CHAPTER IX: LEAVING SCHOOL, and the missing it begins

The rest of the last year of high school went pretty quickly and mostly sanely, or so it seems now...not that it did then.

So much new stuff. Zach and me and Alex and Tony, and the 'rents finding out what was really going on with the four of us, urgh... (although mom confided they had known about both of us for years and gee thanks MOM, for telling US).

"Honey, can we talk for a minute?"
"Sure mom. What's up?"
"Well, I, well...your father and I. See, we have noticed, not that it wasn't obvious, but well...see, you, uh, um...?"
"Mom, you are stuttering. You NEVER stutter. Just tell me."
"Ok," and after a big gulp or two,
"You and Zach."
"Yeh?"
"You're more than friends honey, a lot more,"
and I panicked, but...
"It's ok, sweetie. You know your dad and I love Zach, and
we are happy for you."
"Yeh?"
"Of course. We just want you to be happy."
"Ummm..."
and then the kicker.

"Alex and Tony too, right?"
OMG. Um...do I rat them out or..
"It's ok Dylan. We know and have for a long time about all of you.
It's kewl with us, and if you want to give us grandchildren, fine. If not that is fine too."

After my funeral which occurred after my fainting and croaking and...omg.
Anyway, she hugged me and I hugged her just as Zach, Alex, and Tony walked in the kitchen, and I guess my face must have been doing something awful.
"Hey shorty. What's up?"

"Oh nothing. Mom KNOWS, is all. No big deal, and dad too. Yup."
It took all of 2 1/2 seconds for mastermind to figure out what that meant and he looked at her and she smiled and nodded, and...well, that was kinda that.

It was a huge load off  our collective asses and brains and whatever else and it made things a lot kewler around ye olde homestead. Gotta love the 'rents. Zach's parents were also CLUED, and Tony's weren't but they came on board pretty quick. They had decided long ago that Alex (the retard?) was kewl with them, and boy did that help.

Go figure. Alex, the fair-haired (top to bottom too) boy, all the rage with everyone's
las familias. While I, mind you...Drat.

But, anyway, now we could go on to college and on with our lives without that hanging over our heads.

God how we laughed later up in our bedroom.

"Geez shortstuff, go figure. I bet you were shitting a brick when she told yah."
"Smartass, and no I was perfectly kewl. See, I figured they knew a long time ago."
"DYLAN?"
"Yeh, ok. I was shitting twelve bricks and a dollop of mortar."
"HAH, I bet. I would have fainted, bro," and he hugged me.
Geez, this brother thing is hard to get used to sometimes.

So for the rest of the school year we went to classes and after school stuff and laughed and went to Greenfield Village (the four of us plus our siblings...what a hoot. I got to drive dad's Escalade too WHOO HOO), for a weekend and had a blast. Spring finally arrived and it now seemed a kind of melancholy time at least for me. I was beginning to realize just how much I loved my life here (especially SZ...since Zach) but knew that now life as I have always known it was about to change. For Good. We were all about to become full-fledged ADULTS.

URGH. I am so not ready. I want my bankie and my teddy and my husband and...wait. SHIT.

I remember one night Alex and Tony and Zach and I sitting around out by the pool couple weeks before graduation and chillin' and talkin'.

"Dylan?" Alex asked.

"Yeh?"

"You think you ready for all this ahead?"

I was sitting in Zach's lap feeling sooooo happy and lazy, and the question
took me by surprise...

I thought for a minute.

"Yeh, I guess so. Got no choice, huh. You?"

"Only cause I got Tony here. I don't know otherwise,"

and as I looked over at Tony I could see him blush and then

I saw Alex blush too and thought it is what we are though.

I never wudda thought of Alex aka Mister kewl always and forever being insecure. THIS TOO was a new thing for me to absorb, but it kinda made him seem, I don't know, I guess more...human, maybe.

"Alex, you and Tony are gonna do fine. You are bright as fuck, both of you...you'll do Harvard great."

Alex and Tony both blushed big time again...and I suddenly thought I was gonna miss that fucker, and...whoa.

"Thanks Zach. You and Dyl are gonna TRASH Stanford," and he laughed

and so did we but I wasn't so sure he was right.

Yeh, the days and weeks and months FLEW by that last year and suddenly it was graduation...and as I said, Zach and I wound up being co-Valedictorians of our graduating class with Alex and Tony right behind us...and Vinnie and Luke right up with them.
Oh, did I mention Luke is gonna go to Stanford too, and Vinnie is going to Berkeley...I hope California can stand it. LOL. But this means or so I thought that ok, this will be like High School, only, um, not. But yeh. Luke my bud and Zach and weekends and stuff Vinnie too.

Shows you how much I know about college life.

But yeh. The commencement. Geez, was I warped that night. Shit. BIG deal which required speeches and I was nervous as fuck...but we got through it. That night after the ceremony, mom and dad gave us all hugs and sent us on our way to the country club and a big party they and Zach's and Tony's parents paid for with all of our besties and assorted mooches and such.

This way we knew we could dance with our spouses with no problem. We paying for that and by God I was gonna dance all fucking night as tight in Zach's arms as I could without causing damage...and I knew he and Alex and Tony felt the same. It was a wing-dinger that went almost all night, and then we all got trashed at our house...LOL, since no booze at the CC, for us anyway which was a bummer. CC rules I guess.

Oh, get this. I've known my bud Luke since forever. In the crib almost...FUCK, guess who he brought to the CC as his DATE? Frankie. Frankie ('YO. Bacardi') Villanova (since he has been drinking that and coke since he had it in his baby bottles. LOL).  Sweetest dude evah, and OH SO MACHO Italian Stallion style...HUNKUS and just adorable...and btw, he makes our bud Vinnie look absolutely Swedish. HAHAHA, talk about Italian.

