It took every bit of restraint I had the next day to not dance out of the house, singing about how fucking great I felt and how great I knew I looked. Sure, I had been told many times before by many different people throughout my life that I was "cute", or "adorable", or even "beautiful". I saw how many guys at Babylon and on the street of Liberty Avenue had looked at me, along with hearing many of their suggestive comments about what they wanted to do to me, but knowing that Brian wanted me, even if it was for just one night, made me feel truly beautiful for the first time in my life. Sexy, even.

"You look self-satisfied," Daphne said to me after I climbed into her car to leave for school. "I'd even go as far as to say ‘supercilious.'"

"We all know you got 700 verbal," I said as she backed out of her driveway. "Stop showing off."

"And you got 760, yeah, yeah..." she said. "You didn't call me last night, you know."

I knew, because I was too busy formulating a plan. Once I had gotten inside the house after Brian dropped me off, I yelled a quick "hey" to my mom before running up the stairs, stripping off my clothes, and jumping into the shower. My dick had been at least half hard since Brian admitted to me in his classroom that he was attracted to me and I desperately needed to relieve it.

After jerking off while remembering the feeling of Brian's lips on mine and being pressed against his body, I tried to think of a way that I could see him outside of school again. I knew I'd be seeing him on Saturday morning when everyone involved in the Christmas play would be meeting in the school auditorium for the first full read-through of the script and I may have been able to get him to drive me home afterward. And although he had banished me from ever going to Babylon again, I was hoping that because we had gotten closer since he had told me to never return to the club maybe he wouldn't mind. As territorial as he seemed to be about Babylon, I was guessing that it was his usual stomping ground and I might just find him there later that night.

"It's not like you had to call me after you got home from your book club meeting or anything," Daphne said, "but you normally do to tell me about at least one brilliant or insightful thing that Mr. Kinney had said about whatever book you're reading."

I shrugged. "Brian gave us a new book to read and I couldn't put it down last night."

"Brian?" Daphne repeated.

Shit.

"Mr. Kinney," I corrected.

She looked over at me curiously. "Since when do we call teachers by their first names?"

I didn't want Daphne to know that Brian had given me permission to call him by his first name because that would have brought about a million questions from my extremely-nosey friend.

"I call him ‘Brian' in my head and it just slipped out of my mouth," I answered, not exactly lying.

"O...kay," Daphne said. "And what piece of literary masterpiece did ‘Brian' give you to read this time?"

"Lord of the Flies*."

"He's making you read a book about flies? Eww," Daphne said, fake-shuddering. "Once again, I'm glad I'm not in that stupid club."

I chuckled. "It's not really about flies; it's about a group of young British boys that are in a plane crash after escaping a nuclear warzone. They crash onto an remote island in the Pacific and-"

Daphne interrupted me by letting out a fake snore.

"Oh, shut up," I said, pushing her gently on her shoulder. "It may not sound as interesting to you as one of your Baby-sitters Club** books..."

"Hey, I stopped reading those years ago!" she said in defense.

"But you still have the whole damned series on the bookcase in your room," I pointed out.

"Not the whole series. There are over a hundred books in the original series. I only have, like, thirty of them, plus a few of the specials apart from the original series."

"I saw one of them sitting on your nightstand a couple months back, so don't pretend like you don't read them anymore."

Daphne responded by sticking her tongue out at me.

"I still love you, though... even if you do have terrible taste in books," I assured her.

As she and I later walked down the hall toward Brian's classroom, I had to bite my lips to keep from giving him a ridiculously huge, goofy smile. He was standing outside the doorway, as usual, dressed in a crisp white shirt, a red-and-black striped tie, and black slacks.

God, I could have ripped his clothes off and licked every square inch of him right there on the tile floor...

"Good morning, Miss Chanders, Mr. Taylor," he said to us.

"Good morning, Mr. Kinney," Daphne and I answered together before walking into the room.

Daphne then whispered to me, "Or, should I say, ‘Brian'?"

"Shut the fuck up," I answered through gritted teeth as we took our seats.

"You're so in love with him," she whispered.

"And I'm so going to find a new best friend," I joked.

******************

I put Phase One of my plan into motion as soon as I got home from school that Friday afternoon. I had already told Daphne that I had an assignment I wanted to get done that evening, so I wouldn't be able to come over and watch Some Like it Hot for the hundredth time. After hanging up my coat and dropping my backpack on the couch, I walked into the kitchen and found my mom at the breakfast table.

"Hey, honey," she said to me, only glancing up for a moment as she concentrated on several papers spread out in front of her.

"What's all that?" I asked her as I looked into the fridge for a bottle of water.

"Bills," she answered in a frustrated tone. "Money is going to be tight around here until I find a job and your father and I work out how we're going to handle our finances."

I pulled out a chair next to her and slowly sat down. I almost felt bad about the load of bullshit I was about to give her.

"Um... Mom, is it okay if I borrow the car for a few hours tonight?"

She pulled off her reading glasses and looked at me. "What for?"

"I'll use some of my allowance to put gas in the tank before I come home," I insisted.

She gave me a little smile. "That's okay, sweetie. I just want to know where you plan on going, since you normally ride with Daphne. Is she having car trouble?"

"No." I took a deep breath before saying, "There's a guy in my Economics class that was talking today about how he wants to see the new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie that opens tonight, but his girlfriend doesn't want to see it and he's been having trouble with his car lately. I knew that it wouldn't be the kind of movie that Daphne would want to see either, so I asked him if he'd want to go grab a bite to eat before going to the seven o'clock show with me tonight; if you'd let me use your car, that is."

"What guy?" Mom asked me a few seconds later, seemingly after sorting out everything I just threw at her. "Do I know him?"

