In the middle of Des Plaines Illinois three boys find themselves in a tangled knot of angsty lust and amateur love.
Evan Webster has an average American life. When he isn't at swim practice or the movie theater, he's trying to make time to study bi...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Police stations, car dealerships, and furniture stores all had the same ambience. They were always too quiet, questionably clean, and had tasteless snacks in the back. Danny never trusted the people who worked in any of the three establishments because they were never on time and they always smelled like scentless shampoo. Which, contrary to its name, was not entirely scentless. And if you can't trust a man's shampoo, then why would you trust him at all?
"Alright, Herrera," the cop said. "Take a seat. Your father will be here shortly to pick you up."
"You called my father?" Danny panicked. Bones had been let go with a warning—he wasn't the one with the pregnancy test hidden underneath his coat. It was probably for the best anyway. Bones didn't deserve to get in trouble for Danny's idea.
"Yes. That's usually the protocol for minors. And since you are a minor, that is what I did," the man with the badge said. His mouth over-enunciated each word. "You can file all complaints in the cylindrical bin." And then he gestured toward the trash can as he left the room.
Danny slumped into the uncomfortable wooden bench, desperately thinking of a way to explain to his father that the pregnancy test was not meant for himself...or rather, not meant for a girl that was linked to himself. He couldn't decide what was worse – his dad thinking he got a girl pregnant, or his dad knowing he didn't like girls at all. The spectrum of sexuality was so unfairly ill-balanced for adolescents. Somehow, he was expected to simultaneously express and repress his sexual urges. It was such a fragile, tottering scale. Danny felt as if he might fall off and break himself at any second.
"So...What'd you do?" Danny heard from nearby. It was Jackson, sitting comfortably in a chair beside a cluttered desk. Danny could barely see his red hair behind the tall stacks of papers and folders.
The dark-haired boy leaned forward until he could see Jackson's entire face. "What're you doing here?"
Jackson stooped further, amused. "I asked you first."
Danny shifted in his seat and sighed, figuring he'd be sitting there for a while. He didn't really know Jackson that well, but he knew he could talk...nonstop – annoyingly. Danny figured he could help pass the time and ease his anxious mind.
"I got caught trying to steal a pregnancy test," he spoke. Jackson gave him a confused look, so Danny added, "For a friend."
Jackson popped his eyebrows. "Must be a damn good friend."
Danny gave him a slanted look, acknowledging the secret hanging between them. The two boys were existing on a fault line – propped up by tension and impending upheaval. A part of Danny hoped that the inevitable confrontation would uproot the memories of Evan living in his head. The blue-eyed boy constantly paraded down every avenue in Danny's mind, buying property at every corner and befriending the local demons. Danny thought the incessant memories of Evan would have been rattled by now, but an aftershock never came.
