< Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Lance had never been so mortified in his entire life as he had been the night before in AJ’s foyer when AJ’s mom noticed that they were wearing each other’s jeans. It had been an oversight, and since they were practically the same size, they’d each just grabbed a pair of pants and slid them on, not even bothering to look at whose they were wearing.

They must have stood there for about ten minutes, neither sure of what to do or what to say. Finally, AJ pulled them out the door and they ran to the car, unable to do anything except laugh hysterically. Just like Justin and Nick were doing as he was retelling them the story while they waited for AJ to pick them up to go to the mall. They were meeting Christina, Britney and Josh outside of Old Navy at two and then Kyle, Billy and Emily would be hooking up with them at Baskin Robins at Three.

"Are you KIDDING ME?" Nick howled, barely able to breathe through his laughter. Lance’s face only got redder which made him laugh harder.

"She said that?" Justin asked with a snicker. "I mean, she actually called you on it, but then didn’t stay to find out?" Even he and Chris hadn’t been that bad. There had been a time or two when he’d put his tee shirt on backwards, but Chris’ sister hadn’t known what she was interrupting and they’d managed to distract her long enough for him to turn it around.

"It was so funny, but scary at the same time." Lance admitted. "I can’t even face her anymore."

Nick and Justin high fived and Lance growled at them.

"Of course you are going to face her, you kinda have to."

"But ...she knows."

"She doesn’t know," Nick said. Justin shook his head and nodded.

"OH she totally knows."

Lance’s mortification only grew when AJ showed up wearing an embarrassed smile. When they all got into the car, he didn’t turn the engine on right away. "Ummm, I was supposed to give you these," he said shyly. Lance gasped at the box of condoms in AJ’s hands. He buried his face in his hands while Nick and Justin hooted and hollered in the back seat.

"WHAT?" Lance screeched. "Why?"

AJ took a deep breath and shook his head. That morning had been pretty much the most embarrassing morning of his entire existence. "Well, mom said that if we’re going to be in a position where you’re wearing my pants and I’m wearing yours, we are going to need these." He knew that Lance would have already told Justin and Nick about what had happened with his mother the night before, so he didn’t feel embarrassed about bringing it up in front of them. He was already plenty embarrassed by his mother.

"But..."

"I know. She gave me a box, and you’re to have a box. She said she would rather we wait.."

"We are waiting," Lance gulped as he took the box of condoms from his boyfriend. He slid it under the seat so no one would see them.

"Yeah, she doesn’t care. She said that she wishes we’d wait but if we’re going to be active, we need condoms. Every time."

Nick and Justin were still snickering in the back seat. "Can I see them?" Justin asked. AJ smacked him in the forehead.

"Fuck off."

"Seriously." When AJ turned to face Justin the younger boy smiled innocently.

"Seriously," AJ said, flicking him between the eyes.

"Yeah J. Fuck off, Lance and AJ need those all to themselves."

Justin and Nick broke into hysterics again as AJ started the car and Lance grumbled about needing to find new friends.

There was a bright side to AJ’s mother thinking they were sexually active and giving them condoms. Lance wasn’t sure that when the time was right, that he could actually go out and buy them without wanting to die of mortification. And knowing his luck, he’d get them to the counter and someone he knew would happen to walk by and see what he was buying. So if he already had them, and he was going to have to hide them as best as he could so no one would find them mistakenly, he would just be able to get one when he was ready to have sex and not worry about protection. There was one thing on his mind, and Lance waited until they were at the mall and heading inside before he tugged on AJ’s shirt to cause him to fall behind with him.

"She doesn’t hate me, does she? I mean, was she mad?"

AJ shook his head. "Nah, I don’t think she could hate you if she tried. She wanted to make sure that I wasn’t pressuring you..."

"But you wouldn’t..." Lance interrupted.

"I know, and I told her that. She just wasn’t sure and so we had a talk about it, just to make sure that everything was okay. I told her a million times that we aren’t having sex yet but she said that it was better safe than sorry. Even if we aren’t doing it now, we probably will in the future and she doesn’t want us to claim we didn’t use protection because we didn’t have any." AJ inhaled deeply. He saw Lance’s face break into a giant smile.

"Was it horrible?"

"The most embarrassing thing in my entire life," AJ admitted, blushing even at the memory. We’ve already had the birds and the bees talk, but this was like ...the actual sex talk. No code words... No anything."

