“Ready…set…GO!” Nick and Ben pushed off the side of the pool and started swimming with all of their might. Three laps, free style. Loser had to load the dishwasher and take out the trash. They were practically fighting for their lives.

Nick started out ahead, having body length as an advantage, but Ben’s youth and speed finally took over at the second lap. He waited the few seconds he had in the lead at the edge with his hands clasped in front of him. Just as Nick surfaced, he welcomed him with a huge splash of water.

“You’re slow, old man!”

“Oh, you little shit!” Nick jumped up and dunked Ben under the water starting an all out wrestling water match. Where no one wins. Or loses. Ben finally slipped out of Nick’s arms and was able to hop out of the pool, escaping further retribution for his win.

“You still have to load the dishwasher, dude.”

“Yeah, yeah…now that you’ve killed me.” Nick fell back into the water in a last ditch effort to try to swindle his way out of the chores. It always worked on his sisters. Ben wasn’t so easy.

He waited until Nick resurfaced, finding their towels to dry off. “You’d better get back in shape if you’re gonna go on tour, old man!”

“Old man my ass…I’m tryin’.” Nick hopped out of the pool and grabbed a towel. “Are we done out here?”

“Yeah…thanks. I needed that. Get out some anger.”

“Yeah, on my ass!” They dried off and headed inside, continuing the wrestling with towel swats and slammed patio doors. It was all about avoiding what was on Ben’s mind. He’d get it out…if he wanted to. They’d learned a pattern with each other. And it was working. A little play, a little work, a little talk. All in due time.

Ben hopped onto a bar stool and watched Nick load the dishwasher. No way was he helping. He’d won fair and square. Besides, it was always a running bet he had with himself to see if the stuff would actually get clean. Nick rinsed nothing and overloaded the thing every time. It was a miracle more of his dishes didn’t break in there.

“So, uh…did you ever find out why Steve was at Erin’s the other night?”

“Yeah. Her dad invited him. Match making central over there.”

“Oh god…so she didn’t want him there either?”

Ben shrugged and started picking at his fingernails. “I dunno. She says she didn’t.”

“You don’t believe her?”

“I know I want to believe her.”

“What’d she tell you?”

“That her dad invited him, that she still is into me and not him…blah, blah, blah.”

“Does this have to do with you running home today?”

“Sorta.” Ben looked up to Nick who was standing over the dishwasher with one final glass in his hand and no where to stick it. “God, you are pathetic.” He got up and grabbed the glass out of Nick’s hand, rearranging a few things on the top shelf and finding a spot for it. “Grown man can’t load a dishwasher.”

“You saying I’m not a good housewife?”

“Among other things, yes…where’s the soap?”

“I got it…go back to your little throne over there, Mr. Clean.”

Ben hopped back on his stool after grabbing a bottled water out of the frig. “So, not only did he invite Steve over…he told Erin she’s not allowed to see me anymore.”

“What!? Why!?” Nick squirted the last of his detergent into the door of the dishwasher and slammed it shut. “Doesn’t he know what an ass Steve is?”

“Well…no. Erin doesn’t really know any of that stuff.”

“I thought she’d told you to stay away from him.”

“Well, she did…she just thinks he’s a dick, but…she doesn’t know what…I mean…she doesn’t know all about me either.”

“What’s to know?” Nick grabbed his own bottle of water and steered Ben back out to the patio. A gorgeous sunset was starting. No sense wasting it inside.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I’m not. You’ve screwed up. You’re making it better and paying your debt. You’re also keeping it clean now. So, what’s to know?”

“Everything. But, I can’t tell her. She’d dump me.”

“Maybe.”

“Definitely. Anyway, so we’ve been sneakin’ around and he came home early…which is why I was running like a fiend.”

“She’s sneaking around with you and you’re questioning whether or not she’s still into you?”

Ben took a huge swig of water and shrugged. “She talks about Steve a lot. I guess they spent all last weekend together while we were in New York.”

“Oh. And dad’s all happy about it?”

“Thrilled. But yet…I dunno, Nick. I just want to be with her and it’s looking like I can’t.”

“Well, you know…sneaking around isn’t gonna help your point total with the dad.”

“But I want to be with her!” Ben couldn’t take sitting anymore, so he got up and started pacing, dragging his feet into the pool.

“I know…but…Ben, dads and their daughters…you can’t screw with them. It’s just not a game to mess with.”

He stopped and looked up to Nick. Surely he wasn’t hearing what he thinks he was hearing. “You saying I should just give up on her?”

“I’m saying maybe you need to keep it at school for right now.”

“No!” Ben dug his foot clear into the water and angrily kicked it out, splashing everywhere. “He’s not going to win!”

“He’s the parent, Ben. You aren’t in control of this one.”

