True to You

He Watches, He Waits

1999

Making your move was easier said than done.

Especially when each and every one of his friends was cockblocking him, intentionally or not. Jimmy knew that at least Matt's efforts were unintentional and were more a case of misguided efforts to help. Sure it was a great idea to get Val to invite Elliot to the beach and then make sure that Jimmy came along as well but there were at least two problems with that plan. The first was that everytime Brian heard about a day at the beach, and no one was trying to keep secrets from him, he'd come along as well and his very presence was a cockblock of the highest order. The second was that although Jimmy had not one problem in the world with making an idiot out of himself, he'd already reached the stage where public humiliation pretty much rolled right off his back, he didn't want his attempts to move things to the next level to publicly embarrass Elliot. If she wasn't interested he'd prefer to keep the awkwardness just between them.

Matt's efforts might have been well meaning but Jimmy couldn't say the same thing for Zacky. It seemed that Zacky's crush on Elliot had not abated one little bit, even with his recent focus on quantity over quality, and he was as eager and heedless in his attempt to make his move as Jimmy was reluctant and cautious. Zacky was Jimmy's friend so he tried hard not to be too pleased when Zacky's efforts yielded a kind rejection from Elliot and a vicious shove in the chest and a warning to 'stay the fuck away from her' from Brian.

Even with his inability to move things along with Elliot Jimmy couldn't deny that he was having the summer off his life. Brian's birthday arrived and with his new status as a legal adult his parents had given up any pretence at control. Haner senior had come to realise that it wasn't a case of Brian looking out for Elliot but Elliot, as the more responsible of the pair, attempting to keep Brian from actually being caught doing anything too illegal.

Brian's birthday dinner was ... different. Quiet. Sedate. Civilised. Not at all what Jimmy would have expected from his best friend. However all things considered it was easy to understand the reason for the lack of loud music and kegs of beer – over and above the fact that at eighteen neither Brian nor any of his friends were legally allowed to drink. It was a family event and by family that meant grandparents, both sets of parents and step-parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and most important of all, in Jimmy's opinion, Elliot.

Of Brian's friends the invitations had included Jimmy, the Matt's and Zacky. Not to forget Val. Apparently although Elliot had asked that Michelle be invited and Brian hadn't objected Michelle was sulking and informed everyone that she planned to spend the night hanging out with their friend Henry from school instead. It was clearly an attempt to inspire some level of jealousy in Brian. Her whole plan was a waste of time in Jimmy's opinion; he was almost one hundred percent certain that a) Brian didn't care and b) Henry was gay.

Jimmy was on is best behaviour, only taking occasional sips from his hip flask when no one was watching. Brian occasionally sidled up in pursuit of the occasional nip but as he was deep in the bosom of his family there was no way he was getting his hands on the flask in Jimmy's pocket, not to mention the ones carried by the Matt's and Zacky, without a good look out. Any slips and they'd all land in trouble. It was far more simple for the girls to access the bottle secreted in Val's purse; Val and Elliot periodically slipped away to the ladies room and no one was any the wiser. Chicks had it easy, everyone expected them to go to the bathroom in pairs.

Still even with their half-hearted attempt at teenage rebellion - after all it wasn't as if a pocket sized flask of tequila was going to get them wasted and Jimmy had a suspicion that Brian's dad knew exactly what they were up to in any case – his friends had made an effort and scrubbed up nice. Val seemed particularly impressed by the sight of Matt in a button down shirt and a pair of dress pants.