He was never a big smiler. "But remember to keep up your practice. You been practicing every day? You need to stay in form for next season. Did you already practice today?"

"Um, not yet. Actualy, I'm on lunch break from my job."

"Wel, come on." Coach stood up from his desk. "I'l give you a workout to do on the road. You can always find a court somewhere." Jason folowed him eagerly. The thought of stopping at a court every day to do what he knew best made the thought of traveling to unknown places feel a lot more comfortable.

During the next few minutes Coach led Jason through a series of individual drils. He began with a warm-up of dribbling, bal handling, and then some defensive slides. A series of toss-and-square shooting folowed: straight-up jump shots, crossovers, spins, and step-backs. After each shot Jason was to chase down the rebound and put it back in with a power layup, then jog back out and toss it again.

"Make sure you give the toss plenty of backspin," Coach said. "So it'l bounce up nice and easy, and you can run onto it just as you'd catch a pass." Jason nodded and tossed the bal out a few feet in front of him with an upward flick of his wrists. He stepped forward to catch the bal, pivoted, and swished a jump shot.

By the time he returned to work, Jason was embarrassed by how sweaty he was, but fortunately his supervisor didn't notice. Nevertheless, he stayed in the mail room the rest of the day, memorizing the workout he'd gotten.

The other person Jason wanted to see before leaving was his ex, Debra.

Blond and beautiful, she'd been Jason's first love and first sexual partner. But from the start he'd secretly wanted to be with a guy, too. Eventualy he'd realized he wasn't being fair to her. Yet even now, months after they'd broken up, the bisexuality thing stil confused him. He continued to find girls attractive. And sometimes he deeply missed being with Debra.

"Oh my gosh!" She gave a crazy laugh when Jason now told her about the road trip one evening. "Nelson's going? I can just picture the three of you. That's going to be very interesting."

The cryptic way she said that made Jason squirm on her sofa.

"I can just imagine," she continued, "him in some bitty hick town with his milion earrings and purple hair."

"Pink," Jason corrected. "Now he's dyed it pink."

"No way!" She giggled again. "You're going to have a blast. I wish I could go with you. How's it going with Kyle?"

"Okay. Good." Jason stil felt uncomfortable talking about his boyfriend with his ex-girlfriend, but he was glad she asked about him.

"Wel ..." She grabbed hold of Jason's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Remember to be patient with one another. There wil probably be lots of times when you guys get on each other's nerves."

'Yeah, "Jason said agreeably, feeling her soft fingers in his hand. He missed her warmth, her gentle touch, her understanding-al so similar and yet so different from Kyle's.

As they said good-bye, he wrapped his arms around her and she embraced him in turn. Her rose perfume brought back memories as she planted a tender kiss on his cheek.

That evening Jason sorted through his clothes, trying to figure out what to pack. Meanwhile his sister chattered and played with assorted Barbies, trols, and Beanie Babies she'd carried onto his bed.

"Here." Melissa handed Jason an Asian Barbie. "She wants to go with you on the trip."

"But won't she miss you?" Jason smiled and tried to hand the dol back, but Melissa wouldn't take her.

"Nope, she wants to be with you for when you get lonely."

"Okay," Jason agreed, though he had no intention of actualy taking the dol. How could he possibly be lonely with Kyle and Nelson around? But he played along, figuring his sister would forget about it later.

He set the dol on his desk chair, recaling Nelson's Aladdin dol, which led him to think about Debra's comment about being patient "when you guys get on each other's nerves."

Jason was glad to be taking time to say good-bye to everyone, but with each encounter, he was having more second thoughts about the trip.

chapter 9.

On his next morning off Nelson took his car to the service center for its checkup. Not til lunchtime did they finaly inform him that the car needed new front brakes (the scraping sound) and a right axle (the rattle). They couldn't figure out the shrieking noise at ignition but suggested a tune-up and oil change. When the attendant quoted him the total estimate, Nelson made his own shrieking noise.

Panicked, he phoned his mom. "They told me it'l cost five hundred and thirty-seven dolars!" In a low voice he added, "I think they're trying to rip me off."

