Photo above - Ginny

**

Jason sobbed like a baby for the next five minutes.

I sat there holding him, letting him vent. I knew he'd been troubled about things, but I had no idea it was to such an extent. I was used to his getting crazy angry but I'd never seen him cry. Although he certainly had every reason to be upset and he needed to let it out.

Colt jumped over from the back seat and wedged in against Jason. The dog could sense something was wrong and he growled and whined as he frantically licked Jason's face.

We both sat there comforting Jason until he finally began to quiet down and the sobbing began to ebb.

"Maybe we should be on the down low," I whispered to him, "instead of putting our name up in lights for everyone to see. It's too much, dude. You can't take on the whole world. One man, even the two of us, can't change it."

"Somebody's gotta do it," he groaned into my right pec. "You saved my life the other night when Mark tried to kill us. It was like a miracle the way you did that. We're still alive for a reason. Now I gotta save yours. And ours. And everybody else's like us.

"Don'cha see, Johnny?" he went on, frantic. "Everything's changed. We're not even the same dudes we were a few days ago. Our lives will never be the same. Our futures are up for grabs. And we can never go back. We can't lay low. We gotta jump high and freakin' dance in the end zone because that's what we always did. That's what we do."

"Oh jeez, Jason." I kissed his forehead and Colt shot his tongue over to lick his face too. "C'mon, get real. We're not characters in a Shakespeare play or an Emily Bronte novel. We're just two dudes trying to find our way in the real world."

"Bullshit."

He pushed up and looked at me, his eyes an icy cold blue, the warmth I'd always seen in them now gone. He swiped a fist at the remnant of his tears.

"We're just like them, Johnny. Romeo and Juliet were kids, probably younger than we are. Catherine and Heathcliff, too, when they first fell in love. And they were all fighting a world that didn't accept them and their love for each other. Same the fuck as we are. And I don't want it to goddamn destroy us like it did them."

He grabbed my chin with his hand and kissed me hard and hungrily on the mouth. Then he gripped Colt's collar to hold him down and pushed open the passenger door. "I'm gonna put Colt in the back yard," he grunted. "Go in and get my mom. She wants to come with us. I have to go in back and rearrange the fuck out of myself."

Jason pushed at Colt and the dog jumped out to the driveway, and he followed. I watched him walk around the front of the car to the gate leading into the fenced-in back yard. He opened it and Colt flew in, obviously happy to be home. Then Jason walked in after the dog and closed the gate behind him.

"Holy shit," I groaned, pulling the keys out of the ignition.

He was fucking right. We were just the same as the characters in that classic Shakespeare play and the iconic novel Wuthering Heights. Young lovers in a world dead set against our being together. Hatred and bigotry pushing to keep us apart and putting our safety and our lives in danger. And I sure as hell didn't want our story to have those same unhappy endings either!

***

When I came back out with Mrs. Landon, Jason had backed the big Lexus out of the garage and was sitting behind the wheel with the motor running, waiting. He smiled at us, looking every bit as happy as if he'd just won the Heisman Trophy.

Yep, he'd sure done some serious rearranging.

I helped his mom into the front passenger seat and then climbed into the back behind her as Jason slouched over to kiss her hello.

"You boys both look so nice," she said, giving us both admiring glances.

"You look pretty good yourself, too," Jason acknowledged, his eyebrows bobbing.

Which was a total understatement. In skinny denim jeans and a flower-patterned fitted top, she looked as hot as the sexy hotties in our senior class.

She cleared her throat. "And it's so nice to see you two with clothes on."

I snorted and started laughing. But Jason looked at her, wide-eyed and innocent, and asked, "Whaddaya talkin' about?"

I bit my tongue to keep quiet. I wasn't going to interfere in this one.

Jason moved to shift the gears into reverse but his mom put her hand on his arm to stop him. "Wait a minute. Don't play dumb with me. I'm talking about all those naked pictures of you boys online."

Jason sat back and groaned. "Oh c'mon. They're perfectly legal. They don't show anything objectionable."

"That's not the point," she argued. "They are very suggestive of what's not being shown. And they're sexy as all hell." She looked back at me and winked. "Especially Johnny's."

Jason gaped at her. "Wha ... what the heck? Why's he sexier than me?"

"Because he's not my son and I can look at pictures of him with a little different perspective than yours. The point is, you're riling up all these modern young girls who adore gay boys with these incredibly sexy pictures of you two gorgeous hunks. And that's not cool, Jason. Plus everyone in creation is sending in their own naked selfies. With the football, of course, hiding the objectionable parts. If you were adults it'd be different. But you boys are still teens, and so are most of the others joining you."

Jason blew out an exasperated breath. "But mom ... "

"I don't want to hear any buts," she stopped him. "And don't tell me there's far worse on the Internet that anyone can find in a few seconds. You two are the ones doing this and you're my boys. So it's my job to tell you to stop it."

