Eighteen
Three
weeks passed, and everyone started talking about going home for Thanksgiving.
Lance wasn't really looking forward to going home; relations with his parents
had never really gone back to normal after he had admitted that he was gay.
They put on a good front, especially around the holidays, but he knew that they
were severely disappointed in him. It was one of the many reasons that he
busied himself in schoolwork and activities and did not look for a
relationship. He knew that if he told them he had a boyfriend, they would
probably have joint heart attacks.
“Hey.”
Justin knocked on Lance's open bedroom door. “Did you hear? We have a meeting
this afternoon at four.”
“For
what?” Lance looked up from his textbook and blushed. He had been tapping his
pencil on his notebook and staring at the text, but he hadn't been looking at
the words. He had only seen Justin's handsome face on the page. Lately he
couldn't get Justin out of his head, and it was driving him crazy. Something
had been needling him in the back of his brain, and he just couldn't figure it
out. Justin had pretty much been avoiding him anyway, for some odd reason, but
it didn't help.
“I
don't know.” Justin shrugged. “Matthew just said that we needed to be there or
else.”
“Odd,”
Lance said, and Justin nodded.
“So…”
Justin leaned in the doorway. “You ready for a vacation?”
“Kinda.”
Lance leaned back in his chair, feeling unusually talkative. “I'm ready for a
big Thanksgiving dinner.”
“I
hear that. I am dying for some of my mom's cooking. She's the best cook in the
South.”
“No,
I think that's MY mom,” Lance argued with a grin.
“You're
not ready to hang with the family all that time, though, am I right?” Justin
asked, seeing through what Lance hadn't said.
“Yeah.”
Lance drew lines on his notebook. “Another fun vacation of my mother trying to
get me a girlfriend.”
“My
home address is on the board downstairs,” Justin said. “If you want to, come
visit me. My mom would LOVE to have you. She's still kinda getting used to the
whole bisexual thing, but you're JUST the type of boy she'd want me to bring
home.”
“Really?”
Lance blushed.
“Sure. You're cute and smart and a good
boy.” It was Justin's turn to blush. “So, yeah. Meeting this afternoon.” Justin
darted out of the room before Lance could say anything more.
“Okay,
guys, thanks for showing up on such short notice.” Matthew looked around the
rec room. “One of the brothers has asked for this meeting. I know why, but I'll
let him tell you.” He turned around. “AJ?”
Lance
looked up in surprise as AJ took center stage. His usually confident friend
actually looked nervous. “So, uh, yeah. I'm just letting y'all know that I'm
moving out. Of the house. Of the frat.”
“You're
what?” Nick's mouth dropped open.
“I
love you guys. You know that. But there's a rule of the frat that I can't stand
abiding by anymore. And instead of breaking it, I want to leave altogether.”
“Aje,”
Lance began.
“Don't,
Lance. This is hard enough as it is. I love you guys, and I'll be around
campus. I'm staying with a friend for this semester, and then I'll try to find
somewhere to stay next semester.” AJ sat down without saying anymore. A few of
the guys walked up to him and talked, but Lance hung back, knowing AJ would
come to him when he was ready.
Later
that evening, Lance decided to go to AJ's room to see if he needed help packing
his things. As he approached AJ's room, he heard AJ talking to someone else.
“What
did you say?”
“I
asked if you wanted to go out with me some night.”
Lance
couldn't help but peek through the crack of the open door. He saw Nick Carter
sitting on AJ's bed. AJ stood before him. “You can't ask me out.”
“Why
not? I'm no longer a member of the frat.” AJ smiled, but Lance could tell he
was nervous as all hell.
“You…”
A light seemed to blink over Nick's head. “You quit the frat just to ask me
out?”
“Sure.”
“What
if I say no?”
“Then
I move on and get a new life outside of the frat,” AJ said, shrugging. “Once
you're out, they're not real keen on letting you back in without making you
jump through hoops.”
“You
quit to ask me out,” Nick repeated.
“So…are
you gonna answer me?” AJ asked.
“Yes.
I mean, yes, I'll answer you. I mean, yes, my answer is yes,” Nick stuttered.
AJ's bright grin flashed out.
“Cool.”
Lance
crept away, deep in thought.