"No," she responded. "That sounds about right. Cars cost money."

That wasn't the response he'd expected. "Wel," he said in his sweetest possible voice. "So ... like ... um ... wil they bil you?"

"Not me," his mom replied. "As you said, it's your car."

"You mean I have to pay for all that? Can't you at least pay half?"

"No. You decided you didn't want to start colege next year and you wanted to work." That wasn't exactly true. Putting off colege had been his idea. Making him work had been her idea.

"I gave you the car," she continued, "and I'm paying the insurance. As far as I'm concerned, I'm already doing more than enough."

"But this is a chunk of change, Mom. It's half my savings."

"Nelson, you decided you could afford to take time off work for this trip."

As she spoke Nelson realized what this was realy about. "You just don't want me to go, do you?"

"Wel, it doesn't sound like you're in a financial position to."

"Thanks a lot, Mom." Nelson hung up on her, steaming. Why was she being such a witch? First she'd begun charging him rent because he hadn't wanted to go to colege yet. Now he had to pay car repairs, too?

He thought about caling his dad and asking him for the money, but then the old fart would talk to his mom and Nelson would end up getting blamed for upsetting her.

Grudgingly, Nelson told the attendant to make the repairs.

That night his mom asked, "Is everything okay with the car now?'

"Yeah," Nelson grumbled. "But I stil think they're crooks."

His mom offered no sympathy. "We got new health insurance cards in the mail. Here. Make sure you carry it with you on the trip."

"Mom, nothing's going to happen! Would you stop worrying?" But he took the card anyway.

The evening before they were to leave, Nelson picked Kyle up at his house. They loaded Kyle's stuff in the car and said good-bye to his parents. Then they drove to Nelson's to spend the night, so Kyle could help him pack.

"You're so good at anal stuff like that," Nelson reasoned. "And besides, without you how am I going to get up so early?" They listened to CDs, deciding which ones to take on the trip, as Nelson danced around the room, plucking clothes from drawers and tossing them onto the queen-size bed while Kyle neatly folded them.

"How much are you taking?" Kyle asked. "There's not going to be any room for Jason's stuff."

"Good." Nelson grinned. "The less clothes he wears, the better."

Kyle did not return Nelson's grin.

"Just kidding, Kyle. That's why I need you-to help me decide what to take. It's hard being a supermodel." While Kyle sorted out priority piles (definitely, maybe, and why this?), Nelson kept tossing stuff on the bed in between phoning friends to say good-bye.

Around nine o'clock Jeremy came over. So far he'd been the only boy Nelson could claim to actualy have dated during his otherwise patheticaly love-lacking life.

But Jeremy was HIV positive and Nelson was HIV negative. They'd both decided the difference in status was too big an issue between them, but they also liked each other too much to stop being friends. And at moments Nelson wondered if they stil couldn't somehow make a relationship work.

Now Jeremy handed Nelson a gift-wrapped box. "I tried to think of something just right for your drive through the sunny South." Nelson tore off the wrapping and opened the box, revealing a vintage pair of sparkling 1950s women's cat's-eye sunglasses. "Woo-hoo!" Nelson jumped up and down, snapping his fingers. "Multi-multi snaps!" He put them on and smacked Jeremy a kiss. "What do you think, Kyle?" Kyle glanced over from the piles of neatly folded clothes he'd organized. "I think they go great with your hair. The rednecks wil love them." Nelson gazed into the mirror, admiring the union of pink and green. "They do, don't they?" Near midnight Kyle finaly convinced Nelson that no more of his stuff would fit into the car, and Jeremy yawned that he needed to go home.

Both Nelson and Kyle hugged him good-bye, then Kyle unroled his sleeping bag beside Nelson's bed.

"You don't have to sleep on the floor," Nelson told him. "You can sleep with me. Atticus can sleep on the floor." Atticus was Nelson's black Labrador, currently lying on the bed.

"I want to try out my sleeping bag," Kyle replied. "I don't mind."

"Whatever," Nelson said, a little disappointed. When Kyle returned from the bathroom in his pajamas, Nelson had stripped down to his underwear and was puling them off.

