Fanboy (boyxboy)

"I want to show you something."

"So I was thinking about Valentine's Day," Clay sat down across the table from Ashley. "I know it's like 2 weeks away, but what if-"

"I have a test," Ashley interrupted, uncapping another highlighter. "If this paper doesn't kill me first."

"Okay. You have a test on Valentine's Day?"

"The day after."

"That's okay, the day after is a Friday so what if we-"

"I have to work on Friday night and most of Saturday so whatever time is left I need to spend on my project for AP Bio," Ashley reached for a different color highlighter. "Sorry, can you go? I was up until 3 this morning trying to finish this after we finished texting last night and I still didn't get it done so..."

"You told me you were falling asleep," Clay frowned. "Why did you lie?"

"Because you don't understand. I keep telling you that school is everything to me and I have to work my ass off to get my grades higher than ever so I can get my scholarship and get into college but you just keep asking me to hang out or texting so I just said I was going to sleep because that's like one of 3 things you understand. Sleep, food and...yeah," Ashley started putting post-its all over the page in front of her.

"So I'm in trouble for wanting to spend time with and talk to my girlfriend," Clay decided not to point out how insulting it was to say he only understood 3 things. "Okay."

"Ugh. No. I knew you didn't get it," Ashley stopped what she was doing. "It's not that, Clay. I want to see you too, I just really need to get all of this done."

"Got it. No Valentine's Day," Clay stood up. "Text me later."

"Don't be mad."

"I'm not."

Actually, that was a lie. Clay was mad, but not because Ashley didn't have time for him. It was the way she treated him like an idiot. He knew all about her wanting to get good grades so she could get into college. They'd spent hours looking at all the different schools she was applying to and comparing them. It was actually how Clay found the few schools he thought he might be able to get into that he actually wouldn't hate. He would have to walk around with earplugs in and a bag over his head not to understand that all Ashley cared about was school.

Maybe the part he hadn't gotten was that she actually didn't care about anything else. She said she wanted to see him and hang out but lately it didn't seem that way. Especially if she lied about going to sleep. Why? Like he would care if she had more homework to do?

Clay decided he would just wait until Ashley texted him. Then she couldn't tell him he was interrupting or that he didn't understand. He also decided he had to do something for Valentine's Day that wouldn't get in the way of her test. It would be really stupid to think he could get away with not doing anything for Valentine's, even if Ashley didn't have time for him.

That afternoon he went with Bryce and Isa to do a community service project at the church. It was pretty much his only extracurricular so Clay invited himself every time and Bryce had finally stopped giving him crap about it. The best part was that they actually had a lot of fun, no matter what they were doing, and Clay couldn't remember the last time that he and his younger brother had something they really liked to do together.

"How do I look?" Isa smoothed his shirt down as they walked up to the building. "Am I good?"

"Yep. Me?" Bryce checked his reflection in his phone's camera.

"Yes, not that it's fair for you to ask," Isa rolled his eyes. "You either Clay, but you're good too."

"Remind me why it matters?" Clay grinned because he already knew the answer.

"Because. Lydia," Isa took a deep breath and opened the door for the three of them.

Lydia was one of the new church interns and she was, in Clay's opinion, way too hot to work for a church. Not that it was her fault he couldn't keep his mind out of the gutter around her. Lately she was in charge of the community service projects so they did see her a lot. As much as Clay loved to watch her, he really loved watching Isa around her more.

Sadly for Isa, they walked into the room that day only to see a different intern, some guy with a barbell through his ear, setting out supplies. Clay knew this was a big problem when Bryce looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Sorry kiddo," Clay teased, nudging Bryce.

"No, this is not...I don't want to be here," Bryce backed up. Clay looked over at the guy just in time to see him give Bryce a big smile. Interesting.

"Chill. He's not bad looking, right?" Clay knew that was kind of an understatement but he was trying to make Bryce feel better. "We won't tell Nick."

"Yeah, Skye's cool. He did this awesome teaching at Youth Night last week," Isa added. "You both should come next time."

"No way," Bryce shook his head. "I'm going to wait in the car."

"What? No. Don't be so weird," Isa rolled his eyes.

It was one of the strangest things Clay had ever seen. Skye did seem cool and he spent the whole afternoon trying to get Bryce to talk to him. Bryce was usually shy around new people but always relaxed once he got to know someone. That day he barely looked at Skye and answered every question Skye asked with one word. If it weren't for Isa, Clay would have been bored out of his mind packing the little hygiene kits they were putting together because Bryce wouldn't talk to either of them when Skye was close enough to hear.

