Chapter two -

I'm not so sure about where this is heading...I was writing this while listening to some fairly tragic music. I thought I'd post anyway or I'd never get round to it.

Reviews would be nice...no pressure...okay there's a little pressure...review please!

The moment seemed like it would last forever. Just us together holding each other in the courtyard but we both knew it couldn't we had to get back. People would notice we were gone. Gabby was bound to miss Troy if he stayed any longer. It was enough to know that we were now together. Once again Troy said what I was thinking "We have to meet later. We have to have prom night together. How can we meet?"

"I don't know …are you going to the party in the desert?" "Yeah he said looking down. "But so's Gabby. I couldn't do that to her tonight it's prom night."

"Yeah" I agreed neither of us wanted to kill anyone's prom memories. Especially not when my night was going so f'n mind-blowingly well.

"Look lets just see how it goes." Then just when I thought he was going to leave without another word he turned back and said "Don't you forget about me."

"Yeah, right I'll forget this. Not in this lifetime." I smiled the biggest stupidest grin at that perfect boy as he stood framed by the doorway smiling at me in the soft light of the courtyard. Oh god, he was a beautiful, beautiful boy, his bright eyes, the suit that made him look gift wrapped for someone…was that someone me? As he left I almost said "Love you" but thank god he had gone before I could get those words out leaving me staring into an empty space that I could only fill with my thoughts.

I've discovered there are a few points in your life when everything seems to jack knife, changing direction completely, wildly. This was one of those points …suddenly after waiting so long for someone there he was. And not any someone, Troy.

The dance continued on inside till finally it was time to go. David had spoken to me and I had managed to get things back on track with him. the next time I was Troy was out at the party in the desert. Desert parties have a rep for being wild and this was no different. Some college kids started a thing out a spot kind of out of way but with an amazing view of the city.

We all looked great out in the desert with Tuxes and dresses. For a moment the drama crowd, the jocks and the nerds I knew were all in one place having a good time. Music was blaring from a car and I had moments of feeling everything was right with the world. If you've never been to a party in the desert you don't know that it's an other worldly landscape at night. It's open and beautiful but at the same time a wild and dangerous place. The rules don't apply out there. At least I was hoping they didn't apply.

The drama crowd were in one spot the jocks in another. I could see Troy and Gabbi so close …near Chad and Tayor. It was getting to that point where everyone couples up, like a game of musical chairs rigged against me. Then my break came Gabbi had to go home by 1 so Troy left looking at me purposefully as he drove away only to return 30 mins later by which time the crowd had thinned out. Troy showed up in the SUV stopping the car and crossing over to me I wasn't sure if I should get out, when he jumped in to the car beside me almost as he had done a million times before. But this time there was nothing like all those times.

"I'm so glad you came back …I didn't know if you would."

"Sorry it took so long. Thanks for waiting. Thanks for being here. I wasn't sure you would be."

"Wouldn't miss this for the world." And it was actually true. "You gave me a big surprise tonight…I didn't see THAT coming."

"I don't know how you can say that Ryan. I spend so much time feeling like I'm being too obvious and you didn't seem interested at all."

I looked at him with disbelief "No, no, it's not that I didn't care. It's that I cared too much." I wasn't sure how much to give away at this point. I wasn't going to tell him I loved him and scare him off. No way. He didn't need to hear that I was Obsession Boy.

"You did? I mean sometimes I thought you did. But because you're gay I thought maybe that was just a gay guy thing…maybe you check out guys like I check out girls. Usually there's nothin' in it."

"Is there something in it with me?" it came out before I knew I had said it. I quietly kicked myself, but I wanted to hear that he cared. I needed to know that this wasn't some weird jock guy sex thing that I was too naive to know about because I was useless at sport. Still meaningless sex with the hottest guy in school is not something you want to throw away …

"Yes, Ryan, there's something in it. I'm here out in the middle of nowhere on prom night with you. I've ditched my girlfriend, snuck out of the house because I can't stop thinking about you. I'm just going to say it. I think about you all the time. When I saw you walking out of the prom after David I felt sick. I thought I'd lost my chance with you."

"You didn't."

Never have I been so aware of the physical presence of another person. We sat there looking ahead through the windscreen out to the wide desert landscape. I could literally feel the beat of my heart racing, yet outside the desert was calm and vast rolling into nothingness in the moonlight. Something in me thought "don't break this spell, this moment." But his hand moved to mine touching it softy.

I turned to look at him to find him looking deeply into my eyes, his face half in shadow. He leaned into kiss me, and for the second time that night time briefly stopped as our lips met, so warm, so soft. This was different than the first kiss which took me off guard, this kiss felt like the culmination of something. It was sweet and rich but slightly somber. His hands slipped up to hold my head as he began to kiss me in earnest. I felt my body go weak as the kissing grew stronger and stronger. My arm wrapped around his waist, my other hand in his hair. The tempo of the kissing was steady as we revelled in finally being able to touch each other freely. As if he had read my mind, he said softly "Please" as slid my hand up the back of his untucked dress shirt. My finger running over the incredible warm smoothness of his muscled back I wanted to have nothing but that skin against me. Nothing but my skin against his.