were that tired I would have let you go to sleep, I'm not some ogre!" Gordie said with a laugh.
"Sorry man, I thought I'd be okay" Chris said, trying to laugh.
"Well, come on, lets put this stuff up so we can go to bed." Gordie said, rolling up the poster.
"Alright" Chris said, and for the next several minutes, the put up their books and picked up scrap of paper and put them in the trash can.
"Lets go brush our teeth." Gordie said.
"I didn't bring my toothbrush." Chris replied, shrugging.
"You can use mine" Gordie said casually.
"Okay" Chris said, this being a normal occurrence for them.
When they got to the bathroom, Gordie asked if he wanted to go first.
"Hell yeah, I do. I don't know what kind of shit was in that Haley girl's mouth!" Chris said mock seriously.
"That makes perfect sense Chris, seeing as how I use my toothbrush every single day" Gordie said, giving Chris a sad look. "I tried to get him help, but he didn't respond to the medicine. They work through brain waves, which, sadly, require a brain." Gordie said to the mirror.
"Fuck off Lachance!" Chris said with a mouth full toothpastey spit, which he promptly spit at Gordie's face and all over his shirt.
"Aww! That's fucking disgusting Chis! Aww, nasty!" Gordie said, wiping his mouth off "I just got your spit all in my mouth! Ew! You might as well have kissed me! Aww nasty!" Gordie said as he pulled off his shirt.
"What, did I get some on my chest?" Gordie asked, looking down, having caught Chris looking.
"Naw, your good" Chris said casually, raising his eyebrows at his reflection as he stepped back to let Gordie have the sink.
After Gordie had washed his face and brushed his teeth he said, "You know, you really are disgusting, Chambers".
"Yeah, but you still love me." Chris said with a wide grin.
Gordie sighed, "They still haven't figured out which part of my brain is missing".
"That's cuzz all of them are!" Chris said pleasantly.
"Kiss my ass Chambers." Gordie said as he took his pants off and got into bed.
Chris suddenly realized Gordie was planning on sleeping in his boxers, so much for being tired. Oh well, it was really late, he'd probably fall asleep pretty quick anyways. Chris walked over to the wall and switched the light off and walked over to the bed and crawled in.
"Hey Chris, wanna hear something funny?" Gordie asked.
"What?" Chris wanted to know.
"You talk in your sleep!" Gordie said, thinking this was funny.
"What?" Chris asked, wondering where this was coming from.
"Yeah, I never noticed it before, I guess. But just now, you did, you said my name, and then you said some other stuff. Hush for a minute, if I think real hard I'll figure it out. My brain's all fuzzy right now…oh yeah, you said something about how something was gay or something…maybe you were dreaming about those asses today at school? But…no that doesn't seem right…it's coming to me…just hold on another minute…Chris?" Gordie asked as Chris suddenly bolted up.
.
Chris quickly yanked his pants on as Gordie stared at him confused. He shoved the rest of his stuff in his bag unceremoniously and bolted out the door without a word, regardless of the look on Gordie's face and the fact that he had said his name multiple times.
Gordie jumped up and pulled on the first pair of pants he found, which happened to be a pair of Chris' that he had left in his rush, taking a pair of Gordie's instead. They were therefore to big for Gordie, but he didn't have time to care, he ran after Chris, holding up the pants at the waist as he went. By the time he got to the door, Chris was already half-way down the street, and Gordie knew there was no way he'd ever catch up to him.
"Chris!…Chris!…CHRIS!…CHRIS!…CHRIS!!" Gordie tried over and over to no avail.
He eventually gave up and decided to call him first thing in the morning. He went back to his room and sat down on the bed, thoroughly confused now. What in the world was Chris' problem? They had been perfectly fine! Gordie began going through the night's events, trying to figure out what had upset Chris so badly. Lets see. After he had woken Chris up and told him they could go to bed, they had cleaned up the mess and then gone to brush their teeth. No problem there. Well, when they were brushing their teeth they had teased each other some, but Chris had definitely thrown his fair of punches. If anyone were to be mad about that, it would be Gordie! He was the one who had been spit at! After that they had gone to bed. What in the world could have upset Chris? When they got to bed all they had talked about was how he had talked in his sleep. What was upsetting about that? Was he embarrassed somehow? Why would he be embarrassed? Maybe it was what the dream was about. Maybe he had said something embarrassing, like the name of some girl he liked or something. Gordie began to try twice as hard as he had before to remember what he had said. Suddenly, it came to him…
"Holy Fuck!"