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"Now?" asked Alex. "I'm supposed to be working."

"You haven't punched in yet."

"All the more reason to keep moving so I don't lose my job."

"I don't think this will wait."

"Why not? You certainly didn't want to talk when I wanted to."

"I wasn't ready."

"Oh, I see. So it's all about you?"

"Bullshit!" said Delos a little too loudly, drawing some glares. "That's so fucking selfish of you. It's always been about you: every single time. Just once it was about me, and you're being a total dick."

"I have to work. If you really want to discuss this, now is neither the time nor the place. I get off at midnight. Meet me then."

"Jesus fucking Christ. I cannot believe you," yelled Delos drawing stares and also the notice of Alex's manager who quickly headed over in their direction.

"Please, move out of the way."

"What's going on here?" asked the manager, a tall, thin man, who looked like a stereotypical goth except for his bleached blond hair.

"Sorry, Max. I was trying to get in to punch in, and Delos seems to want to have a discussion right this minute. I've told her twice that now isn't the time."

"I see. Punch in and get to work before I have to write you up," said Max in an unhappy tone. His tone changed to unfriendly when he addressed Delos, "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store. You can't shout offensive language so the entire store can hear." Max knew if someone complained to corporate, it was his ass on the line.

"You know what? Fuck both of you!" exclaimed Delos, bursting into tears and running for the door.

Alex looked back at her, thinking of chasing after her. He didn't want it to end this way, but he knew it would be his job and he needed his job.

"Get a move on, Maitland."

"Sorry, Max. Women are so confusing. You have no idea."

"Oh yes I do, believe me. The whole lot of them are insane. That is the only reason you even have your job after that little scene. Besides, whether or not you like the idea, I can assure you it's not over until she says it's over. That should give you something to look forward to."

Alex punched in and went to work, but he was miserable the whole shift. His mind was elsewhere and he spent most of the time sorting and organizing shelves and sections, and doing his best to avoid actual customers. He was mostly successful.

Finally his shift was over, and he was thrilled to be going home. Tomorrow was his last day before the big trip. He had no idea how he'd get any sleep between his irritation with Delos and his excitement over the trip. He was glad the heavy rain that started falling midway through his shift had stopped.

He went out, got on his bike, and headed towards home. As he did, a heavy drizzle began, not soaking him but making him wet enough to be miserable. He darkly thought it was appropriate because it matched his suddenly blackening mood.

As he rounded the corner and onto his block, a car sped by, tires running through a puddle and soaking him to the bone. His mood grew fouler as he imagined it was somehow intentional. He tried to focus on the trip to lighten his spirits, but it wasn't working.

He got home, and quietly as he could, supposing his mother to be asleep, sloshed his way inside, removing his shoes immediately so as not to track mud all over the house. If his mother weren't home, he'd have taken off all his clothes, avoiding the trail of water drops he knew he was leaving behind. He made it to his room, and shucked everything off immediately. He went straight for the shower to help remove the chill and hopefully warm his spirits as well as his body.

He took an extended shower, cleaning himself, and, due entirely to his foul mood, skipped any pleasurable activities he might normally partaken of. When he came out of the shower, he got dressed, and bent over and pet Kitty who was sleeping contentedly in the dead centre of his bed.

Alex stood listening to the rain, that continued to grow in intensity until it was a full-blown storm: the rain continued to pelt the roof and windows. There was the occasional sound of distant thunder as well. It was oddly unsettling and soothing at the same time. He stared into space, lost in his thoughts, for several minutes before he was able to gather himself. He glanced around his room and saw a note from his mother next to the computer, and went over to read it. The note said Delos had called several times and wanted Alex to call as soon as he got home from work no matter how late it was.

Alex thought about it and was unsure if he should call and get it over with or not, because he imagined it wouldn't be pleasant. He was certain the subsequent over-analysis would keep him up all night. It was really a no-win situation, either way would end unhappily for him, but he felt a guilty twinge from his conscience, and so he decided to give it a go.

