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CHAPTER 9:

"And you lived to tell of it?" Linda asked as she splashed another bucket of water across the
hood of her car.

"Yeah. I guess Kevin and Dave had it figured out. Apparently their stupidity is mainly for
show." Steven said.

Linda laughed. Then she asked, "What about their friendship with John?"

"They'll be walking on eggshells for a while. Maybe more like barefoot on broken glass. I
don't know."

"Are you sure it was OK to leave John alone with them?" Linda asked.

"I'll ring later. If he's not around, I'll tell his parents to look for freshly dug holes on their
property."
___________________________________________________


The conversation had moved into Steven's bedroom. They had assumed their usual positions.

"Let me get this straight," Linda said. "As far as you're concerned, it's on with Randy. But he
thinks you're Jessica's boyfriend. And it's off with John. But you just spent the afternoon in
his arms. It must be nice to have such a complicated love life."

"It has it's drawbacks. And I didn't spend the afternoon in his arms."

"Steve, sweetheart, what are you going to do about all this?"

Steven got up and started to pace in the space between his bed and his desk. "Bloody hell! I
don't know. I'm in love with Randy. I don't not love John. But it's different with Randy."
Steven looked out his window. "Still, it just kills me to think that if John were like this a
couple of weeks ago, we'd still be together."

"Steven," Linda sat up, "listen to what you're saying. John is like this now. So why can't you
be with him now?"

"God, Linds, it's not that easy. I know I'm Basingstoke's most notorious fairy, but I can't just
wave a magic wand over the last couple of weeks and make it like they never happened."

"Oddly," Linda said sadly, almost as if speaking to herself, "Randy seems to have
accomplished just that amazing feat."
___________________________________________________


"I need to take care of a bit of female stuff. I'll leave you two to get better acquainted," Jessica
said to Steven and Randy as she got up and left the hospital room.

"Randy, do you remember the first time you met me?" Steven asked.

"It's all pretty fuzzy, Steven. I think you came here the other day with Jess. Right?"

"Randy . . ." Steven wasn't sure if he should proceed. "I want to ask you something. I just
don't want you to get upset, or go leaping out of your chair or anything. I don't want to be
responsible for your premature demise."

"It's cool, Steven. What do you want to know?"

"Randy, are you . . . are you gay?"

"Jess told you!" Randy said.

"You told me!" Steven insisted.

"I told you?" Randy asked, surprised. "When?"

"At bowling," Steven prompted.

"Bowling? Shit! I remember now!" Randy said, excited by the new memory.

Steven beamed and leaned forward expectantly.

Randy said slowly and thoughtfully, "I was going to go bowling with Jess, and meet some of
her friends." Then he added with a shrug, "That's funny, I can't remember actually doing it."

Steven fell back into his chair.

"Why did I tell you I was gay?" Randy asked.

"Because I'm gay," Steven said, still hoping to trigger some recollection.

"Does Jess know?" Randy asked.

"Of course," Steven said.

"That's weird," Randy said. "Why would Jess want a gay boyfriend?"
____________________________________________________


Steven and John lay on their backs in a 'T' formation on Steven's bed. Steven used John's ribs
as a pillow. John enjoyed the renewed familiar affection with Steven. Although he
feared the frustration of wanting more would overwhelm the nascent pleasures of this
friendship. "Just one more chance," he kept hearing the echo of his own voice in the rain.

"It's just too bloody weird," Steven complained. "He sits there with that bloody tube sticking
out his head, happy as can be, talking and laughing, clear as a bell. Then when I mention
anything about the time we spent together he goes blank. Knowing him, he'll probably want
to keep it."

"Keep what?" John asked.

"That thing in his head. He'll be the first student at Boston University with a pierced skull."

John smiled, laughing to himself, and shook his head. The fact of the matter, though John
dared not speak it, was that John envied Randy. For Steven's love, of course, but even more,
he thought shamefully, because Randy was not awake to the knowledge of what he was missing.
John said, "Steven, maybe he could fall in love with you all over again."

"There's not time," Steven whined. "I haven't had half an hour alone with him since his
surgery. And his parents are flying him back to Boston in a few days. I guess they're going to
put him in a hospital there for observation and tests, or whatever, and then send him home."

"Hang on, Steve. I've got something." John got up and left the room.

A minute later he returned carrying a box. He handed it to Steven who was sitting on the
edge of his bed. "Just a little something I got for Randy. I was hoping you could pass it along
to him."

Steven opened the box. "I don't believe it."

"I'll tell you one thing," John said, "the clerks in this town are thick. You tell them you want
to buy a gay teddy bear, and they look at you like you came from another planet."

"You didn't?" Steven looked up at John.

"Not exactly. But I did go on quite a bear hunt to find the little bloke."

Steven lifted the bear out of the box and examined it. It was a twin to the bear sitting beside
him on his pillow.

"Sad thing is," John said, sitting down next to Steven, "now he won't get the joke."

"No," Steven shook his head. "Still, he'll love the bear. He wanted mine, but I wouldn't let
him have it. I was going to give it to him as a surprise, just before he left. Now . . ." Steven's
voice trailed off as he leaned his head wearily onto John's shoulder.