Lance flashed his boyfriend a sympathetic smile as he hugged him close. They broke into laughter and rushed to catch up with Nick and Justin who were already talking animatedly with Josh, Britney and Christina.

"So," Britney asked as she hugged AJ then Lance. "Happy Birthday."

Josh and Christina dittoed her sentiments.

"What do we want to do first?" Christina asked excitedly. Her hand slipped into Josh’s and she looked around the group at everyone. "I have to check out American Eagle and Barnes and Noble definitely. Anything after that is cool.

"I want to go to Hot Topic," Justin chimed in. There were a few things he’d seen there the last time he’d been shopping that made him think of Chris and he wanted to pick them up to surprise his boyfriend. Everyone threw out their own suggestions until finally they agreed to just wander through the mall, stopping wherever they wanted to go inside a store.

"We have to remember to be by the Baskin Robins at three though," Britney reminded everyone.

The hour passed by in a flash and before they knew it, their group grew to include Billy, Kyle and Emily.

"Anyone hungry?" Justin complained, rubbing his stomach. "I’m dying here." It was just after four thirty, and the movie they were planning to see was at the theatre complex inside the mall. It started at seven thirty, which gave them three more hours of shopping. They’d only managed to do half of the mall, as there were still a few stores they hadn’t gotten to that they’d wanted to see. They were planning on going to the Shake Shack after the movie, but that wouldn’t be until after nine at least.

Nick nodded as well. "I could so eat."

"Me too actually," Christina agreed with a look at Josh.

"Lets go to the food court, that way we can all get what we want." Lance nodded in the direction of the food court.

"Can we uh..." Josh suggested after they’d eaten and were back in shopping mode. "...we’re gonna go this way."

"What?" Christina asked confused. "We’re just gonna head into Barnes and Noble."

"Yeah, I have a store that I want to go to, and I don’t really need to go into the book store," Billy shrugged. "So you go there, and we’ll go this way. We’ll meet up with you in about," Billy, Josh and Kyle all exchanged shrugs, "twenty minutes?"

"You want us to come with?" Britney asked. She sighed a breath of relief as they shook their heads. There were a few magazines she wanted to check out at the bookstore but if Billy had wanted her to go with him, she would have.

"Nah, it won’t take us long," Kyle said. "We’ll catch back up with you."

They walked down the mall corridor coolly until they turned the corner and knew that none of the gang could see them any longer. "Come on," Josh said. "I hope there isn’t a line."

"There wasn’t when we passed it like ten minutes ago," Billy said as he jogged to catch up with his friend. They’d been questioning what they could to to surprise their girlfriends, and it wasn’t until they passed a certain store that the idea came to them. For the past ten minutes, they had been trying to come up with a plan of how to ditch the group so no one would know what they were doing, and finally Kyle just took it upon himself to try and extract themselves from the group, thankfully no one had been suspicious. When they got to the store, they were pleased to see only three people ahead of them, which would give them more than enough time to do what they needed to do and get back to the group to join the others.

A half an hour later, the three teens walked briskly through the mall towards the book store, hoping that they weren’t waiting outside for them. They all had identical boxes in their hands and were laughing conspiratorially together. "They’re so going to love these," Billy beamed, pleased with his final product.


Josh and Kyle had to agree, their disappearing act would most definitely be appreciated. When they reached the entrance to the book store, they did not see anyone outside. Figuring that everyone was still inside, they headed in to look for them. Britney and Christina were spotted at the magazine rack, giggling over Vogue and Cosmo. Kyle nudged Josh and nodded in their direction.

"Good, they’re all still here then."

"There’s AJ and Nick over in the sports section."

"Em, Aje and Lance are all over in fiction," Josh said handing Billy his box. "I’ll go get everyone and tell them we’re ready. Wait outside, we’ll give them the presents there."

As Josh headed over to fiction, Christina took that moment to look over. S he smiled at her boyfriend, nodding when he waved to the door. "Come on, they’re back. Lets get these, we can look at them tonight at the Shack."

"We’re just gonna be outside," Josh said to AJ, Lance and Emily. He then headed over to where Justin and Nick were standing, to let them know that they were ready to keep going.

Lance, Britney, Christina and Nick all headed over to the cashiers to pay for their purchases, while everyone else waited by the door. When the whole gang was ready, Josh hurried to where Kyle and Billy were standing, holding their boxes. Josh grabbed his.


"What’s up?" Emily said suspiciously. "What are those?"