Alex picked up the phone and dialled Delos' number. She answered before the first ring completed, indicating to him that she'd been waiting for his call.

"I'm sorry," she answered before he said a word and before she even said hello, "about what happened in the bookstore. That wasn't necessary."

Alex was in a fighting mood, so he began testily, "Thanks for the apology. I almost lost my job because of you."

"Calm down. I'm trying to be nice."

"Delos, at this point that isn't the answer. Really. I'm angry about what happened the other day. You basically raped me. I may have responded physically but I didn't want my first time with a girl to be like that. That's really fucked up. Then you ignored me when I tried to talk about it. Then you came to my job and almost got me fired. That's fucked up. Don't tell me about fucked up," shouted Alex in as soft a voice as he could manage.

"No! What's fucked up is you saying Nicky's name instead of mine. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?"

"I'm not sorry for that, Delos. I'm not. I can't be. I wish I could make you understand. I have lots of emotional issues. I know and accept that. But I can't help how I feel even if I hate talking about it."

"You really hurt me," she repeated for emphasis.

"I could say the same thing. Sex should be a product of love and mutual agreement. It should be special. When it's not, it breaks apart friendships."

"That's not true, Alex!"

"It isn't? Look at our nearly life-long friendship disintegrating in front of our eyes. You've thrown it all away because you wanted to make me yours. We should still be friends and now we're disintegrating because you're jealous of Nicky."

Delos didn't reply. He heard heavy breathing and knew she was silently crying. He felt a little bad, but he didn't feel guilty because she'd created this mess.

"Say something or I'll hang up," said Alex realizing that was harsh even by his standards, but he really wanted to make sure Delos understood the gravity of the situation.

"Can't we sit down and talk? How about later in the week?"

"I won't be here. I'm leaving for about a week. When I come back, if you want to and you're up to it, we can talk but I don't think I'm going to be any less angry. You really scrambled my brains by doing that."

"I just don't understand. I really don't understand. Most guys would really enjoy something like that."

"This isn't about enjoyment and it's obvious you don't understand. Why don't you think about this? You already know I'm not most guys."

"Where are you going and when will you be back?"

"I'll be gone a little over a week. I'm not answering the other bit. I'll call you when I return, if you want."

"Please. Don't let it end like this."

Alex was quiet for a moment before he answered with a sigh. "Okay. I'll call you when I'm back. Bye," said Alex and abruptly hung up the phone before Delos had a chance to say more. He was angry and upset, but felt he'd got the upper hand and perhaps even made her understand what was going on in his head. He realized he wanted to talk to Gavin but knew it was too late for that.

His only alternative was sleep. So, with that, he prepared for bed, and hopped in moments later. Sleep did not come easily. Alex tossed, turned, and was horribly uncomfortable. He didn't fall asleep for some time, and when he did it was a fitful sleep. When he awakened the next morning, he was tired and sore and felt like he hadn't slept at all.

His mother was knocking on his door soon thereafter. "Alex, hurry up. I want to talk to you before your trip. We need to finish discussing the details."

"Okay, mom. Give me ten minutes, please."

"Make it five. I'll be waiting in the kitchen."

Alex padded downstairs and into the kitchen, dressed but grumpy and still out of sorts after his horrible, restless sleep. "Okay. I'm here," he said stating the obvious.

"I spoke with Mr. Michaels while you were at work."

"Really? What did he want?"

"He's going to send a car for you and Gavin tomorrow around ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

"And?"

"That was really all. He didn't say much else, which I found a bit unusual. At any rate, if anything unusual happens, I want you to go right to the US embassy if you can. If you can't get to the embassy, call, the police." She slid Alex a piece of paper.

"What's this?"

"It's the addresses and phone numbers of the US embassy in London and also of the one in Hong Kong. Keep it with your passport. I hope you won't need it, but something just doesn't feel quite right. I doubt you're in danger, but we really need this financial burden lifted, so we're going to do this and be as careful as we can."

"I know mom. I promise I'll be careful. Besides, Gavin will be with me. I doubt Mr. Michaels would do anything stupid if I'm around his son."

