Brandon 4: Great New City
Water. Pale skies.

Brandon woke from a dream with a smile on his face. His mom and dad. They'd been at a beach. Laughing together. Loving each other.

He took a shower, got ready for school, and went into the kitchen for breakfast. Jake stood at the island with a mug of coffee in hand. "You look upbeat this morning," he asked with a smile. It was good to see his younger cousin smiling for a change.

"I guess it's just one of those days," he said, pouring a cup of French roast into his travel mug.  "Have a good day at the restaurant," he said, grabbing a cinnamon roll from the bread cabinet. His cousin waved as Brandon breezed out the door.

Brandon took the elevator down to the parking garage and, courtesy of the remote car starter, his car was ready to go next to Jake's Smart car when he got to it at the other side of the garage.

He wove through the other cars and burst out into a gorgeous day. The weather seemed to echo his mood, a cloudless blue sky with the sunshine warming the City below. He got to school and was humming the new Course of Nature song as he got his books from his locker. He looked over to see if Jesse might be at his locker, and inhaled sharply as he saw the gorgeous guy further down the hall on his left. Jesse looked over and gave a little nod of recognition and an almost invisible smile. Brandon blushed and looked away quickly as Jesse's teammates from the swim team surrounded him.

He turned his iPod up and shut the door to his locker. Heading to his first class few classes, Brandon sailed through the morning, answering questions and participating in class to an almost alarming degree.

A small grin played across his features as he headed toward the lunchroom. He had talked to a couple of people in his first few classes, and when he took his lunch outside to sit on the lawn with his food, they waved him over to their circle on the grass under an enormous oak tree. Svetlana, a short Russian girl with long blonde hair, and Jodi, a tiny redhead with a lip piercing made room for him and they sat and talked for some time, laughing and joking. Brandon began to feel comfortable and relaxed among his newfound friends, who also included Emilie, a tall girl with chestnut hair and hooded eyes, Misty, a slim girl with auburn hair and pale blue eyes, and Hannah, a stocky girl with multi-colored hair and glasses. He was soon talking amiably with the group, who didn't even seem to care that he was gay. He happened to glance up though, and almost choked on his bottle of water.

Jesse was headed past them, joking and tossing a football with his jock-looking buddies, the all-american types found at every high school. He waved at Brandon and gave him another million-dollar smile. Brandon's heart skipped a beat. Hannah leaned over. "Well you sure have good taste. How do you know Jesse Drew?"

Brandon described to them how he'd met Jesse. "He's a hottie alright, but I don't think you have a chance. I don't think he likes boys, handsome," Jodi said with a leer on her face. Brandon laughed and tossed a piece of chicken at her.She blew the crumbs off her napkin at him and the little group ended up in a mini-food fight until the bell rang.

Brandon headed off to study hall. He put his headphones on again and listened to the new Fuel CD as he typed an essay for a history project. Working on a particularly poisonous sentence, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Taking a look at the teacher, who was engrossed in her own computer screen, he looked at the screen of his EnV; His Facebook had an update. Logging on, he saw that he had a friend invite from Jesse Drew. Smiling broadly, he accepted and went to Jesse's profile.

Idly curious, he looked at the info section "Status: Single; Interested in: Men, Women". He stopped breathing for a second. He had a chance after all!

After a quick text to Jake, Brandon decided to stay after to finish up his history paper, an engrossing topic of the French Revolution taking hold. He didn't realize that it was five o' clock until the librarian told him they were closing up. He headed out to his car as the sun set. His lights flashed as the alarm disengaged, and he opened the door, but before he could climb in, he heard a shout. "Hey!" Jesse was running after him, flagging him down. "The late bus left without me. Think I could catch a ride with you again?" he asked.

"Sure. No problem," Brandon shrugged. Jesse climbed in and Brandon's pulse raced as he wound the now-familiar route back into the city. They talked about classes for a while and chattered about their fellow students for a bit. Brandon pulled into the garage under the building and parked.

"Hey, thanks for the ride. I really appreciate it man," Jesse said gratefully as he reached into the back to grab his backpack. He turned around and caught Brandon's gaze, their faces barely a foot away. Moving in closer, they drew into a soft kiss, their lips brushing softly at first and then drawing closer as they started making out. Jesse dropped his bookbag and wrapped his arms around Brandon. They broke away at last and got out of the car.

"Um, so, are you seeing anyone?" Brandon asked awkwardly as he locked the car.

"No, not really," Jesse said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking sheepishly at the other boy. "It kind of freaks the girls out that I like guys and I'm on the swim team with so many attractive ones. Makes em jealous, I guess."

"I guess I can see that," Brandon said lightly, laughing as they walked into the building and stepped into the elevator.

Jesse looked at him. "I never really wanted any of them though. None of the guys around the school that're into men are very good-looking. Then you came here." He looked at Brandon and took his hand. D'you wanna go out sometime?" he asked.

Brandon felt like something bad should happen right then, because the world couldn't be more perfect. "Yeah, that'd be awesome," he managed to say. The elevator was getting close to the eighth floor, where Jesse lived, so they swapped numbers and, just before he got off, Jesse leaned in and kissed Brandon one more time, embracing him in warmth. Brandon's knees trembled a bit, but he managed to remain composed as Jesse left.

As soon as the doors slid shut, he leaned against the wall and sighed. How better to end the day? he thought as the doors opened again onto floor fourteen. He stepped through the door and went into the kitchen where Jake was. His cousin looked up as he put the lid onto a pot on the stove, a heavenly aroma emanating from it. "You look like you had a top-notch day," Jake remarked with a grin as he took the pot off the stove. A few minutes later, they sat on the stools at the counter enjoying chicken marsala. They chatted amiably about their days. Apparently, it transpired, Jake had met someone at the restaurant that day. He had Lyssa's phone number and she kept punctuating their dinner with texts. Jake looked so happy about it though, all Brandon could do was be happy for his cousin.

They cleaned the dishes and kitchen, and Brandon went to his room. After brushing his teeth, he settled down into bed. It had been a long day, and Brandon fell quickly into dreams of Jesse's warm skin bathed in candlelight.