I promise, those of you who are still reading, that within the next two to three chapters, Adam and Rocky are going to hook up. I needed to age them a bit because I adore happily ever afters and while it could happen at 16, I think they needed some life experience first. So they've bounced from 16 to 22 and next they'll be 25. Just stay patient with me. I'm really trying with this story unlike the other 5 I've written.

Animals

Adam's cell phone rang beside his hip. He was half asleep but he recognized the ring. It was Rocky. Every time he heard that bluesy music, his body throbbed. Sometimes he wished that he was attracted to someone else, anyone else, so he could relieve the ache in himself, but something held him back. He wasn't a virgin; he'd been with women, but he'd never been with another man.

He grabbed the phone, willing his body's reaction to go away. "Hello?"

"Hi, Adam. What are you doing today?"

"Taking a nap."

"You want to come over? Mama let me get a puppy to keep here until I graduate and I'm sitting out back, letting them get used to the place."

"Sure, I'll head over. See you in a few."

"Bye."

Rocky was in the back yard playing with the puppies when he heard a car door slam. His body clenched but he deliberately relaxed it. He knew it was Adam and his stomach tensed up. When he was 15, the feelings he had for Adam were calmer, less centered on the future, just on what he was feeling. Seven years later, they were more consuming. He still wasn't sure he was ready for a relationship, but he didn't know if he wasn't truly ready or if he was afraid. They had been friends for almost 20 years and the thought of changing that was driving him crazy.

"Rocky?"

"Hey, come on back."

The puppies took off towards Adam so Rocky ran after them to help him get in the fence.

"Two puppies?" He laughed. "Your mom is a saint."

"Yeah, she thought the kids would enjoy it and since I still have two months of school left, I'm not going to be here with him until after that. This way they'll be playmates."

Adam rubbed the puppies' backs, laughing at them falling all over themselves. He glanced up, and was startled by the look in Rocky's eyes. He froze. "Are you okay?"

Rocky's face cleared. "Yeah. Help me pick out a name for them. Mama wants to avoid a fight so she told me to come up with names."

Adam grinned. The DeSantos kids did love to fight.

"The black one I've named A.J. so the gold one is who we've got to name. They're lab mixes and both boys."

"What does A.J. stand for?"

There was that look again. "It doesn't stand for anything. I just like it."

There was something there, he mused, but obviously Rocky didn't want to talk about it.

"How about Ninja?"

"That's perfect. Ninja it is."

The puppies ran across the yard so they went back to where Rocky was sitting before. They leaned up against a tree, bodies almost touching.

"Have you talked to Jason or Kim lately? I was wondering when her due date was."

"I talked to Jason the other day. I think it's in September."

"The first ranger baby. It's cool."

Yeah, I don't think anyone ever expected it to be them, though. I always assumed it would be Tommy and Kim."

"True. Tommy's dating a woman named Hayley, right? They met in college."

"Last I heard, they had decided to be friends," Adam explained. "Oh, did you hear from Aisha? She's moving back to town to be near her family. She and Zack have been emailing each other and when she's here, they're going to go out."

"Where have I been? I never get the good gossip."

They spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on their and their friends lives.

Rocky sat there, listening to Adam's laughter and watching the puppies wrestling in the grass. And he knew, with absolute clarity that Adam was the one person he would love for the rest of his life. And he knew that he didn't have the strength to tell Adam the truth.