Josh, Billy and Kyle all exchanged giant grins. They each held out a box to their girlfriends. "We know it’s Lance’s birthday," Billy said. "But we wanted to get the best girlfriends in the world a present today too."

It was comical how the girls’ faces all went from confusion to surprise and finally gratitude as their boyfriends handed them each a box. The boys were all snickering and giggling as the girls hugged their boyfriends.


"What is it?" Britney asked. She looked inside and was sure she saw some sort of toy.

"Open it and find out," Billy said, kissing her lips softly.

Christina was the first to get her box open and she gave a squeal. "Oh my god, it’s a bunny."

"A real one?" Nick asked, trying to get closer to look.

Josh rolled his eyes and snorted. "Yeah, I bought her a real bunny," he said sarcastically.

Nick blinked. "You could have."

That stopped Josh instantly. He paused and finally nodded. "Uh, yeah. I guess I could have." Nick nodded and gave a coy smirk. "But I didn’t."

"It’s a stuffed bunny from Build-A-Bear," Christina held it up. She looked inside to see the birth certificate. "And her name is Angel." They looked at the bunny and saw she was dressed in a white gown with angel’s wings. She put it back in the box, set the box down and hugged her boyfriend tightly. They shared a deep kiss until she pulled away to pick the bunny back up and hug it again. "I love it, you’re the best."

Britney’s squeal interrupted the moment. "This is fabulous!!" When she pulled her own animal out, she saw it was a pink poodle, wearing a pink gown. The poodle was wearing a tiara and as she too looked at the birth certificate, she saw the poodle’s name was ‘Pinky’.

"I’ve never once seen you NOT wearing pink!" Billy noted as Britney hugged him tightly. "Even if it’s just a barrette or a bracelet, you’re always in pink, so when I saw it, I knew I had to get it."

"I love it," Britney said as she kissed Billy sweetly. The girls turned to Emily who was watching them with interest. "What did you get?"

Emily giggled as she opened her own box. Inside sat a stuffed monkey, wearing wind pants, a white tee shirt and a puffy vest. He had on a pair of sunglasses and sandals. She hugged it close to her body and pulled Kyle in to hug him at the same time. "I love you," the gang heard her say before they shared a kiss. When it ended, she held the monkey up for everyone to see.

"What’s his name?" Christina asked. Josh and Billy broke into laughter while Kyle and Emily both blushed and snickered.

"Monkey Kyle."

"What?" Nick asked with a laugh. "Did you just say Monkey Kyle?"

Both Emily and Kyle nodded. "It’s this joke between us," they shared a look before both shaking their heads. "We could explain it to you, but you’d so never get it."

Everyone turned to Billy who couldn’t help but agree. "Yeah, I was there and I don’t get it so.."

‘Well," Britney said, turning to her boyfriend. "I love mine, and thank you so much baby." Christina thanked Josh with a kiss, while Emily and Kyle continued theirs.

"As much as I enjoy watching the straight people make out," AJ said with a bored tone. "I think I’m going to keep walking."

Nick, Justin and Lance all broke into laugher while the kissing teens did the same. "Jealous?" Britney asked teasing.

AJ rolled his eyes. "Of you more than him."

"Boo-urn," Justin snickered as he tugged on Britney’s ponytail. "Come on, lets go. We haven’t even gotten to Sport Check yet. I wanna see the new sneakers."

By seven, they had too many bags with them to take them into the movies. Rather than carry them around, it was suggested that they put them in the car so they wouldn’t have to worry about them. Heading up to the movie, rather than Lance decide the movie for everyone, he suggested they all agree on something.

"But its’ your birthday," Emily protested.

"Yeah, but you’re paying to go to it too. So if there’s a movie everyone wants to see, I’d rather do that instead of picking for everyone."

"What does everyone think of the new horror movie that came out?" Justin suggested. "It’s supposed to put every other horror movie to shame, it’s that scary."

Everyone looked at Lance whose eyes lit up. "You guys all want to see that? I was so going to pick it."

"Awesome, it starts in ten minutes, so lets go get our tickets and find seats."

The fact that it was Saturday night hadn’t even dawned on anyone, and by the time they got into the theatre, they couldn’t find enough seats together. They were going to have to split up into pairs or threes.

"Well, it’s not like we were going to be able to talk during the movie anyway," Justin stated with a shrug. "I’m heading down to the front."

The rest of the group looked at him like he was crazy. "Down there?" Kyle said pointing to the front row.

"Yeah, front row is the best," Nick agreed. Without another word, Justin and Nick headed down to the front to claim their seats. Little by little, everyone else found chairs, agreeing to meet out front when the movie was over.

