I spent most of the day fishing. I had no idea what the others were doing that would take all day, but I didn't hear from JJ until four o'clock. My phone beeped with an incoming text and all it said was, 'You can come back now.'

I headed back to the Chateau and carried the bucket of fish I'd already gutted up to the house. The lights in the trees twinkled, despite it still being daylight, and as I approached, music started to play—Stevie Wonder's 'Happy birthday.' JJ, Pope, and Kiara waited on the porch.

"Cheesy." Grinning, I gestured to indicate I meant the song.

"Happy birthday, John B." Pope gave me a one-armed hug and took the bucket of fish from me. "I'll put these in the freezer."

"Happy birthday, old man." Kiara launched herself into my arms and I swung her around.

"Who're you calling old? You're only two months behind me." I laughed. She pulled free and backed away, giggling.

JJ was still waiting to greet me, his hands in the pockets of my shorts, his old red baseball cap on backwards, shuffling his bare feet and staring at the ground as if there was something fascinating down there. His lips twitched and colour flooded his face. I'd never seen him behave like that; not once. JJ was anything but shy, but he was certainly acting shy just now. I stepped towards him and took the initiative by wrapping my arms around him—one around his waist and the other around his neck, the way I always hugged him. Immediately, his arms came around me and he hugged me back, pressing his face into my neck. I tightened my grip.

"Happy birthday, John B," he said softly.

I knew I should let go of him. Pope was probably cringing, and I imagined Kiara taking photos with her phone to tease us with later, but when I looked up over JJ's shoulder, they were nowhere to be seen, and he didn't seem to want to step away. I ran my hand up and down his back and gave him another tighter squeeze. "You okay?"

"Yeah." He extricated himself from my arms and pulled something out of his pocket. "I got your present."

"You went back to Luke's?" I didn't say 'your house' because it wasn't that any longer.

"Yeah. Pope came with me. My dad wasn't there. It was fine. I can't keep wearing your clothes anyway." He grinned. It was only then that I noticed he was wearing one of his own faded t-shirts rather than the one he'd borrowed from me that morning.

"They're better than yours," I teased.

JJ grinned wider and gave me the finger, while holding out the small package wrapped in newspaper with the other hand.

"Wow, you wrapped it, too." I took it, not caring what was inside the paper. It could have been a pack of chewing gum or some other shit, and I'd have appreciated it because he risked having to face his dad again to get it for me. I unfolded the paper and uncovered a small black cotton bag. "What's this?"

JJ shrugged and flushed again. "It's nothing much. Just something I made. I, um, I didn't have the money to buy anything."

I opened the bag and pulled out a bracelet—a leather thong with small wooden beads threaded onto it. The beads were oval with a hole through the middle of each, in different shades as if they'd been stained, and polished so they were smooth. "You made this?" I looked up at him.

"Yeah, I'm not great with woodwork, but it was the best I could—"

"I love it," I interrupted. "It's really nice, seriously."

His awkward grin stretched into a genuine smile as he relaxed. "You're just saying that to save my feelings."

"No, I'm not. Pogues don't lie, remember." I slid the bracelet onto my left wrist. It had a fancy knot tying the ends of the thong together, and when I pulled on them, it tightened a little so it wouldn't slip back over my hand. "Thank you, JJ." I wanted to pull him into another hug, maybe even give him a little kiss, but Kiara stuck her head around the door.

"Is it safe to come out?"

JJ spun around. "There you go with that expression again. I swear, you're gonna find ways to drop that into everything you fucking say from now on." He was grinning to show her he wasn't mad.

Kiara rolled her eyes. "Yesterday's news, JJ. Let me give your boy his present."

JJ smirked and his eyes twinkled as he shot a quick glance at me. 'Your boy.' I supposed I was his now. Even though nothing had happened and very little had been said, we both knew we would be together.

Kiara handed me a parcel wrapped in shiny red paper. "What is it? Abercrombie or some shit?"

Another eyeroll. "I can take it back, John B, I still have the receipt," she threatened.

"All right, all right." I ripped off the paper and found a shoe box inside. The gift was a new pair of boots—my favourite cheap-ass brand, as she called it, but the exact ones I'd been saying I wanted for the past six months and hadn't been able to afford, as my old pair started to let the wet in through the splits in the soles and sides. "Kie, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Pope's present was a bunch of recently released CDs by my favourite bands, that he knew I'd never buy for myself. I put one of them in the CD player and rock music boomed around the yard.

"Yes!" JJ punched the air. "Good choice, Pope."

"Delightful," Kiara said with a grimace.

"Hey, it's my party, I get to choose the music," I told her.

"I guess that's fair. Is everyone hungry?"

"Starving. I've had nothing all day but a piece of toast that was more fit for the trash." My stomach rumbled.

"Shame, because we didn't bring anything, and your cupboards are bare." Pope shrugged. "I suppose you could cook those fish for us."

I didn't believe him for a second. "Come on, guys, what are we eating?"

"Restaurant lunch leftovers," Kiara said. "And cake."

"There's cake?" My mouth watered.

