After finishing the last of his work duty, Jess practically crawled through the door and up to the bathroom, closing the door and turning on the shower. Getting out of his grimy, sweat lined clothes, he let the hot water run down his body, soothing his sore muscles and washing the filth off his body. He must have had about ten pounds worth of dirt on him cause when he stepped out, he felt as if another ten pounds of him had been shed off.

Whipping off the moisture from the mirror, it was if he was looking at himself for the first time in months, noticing that he had gotten bigger. He was still a walking post with legs but now he actually had a little bit of muscle built on him. More defined arms, chest a bit fuller, even the smallest hint of actual abs.

He smiled. Guess that’s a perk for working on a ranch all year long.

He also noticed that his hair was getting a bit too long for his taste. Taking out a pair of shears from the medicine cabinet, he snipped of a good few inches before he was satisfied, short but not to short.

Picking up his towel, he scuffed up his head to get rid of any excess hair. Then covering himself up, he peaked outside to make sure no one was out, grabbed his dirty clothes, and sprinted across the hall to his room.

Once inside, he put on a clean pair of jeans and a band tee (Creedance Clearwater Revival), then headed over to Bobby’s room.

“Knock knock” he said.

“Yeah?”

“You about ready?”

“Just give me a minute”.

“Alright, meet me downstairs”.

Ennis and Jack were in the living room, sitting on the couch.

“Hey” he greeted them.

“When are ya two leavin?” asked Ennis

“Lois said she’d pick us up at around six thirty”.

“What exactly are you all seein?”

“The Outsiders” he replied, “I figured it was the appropriate movie. But the better question is how will you two survive without us?” Jess had a sneaking suspicion that their little sexual escapade was going to happen tonight, but just to be certain, he decided to poke the fires a bit.

He got his answer with Ennis’s uncomfortable shift and Jack’s “I’m sure we’ll be able to occupy our time. After all, we need our breaks too”.

Jess rolled his eyes, but he didn’t say anything, after all bringing it up would do absolutely nothing but misery. Besides let them have their fun, he thought.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs announced Bobby’s arrival. He was dressed like he usually did, jeans, jack, t-shirt.

“Glad of you to join us” said Jess.

“Lois here yet?”

“Should be in a few” he replied.

“You guys know when yer gonna be back?”

“Well, we figured we might be out a bit later then usual” Jess said “if that’s cool with you guys”.

“Sure. After all, its James’s last week, you guys should celebrate” said Jack.

“Cool” he said, just as a pair of headlights pulled up to the driveway “and that would be our ride”.

“Have fun you two” said Jack.

Getting on his shoes, he exited the front door, quickly heading for the car “call shotgun!” he yelled.

“Hey Jess” said Lois as he got in “you and Bobby ready for our last hurrah?”

“As ever” he replied.

“You good back they’re Bobby?” she asked.

“Oh yeah, its no trouble” he said, closing the door “hey James”.

“Hey” he replied.

“All right lets roll on out” she shifted the car in gear and began to pull out.

“Oh wait” Jess said, flicking on the radio and starting to fiddle with the dials.

“What on earth are you doin?” she asked “I thought ya hated all the stuff on there?”

“Not until today, I finally found an actual decent station, thank god, if I had to listen to anymore country, heads would roll” he replied “now if I could just find it…” a few more tries and he got the station, just as Back in Black started.

“Aright, AC/DC!” and he cranked the volume up, the sound blaring from the speakers, the car thumping from the beats.

“Whoa, loud much!” Lois yelled over the noise.

“If we’re gonna celebrate, ain’t no better way then to rock out loud!” he yelled.

“Can’t we just turn it down just a few?!” Bobby asked.

“oh come on, live a little!” he replied “and if your lucky, ya might be treated to some of my awesome karaoke!”

As they pulled up into the Kellyville drive in, Jess turned off the radio, Bobby letting out a sigh of relief that the blasting music had ended, except now his ears were ringing and he could barely hear anything.

Shaking his head a bit to try and readjust his frazzled mind, they came up to the ticket booth where a small brown haired kid was working, his face looking like it was recovering from a bad acne outbreak.

“hey Lois” he said “what’ll it be?”

“what?” she asked loudly “sorry Artie but Jess was blastin’ the music on our way over, can barely hear a thing”.

“you guys are such newbies” said Jess “I’ll handle this, four tickets for The Outsiders”.