Nick looked over at his best friend with a giant smile on his face. It had been far too long since they’d just hung out together and that day had been perfect. He knew how much Justin liked Chris, and didn’t want to deny him that, but at the same time, all he wanted was Justin to himself for a little while. They’d talked about everything that day, from Kevin and Chris, to random things like basketball and exams that were coming up. The feel of Justin’s hand sliding into Nick’s startled him slightly.

"I’m really glad that we’re not fighting," Justin whispered as the previews started. Usually, the previews were Nick’s favourite part, but at that moment, he didn’t care he was missing them.

"Me too. I’ve missed you."

"I’ve missed you too, and I promise that I won’t let it happen again. I won’t forget about you. Okay?"

Nick’s smile nearly lit up the whole theatre. "Okay."


They held each other’s hand through the whole movie, mainly due to the terror that was in living colour in front of them. It wasn’t a sexual gesture, just one of comfort and solidarity. Nearly two hours later, they all filed out of the theatre, all looking white and pale.

"That was the best movie ever," Britney said, slightly jerky. She had spent most of it with her face in Billy’s chest, unable to watch what was going on in the movie.

"How would you know," Billy asked. "You didn’t see any of it."

"It sounded like the best movie ever," she amended, making everyone laugh.

"I’m so having nightmares tonight," Lance admitted with a grin. They all headed through the mall towards the parking lot where they’d each parked their cars.

"I’m so starved," Nick announced. The girls looked at him in surprise while the guys nodded.

"Yeah, I could eat a horse," Kyle seconded.

"How can you even think about food after that?" Emily groaned. With the blood and guts that she’d just seen in the movie, she wasn’t sure if she would be hungry for ages.

"How can you NOT think about food after that?" AJ asked with a laugh. He slid into the driver’s side of his mother’s car. "Shake shack?"

Everyone nodded. "Yeah, we’ll meet you there."

When they got to the Shake Shack, they were pleased to find a row of tables near the side of the restaurant empty. They readjusted them so that it was one long table, everyone able to sit comfortably. As they were looking over the menu Nick saw something out of the corner of his eye. Looking up, eh saw Kevin and Chris standing at the door, as if looking where to sit. He gave Justin a subtle kick.

"What?"

Nick nodded towards the door. Justin looked over, his lips curling into a giant grin. When Justin didn’t do anything, Nick kicked him again.

"What?"

"Aren’t you going to get their attention?"

Justin shrugged. "I thought you ...they..."

Nick blushed. He knew Justin had uninvited Chris thinking that was what he wanted, but he also knew that Lance would have liked Chris to be a part of their festivities. So with that, he sat up straighter and put his hand in the air.

"Chris? Kev? Wanna join us?"


"What are you doing?" Justin asked his best friend. Nick only shrugged.

"I was being stupid, of course they should be here. Chris is Lance’s friend and your boyfriend. He should be here."

Lance looked up to see Chris and Kevin making their way over. "Hey! Chris, Kevin. How are you?"

Chris winked discreetly at Justin before smiling at the group. "Hey, we just came in for something to snack on."

"You should join us," AJ suggested. He pointed at the empty chairs next to Nick and Justin. The empty spot on the other end of the table had Lance’s presents on it. "We’ve got more than enough room."

"Oh," Chris’ eyes were fixed on Lance’s presents. They hadn’t brought him anything, and he felt bad crashing their party. "I didn’t bring you anything."

"Uh, yeah you did." Lance said. He held up the gift bag that Justin had handed him with a hug, showing Chris the tag. "To Lance, from Justin and Chris."

Justin’s cheeks burned as Chris looked at him in surprise. He met his boyfriend’s eyes, pleased to see them twinkling. "I sorta..."

"Thanks," Chris said placing a kiss to Justin’s head. He looked at Nick, almost wearily. "Is it okay..."

"Of course," Nick answered. "Join the party."

It was during desert that Nick felt someone tapping his foot. They’d finished everything they had ordered for dinner and once the ice cream and cake was gone, Lance was going to open his presents. Looking up, he saw Kevin smiling at him. Nick felt his pulse speed up. "What?"

"Nothing."

A few seconds later, there was more tapping. No one was paying any attention to them and so when Kevin nodded towards the door, Nick figured that slipping outside for a few seconds wouldn’t hurt. "I want to tell you something, but not in front of everyone."

"Okay."

