After a few minutes, when Gordie and Chris finally stopped kissing, the awkwardness set in. They both stood there and stared at each other uncomfortably, neither knowing what to say or do. Chris was the first to break the silence…

"So…" Chris said in a failed attempt to sound casual.

"So…" Gordie echoed.

"Yeah…" Chris said, rocking back on his heels.

"Yeah…" Gordie said, raising his eyebrows and looking around.

"Yup…" Chris said, starting to feel really stupid.

Gordie was the one to get a hold of himself and say a multi-syllable sentence…

"So…when did you realize you were in love with me Chambers?" Gordie said, having recovered from his embarrassment.

"The fact that I despised all your girlfriends before I even met them was a pretty good hint." Chris said, glad the awkward moment was gone.

"It was only a matter of time" Gordie said in a falsely smug voice.

"How about you Lachance? What made you realize you couldn't resist my sexy body anymore?" Chris asked.

"Well, the dreams kind of made me start to suspect" Gordie said laughing.

"Dreams?…really…well that's interesting" Chris said, raising one eyebrow.

"No! They weren't like that…not that I don't think of you like that!…Not that I've been lusting after or something…not that I don't have reason to!……fuck…" Gordie suddenly noticed Chris' smirk and realized he was teasing him. "You are such an ass"

"I won't tell if you don't tell" Chris said in a semi-distracted voice.

"I don't have to tell anyone…they all already know" Gordie said sarcastically.

"You suck Gordie…I hate you" Chris said, throwing a ball at him.

"No you don't" Gordie said confidently.

"Sure I do" Chris responded.

"Well then I'll just leave since you've decided you suddenly hate me" Gordie said in a fakely hurt voice, getting up like he was going to leave.

"Shut the fuck up Lachance and get back here" Chris said not at all upset.

"Oh, but remember? You hate me!" Gordie said, smiling.

"Your so funny Lachance…really you are, I'll laugh in a minute…wait for it…it's coming…here it comes…ha" Chris said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm being serious, you stupid fucker!" Gordie said in an outraged voice, holding back his laughter.

"Sure you are" Chris said in a bored voice as he stood up and stretched, yawning.

"I am!"

"Shut-up! For goodness sakes! The moment is officially over…it has been announced dead and the funeral is next week…it will not be missed" Chris said, smiling at his own joke.

"You're mean…you know that?" Gordie asked casually.

"Yeah? And?" Chris asked, raising his eyebrows like this was no new thing.

"And…I don't think I should associate with people as negative as you!" Gordie exclaimed.

"And the cycle starts again! Lets just jump to the end: shut up; moment over; dead; funeral next week; not missed. Now shut-up already and sit down" Chris said, sitting back down.

"Did you just tell me to shut up? again?" Gordie said, acting like this was the most offending thing he had ever heard of.

"Shut…the…fuck…up." Chris said, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands over his eyes like he was going to fall asleep any second. He lifted his head a fraction and parted his fingers, peeking through them "You know, Lachance, there's no rule that says just because you've come out of the closet you have to become the most flaming fag in the world." Chris laid his head back and covered his eyes again, smiling into his hands.

"Now that was just wrong…I can't believe you just said that to me…you're really abusive, do you know that?" Gordie asked, pretending to be offended.

"Oh my gosh!" Chris said, jumping out of his seat "Seriously Gordie…Shut-up"

"Make me" Gordie said, sticking his tongue out childishly.

"Okay" Chris said simply, walking over to Gordie and kissing him hard on the lips, effectively silencing him.

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The next day at school Gordie was there before Chris again. When Chris got there, excited and more than a little nervous about the first day of school after "getting together", he saw that Gordie was talking to some girl again. He felt bitter jealousy spread through his body as he walked toward them. He knew it was irrational and tried to act as normal as possible.

"Oh hey Chris." Gordie said casually as he whispered something in her ear that made her giggle.

Chris hated damn giggly girls.

"Really?" she asked Gordie. "Not bad, not bad at all" she said, raising her eyebrows in Gordie's direction, her arm resting in the crook of his.

Chris felt the strong urge to push her away, but resisted it with effort.

The girl put her hand on Gordie's shoulder and pushed up onto her tippy-toes and whispered something softly in his ear. Gordie chuckled a little and leaned forward to whisper a response in her ear. Chris felt his blood surge and decided that if she didn't remove that damn hand in about a half of a second, he would not be responsible for his actions. Luckily, she simply giggled again and bent down to get her book bag.

"I'll talk to you later Gordie" the girl said with a giggle and a lift of her brow "Bye Chris" with that, she promptly left.

Gordie sighed happily, shaking his head "She sure is something"

"Yeah, she's something all right" Chris said bitterly.

"What?" Gordie asked.

"Nothing" Chris said insincerely.

"Okay……………. Wow, what an amazing girl…and to think, we haven't even known each other very long" Gordie said partially to himself.

"Yeah, Gordie, you might want to keep in mind" Chris said meaningfully.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gordie asked.

"She just seems kind of loose to me" Chris said bluntly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gordie asked, confused.

"Don't play dumb with me…I saw the way she was all over you" Chris said harshly.

"Chris Chambers…are you…jealous?" Gordie asked incredulously, secretly kind of pleased at the thought…it was nice to have someone care enough to be jealous over him.

"Are you kidding? Jealous?! Over you? In your dreams! Give me a break! You've got to be kidding!" Chris said. Fuck yeah, I'm jealous!

"You are!" Gordie said, shocked, Chris? Jealous about him? Gordie felt a little bit giddy.

"I am not! You're full of shit!" Chris said with feeling.

"Yes you are! Oh my gosh Chris, I can't believe you're jealous! That's awesome!" Gordie said enthusiastically, enjoying himself immensely.

"How is it awesome? You enjoy torturing me? You really suck." Chris said.

"So you admit you were jealous?" Gordie asked smugly.

"Fuck yeah, I was jealous, she was all over you! What was all that about anyways?" Chris asked not-so-casually.

"Oh, I was just fucking with you yesterday, I'm really still straight" Gordie said sarcastically.

"Fuck off…no seriously though." Chris said.

"Chris, she suspected I was gay because, apparently, I was a bit obvious yesterday or something. Personally don't have any idea what she's talking about" Gordie said innocently. "Anyways, so she was cool enough to just come up and ask me if I was, she told me if I was, then it was cool with her and she wouldn't tell anyone, so I told her. Her name's Bridgett, and I met her a couple months ago. That's why she already knew who you were." Gordie explained.

"Then why all the whispering?" Chris asked.

Gordie sighed, the jealousy having officially lost its cuteness. "Here we go…my first whisper was me telling her that you were Chris and that you were the guy I had told her I was with. Her whisper was her asking me if you were supposed to know that she knew. My second whisper was me telling her that I would tell you later, which I just did. Satisfied?" Gordie asked good-naturedly.

"I guess" Chris said, still not liking the way she had been touching Gordie so much.