“alright” he rang them all up.

“oh yeah, I almost forget” said Lois, still talking loudly “Artie, this is Bobby, Jack’s son”.

“hey” he said.

“hey man” Bobby replied, his hearing still adjusting.

“here yer tickets” he handed Lois them.

“thanks Artie” she said, pulling through the gate and finding a parking space near the front.

Once parked, Lois said “Jess, its your turn fer snack brigade”.

Jess rolled his eyes “I swear, why did we even start a snack brigade?”

“Since our little group expanded with James addition” she replied “and since I did it last time, Bobby is a guest, and James is the man of the hour, that leaves you with the duty”.

“Jip” he said “alright, who wants what?”

“I’ll take a popcorn and a Diet Coke,” said Lois.

“Coke” said James.

“Bobby?”

“Uh…just popcorn and a Coke” he replied.

“What, no drink?” asked Jess.

He shook his head “naw, I’m good”

“Speakin’ of drinks, since this is a special occasion” said Lois, reaching towards the glove department, flipping the handle and pulling out two brown paper bags “I figured it be only right ta celebrate with somethin’ special”. From the bags, she pulled out two large bottles of alcohol.

“Wow Lois, the good stuff too” Jess commented, “This really is a goodbye party”.

“Ya shouldn’t have Lois,” said James.

“But I wanted ta” she replied.

“And how exactly did ya acquire these?” Jess asked.

“From the store” she said “but…dad doesn’t exactly know”.

“Look at Lois being the rebel” said Jess “I think a bit of me has rubbed off on you”.

“Shut up” she chided “ and I’m still hungry”.

“Yes mame, don’t need to be snappy” said Jess, getting out of the car and walking for the concession stand.

Lois turned around to face the two boys in the back “thanks again fer comin’ Bobby”.

“Thanks fer invitin’ me” he said “and good luck with the move James”.

“Thanks” he replied.

“Where exactly are ya goin’ again?”

“Mansfield”.

“And what is yer aunts job?”

“She got a nursing position at the hospital up there” he replied “we’d mainly been livin’ off my uncles funds while my aunt tried to find another job”.

“That’s cool,” said Bobby.

“So you seniors only got a few months left! Excited?” Lois asked.

“Yeah” Bobby said, though yeah would have been a bit of an understatement. After all the shit that has gone down over the past few weeks, the idea of getting out of Alderson high had become such a huge relief that he wished it would come sooner.

“Still searchin’ over fer colleges?”

“Pretty much” he said “I was thinkin’ of applyin’ ta Oklahoma State in the fall”.

“That’s a good school,” she said. If I even make it in, he thought. Even though his grades had improved over the last year, they were still low in State’s eyes. Hopefully though it would be enough.

A sharp knock on the door diverted his attention, where Jess stood outside with an armful of popcorn bags and bottles of soda.

“Hurry hurry hurry” said Jess “I’m gonna drop all this stuff!”

Bobby helped him by opening the door. As he squeezed in, he took some of the food and drinks out of his hand, passing it around to everyone.

“Alright, alright” Lois said above the clamor “okay, take a large gulp of yer soda”.

Bobby popped off the coke tap and swigged some of the liquid, everyone else doing the same.

“Okay, now” Lois propped up the two bottles “take yer pick”.

“I’ve always been a vodka fan,” said Jess “fill me up”.

“Okay” she popped the bottle, took Jess’s coke and gently poured the liquid in.

“Here ya go,” she said, handing him his drink “James?”

“I’ll take the scotch”.

“Bobby?”

“Hmm…I’ll go with the scotch as well”.

“Man, you guys have the worst taste in alc” Jess said.

“What’s wrong with scotch?”

“Nothing except it taste like shit,” he replied.

“Alright, no fightin’ now” said Lois as she poured vodka into her bottle “we can have an alcohol debate later, right now lets propose a toast”.

Everyone raised their bottle “to James and a fond farewell” she began “may you have an awesome time in Mansfield, but not too awesome that you forget about us”.

“Oh trust me, I won’t forget any of you too soon” said James.

“Jess? Do you have some words?” she asked.

“Well, being put on the spot like this, all I can say is…” he thought for a moment “kick ass man”.

“Really? That’s it?”

“Hey, I’ll take it,” said James.

“Bobby?”

“Good luck” he said.