"Uh... no. We've never hung out outside of school before, but I've known him for a few years."

"And since when do you like Arnold Schwarzenegger?" she asked with a chuckle. "You don't even like action films."

I shrugged nonchalantly, silently hoping that this wasn't going to turn into a game of Twenty Questions before I ultimately confessed to my ruse. "It's a sci-fi/action film. I saw the preview for it on TV and thought it looked interesting."

She shook her head in disbelief. "You know where my keys are... and drive carefully."

I stood up to give her a hug and a kiss on her cheek. "Thanks, Mom."

*******************

I walked into the Liberty Avenue Diner around six that evening, not surprised to see that it was busier than it had been on the afternoon Brian had brought me there after his father's burial. I looked around hoping to either spot Brian, one of his friends I had met at the funeral home, or Debbie the waitress. Every booth was full, but I did not see Brian's glorious face or awesome head of hair in the crowd.

"My, my," someone with a deep, but feminine voice said at my right side.

I turned to look at who it was and jumped a little when a tall drag queen wearing a curly brown wig and tons of makeup smiled down at me.

"Don't tell me you're all by yourself, baby doll," the queen said.

I smiled and looked at the name tag on the lapel of her baby blue, fifties-style dress, which said Kiki.

"Um... I'm actually looking for someone."

"Who might that someone be?" Kiki asked.

I bit my bottom lip as I continued to look at the people scattered around the restaurant. "Brian Kinney."

Kiki laughed. "Who's not looking for Brian Fucking Kinney? Am I right?"

Several patrons seated around us spoke up, agreeing with her.

I looked down at Kiki's red stiletto heels, her manicured toenails peeking out. "Well... have you seen him today?"

"No, but I'm sure that he and the boys will be around eventually," she said. "In the meantime, did you want something to eat? The Pink Plate Special today is a fish sandwich with fries and a side of creamy coleslaw."

"Sounds good," I said as Kiki led me over to an empty stool at the counter. She left to put in my order and I soon recognized Debbie's booming laughter coming from the back of the room.

I smiled over at Debbie as she walked behind the counter a few moments later.

"Sunshine!" she squealed.

"You remember me?" I asked in surprise.

"Sure! I could never forget a gorgeous smile like yours," she said as she reached over and patted my cheek. "Are you here all by your little self, honey?"

I tried to play it cool. "I was hoping to run into Brian, actually."

Debbie narrowed her eyes at me. "You were, were you?"

I took a sip of the Dr. Pepper that Kiki had brought me. "Uh... yeah."

She chewed her gum for a few seconds as she stared at me. "Huh."

We both turned to look toward the entrance when the bell signaling that the door had been opened chimed.

"Whoever told him that he looked good in those velvet bell bottoms is a fucking liar!" Brian's friend Emmett said to the two men following behind him.

One of the men I remembered from the funeral home as Ted. The other was the man of the hour: Brian Fucking Kinney.

Although I was hoping that Brian would come into the diner, I had not planned on what I would say or do if he actually did come. Now that he was there, I seriously debated jumping over and hiding behind the counter.

"Hey, Brian!" Debbie yelled as she pointed at me. "You have a visitor."

Fuck me.

I turned to look at him, giving him an awkward wave. "Hi."

Brian first looked at me in shock and then amusement. "Well, well, well. Mr. Taylor."

Emmett smiled as he walked closer to me. "Aren't you that cutie patootie from the viewing?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Uh... yeah, I guess so."

A booth behind me magically seemed to become available at that moment and Debbie directed the three men to take it as Kiki carried my food out to me.

"Bring his plate over here, Kiki, so Cutie Patootie can join us!" Emmett yelled.

I turned to see that Ted and Emmett were sitting on one side of the booth while Brian sat alone on the other side. I picked up my drink and placed it next to the plate Kiki had left behind before taking the available spot next to Brian.

"So, are you stalking me now?" Brian asked me.

I picked up my sandwich. "A man's gotta eat."

Brian snorted out a laugh as I took a bite. "And of all the places in town..."

"Where are Michael and Ben?" Debbie asked the group.

"Michael's closing the shop tonight," Emmett answered.

"And he said that he and the professor ‘might' join us later," Brian added, pivoting his body so that his back was against the wall. He placed his right foot on top of his left knee and as a result, his right shin was pressed against my left thigh.

"The professor?" I asked Brian, my face suddenly hot from the contact of our bodies.

"Michael's boyfriend is the English teacher from Carnegie Melon that I told you about, remember?"

I nodded.

"Since the two of them have been seeing each other though, they spend most of their free time between the sheets," Emmett said, wiggling his eyebrows. "I should know - I hear them going at it constantly."

I remembered seeing Ben at the funeral home and I wouldn't blame anybody, male or female, for wanting to fuck him as often as possible. Way to go, Michael.

"Did you introduce them to each other?" I asked Brian.

"No, I met Ben when I went down to Miami in November of last year for the White Party. Fags from all over the world fly in to attend that party every year, but two alumnus of Carnegie Melon somehow ended up meeting there, a thousand miles from the Pitts."

"You never told us you met Ben at the White Party," Emmett said.

Brian shrugged. "Anyway, Mikey bought a comic book store down the street a couple months ago and one day Ben walked in-"

"You fucked him, didn't you?" Ted asked Brian.

Emmett gasped dramatically, grabbing onto Ted's arm to brace himself. "You did! Otherwise, you wouldn't have even talked to him!"

Brian opened his mouth, taking a few seconds before he could form any words. "It... it's not a big deal."

"What's not a big deal?" Debbie asked as she carried over a tray with their drinks on it.

"Brian fucked Ben last year at the White Party!" Emmett shouted loud enough for the whole block to hear.

Debbie promptly dropped the tray, the three glasses shattering as they hit the floor.