"She's right, dude," I said. "We should've given it more thought before we did it."

"Okay. Okay," Jason gave in. "I just wanted everyone to pay attention."

His mom laughed at that. "Silly boy. They'll still pay attention to you and Johnny if you have pants on, or at least underwear. Please! No more naked pictures. My friends in the Christian Ladies Guild are ready to string me up."

"Oops." Jason shrugged his shoulders. "I forgot about them."

"I'm sure they think you're the devil's accomplice at this point," she said wearily. "I've had lots of phone calls about it, believe me. But I understand what you're trying to do and I agree with it. But you don't have to do it naked."

"Gotcha. No more naked selfies." Jason reached to shift gears, but his mom stopped him again.

"Wait. One more thing."

There was a peculiar tone to her voice and it made me cringe. Jason just looked at her expectantly, but I knew it was going to concern us and was afraid it was going to be something awful. And I was right.

"Mark Rydell's car was stolen last night," she said. "You know, that big yellow monster he drives around like a maniac. It was taken right from that big garage they have, that old converted barn, security system and all. The police are mystified because the alarm should have gone off in the garage and the one on the car too, but neither did.

"And," she looked back at me and then over to Jason again, "the car was found this morning near Portsmouth, down on the Ohio River. It was at the bottom of an old sandstone quarry, about seventy feet down, a total wreck. It had been set afire and pushed into the hole."

Jason and I didn't dare to look at each other. I don't think we could've without giving ourselves away. He had to be surprised that she suspected we knew something about it. I certainly was.

"Wow. Somebody sure had it in for him," was all I could think of to say.

"Serves him right," Jason growled, looking away from his mom, straight ahead at the garage. "He's a total asshole. And that car with him behind the wheel was a safety hazard to everyone in the county anyway."

"Yah, at least it's gone before he hurts somebody with it," I said, relieved to know we wouldn't have to worry about it any longer.

"I'm assuming you boys had nothing to do with it?" Mrs. Landon asked.

Jason laughed at her. "Of course we did. We broke into that garage without tripping the alarm, got the car going without setting off its alarm, drove all the way down to Portsmouth, set it on fire, then pushed it into the quarry. Then we ran all the way home. It's only about fifty miles. Hell, we need the exercise for football training anyway."

Mrs. Landon was looking patiently at her ornery son. I grabbed him by the neck and shook him. "Be nice to your mom, dude!"

"Oh, all right. I'm sorry," he said to her. "Yes, we had nothing to do with it. We don't know the first thing about car theft. And that car was beautiful, anyway, a classic, even if it was dangerous. We could never destroy something like that. We're not the only ones Mark's had problems with."

Mrs. Landon nodded. "Okay. I just needed to hear you say that. Your dad called me from Columbus to tell me about it. His agency has the policy on the car and it's insured for a ton of money. So it'll be a big payoff for the company."

Jason gave her a knowing look. "They sure don't like to pay out those big amounts."

"Right, which is why they may come around asking questions. If they think there's any foul play, they're sure to look into it."

"Does dad think we had something to do with it?" Jason asked.

She shook her head. "I doubt it. He didn't suggest it. I guess he knows how difficult it is to steal a vehicle like that under those conditions. Obviously it was done by experienced professionals."

No shit. Very experienced professionals. As we finally got on our way to the square, all I could think about was the police asking Jason and me questions about the car theft. I sure as fuck didn't want to lie to the police, but we'd have to. Hopefully, if Mark was stupid enough to suggest that we might have something to do with it, the authorities would figure we were just too young and inexperienced to pull off a crime like that.

Just what we needed, huh? One more crazy-ass thing to worry about.

But it didn't seem to be bothering Jason. He had his game face on. I'd seen it plenty of times. He looked as confident and cool as Captain America, and even sexier. You'd never know he was boiling up inside with fear and worry.

The square wasn't far from the Landon house and we got there in a couple minutes. Jason drove around the big center block right up in front of Starbucks and parked the flashy SUV at the curb by a crosswalk. There was a low stone wall dividing the street from the big patio in front of the stores, and it was a No Parking zone. But Jason didn't care. He believed he could do whatever he wanted when he was in his Jason Quarterback persona. When he stepped out of the Lexus the huge crowd on the patio began to scream and shout, nicely reinforcing that belief for him.

I chuckled to myself as I opened the back door. I'd better get my head into a Johnny Football frame of mind real quick.

I climbed out and the cheers got even louder. I opened the door for Mrs. Landon. "Here we a-go-go," I laughed.

She winked at me conspiratorially as she stepped out. "I know. This ought to be fun. See, they like you, too."

"Jacey! Jacey! Yay Jacey!

It seemed ridiculous to me, but there were a couple hundred people at least, probably more, all yelling and shouting. Most of them were the pre-teen and teen girls, the gushy teenyboppers, but there were a lot of boys too, which surprised me, and many adults. Jason waited for us at the front of the SUV, waving, and as we met him there he took his mom's hand in his. I had a hold of her other one and, together, we walked through the break in the wall by the crosswalk onto the patio and into the throng.