Ben slunk down to the edge of the pool, turning his back on Nick and dangling his legs into the water, watching the ripples move away from him. “You just don’t understand.”

“What don’t I understand? Explain it to me then.”

“Forget it.”

Nick got up and sat next to Ben, who proceeded to get up and move. “Ben, don’t pull this shit on me.”

“Pull what…you have no fucking clue what it’s like.”

“What what’s like? To not be able to get what you want…when you want it!?”

Ben looked across the pool to Nick, shock written all over his face. How could he not see how different their lives were? “Exactly, Nick. You’ve had everything handed to you…since you were my age. You get everything you want. You have no idea what it’s like. None!”

“You know, you’re right…partially.”

“Partially? Partially? Nick, look the fuck around you, man. You live in a goddamned mansion. You’re 22 years old, have traveled all over the world, have sold millions and millions of records, have fucked more women than I’ll ever look at…you’ve already filled all of your dreams and you don’t even break a goddamned sweat. You have NO idea what it’s like. None.”

“You think I don’t have dreams still, Ben? You think I’ve achieved everything I want to already?”

“What the hell else is there to achieve Nick? When is it enough?”

“Money does NOT define ‘enough’, Ben. Everything you’ve mentioned is work…money…career. And you’re right. I’ve been damned lucky. And I’ve worked my ass off for it too. No one handed this house to me on a silver platter. I’ve sacrificed a lot. Stuff I’ll never get back.”

“Cry me a friggin’ river.”

“I’m not looking for sympathy, Ben…cut the attitude.”

Silence fell as the sun sank beneath the horizon, both too angry to notice the gorgeous hues it was throwing into the sky. They sat unmoving but for the slightest kicks of their legs in the water. Finally, Ben broke the silence, angry he couldn’t stay…angry.

“Have you ever been in love?”

Nick thought about that one for a minute before answering. It wasn’t meant to be a loaded question, but it was. “No, I don’t think I have. Not looking backwards anyway.”

“Did you ever think you were?”

“Yeah…but it wasn’t love.”

Ben simply nodded and finally looked up into the sky, amazed something as ordinary as a sunset could make something so breathtakingly beautiful.

“I’m too young to be in love, aren’t I?”

“No. Not at how you define love now…it’ll change.”

“I love her, Nick. I don’t want to be without her. She makes me a better person.”

“No, you are a better person on your own. She just makes you feel like a better person.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No…it’s a really good thing. You do the same for me.”

“I do?”

“Yep. You make me want to be better…and remind me that I can do it.”

“Is that love?”

“Mmm…I dunno. Feels like it should be anyway.”

Ben thought for a moment before asking his next question. He had a feeling there wouldn’t be an answer for it, but…he had to ask. “Do you love Miss Romero?”

Now that was a loaded question. Nick looked down, surprised at how much he was blushing…that he didn’t have an answer. Not one he could share anyway. What the hell was love anyway? And how could he know when they had to keep everything so damned platonic? All he knew was his heart raced at the sound of her name, the thought of being with her, the memory of times together.

“You do, don’t you?”

“It’s complicated, Ben…I don’t understand a lot of what’s going on inside of me with that one.” He looked up to Ben, hoping he’d understand. “I know I care for her very much…she’s a great friend.”

“But…”

“But, I can’t be with her right now. Not the way I want to.”

“Yeah…”

“See, Ben…I get it. I can’t have what I want when I want it all the time.”

“No, I guess not…I don’t want to quit seeing her, Nick.”

“I know you don’t. But if you’re going to convince her dad that you’re the kid you say you are, then you have to respect his wishes. Even if they’re stupid.”

“They’re stupid.”

“I agree.”

“What if she ends up with Steve? I’d die.”

“No, you won’t. You’ll survive…because if she ends up with that putz…she was never yours to begin with.”

“Nice.”

“Better to know now…”

“You think Miss Romero will wait for you?”

“I don’t know…I hope so. Hell, I may meet someone too. Anything’s possible.”

“No…you guys are meant to be together.”

“I hope so, Ben. But, in the mean time, I’ve got to respect where she’s at right now.”

“And I need to with Erin, huh?”

“Yeah…trust her heart. If it’s yours, it’ll all come around.”

Ben nodded and got up, shaking his feet dry. “Can I ask you one more question?”

“Yep.”

“Could you take me home to get my school stuff…let me stay here tonight?”

“Sure…”

“And uh…” He looked down, embarrassed that he found so much comfort in what had become a routine for their nights together.

“My room?”

“Yeah…”

“You’d better hope I don’t get with Miss Romero, dude.” Nick raised his hand for Ben to grab and help him up.

“Why not?”

“Cuz that little party ends, man!”

“Aw, man…I thought we could make it a threesome!”

“Uh, no. I don’t share.”