“Bit old, but it’s a classic”.

“Okay, enough of the formalities” Jess quipped “let toast”. They clinked their glasses and drank, the movie screen flickering on and the first trailers starting to roll.

By the time the first hour of the film was over, a good portion of the alcohol had been consumed, with a substantial portion of the vodka going to Jess, who had forgone the pop entirely.

Bobby kept his intake to a minimum, as did Lois. James seemed to be a bit buzzed but it was definitely Jess who was beyond gone.

“Okay, enough for me” he said, pushing the nearly half full bottle away.

“That’s what you said the last couple dozen times” Lois quipped.

“I lied those times” he said “but this time I am dead serious, and I mean dead serious” he fell back in his seat, head lolling slightly.

“Yep, he’s had enough” she said, “Here James, hid this stuff from him”.

“will do” he replied, taking the bottle and hiding it under the seat.

“ya know what, I’m really hungry” Jess said suddenly “I’ll be right back” he opened the door, half walking, half stumbling out, grabbing the door for stability.

“man, I am so fucking drunk” he laughed, straightening himself and walking as best as he could.

“James, do ya think you can keep an eye on him” Lois asked.

“yeah, okay”.

“you sure yer good enough?”

“don’t worry, I’m fine” he said, getting out of the car and heading in Jess’s direction.

Bobby adjusted himself in his seat, swiveling a bit of his leftover coke that had gone warm.

“hey Bobby” Lois said from the front “ya know, if ya want, you can come up here”.

“wouldn’t Jess…”

“please, he is so trashed that he will not care” she said “and I can use some company”.

“okay, if ya insist” putting down his bottle in one of the holders, he squeezed himself through the gap in the seats, the action sounding very loud in his ears as the upholstery squeaked. Once in the front, he took a few little shifts before he settled comfortably in the seat.

She gave him a smile, which he returned, turning her head back to the film. For some reason, there seemed to be something off, an awkwardness that he had never noticed before. It was very strange.

“so you enjoyin’ the movie?” she asked.

“uh yeah, its good” he replied.

“I think that Tom Cruise is kinda cute”.

Bobby shrugged, “I mean, not that you would know” she added.

He laughed “yeah, right”.

“Popcorn?” she held up the bucket.

“no, I’m good”. Once again there was silence between them and their attention was on the film.

He tried to focus on the screen, but for some reason he kept diverting back to Lois. He noticed that she had grown her hair out a bit, red locks now creeping past her shoulders and that the green in her eyes seemed brighter this night. These were thing he would haven normally never noticed from her. In fact before Jess, he probably wouldn’t have given Lois a second thought.

Before Jess and James, she was the school outcast, the one person no one had a second thought about. They knew she was the grocery owner’s daughter but other then that, no one really knew anything about her nor cared that much about. She was just…a nobody.

“Jess and James have been gone awhile” her voice broke his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“I hope nothin’ bad has happened”.

Bobby recovered “uh, I don’t think so, they’re probably fine. I mean, Jess did have a lot to drink”.

“no shit, he drank half the bottle here” she held it up, eyeing it for a moment before smiling “hey, you wanna play a little game?”

“Okay, what game?”

“Truth reveler”.

“What’s truth reveler?”

She turned in her seat to face him “basically, when someone has the bottle, they have to reveal a truth about themselves, whether it be a secret, somethin’ unique about them, anything really as long as its true. Once you tell, you then take a small drink of vodka and pass it on to the next person and then they tell a truth and so on. You up for it?”

He shrugged “sure, why not”.

“Okay, seein’ as how I have the bottle, I’ll go first” she thought for a moment “I am deathly afraid of snakes” she brought the bottle to her lips and drank a small bit.

She passed it to him. okay, a truth, he thought, mulling it over for a bit on what to say.

“lets see…” he said “until recently, I have never missed an entire day of school” he took a sip, though a bit more then he intended, the drink burning his throat.

He passed it back to her “okay…in English last year, I completely forgot to do a written paper and only just remembered the day it was do, so I made one up during lunch and my teacher gave me an A for it”.

Bobby chuckled “lucky, I could never get away with somethin’ like that”.

“alright, yer turn” she handed him the bottle.

He thought up of a good one “I once got my friend to do my entire day’s work on the ranch if I promised to introduce him to a girl, only to have that girl reject him on the spot”.