"Kie made the cake," Pope told me. "It's amazing."

"What do you mean, it's amazing? You ate it already?"

"You dick. It looks amazing. Frosting and writing on it and everything."

We all trooped into the house, where an array of plates of food were spread out on the counters, and a large cake sat in the middle. It was covered in white frosting and had 'Happy birthday John B' written on it in swirly blue icing. There was even an iced and easily recognisable picture of the Pogue underneath the writing.

"Wow, Kie, this is awesome!" I exclaimed.

Kiara beamed. "Dig in. There's plenty."

"There's beer in the fridge, too," Pope added.

We all filled plates with the restaurant food and took them out into the yard to eat, along with a few beers. Afterwards, we each had two slices of the cake, which was delicious. Kiara put the remains of the food in the fridge for JJ and me to eat the next day. Then the party moved to the Cat's Ass where we listened to another of my new CDs, and drank, and Kie and JJ smoked a little.

"So, have you two arranged your first date yet?" JJ taunted Kiara and Pope. "Dinner tomorrow, wasn't it?"

They both grinned and nudged each other. Then Kiara raised an eyebrow. "What we want to know, is what you're going to do for your first date."

JJ coughed out a lungful of smoke. Kiara snatched the remains of the blunt from his fingers. "Can't handle a little grass, JJ? What's wrong with you?"

"Get lost," he wheezed.

Kiara laughed. "Then stop making fun of us. We're all in the same boat here, so if you want me to drop it, you drop it."

"Fair." JJ nodded and reached for the blunt. "Give me that."

Kiara and Pope stayed until the beers ran out, Kie switching to soda after a couple so she could drive. I'd never known them leave after a party before. Usually, the four of us would crash in different parts of the house and eat all my food in the morning, but apparently this time they wanted to leave JJ and me alone. When they were gone, we headed into the house.

Suddenly, I was nervous again, and hence irritated with myself. I'd never been nervous in JJ's company, except maybe when I got hard looking at him and didn't want him to notice, which was a lot. Okay, so I got nervous around him on a regular basis, just not for the same reason I was this time. Now, he knew how I felt and welcomed it, and instead of being worried about him finding out, I was anxious over what I should do about it. He was a little drunk and a little high. I didn't smoke but I'd had plenty of beers. I thought about kissing him, but I was too aware of what had almost happened to him at his dad's house to make a move. What if I freaked him out? Or what if him being drunk and high had taken away his worries and he did something with me and then regretted it?

JJ didn't seem to have any such worries. He stood in the middle of the kitchen, dripping all over the floor and grinning. I leaned against the counter, my heart pounding. He closed the gap between us and rested his hands on the work surface either side of me. His lips were inches from mine, his eyes bright as he smiled at me.

"Happy birthday, John B," he said. Then our lips touched. I knew he had never kissed anyone, but the way his lips caressed mine said otherwise. Maybe it was instinct. I put my hands on his waist and closed my eyes, unable to suppress a small groan of pleasure as we kissed for the first time. He tasted of beer and weed and cake frosting. I slid my tongue into his mouth to taste more of him, and his tongue stroked over mine. Then he pulled back, and I opened my eyes. "Do you care that I smoke?"

"What?" I said in surprise.

"Does it bother you? Because you don't and—"

"I don't care." I smiled, bemused. "Are you sure you want to be doing this?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." His lips met mine again, more confidently this time. Any worries I'd had vanished, and there was only JJ, crushing my lips against my teeth in his eagerness, stroking my tongue with his, and pressing his body against mine. I slid my arms around him and held him tight, my heart racing and pumping my blood to my dick. It briefly registered in my mind that I'd never got hard kissing before because I'd only ever kissed Sarah. Then I felt the hard ridge of JJ's erection through our wet shorts, and all other thoughts went out of my head. I took over control of the kiss and thrust my tongue into his mouth. A muffled groan escaped him, and his hands touched my back, fingers digging into my shoulder muscles. We clung to each other, bodies moulded together, kissing until we were forced apart by the need to breathe.

JJ rested his forehead against mine, breathing hard, and slowly peeled his body off me. I loosened my grip on him, but he didn't step away. Instead, he slid one hand from my back, around my ribs to my chest, and ran his fingertips down to the waistband of my shorts. I sucked in a shaky breath. I was so hard my dick ached and my balls were tight against my body.

"JJ," I whispered.

"Hm?" He ran one finger along my waistband and made my stomach muscles jump. "Is this okay?"

"It is for me." I tilted my head a little and pressed my lips to the corner of his mouth. "Don't do anything you don't want, just to please me."

"I'm not." He slid his finger under my waistband.

"You didn't want me to touch you the other day," I reminded him. "And now you're drunk and high."

"Not so much that I don't know what I'm doing." His finger brushed the head of my dick, making me gasp. "That shit the other day wasn't anything really. Nothing happened to me, I was just freaked out at the time. I'm safe with you, right?"

"Always," I said breathlessly.

"Okay, then." He slid his hand inside my shorts and curled his fingers around my erection.