Jay leaned back as quickly as he could to the other end of the couch. He groaned out loud at the pain that shot through his body. His chest felt like it was an egg about to crack, and his head pounded like the drums at a Black Sabbath show. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Maybe, if he just kept his eyes closed long enough, Stacy would disappear and it would be as if the whole thing never happened.

"What the fuck just happened," Stacy said shrilly, sinking in to the chair opposite the two boys. Sid just shook his head. He couldn't form the words. It was too much. There weren't going to be enough of them. He could feel it.

"Nothing, man," he heard Jay mumble from the corner. Sid could almost see him standing there, hands in his pockets, to grinding some invisible dust even deeper in to the carpet. Sid opened his eyes and stared at Stacy, praying that he wouldn't ask questions that Sid didn't know the answer to.

"Doesn't look like nothing to me," Stacy said angrily. "Look, I just want some answers, okay? What the hell is going on? I get a call from Tony telling me to come by and look in on Sid, telling me that he was awake and finally up, though he still looked like he ate it pretty fierce. And I come over and find the two of you…whatever. So just tell me what the hell is up. I'm not stupid, you know."

"We know that," Sid said quietly. He looked to Jay, hoping that Jay would have something to say, something that would make everyone else feel better. But Jay wouldn't look up from the carpet. "Jay…" Sid employed, but still all he could see was the glistening blonde hair.

"Jay?"

"Look, dude, I don't know what you want me to say. You saw what you saw. And yes, it was what you saw." He stared Stacy down, his shame suddenly replaced with a fiery anger that neither of the boys had seen since Donny had left Jay's mom, giving him nothing but that stupid surf board, as if that was supposed to make everything better. Stacy looked from him to Sid, back to Jay and back to Sid, as if he was following some kind of silent tennis match. The blonde, who had never been very good at keeping his feelings internal, began to blush as the full realization of what was happening took over.

"So you two are…"

"Yeah."

"How long?"

"I don't know, man. A while."

"Why?"

This question stopped both of the other two boys in their tracks. They didn't know what to say. They looked at each other and Sid gave a half-smile, as much as he could when his mouth was basically swollen shut and his eye was, as well. Jay smiled too and took a half-step towards the couch. Sid felt tears spring to his eyes at the gesture. He wiped them away as quickly as possible. It was bad enough that they were having to have this conversation. The last thing he needed to do was be accused of being girly, too.

"You know how you went years and years of looking at Tony's sister and then, all of a sudden, BAM. She'd grown up, you'd grown up, and she wasn't the same girl we used to chase around on our skateboards anymore," Sid said, not taking his eyes off of Jay.

"Yeah…" Stacy replied. You could tell he was trying to make the connection, but was falling short.

"Its like that," Jay took over. "You go your whole life just being good friends, and all of a sudden, its like BAM. You've both grown up and you're not the same guys who were catching waves together."

"Does that mean that you guys could want to…you know…do the same things to…well, Tony or me or Biniak or…"

"Stacy, do you feel the urge to get down and dirty with ever Mali-babe who walks across your path on the street?"

"No."

"Same here. It doesn't work like that. Its just…I don't know." Stacy nodded.

"I think I know what you mean." The other two boys looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Well, okay. Kind of. About it just being all of a sudden and stuff. Just promise me you're not going to get all…gay on me and shit." The two boys laughed.

"Have we been getting all gay around you before this?" Stacy smirked.

"No."

"Nothing changes, from here on out. Just promise us you're not going to tell anyone. No one knows."

"Thunder Monkey? Tony? No one?" The two boys shook their heads simultaneously. Through this entire episode, Jay had moved quietly and quickly back to the couch and was now sitting, his hand lightly resting on Sid's knee. The two looked at Stacy, willing him to understand and to keep their secret. "Well…okay. I feel so…weird about it."

"We know what you mean."

"Its going to kill Tony when he finds out." The two boys shot a look at him, and at one another. This thought only reinforced what they already believed – that Stacy would be the easy one to tell.

"You think so?"

"Yeah. But not because you two are….whatever, but because he hates it when I know things first." The room dissolved in to laughter. The boys knew Stacy was right, and Stacy was just glad to have cleared the air of the tension that had been there since he walked it. He still felt uncomfortable – he didn't know if he'd ever stop being uncomfortable – but he was trying to remind himself that these guys were still his friends. Just last night they'd all been at the club, the same people, doing the same things. They were no different now. Stacy stood up and threw his board over his shoulder. "I'm going to…go."

"Wait for me," Jay said, standing up and grabbing his board, which leaned against the wall next to the door.

"I guess I'll just, well, see you guys later," Sid said, sinking back in to the couch. He wasn't sure he was up for much more.

"Not so fast, Sid-monster," Stacy said, an impish smile crossing his face. "There is one thing you guys can do for me if I'm going to keep this huge secret for you…" The boys gulped and shared a glance.

"What's that?" Stacy began to chuckle.

"I need new wheels. How are you feeling about a trip to Skips?"

"I'm broke."

"I know that, Jay-boy. But our little buddy Sid here…" the two smiled conspiratorially and looked at Sid. The weight on his chest suddenly felt lifted. Maybe things really could get back to normal.

"You'll have to carry me to the store," he muttered pathetically. He wasn't quite convinced he wanted to give up milking this whole sick thing yet.

"Not a problem," Jay said, crossing the room and scooping up Sid wedding-night style. "Babe," Jay whispered quietly, his breath ruffling the tiny hair on Sid's neck. He smiled.

"Alright. Lets go spend some of my parents money!"