"Those were my thoughts as well, but you can never be too careful."

"Anything else?"

"I want you to call every day. If you miss calling any day, I'm going to call the local embassy here. We wouldn't want that, would we?"

"No, we wouldn't. We're in total agreement on that, Mother."

"You'll be gone for work before I get home and I'll be asleep when you get back. So unless you want me to wake you up tomorrow to say goodbye, I won't see you again until you return."

"Okay. I'd rather sleep if it's all the same to you."

"That's fine. I understand. Did you and Delos manage to patch things up?" his mother asked as an aside.

Alex thought about offering an indignant response but instead said simply, "We spoke last night for awhile and agreed we'd talk after I got back."

"So you told her you were going to London, then?"

"I told her I'd be out of town for a week. I didn't give her any details," said Alex. "Okay. Enough with the twenty questions."

"Alright, then. Have a safe trip," said Amanda, gathering her things and as she was leaving added, "There's breakfast left over if you're hungry."

"Thanks, Mom," replied Alex with enthusiasm he didn't feel. Sometimes he wished things were better between him and his parents. This was just such a moment, everything felt so cold, clinical, and emotionless. He had matured in the past few days. He realized now with an awakening insight that some of the problems that existed between them were of their own making and could be fixed if they made an effort.

Alex spent some time finishing up e-mails, and checking his packing one last time. He got ready to go to work, then spent a few moments playing with Kitty. She enjoyed playing fetch with her Bizzy-Balls. The cat tired of it before Alex did, so he went off to work, arriving a good ten minutes early. He punched in and went right to work. Despite the events of last night, he was in a relatively good mood. He did some stocking, helped a few customers, and cleaned up the stock room, which looked like it had been hit by an earthquake.

It was time for his break and he had just punched out to run out and get a Slurpee at the nearby Seven-Eleven when Max, who was just punching in, called to him, "Can I see you a minute?"

"I already punched out, but sure. Wasn't today your day off?"

"Yeah, it was supposed to be. Sit down," said Max, seating himself at the same time. "I got a call this morning from corporate. They said one of our customers witnessed an employee and his girlfriend having a loud, profanity-laden argument in the store. I tried to tell them I wasn't sure who that could be, but they were having none of it. I was told to either find and discipline the person or lose my job. Alex, I have to let you go. I'm sorry."

"That's fucking great," muttered Alex.

"I hope you understand."

"Yeah, whatever. I know it's not your fault, but do you have any idea how much we need this job just to eat, to pay our bills, and just keep from being thrown out on our asses?"

"I'm sorry," said Max sincerely. He wished he had some other alternative. But if it was a choice of Alex or him, he wasn't risking his own job.

"I'll pack my shit and get out of here. This really sucks."

"Look. I'll punch you back in and out again at closing. At least you'll get paid for the whole day."

"Thanks, I guess. It sucks to be me, as always and evermore."

Feeling very sorry for himself and thoroughly abused, Alex went straight home and dumped his stuff on his floor, not even bothering to care. He fired up his computer, to finish off his email. His first, to Delos, was a diatribe about how he was fired and it was all her fault. Alex's first thought was to address it as "Dear Mouldy Cunt" but he decided that was a bit too much.

He knew being alone until ten tomorrow just wouldn't be good. He wasn't sure what to do. He called Gavin. "Hey Gavin, what're you doing?"

"You know, all that crap around the house my mother wanted done before I could leave."

"It's dinnertime! You mean you still aren't done?"

"I didn't get up until after noon. A late start, you know?"

"You want some help?"

"No, I don't think Mom would appreciate a friend over."

"Do you want some help, please?"

"Ooooookay. Is everything all right?" asked Gavin in response to the pleading in Alex's voice.

"Not really. Delos got me fired from my job."

"Oh, man, that really sucks. Let me talk to Mum. I'll call you in ten."

"Okay."

A few minutes later the phone rang when Alex answered, Gavin blurted, "Look, she really wants me to finish this alone..."

Alex sighed. He was miserable and sinking fast.