Kevin got up and went outside. Nick stood up a few seconds later. It was Justin’s hand on his arm that stopped him. "Are you leaving?"

Nick shook his head. "No, just need some fresh air."

Justin nodded and smiled. "Okay, don’t be too long, he’s going to open his presents."

Nick stepped outside and saw Kevin waiting by his car, parked at the end of the row. He nervously walked towards the senior, following him into the car. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Nick spoke. "What’s up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk to you."

"We could have talked inside."

"I know," Kevin said shyly. "But I couldn’t do this inside." Nick held his breath as Kevin leaned in and kissed him. The kiss was short and sweet, causing Nick to whimper when it was finished. He knew it was wrong, but he didn’t care. Nick wanted more.

"Well..."

The rest of his sentence was cut off as Kevin pulled him close and kissed him again. They were hidden by the darkness so Nick knew no one on the outside could really see what was gong on, not that he cared. All he was focused on was Kevin’s tongue in his mouth and his hands holding him firmly on his back.

They kissed for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes. Nick’s head was spinning and he felt his whole body tingling. Pulling away, he realized they had to get back inside. "We should go.. He’s going to open his presents.."

"Just..." Kevin murmured, kissing Nick again. "A few more..."

Nick couldn’t fight him and didn’t want to. He felt Kevin kiss him again and submitted to the pleasure it gave him. He grabbed onto Kevin’s ass, trying to pull him as close as he could. Their hips ground together and Nick cried out at the intense pleasure it brought him. He was so lost in the moment, he couldn’t help but say what he was shouting in his head. "I love you Kevin," Nick whispered against Kevin’s mouth.

Kevin froze. His breathing stopped and he felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. "What?"

Nick looked up dreamily at the boy in his arms. He stroked the hair from Kevin’s forehead and smiled, "I love you."

Kevin scrambled to sit up, his chest pounding and his head throbbing. He looked around and realized what he was doing, what they were doing and he shook his head. "No. Nick..."

"I do." Nick slid closer to Kevin who kept trying to slide away from him.

"I shouldn’t have ...I’m supposed to be staying away from you."

Nick’s smile dropped from his face and was replaced by a snarl. "But you can’t. You don't stay away from me, which has to mean something."

Kevin knew exactly what it meant, but he wasn’t going to say anything. He couldn’t say anything. Instead he shook his head. "We can’t do this."

"But we are!" Nick yelled, angry and frustrated. "You always say that, but then you ask me to come outside with you and you kiss me. You touch me and you make me want to kiss and touch you. But the second I tell you how I feel, you get upset and remind yourself that you can’t be doing this. Well I hate to tell you KEVIN RICHARDSON, but you ARE doing this."

Kevin looked as if he was about to cry, which was nothing compared to how he felt inside. He knew Nick had every right to be angry with him, because he was angry with himself. He was weak, a horrible person and he hoped to god he didn’t lose Nick over this. Not that Nick was his to lose, but somewhere in his mind Kevin knew the blonde was his. HE covered his face with his hands, muttering to himself.

"You know what, don’t. I don’t want to hear what a mistake this is. How things haven’t changed. I’ve heard it all before and it’s bullshit. I must have this thing inside of me that likes to be hurt, because I keep letting you hurt me."

"Don’t you understand," Kevin asked. "I’m doing this to keep from hurting you." Nick’s laughter cut him off.

"It’s too fucking late for that Kevin." Nick spat angrily. He unlatched the door handle for the car and stepped out. "Don’t worry about me Kevin, I’ll be okay. I always am after you throw me away." Nick slammed the door as hard as he could and stormed into the restaurant. The fact that Lance was opening the last of his presents only worsened his mood. He’d missed everything, all because of Kevin fucking Richardson. He had to bite his tongue from growling at him as he slipped into the restaurant and back into his chair.

Justin hadn’t thought Nick going outside with Kevin was a good idea, but he knew nothing he said would stop his friend. He also knew that if the positions were reversed, he would have gone too, so he didn’t say anything. It was once Nick had come back into the restaurant, looking like he was going to either punch someone or cry, that he decided to do something. Once Kevin returned, looking even worse than Nick, he felt his own blood boiling.

It was horrible how much Nick liked Kevin and how it always seemed to get him hurt. He knew that since they’d actually become friends, Nick’s infatuation had developed into something more serious, which Justin had been pleased to see. He loved how sweet Kevin was with Nick and how well they got along, but on the other hand, he hated how Kevin wasn’t sure what he wanted and how he continually seemed to hurt Nick with his indecisiveness. With a regretful smile to Chris, Justin leaned in to talk to him.

