"I want to kiss you again."
Jamie was driving Adrian home after the band practice, since his mom wouldn't let him get a car. Besides, it was one of the best things in the world, sitting in the front seat, messing with the music, bullshitting about life or sitting in happy silence. Adrian's begging for a car was no more than the obligatory, because he didn't want to give that up and drive alone.
They'd been sitting in silence for quite a while, listening to Blink, when Jamie said the words.
Adrian took a double-take. "What?" he said.
"Jesus," Jamie said. "No reason to get all weird about it. I just liked kissing you, before. And I want to do it again. We're best friends, right? And it's been, like, months since either of us had a girlfriend. I'm just saying."
Adrian found the lights brightening up the street suddenly very fascinating.
"I mean, it's not like we're gonna join the Gay-Straight Alliance or anything," Jamie said.
Adrian clutched at the subject of the Gay-Straight Alliance, a familiar life preserver in the ocean of confusion Jamie's desire to kiss him had abruptly dropped him in. "Yeah," he said. "They're here, they're queer, fine, nobody cares. Shut up about it already."
"Yeah," Jamie said.
The next thirty seconds that followed were easily the most awkward thirty seconds of Adrian's life. He was pretty sure that no experience would ever beat that thirty seconds, unless maybe his recurring dream of showing up naked in math class turned out to be prophetic.
Finally, Adrian cleared his throat. "Um," he said. "I'dliketokissyoutoo."
"What?" Jamie said too quickly.
"I would like to kiss you too," Adrian said. "Um, if you haven't changed your mind, I mean. In the last minute."
Silence. Then Jamie sighed in relief. Adrian hadn't realized Jamie had been holding his breath.
"'Kay," he said. "But I'm still straight," he added, apparently to prevent any confusion on that score. "I still like girls, yeah? It's just, like, physical. Two buddies blowing off steam."
"Yeah," Adrian said, the awkwardness diminishing by the moment.
"And there's not going to be any of that romance shit," Jamie said. "No hand-holding, no roses, no fucking long walks on sandy beaches in moonlight. Just—kissing."
Adrian nodded along. "I mean, even Pete has kissed guys. Gay above the waist and all."
Jamie momentarily grinned at the mention of his hero. Then he deflated. "Yeah, but he got married to Ashlee Simpson. What was he thinking?"
(Jamie was very depressed when he'd heard about Pete Wentz getting married, almost as depressed as the legion of Fall Out Boy fangirls infesting the hallways of their high school. He felt it was giving up the few shreds of punk credibility Fall Out Boy still possessed. Besides, it made it far more embarrassing for him to admit that he owned every one of their songs and had once driven three hours to go to their concert.)
But before Jamie got off on the topic of Pete's marital choices, a rant which could and had easily lasted until he dropped Adrian off, Adrian said, "So. Um. Are we going to do this now?"
"Yeah. I guess so." Jamie bit his lip. "Your parents home?"
"Yeah," Adrian said after a moment's thought. "My mom's cleaning the house. Dusting the tables, washing the walls, making sure the garbage can is clean enough to eat off of..."
"... tossing my invaluable signed Fall Out Boy shirt..."
Adrian rolled his eyes. "Listen, that was one time. And my mom apologized!"
"Three hours, Adrian. Three hours. And I don't even get to keep it for five minutes before your mom goes on a cleaning binge!"
It was an old and familiar argument, and Adrian enjoyed falling into his usual part. "You shouldn't crash at my place if you don't want my mom to go all Dirt Nazi on your ass."
"Invaluable." Jamie hit his palm against the wheel and accidentally honked. "Uh. Sorry?" he yelled out the window.
"Anyway," Adrian said. "My house is completely off limits."
"Why?" Jamie said. "She'd freak out?"
