Euphoria

 Jason knew this high. He relished in it whenever he finished a good workout and he could feel the tightness in his deltoids and his biceps. This was the physique that men adored. Hell, this was the physique that women adored. He looked back at his reflection in the mirror and gave himself snarled lip smile "hell yeah!"

He knew this high.

He wanted to chase it down with another rendezvous with Rudy, but he couldn't risk disobeying his parents rules and he knew that he wasn't giving Chris the time that he had promised since the last time they were together. It was Friday and Chris had asked him if he wanted to go dancing again. Jason loved dancing with Chris. The high energy and loud music ignited his primal instincts which eventually carried over into the bedroom. They gave each other what they needed.

But he couldn't help but want to chase this high.

"Fuck it!" he hopped into his car and drove to the video store to see Chris.

The yellow Porche 914 pulled into the parking lot of the video store where Chris worked. Conveniently, Chris was outside on a break smoking a cigarette and sitting on the pavement. His face lit up with a smile.

"Hey there Bubba. I haven't heard from you for a while." Chris said, a bit annoyed, but glad to see Jason.

"Yeah, works been kind of busy and kicking my ass! Plus I gotta do what I gotta do, ya know?" he shrugged.

"I get it." Chris said passively, flicking his finished cigarette into the parking lot. He hugged Jason and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"God, you know I hate that you smoke." he lamented.

"I know. I promise to do better."

"You better, I can't date a guy who smokes. It's honestly not attractive." Jason's words struck, without meaning to sound like an ultimatum.

"What do you have planned today?" Chris nervously navigated from the topic at hand. "Are we still going to go to the Works later tonight?"

"Yeah, of course. My parents are going to be out of town for the weekend. I can be out all night!" Jason winked at Chris giving him the universal sign that their plans were still in motion. 

"I wanted to ask you a question though." Jason turned serious.

"Of course," Chris tensed.

"We talked about how my twin brother is getting married soon, right?" Jason waited for Chris to remember the conversation. Not sure that he was impressed when he said yes or confident. 

"Absolutely." Chris nodded.

"Would you like to go with me?" Jason asked. Nervous. Knowing that bringing a boy to his twin brother's wedding, a wedding that he was not asked to participate in, would not only show to his parents that he was in fact hanging out with a boy, but also, that Chris was not just the guy from the video store. Asking Chris to the wedding meant that he had a place beside Jason symbolically for any number of reasons. 

Chris's thoughts raced. What could this mean? Of course he wanted to go. Of course he would go!

"Sure I'll go with you!" he said without hesitation.

"Cool!" Jason, smiled with calm relief. "Cool!" He could feel the waves of panic inside him calm. The sweat under the brim of his hat beaded down his face as the heat from the Arizona sun beat down on him.

Jason was no fool. He wanted Chris to be there with him at his brother's wedding. Not at his side, per say, but there as his. 

"We'll drive there. I'll figure it out. He is getting married in our family church in Pomona. You'll like it! We should go shopping and find you something nice to wear. Sound good?" he confirmed.

"That sounds perfect!" Chris beemed. 

"Great! I have to get home. I wanted to see you before tonight. I need to get some rest before we go dancing." he chuckled. In his head contemplating how to keep burning the candle at both ends. 

"All right, Bubba! I will see you later." Chris hugged him gently and again pecked him on the lips.

"Baby, that cigarette smoke taste." Jason smirked. 

They smiled.

Jason drove home. Excited to have crossed another thing off of his to do list for the day. Now it was time to climb into bed and get some sleep. 

He looked down at his pager and saw the new familiar number.

"Rudy."