They surged at us like we were rock stars, a whole sea of humanity. It was probably the biggest gathering of people ever on the square in little boondocks Kenton. The first thing I noticed were the cheerleaders in their green and white outfits. It looked like almost the whole squad was there, and three of the cheer boys were present too. Led by Ginny, they were chanting their favorite cheer they used when Jason and I were struggling to score. It had been slightly altered now especially for us:

'We want a touchdown

Bring it on in

Pass it, move it

We want to win

Jacey! Jacey!

We're on that line

We want a touchdown

One more time!'

Cell phones and cameras were whirring and clicking. There were so many familiar faces. Half the football team was there, at least, standing behind the cheer squad as they performed. Danny was with them, and Dino and Ernie and the twins, too. I felt so proud of them, that they'd come and joined in to be a part of it when they had their own little secrets to protect.

'Jacey! Jacey!

We're on that line

We want a touchdown

One more time!'

I looked over at Jason and knew he was having trouble now forcing his big happy smile. The way he'd been talking lately that he didn't give a fuck if he'd be playing football or not, I knew that was all a big sham. Bravado talking. Playing football was a major part of his life. I knew he'd miss the absolute crap out of it. This had to be killing him - the crowd, the noise, the cheer, the excitement, everybody trying to get at us. It was a good thing Mrs. Landon was with us. Otherwise I'm sure we would've been trampled.

Suddenly Dino had a football. He signaled to Jason, stepped back from the others, and threw a beautiful high-arcing pass. The cheer squad started chanting:

'Jason Quarterback

Get that ball!

Jason Quarterback

Get that ball!'

Jason dropped his mom's hand and jumped up to nab the ball as easily as if he'd been born doing it. Then the cheer squad shouted:

'Johnny Football

 Catch that pass!

Johnny Football

 Catch that pass!'

Jason looked at me and winked. He had the ball in his right hand and he pulled his arm back, ready to throw.

I dropped Mrs. Landon's hand and started running. Playing football with Jason, catching his passes, that had been my whole life the last two years. That's how I'd loved him and made love to him up until a few days ago. Blatantly, I knew now, fooling nobody, right out in the open in  front of everybody.

And here I was going at it again.

He threw the ball in a high spiraling arc and I ran.

The crowd parted like the Red Sea as I barreled through them, dodging chairs and tables, a planter filled with bright red geraniums, and an evergreen tree that seemed to suddenly jump out of nowhere. Behind it was the low brick wall that surrounded the patio and I had to jump up on it, catch the ball up there, hood it to my chest, and jump down the other side without falling and breaking an arm or a leg.

Which, amazingly, I managed, but I slammed right into a group of ladies, five of them, standing in front of the Apple Store holding homemade signs.

The crowd had all turned around to look that way and they were all cheering and shouting and screaming in one big fan-gasm. Lots of 'Johnny! Johnny!' and 'Jason! Jason!' and 'Jacey! Jacey!'  I pumped the ball up into the air and twerked the little dance I always do in the end zone after scoring. After, of course, I extricated myself from the arms and limbs of the ladies.

"Sorry gals!" I turned back and grinned at them, feeling like a total idiot.

That's when I saw what their signs said. They were the Christian Ladies Guild members, Mrs. Landon's so-called friends. The messages on the signs were awful. I couldn't help gawking at them as the crowd roared on behind me.

One stated, 'Homosexuality is an abomination of the Lord!' with a string of Bible verse numbers trailing after the words. There were the incredibly ridiculous ones, 'God Hates Fags' and 'Gays Go To Hell'. And another one said, 'Like Lot's wife, sodomites will be turned to stone.'

Ohmygod. Were they freakin' nuts or what? And they were looking at me like I'd just dropped down from the planet Mars. Like they wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole if their lives depended on it. I wanted to group hug them and push them all right through the big plate-glass windows of the Apple Store.

I totally fucking lost it. "It's salt." I shouted at the one with the sign about sodomites. "Lot's wife was turned to salt, not stone. Jeezus, even I know that and I'm not a Christian. That's the trouble with you fanatics. You don't even know what the hell you're talkin' about ..."

Somebody grabbed me from behind and pulled me roughly around. I thought it was a man and I was ready to smash him in the face with the football. But it was Ginny, her yellow eyes flashing, her long blonde hair flying as she pulled me forcefully away from the ladies.

She threw her arm around me. "Don't pay attention to them, Johnny."

Then she glared at them and let them have it. "Why don't you idiots go back to your  church and have a fucking bake sale or something? You have no business being out here in the real world where real people deal with real issues and learn the fuck to live with them."

**

Next chapter - Ginny reveals her true self as the rally on the square progresses.

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