"I think you guys should go."

Chris looked at Justin in surprise. When the younger boy nodded at Nick, he then saw how troubled the blonde looked. He didn’t even have to look at Kevin to know that he was probably just as miserable. "I’m sorry."

"It’s not your fault," Justin assured him with a gentle squeeze to his leg. "I just ...this is Lance’s party and I don’t think it’s fair if Nick spends the rest of the night miserable."

"I’m going to kill him," Chris growled in frustration. He was surprised to see anger in Justin’s eyes.

"I hardly think this is Nick’s fault. If anything, it’s Kevin’s fault."

Chris shook his head, "No, I didn’t mean Nick. I’m going to kill Kevin. I’m sick of this shit."

Justin breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "Oh, good. And yes, I’m going to kill him too. You better tell him that if he hurts him again ...well you all thought Nick’s temper was bad. Don’t piss me off."

Chris growled as he bit at Justin’s lip. "That’s so hot." It was Nick’s angry voice that startled the two teens apart.

"Can you NOT go fifteen fucking minutes without making out? Have some respect."


The whole table went silent and looked down at Nick who was practically seething. Justin and Chris separated and Chris whispered for Justin to not react. Nick was upset and was taking it out on them.

"With that, I think we’re going to go." Chris announced standing up.

Nick flashed Justin an apologetic smile. "I’m sorry.. You don’t have to ..."

"No, we do." Chris said with a smile. "This isn’t about that." Justin nodded, easing Nick’s conscience.

Chris said his good byes to the table and wishing Lance a happy birthday again. When he got to Kevin, he kicked his chair. "Come on, we’re leaving." He received an angry glare from Kevin which he returned. Finally Kevin stood up and gave the table the best smile he could muster up.

"Happy Birthday, it was nice seeing you all."

Nick sat with his head down, refusing to look up at Chris or Kevin as they exited the restaurant. He was vaguely aware of people whispering and talking around him, but it wasn’t until he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder that he raised his gaze. He saw Christina at his side, a sympathetic expression on her face. She didn’t say a word, only turned him so that she could bend over to give him the hug she knew he so desperately needed.

"Thank you," Nick whispered softly. Christina kissed his cheek affectionately.

"It’ll work itself out Nick. I don’t know what happened, but what I see is so clear, and he cares about you so much."

"If he did, he wouldn’t hurt me so much." Nick whispered. He looked into Christina’s eyes and all he could feel was pain in his chest.

"He doesn’t mean to hurt you," the words weren’t even comforting in her own ears and Christina took Nick into her arms again. Everyone else at the table continued on with their conversation, not calling attention to the fact that Nick was dangerously close to falling apart.

Nick took a few deep breaths and nodded to his friend, indicating that he would be okay. She kissed his cheek one more time before going back to her own chair. It was Lance’s turn to visit his friend.

"Your present was awesome," Lance said softly. He knew that Nick wouldn’t want to talk about Kevin, so he steered clear of that topic.

"Sorry I wasn’t here to watch you open it," Nick said softly. Lance shrugged.

"It’s not important," Lance said honestly. They talked for a few more minutes until the waitress came with the cheque. No one would let Lance even look at it, citing that it was his birthday and he wasn’t going to be paying for his own meal.

"But I haven’t paid for anything today," Lance argued. When at the mall, Nick had gone to the booth that he knew Lance would be wanting something from and got him a snack. At the movies, it had been AJ who had paid for his ticket, while Justin had surprised him with popcorn and Christina had bought him a drink. Now, they wouldn’t let him see the bill and he felt awkward at all of the attention he had gotten.

"If I recall, on my birthday no one let me pay for anything," AJ said with a laugh.

"And same with us," Nick jumped in, pointing at himself and Justin.

Lance blushed, hugging each of his friends in turn. They paid for their meal and headed out to the car, putting everything into AJ’s trunk to go with their shopping purchases for the day.

"So, what’s next?" Emily said as she leaned comfortably against Kyle’s chest. The time was after eleven and there wasn’t really much else to do. Not to mention their curfews were almost up.

"I think I’m just gonna head home," Britney admitted. Almost everyone else had nodded their heads in agreement.

They all bid their good byes, climbing into their respective cars with promises to get together soon, and that they’d see each other on Monday. It was the best birthday Lance could ever remember having.

End Chapter 42


Chapter 43 >