SHIT, I hadn't seen them come in and about had a hemorrhage when all of a sudden I saw them dancing...REAL CLOSE LIKE, heads in neck and eyes closed and...WHOAAAAA.
You know, dancing the way LOVERS always dance. You can tell, and I about shit a brick.

FUCK. First Zach, then Alex and Tony, and now LUKE? Exactly where was I when they were passing out the gay membership cards. Geez. 

I couldn't wait to get that nutcase in the men's room and GRILL his sorry ass. More about that later. I had NOT a clue, but then as I have said I am CLUELESS. Sigh.

We danced and danced and it felt soooo good, and we drank cokes and ginger and whatever until we bust, and the buffet was radical too. Really good and the rooms were decorated on our behalf and we really had a GREAT TIME. Oh yes we did. I danced with Zach and Tony and Zach and Luke and Frankie and Vinnie and Zach and Frankie and Zach and Zach and Zach, and oh I got to know that boy REALLY well...not as if I didn't know him intimately before...HAH.

Anyway, eventually it was over and a lot of us went back to our house...where we all got all cutesie as before too long we got all tired and drunkiepoo, and Zach and I went to bed and left the rest to do whatever which is where we found them the next day, in piles and snoring and shit. HAHAHA.

Oh, by the way, Zach and I got a new Escalade of our own to take to school, and so did Alex and Tony. Compliments of our own personal collection of 'rents...and mind you HOLY CRAPPOLA, we also got a BUNCH of new togs and digital everything and computers and a SHITLOAD of crap enough to fill a stadium/house at Stanford and another at Cambridge and we grinned like cheshire cats. Then it was the summer and Zach and I worked as lifeguards at the Country Club until late July. Alex and Tony worked as servers there too...and we spent a lot of time together cause it would be our last chance to do so for God knows how long. Kewl yes, and I was getting to really know my older brother for what was in truth the VERY FIRST TIME, and it was sinking in that he was far more the lost little boy in big boy clothes than the bon vivant arrogant-seeming asshole I had always known and thought him to be and evidently mistakenly so. I just hadn't looked behind the facade and delved, even though he had with me. I was a bit embarrassed when I realized that. Alex was in some ways far more observant than I. Urgh.

Then it was suddenly early July, and Zach and I headed to California to settle into the new house and Alex and Tony and our collective 'rents and assorted siblings went with us to help, and then they all left to go to Cambridge to get the A(lex) team settled in too. 

It all went way too fast, and then school. Freshman year at Stanford...

GOOD GOD. Is that school ready for the likes of us?

_____________________________________________________

OH YES:  THE conversation with Luke:

Dylan, Commencement night...in the mens room at the CC,

with buddy Luke Raymond.

"Ok, so what in the HELL is going on?"

"What," Luke replied looking all innocent for NO GOOD REASON I might add.

"What my ass you pervert? What is up with YOU AND FRANKIE."

"Oh that."

"Yeh, OH THAT, fucktard. You been holding out on me. On US, so what gives."

"He is adorable you know."

"Yeh, and so is half the male component of our class, but you ain't dancing cheek to jowl with THEM."

"Uh, no. Not if I can help it. Anyway, hey. I thought you knew."

"How would that be if you never mentioned it nor have I ever seen you two together, at least not like this anyway."

"Dylan, it just happened, yah know? It just happened. Few months ago. God I've known Frankie since in the womb I think and always liked him, but...I DON'T KNOW. ALL OF A SUDDEN it was different. Like you and Zach different and by the way you didn't tell me about HIM, EITHER, smart ass."

"Yeh, I know. Sorry, but like it was just one thing and then I don't know...kapoof and it was something else with nothing in between."

"Exactly. I LOVE his sorry ass, Dyl. I really do...and we already are both going to Stanford so it works."

"Yeh," and then he looked oddly at me for a minute.

"I suppose next you're gonna tell me you don't know about Vinnie too."

I musta looked even more blank than usual.

"Vinnie. Vinnie our buddy Vinnie? Yeh, so what about him, and by the way where is his sorry ass anyway."

"Went over to pick up his date."

"Yeh, who is she?"

"HIS name is Teddy, and he is from Wayland and HE is a HOTTUS from HELL HOT. Trust me."

"WHAT? Why am I always the last to know? Huh? Geez. My two best friends have BOYFRIENDS and I don't KNOW THIS?"

"We thought you did. Stewie does."

"Yeh,  well Stewie always has had his ear to the ground or someone's dick or something...about ANYTHING gay."

"LOL, yeh does he ever. Boy wrote the book...but anyway, you will meet Teddy tonight, and I bet you you will SWOON."

"Dude, I got Zach."

"Yeh, well just don't do it in front of him. LOL."

So that is how I found out that BOTH of my two best friends for life or almost so were and are and obviously will be, gay. Nice. Pfui...AND I got to watch them drool all over their boyfriends all night long, and boy what a thrill that isn't...so I did it too, drooled all over Zach just to get even, and ok. No, I do it cause it is fun and invigorating. Hehehe.

_______________________________________

Zach's older twin brothers Frick and Ruckus (aka Teddy and Tommy) were there at the CC and then at the house after, of course, without dates thank God cause I don't know if I could have handled two more bundles of surprises. They were home for the summer from college at Yale so that was nice. They are buds with Alex and Tony and are TRULY a TRIP. I don't quite know how to describe them, but I shall ponder that and get back to yah.

Once at the house, Teddy and Alexis (my other siblings) came for a bit (a compromise solution) and then were banished to upstairs, lol.

There were about 75 or so of us and it was a blast and a wonderful way to end our pre-college school years.

___________________________________________

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER X