"Thanks!" he replied and backed up, even though her boobs were quite nice. "You're a good dancer too!" he yeled.

A grin played across Leah's lips. "You're sweet!" She leaned into him again, this time resting her hand softly on his arm. "You know, I never would've guessed you were gay."

Jason wasn't sure how she meant that. Was it a compliment or a put-down?

"Did you ever try girls?" Keesha asked, apparently overhearing Jason and Leah.

"Yeah. Before Kyle I had a girlfriend for two years," he yeled to the group.

"You're bi?" Evie said. "That's cool."

Jason shrugged and sipped some of his Coke. He didn't realy like to label himself as "bi" because it made him feel like he didn't belong in either group, straight or gay. Besides, he was boyfriends with Kyle, so didn't that mean he was gay? He wanted to ask Evie and Keesha more about how they dealt with their "heteroflexibility." Were they stil attracted to guys? Did they feel like they fit in with hundred-percent lesbians?

"When was the last time you were with a girl?" Leah shouted.

From her coy smile Jason got a strange sense of where that question was headed and he didn't want to pursue it. Instead he glanced away toward the crowd, hoping Kyle would appear.

"I hope you don't mind my asking." Leah leaned into his shoulder as though they were intimate friends. "I'm just curious. I guess I'm weird that way." Later, Jason would realize that this would've been the moment to excuse himself and get the heck away. But at the time it seemed like leaving her would be like agreeing she was weird. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, especialy since she obviously liked him.

Fortunately, the song changed and Keesha yeled, "Let's dance! I love this song." She led them al back to the dance floor and Jason sighed with relief at having dodged the Leah bulet. But where was Kyle? Why was he taking so long? And where had Nelson gone?

Jason was about to tel the girls he was going to look for his friends when the music changed to a slow song. Evie took hold of Keesha and Leah leaned into Jason.

Without even asking if he wanted to, she suddenly had her arms wrapped around him, slow-dancing. He could smel her spicy citrus perfume.

Jason hadn't slow-danced with a girl since nearly a year before-at senior year Homecoming with Debra. Leah's soft warm body pressed gently against his and he decided there was nothing realy wrong with just dancing. And it wasn't his fault Kyle wasn't around.

He gazed over Leah's shoulder at Keesha and Evie. As they danced, they started making out again. Jason's throat tightened as he watched. His heart beat faster.

Then Leah tilted her face up to him, gazing into his eyes, her lips a little apart.

Oh, crap, Jason thought. Why was she doing this?

And next thing he knew, her moist lips were reaching up and resting on his.

They only kissed an instant before Jason puled away. "Look, I can't." He slid out from her arms. "Sorry." Without waiting for a response he turned, muttering under his breath. Why had she done that? And why had he done that?

At the edge of the dance floor he spotted Nelson and Kyle staring at him. Jason's heart dropped to his stomach.

Casualy, he walked over, praying they hadn't seen him. "You guys ready to go?"

A flicker of pain crossed Kyle's face and his tone was definitely angry. "What were you doing?" Jason bit into his lip, then answered, "Nothing." His voice sounded false, even to him.

"Tel me what happened," Kyle insisted, his voice breaking.

Jason gave a groan of resignation. "She made a pass at me and I walked away. That's al!"

"Ew!" Nelson butted in.

Jason wanted to slug him.

"You smel like her perfume," Kyle said, his voice ful of hurt. "What did you do with her? I want to know."

"Nothing, I told you. She kissed me. That's al. You saw me walk away, didn't you?" Shouldn't Kyle feel proud of him for that, instead of griling him?

"Then why'd you let her kiss you in the first place?"

"Because you weren't around!" He immediately realized that hadn't come out like he meant it.

Kyle's mouth drooped into a brooding look. "I want to go!"

"What about Arturo?" Nelson asked, but Kyle was already storming out of the club.

On the drive back to the campground none of the boys spoke. Nelson was pissed because he'd missed out on getting naked with Arturo. Kyle was ticked off at Jason. And Jason was equaly PO'ed at Kyle.

When they got to the campsite and climbed from the car, Jason tried to put his arm around Kyle and accidentaly brushed his cheek. Was it damp? Or was it just Jason's imagination?

Kyle puled away. "You need to figure this out!" His tone left no doubt he'd been crying. He bent into the tent and gathered his sleeping bag, dragging it out. "I'm going to sleep in the car."

"Kyle, you're being ridiculous." Jason grabbed his arm, trying to stop him, but Kyle puled away again, climbing inside the car.

Jason sat on the picnic table and stared at the car, frustrated by how unreasonable Kyle was being, and angry at himself for getting into this mess. Finaly, he crawled into the tent.

Nelson yawned. "I guess it's just you and me tonight, huh?"

Jason undressed and slid into his sleeping bag, ignoring him, but Nelson kept at it. "I can't believe you kissed her. That is so totaly ew!"

"Shut the hel up," Jason muttered.

"Oh, yeah." Nelson yawned again. "I'm so scared."

Jason wanted to shove his pilow over Nelson's face, but soon his thoughts returned to Kyle. Didn't he realize how much Jason loved him?

chapter 24.

Nelson hardly slept that night, roused time and again by Jason's snoring.

"Hey, Pavarotti, rol over!" he grumbled and lay awake, thinking about the past day's events.

He'd liked the heteroflexible girls and had had a fun time dancing with them.

He wished he'd been able to get naked with the boy he'd met at the club, mucho yummy Arturo. But at least they'd been able to make out a little. And what an awesome kisser!

Then there was the incident of Jason kissing the skeezer. Nelson understood Kyle's fury at Jason. Nelson would be angry too if his boyfriend did that to him. But Kyle had known Jason was confused about girls before they'd become boyfriends. Jason was now probably going through one of those insecurity things by which bi guys reassured themselves they weren't completely gay.

But of course Jason was gay. Nelson had told Kyle that Jason was a closet case long before Jason even showed up at the queer youth group meeting.

Why would Jason have become boyfriends with Kyle if he wasn't gay? Kyle could give Jason the masculine affection no female could compete with. So why was Kyle taking on such a jilted wife role, complete with drama-queeny exit from the tent to sleep in the car?

Nelson turned to face Jason, sleeping inches from his face. The more time he spent with the big dolt, the more he was growing to like him. Not that he'd ever admit that. He'd always thought Jason's thick eyebrows were sexy, and he loved the olive color of his skin. His shoulders stuck out of the sleeping bag, broad and muscled. His lips looked so tender and inviting. Nelson realy couldn't blame Leah for going after him.

An idea began worming its way into Nelson's brain. Kyle had always said Jason was a great kisser. What would it feel like to kiss him now? Sleeping soundly as he was, would Jason even notice?

Jason gurgled a snore, rattling Nelson back to sanity. Was he nuts? He drew a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He'd better get laid pronto and stop lusting after his best friend's boyfriend or this trip was realy going to turn into a disaster.

Rather than wake Jason from his snoring, Nelson left him alone. He decided it was better to lie awake wanting to clobber the noisy goon than hoping to ravish him.

And with that thought, he somehow fel asleep.

The folowing morning Nelson awoke to find Jason's sleeping bag empty. No doubt he'd gone to shoot hoops. Although Nelson didn't envy Jason's dedication, he admired him for it.

Nelson emerged from the tent, curious how Kyle had made out in the backseat of the car. When he saw Kyle was stil sleeping, he tried to extricate his toothbrush, soap, and towel from the front seat as quietly as possible.

Nevertheless, Kyle blinked awake, groggily glaring at his watch. "I'm so exhausted. I couldn't sleep out here." He gazed toward the tent and whispered, "Is he awake?"

"You mean the skank? He's shooting baskets, I think. I couldn't sleep either. I kept having to tel him to rol over."

"Get used to it," Kyle replied, climbing out of the car. "'Cause I'm not sleeping with him anymore."

"Kyle, I think you're overreacting. You knew Jason liked girls when you met him. Just because he hit on some blondie doesn't mean he's dumping you. You're just cheesed off because you can't control him."

"You know, I'm realy getting sick of your control crap." Kyle slammed the car door.

"Wel, you are controling," Nelson said. He grabbed his cel phone and set off for the bathroom, dialing his mom as he walked. Big mistake. She yeled at him for not caling back the previous day after she'd left a message.

Nelson sat on the toilet seat, listening to her rant and wishing he could dump her into the bowl, though not realy. He knew she cared about him or she wouldn't give him such a hard time.

He stood up from the seat, done with his stinky business, and cupped the phone beneath his chin while he reached for the rol of toilet paper. As he did that, the smal metal phone slipped out from beneath his chin. Immediately, he grabbed for it, his fingers brushing the metal, but he missed.

The phone plunged directly into his morning labors. Plop!

"Damn it!" Nelson banged the butt of his hand against the stal partition. "Damn it!" He stared at the sunken phone at the bottom of the bowl. "Damn it! Damn it!" He stomped his feet, debating. Should he stick his hand in to get it back? How nasty was that? He'd be touching not only his own germs, but those of a milion other people who'd ever ... yuck! Besides, he wasn't about to use that phone again. It probably wouldn't even work anymore.

As he puled his shorts up, trying to decide what to do, someone shuffled into the stal next door and farted. Oh, great.

Out of frustration Nelson reached for the toilet handle. He'd just flush the stupid thing and buy a new one. But what if the phone clogged the toilet and flooded the entire bathhouse?

Besides, with the car repairs and al the money he was spending on this trip, he couldn't afford to buy a new phone. And this one might stil work. Once before it had gotten wet in a rainstorm-though not this wet.

Holding his breath, Nelson leaned over the bowl and extended his arm, his fingers breaking the cold water.

"Gross, gross, gross," he muttered to himself, as he deftly plucked the metal phone from its resting place.

He let out his breath and quickly bundled the phone in toilet paper to dry it off. Flushing the toilet, he tried to decide: Now what? Should he wash it?

He couldn't use it like it was. Since it was already wet, a little more water couldn't hurt. He carried it to the faucet, soaped it up, rinsed, and held it beneath the hand dryer til it was fuly dry.

Now, the test. As he left the bathhouse, he pressed the ON button and waited. Nothing. He tried again. Stil nothing. After al that? Crap.

At the campsite Kyle and Jason were sitting at opposite ends of the picnic table, eating their bowls of milk and cereal, not speaking.

"Can I use the phone?" Kyle asked. "I want to cal my mom."

Nelson sat down between Kyle and Jason. Should he tel them?

"It's not working," he said simply. "See?" He pressed the ON button again but the phone failed to light up.

"What happened to it?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know," Nelson lied.

"Wel, here." Kyle reached for it. "Let me look at it."

Nelson lifted the phone away from his grasp. Even though Kyle was pretty good at fixing things, shouldn't Nelson first tel him where the phone had been? But how could he?

Silently he handed the phone to Kyle.

Kyle puled the battery cover off and set it next to his cereal bowl. "It's wet. How'd it get wet?"

"I don't know." Nelson looked beyond the picnic table, avoiding Kyle's gaze.

"Nelson, what did you do to it?"

"Nothing."

"Nelson!" Kyle's voice rose with annoyance. "Would you just tel me what happened?" Nelson glanced at Kyle, then at Jason, unable to keep his secret any longer. "It fel in the toilet."

"Oh, gross, man!" Jason bolted up, yanking his cereal bowl and spoon off the table.

"Why didn't you tel me?" Kyle asked, glancing down at the phone in his hands.

"I washed it off with soap," Nelson said lamely.

"This is great." Kyle dropped the phone onto the table and wiped his hands across his shorts. "Not only don't we have enough money, now we don't have a phone."

Nelson stared down at the ground, feeling like a total dumb-ass. How would they manage?

None of the three boys said much after that. Each sulenly roled up his own sleeping bag. They took down the tent and packed up the car.

"I'l drive," Nelson offered, once they were ready. "Where are we heading today?"