"What happened earlier?" Clay asked Bryce once they were home, away from anyone who might be able to hear them talking.

"Nothing. I just don't like that guy," Bryce didn't look at Clay which wasn't like him.

"Okay, I mean, that's allowed. But why?"

"I think he's full of crap. Like he's not who he's pretending to be."

"Wow, what do you know?" Clay knew Bryce had to have a good reason. "Did you scroll back on one of his accounts and find a bunch of bad stuff?"

"No, but he deleted everything from before he got here," Bryce shrugged. "So who even knows."

"I delete all my stuff all the time," Clay reminded him. "I like a fresh start."

"You and half the world. That's not the point, the point is he...he's just a faker."

"You're like real upset about this."

"I get to be. Trust me on this one."

"Alright, alright," Clay could tell Bryce was done talking so he left him and went to his own room.

Flower was curled up on his sweatshirt, the only thing on the floor in his room that day. The poor old dog was still hanging on. It made Clay sad every time he thought about Flower dying. He scooped up the dog and stretched out on his bed, letting Flower curl up on his chest. The dog sighed but gave Clay a half-hearted lick on the chin before falling back asleep.

Clay fell asleep too and woke up from his nap when his father texted that dinner was ready. He hated to get up but carried Flower downstairs anyway. Eli had headphones on and was dancing in place at the stove. Bryce was at the table with his laptop, working on what looked like homework, completely oblivious to their father being so ridiculous.

"Why are you being so weird?" Clay asked when Eli slipped the headphones off.

"This song is everything," Eli reached for a plate. "Will you please get me a bowl for the rest of this?"

"Is that Uncle Dax's new album?"

"The special edition, yep."

"Of course, silly me," Clay got his father the bowl. "Why should you be forced to listen to the same peasant quality edition as the lesser fans?"

"Nothing Maddox touches is peasant quality," Eli turned back to the stove.

"You should be grounded for that kind of comment," Bryce was apparently paying attention to them after all.

"Which one of them?" Adam had just walked into the kitchen. He went right to Eli and kissed him. "Please say it's you. I have all kinds of punishment ideas for you."

"Dad!" Bryce slammed his laptop shut.

"I'm right here," Clay reminded their parents. "What is going on? You're both...too much right now."

"We're about to eat dinner," Bryce huffed. "But if you must know, it's because he lost 8 pounds and he's wearing the jeans from his denial box."

"Okay then," Clay rolled his eyes and went to sit down. "Maybe we should go spend the night with GrandRoe."

"I already asked, GrandRoe said it's fine but Pops shut me down."

"Why?" Adam asked before Clay had a chance to.

"Because I didn't want them to know what we were doing, but now that it's not a secret I guess they might as well," Eli sighed. "Everyone sit down."

"I think it's okay for them to know we're happily married," Adam took his seat. "No one needs details, but I don't want them thinking people don't have sex after a certain age"

"I hear you, but they don't need to run to their grandparents every time we have sex."

"Not as much as you want it lately," Adam grinned as Bryce picked up his plate, put his head down and set the plate back down, as if to hide.

"And then you wonder why I tried to kill myself," Clay shook his head but reached for the mashed potatoes.

"Too soon, Clay. And Dad, we're not coming home, you know. We're just going to move in forever," Bryce was still hiding under his plate.

"I have really, really bad news for you," Adam laughed. "Your grandparents have sex too."

"That's a lie," Clay shuddered.

"I promise they all do. Your Grandpa Warren's girlfriend just moved in, I'm sure he's doing a lot of that these days."

"Don't even start with Clara and Justin. The whole world knows they do," Eli added.

"I'm seriously the only one not having sex these days," Clay realized. "I miss it."

"Thank you for dinner, good night," Bryce got up and put his still clean plate on the counter. "Someone let me know when GrandRoe gets here."

"Bryce, sit down," Eli laughed but Bryce kept walking. "I'm sorry, Bry, we can behave."

"It's okay with me if he misses a meal," Clay shrugged. "I'm just barely taller anymore, I need all the help I can get."

"Which brings us back to your earlier comment. You're the only one not having sex?"

"Turns out when your girlfriend knows you once got someone pregnant she doesn't want to have sex with you."

"Fair enough, but are you saying...Bryce is?" Eli lowered his voice.

"Oh, no. Not that I know of anyway. But I'm pretty sure he's not. He would tell me," Clay wasn't completely sure about that but Bryce seemed to trust him with a lot of things.

"I kind of hope he's not, honestly. He should get to be a kid for as long as possible," Adam took a deep breath. "I know I'm crazy but I hope he really does make it to his wedding night."