“that’s so awful!” she exclaimed as he took a drink “who was the girl?”

“Christine Pinkly” he said.

“oh well that explains it, she’s such a bitch” he gave her the bottle “alright…oh, one time this random guy came up to me and offered a hundred dollars to give him a blowjob. Apparently he thought I was a hooker”.

Bobby laughed, though he quickly tried to suppress it “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“don’t be, I think it’s pretty hilarious myself” she gave him the bottle “yer turn”.

They went on for a few more rounds and as more alcohol was consumed, the more wilder the truths.

“during Kris Masers party, three girls gave me head”.

“not all at once!” Lois asked.

“no, of course not” he replied, taking a sip “it was over the night. yer turn”.

“well, after that mine might be a bit tame” she said “I once walked in on my dad and one of his dates havin’ sex”.

Bobby groaned “oh, that’s terrible”.

“I know, scared me for life seein’ my dad’s bone white ass” she said “oh god, its makin’ me sick jus’ thinkin’ about it. quick, go before it gets any worse”.

He already had one ready “durin’ that time when Tammy might have been pregnant, I was actually kinda excited ta be a dad”.

“aw, that’s so sweet!” she said “I think you would have made a great dad”.

“thanks Lois” he said, taking his drink and passing it back to her. she took awhile to think of one, but when she did, a small smile passed her face.

“what? What’s so funny?” he asked.

“oh nothin’, its jus’ one of those things you nervously smile about, ya know?”

“well go on, I’m actually kinda excited to know”.

she threw her head back, letting out a sigh “okay, well…” she smiled again “for the longest time, I had the hugest crush on you”.

His heart began to beat faster, palms sweating, his face going slack in a moment of disbelief “oh” was all he could manage to say.

“I know right?” she said “and jus’ to add more ta the embarrassment, I would always daydream that one day you would jus’ come up ta me in the halls and jus’ kiss me. Pretty stupid, righ-”

Before she could finish, Bobby leaned in and kissed her. he held it for a good moment before he stopped, their lips hovering just a few inches from each other. He looked at her, she looking just as shocked as he must have been. Everything appeared to be silent, the whole car engulfed in a bubble, only the sounds of their breathing being heard.

Then she leaned forward and kissed him. at first hesitant, they both became more comfortable, Bobby parting his mouth slightly to let her tongue in. he reached behind her, hand lightly resting on her head, she taking the sign to pull in closer, pushing him back into the passengers seat until he hit the door.

He could feel himself getting hard, the feeling of it against his pants wanting him to go further, kiss her more deeply, pulling her in until he could feel every curve of her body.

It lasted only for a few more seconds before they gave each other one last kiss and Lois pulled away.

She tucked her hair back, a grin on her face “wow” she said.

“yeah” he replied.

“yer a really good kisser” she said.

“thanks. Yer not so bad yerself”.

She laughed “yeah. Well, even though I’ve already gone, that’s another secret of mine. This is actually the first time I’ve ever kissed a boy”.

“no way” he said jokingly.

“yes way. I know, pretty pathetic right? I mean, what girl hasn’t had her first kiss at eighteen?”

“well, fer a first timer, you were pretty fuckin’ good”.

“yer not jus’ sayin’ that are ya?”

“its not like I’m a very good liar”.

She laughed again “yeah, that is kinda true”.

They both chuckled for a moment, Lois resting her head on his chest “aw man, we must be drunk”.

“maybe” he replied.

“god, I cannot believe I did that” she said “ya must think I’m a total geek”.

“course not” he said “I was the one who started it. in fact” reaching over across the seat, careful not to move her too much, he took the vodka bottle.

“my secret” he said “for the past week, I think I’ve fallen for ya” when he said this, she looked up at him.

“it only took till tonight to find out” he finished.

“Ain’t that the sweetest thing” she said, leaning in once again to kiss him.

she moved slightly to get more comfortable, letting her head rest on his shoulder “I don’t suppose ya know what exactly is goin’ on, huh?”

“not really” he replied.

“and where the hell are those two? It’s been forever since they left”.

“ya think we should go find them?”

“we should” she said “besides, we’ve missed way to much of the movie to know what’s going on”.

Authors note: hey everyone, really sorry for the long delay. And yes, I know I have been teasing you about the whole threesome thing but trust me, after one more chapter, it will happen. Just wanted to say.