"... but," continued Gavin, "she said you can come over when I'm finished. If you want to spend the night, just bring your stuff and we can leave from here."

Alex felt relieved almost instantly. "That's great. When should I come over?"

"Mom said she'd pick you up in about two and a half hours. I'll come with her. If you haven't eaten, well get pizza on the way home."

"Great!"

Alex played with Kitty a little, listened to some music, and paged through the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine while waiting. After tiring of that he turned on the television, but there was nothing diverting. He turned off his computer, cleaned up the mess he'd made of his room, and wrote his mother a note explaining where he was and telling her goodbye. He closed the door to her room and taped the note to the front so she couldn't possibly miss it.

Soon Gavin's mother was outside. She tapped the horn once, gently, and Alex went out, locked his front door, and got into the car.

"Hello, Mrs. Michaels. Where's Gavin?"

"I dropped him off at the pizza place to order. They normally deliver but they said their driver called in sick today. We'll pick him and the pizza up on the way home."

"Thanks for inviting me over."

"No worries at all."

They picked up Gavin at the pizza place, and soon they were in Gavin's kitchen eating the delectable Hawaiian pizza. Normally not Alex's favourite variety, he had to admit this was absolutely stellar.

Mrs. Michaels spoke up. "Alex, we've got the guest room made up. But you're going to have to share Gavin's en-suite bathroom – the guest bathroom is having some work done on it, and there's no water."

"That's okay. I don't mind," said Alex, hoping Gavin didn't mind.

"I'm going to bed. I'll see you boys in the morning. I'll have breakfast ready a bit after eight. The car should be here a bit before ten."

"Thanks, Mum."

"What are the bathroom arrangements, Gavin? I like to shower before bed if that's not an inconvenience."

"Not at all. I do it in the morning, anyway. I'm going to go right to bed. Just do your thing and be quiet when you leave so you don't wake me." Gavin showed Alex where everything was, handed him some towels, and promptly began changing for bed. Alex went into the bathroom and showered, brushed his teeth, and even shaved for good measure.

He snuck out quietly, noticing, indeed, Gavin had already passed out. Alex got into his bed, a pullout sofa bed and promptly fell asleep despite his anxiousness to the contrary.

He was brought back to consciousness when he heard a knocking on his door and heard a female voice, "Breakfast in fifteen minutes!"

He got up, got dressed, and had to go to the bathroom. He went over to Gavin's room and knocked on the door.

"Yes, Mom? I'll be ready in five more minutes."

"It's not your mom. It's me, Alex. Can I use the bathroom?"

"Sure. Come in."

Alex entered, shut the door behind him, and saw Gavin standing there, wet, naked, and drying off with a towel. His eyes nearly fell out.

Gavin noticed Alex's reaction. "Sorry. I should have more consideration." He wrapped the towel around his waist. Alex wanted to tell him not to, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. Instead, he went into the bathroom, shut the door, and performed his morning ablutions. When he came back out, Gavin was fully dressed.

"Sorry about that, Alex. Really. I could tell by your reaction you were a bit shocked."

"Yeah. But it wasn't in a bad way. I didn't mind, really."

Gavin tried to hide a sly smile as his heart beat a bit faster. "Cool. Really cool."

"BOYS! GET DOWN HERE BEFORE YOUR FOOD GETS COLD!" shouted Abigail Michaels at the top of her lungs.

They both went downstairs and inhaled the food with almost no words spoken. It was the typical teenage feeding frenzy. Alex looked at the clock and noticed it was only half past eight.

"Gavin, you make sure you call home every day. Twice if possible. If anything goes wrong in Hong Kong, you call the local embassy. And, Gavin, this is important: I want you both to be safe – you're responsible for Alex while you're with him."

"Yes ma'am. I promise I won't lose him or drop him in the sewer."

"Don't get smart with me," said Abigail a smile on her face. "Get your things and put them by the door. The car will be here soon."

She got up, and gave Gavin a hug and kiss, causing him to flinch and be embarrassed because no teenager wants his friends to see any parental affection.