True to You

Last Call

1999

Jimmy had never been happier. Not only did he have a girlfriend, he had a girlfriend who wanted to sex it up as much as he did. No body spray required although he did keep a can in his backpack for those moments when he and Brian wanted to create an impenetrable wall of 'teenage male' to conceal the scent of booze and cigarettes and yeah, maybe sometimes, dope too.

Damn it these were the best years of his life!

The only cloud on the horizon of his happiness was the timer that was ticking down on his time with Elliot. It wasn't long until she had to head back up to Seattle to get ready to fly out to Europe for at least a year. He wanted to ask her to stay but didn't want to be the reason that one day she'd regret not doing the photography course she was signed up for.

He took a long drag on his cigarette before pensively blowing out a series of smoke rings.

"What's up Jimmy?" Brian asked from beside him.

Jimmy forced a grin. "My dick."

Brian snorted and shoved him with his fist. "You're fucking hilarious. Seriously man, what the fuck's wrong?"

"Nothing's fucking wrong ass-munch except the fact that you won't join our band." Jimmy flicked ash at his best friend.

Brian rolled his eyes. "It's Elliot isn't it? This shitty mood of yours is all about her. That's why you look so fucking miserable."

Jimmy stubbed his cigarette out in the dirt at his feet and took a careful sip of his beer before he said, "I'm not in a shitty mood and even if I was it has nothing to do with your cousin."

"She's not my cousin." It was a reflex for him by that stage.

Jimmy gurgled out a laugh at that. Brian was never going to admit to anyone that Elliot was his cousin and Jimmy sure as hell wasn't going to point out that he'd heard Brian shout "Keep your hands off my fucking cousin!" at the asshole who'd grabbed Elliot on the beach that day all those weeks back.

"Okay then, the girl who is not your cousin does not have me in a shitty mood."

Brian sighed. "I fucking knew this shit would happen. You're all fucking worked up about a chick. She's going to be gone in a few days and you're moping around as if you're never going to have fucking sex ever again."

"Well I won't," Jimmy huffed out a despondent breath, "at least not until I see Elliot again." He meant it and that truly sucked. He really liked sex. But he also really liked Elliot and he didn't think he'd like sex half as much with someone who wasn't her. In fact he didn't even want to think about sex with someone who wasn't Elliot. So what completely sucked balls was the fact that once Elliot was gone he was going to wait until she was back before he had sex again.

"I fucking knew it!" Brian snapped his fingers and pointed at Jimmy. "You're as fucking whipped as Matt."

Jimmy flipped Brian off. "All the more chicks for you right Bri?"

Brian paused in the middle of lifting his beer to his lips. "Fuck. Why the hell didn't I think of that?" Brian smirked as he thought of all the girls in his future. "Still dude, you're all bent out of shape about Elliot. I mean I will concede that she is kinda cool but dude – it's Elliot."

"Hey!" Jimmy gave Brian a shove and he tumbled off the log they were sat upon. "Shut the fuck up. You're talking about the girl that I love."

From where he sprawled in the dirt Brian stared up ay him in wide eyed horror. "The girl you love?"

Shit. Had he really meant to confess to Brian that he was in love with Elliot? The warmth of the sun and the hint of an ocean breeze reminded him that maybe what he felt for Elliot was just a summer thing. Maybe once she was gone and the temperatures dropped he'd remember her with fondness as his first but nothing more than that. As quickly as the moment of introspection came it passed. Jimmy liked to consider himself a thinker but he wasn't an over thinker. His first instinct was that he loved Elliot? Well then, he was in love with Elliot.