"Nelson, what're you doing?"

"Sleeping nude, like I always do."

"Since when?"

"Um, a while," Nelson said. "You can too if you want. I don't mind."

He'd seen Kyle in his underwear before, but had always been curious to take things to the next level.

"No, thanks," Kyle said, climbing into his sleeping bag.

"Oh, Kyle. You're such a prude." Nelson fel into bed beside Atticus. "I guess it's just you and me, pup. Our last night together." But Atticus jumped to the floor, curling up next to Kyle's sleeping bag.

"Hey, where are you going?" Nelson protested.

"I set the alarm for seven," Kyle said, turning off the light. "Good night."

"Hey, Kyle?" Nelson whispered across the dark. "You think Jeremy and I could somehow make things work?"

"I think you should move on to someone else," Kyle whispered back.

"Yeah," Nelson said sarcasticaly. "Al those hunky guys knocking down my door are starting to wear me out." Kyle yawned. "You'l find someone."

Nelson closed his eyes, thinking about the trip, and wondered, Will I?

chapter 10.

Next morning Kyle woke an hour before the alarm, too excited to sleep longer. He was about to spend the next two weeks with his boyfriend!

On the bed Nelson puffed sleepy breaths in harmony with Atticus. Kyle roled his sleeping bag into a neat bundle, grabbed his clothes, and padded quietly down the hal to shower.

When he emerged from the bathroom, Mrs. Glassman's bedroom door had opened. Already dressed, she propped the last of a half-dozen throw pilows onto her bed.

"Good morning!" She smiled at Kyle. "How'd you sleep?"

"I woke so early, I guess I'm pretty excited."

"I bet you are. I don't suppose Nelson's up yet. How about you and I have some breakfast?" Kyle recaled Nelson saying his mom wanted to talk to him. While Mrs. Glassman prepared eggs and turkey bacon, Kyle toasted muffins and poured their orange juice. At seven the radio alarm began blaring music upstairs, but the sound elicited no stirrings of life.

"Nelson!" his mom shouted out the kitchen door.

No response.

She shook her head and sighed at her uneaten muffin.

"You know ..." Her eyebrows rose trustingly toward Kyle. "I'm only letting Nelson go on this trip because you're going." Kyle hadn't realized that, but it didn't surprise him. She'd often told him how glad she was that Nelson had him as a friend.

"I know how responsible you are, Kyle. Promise me you'l look after him, okay?"

"Oh, he'l be al right." Kyle tried to sound confident, though in truth he worried about Nelson nearly as much as she did. Eager to end the conversation, he told her, "I'd better wake him up."

As Kyle entered Nelson's bedroom, Atticus lifted his head off the bed to greet him, tail wagging to the radio. But Nelson stil lay beneath the sheets, oblivious to the music.

"Hey, come on!" Kyle shook Nelson's shoulder. "I told Jason we'd be there by now." That evoked merely a grunt. Only after Kyle tickled Nelson's ribs, yanked open the window blinds, pounded him with a pilow, and jumped on the bed did Nelson finaly sit up, shielding his eyes from the sunlight. "Al right already!" He blinked at the clock. "Why'd you let me sleep so late?"

"Yeah, right. Hurry up!" Kyle handed Nelson the big mug of coffee he'd brought up and grabbed the phone to cal Jason.

"Hey, wha's up?" Jason asked. "Where are you?"

"Trying to get her majesty out of bed."

"He's not going to pul this al trip, is he?" Jason grumbled into the phone, so loud that Kyle puled the receiver away from his ear. "Tel him he'd better get his butt in gear."

"That's royal butt," Nelson corrected, carrying his coffee to the bathroom.

Meanwhile Kyle crammed his sleeping bag and pilow into the packed car. Even at this early hour, the August sun had already begun shining ferociously, though rain was forecast. When Kyle returned upstairs, Nelson stood in front of the ful-length mirror, wearing Jeremy's dark glasses and buttoning a baggy Hawaian shirt emblazoned with bright blue ocean waves and huge red hibiscus flowers.