Or about four days as it turned out. After class, Ben made a token appearance at home for Allison’s sake before rushing over to Jace’s apartment, stopping only to pick up their favorite Thai food. He took the steps two at a time and rapped on the door instead of struggling with his keys. The door swung open, but where someone tall and debonair should have stood, was someone brawny and completely unexpected.

“For a pizza boy, you’re pretty hot,” Tim said.

Mouth agape, Ben stared until Jace arrived on the scene. He gave a helpless little shrug from behind Tim before speaking. “Look who dropped by. Says he has a surprise for us.”

“It’s nothing, really,” Tim said, gesturing for Ben to come in as if it were his apartment.

This was getting a little creepy. Had Tim felt this way when Ben played stalker in high school? Surely Ben hadn’t been as transparent. Still, as stalkers went he could do a lot worse. He kissed Jace hello, which felt strangely like cheating, before heading to the living room to tackle his food. Let them do all the talking. He planned to keep his head down and his mouth full until the entire incident was over.

The doorbell rang, causing Tim to jump out of his seat just seconds after he had sat.

“That must be the pizza,” he said.

“Or another ex-boyfriend, who knows,” Jace murmured as he watched him leave the room. “So, that’s the famous Tim?”

Ben nodded, following it up with a sympathetic sigh. “How long has he been here?”

“Half an hour or so,” Jace answered, poking around in the Thai bag for any sign of a fortune cookie. “He’s a little different than I expected. You didn’t tell me that he looked so-- Uh…”

“Abercrombie and Fitch?”

“Exactly.”

“Well, maybe he’s here for a threesome,” Ben said in just the right tone to pass it off as a joke.

“You’re more than enough for me,” Jace replied smoothly. “Anyone else in the bedroom would only be an unwelcome distraction.”

Ben smiled, surprised by his feeling of relief. At least he could count on Jace not to develop any unwanted feelings for Tim.

“Look, Ben--” Whatever else Jace was going to say was cut short by Tim’s reappearance in the room, pizza balanced on one palm.

Ben bartered for a few pizza slices by offering some of his Thai food, and soon they were all eating a mix of both meals. The combination was strange and never meant to come together, but the same could be said about those dining. Ben watched while Tim focused on developing a rapport with Jace. Was he interested in who Ben had chosen to be with or was he sizing up the competition, gaining his trust and collecting data that he could later use?

Once the Italian-Thai meal was finished, Tim finally revealed his purpose in coming.

“I have a friend, well, the friend of a friend really, who is throwing a big birthday party at Splashtown in San Antonio.”

Ben didn’t know San Antonio had a Splashtown, but he assumed it was the same as the one in Houston: a massive water park full of pools and slides.

“He has the whole place booked just for his party,” Tim continued. “He just so happens to owe me a favor, and I asked if I could bring you guys along.”

The pretense for dropping by was weak, but Ben’s interest was piqued. Crowds and lines always limited the fun at theme parks, but there would only be so many guests at a birthday party. As a kid he’d always fantasized about never having to get off the rollercoaster, and this was the next best thing.

One look at Jace brought these fantasies to a screeching halt. The smile on Jace’s face was just the slightest bit too tight.

“We don’t have to go,” Ben told him when Tim slipped away to the restroom.

“But you want to,” Jace said.

“Well, yeah, it would be fun, but we could always go together some other time.”

“Do you plan on staying friends with Tim?” Jace asked. “He’s going to be in your life from now on?”

Ben cast a nervous glance toward the bathroom. He knew the risks, but he didn’t like the idea of abandoning Tim to his lonely life. Surely he had other friends too, but he seemed so happy to be around Ben, so grateful. “I guess so,” he answered.

“Then it’s a good idea for Tim to see us together as a couple.” Jace’s smile was not at all resentful, causing Ben to feel a sudden surge of love for him. Any other guy would be jealous and possessive, but Jace’s solution was to welcome Tim into their lives.

Still, the trip might be awkward. Tim brought out the impulsive teenager in Ben, while being around Jace encouraged him to be smart and responsible. Situations like these always made Ben feel like he had multiple personalities and left him unsure of how to act. If only there was only some way to disperse any tension before it began.

* * * * *

“Double date!” Allison sang as they all piled into the car.

Ben beamed at his secret agent. Allison was the solution to all of his problems. She was to keep whatever guy Ben wasn’t talking to busy. That way he could be himself around either one of them. Already she had outperformed his expectations, calling shotgun and sitting up front with Tim to keep him occupied. This worked for a short time, but soon Tim was craning his neck around to talk to Ben in the backseat as the car swerved dangerously.

At the next gas station they thanked various gods that they were still alive, and decided to switch plans. Allison hopped into the backseat with Ben, leaving Tim and Jace to talk to each other. Every time either of the guys in the front tried to talk to them, Allison and Ben would break into song or pretend to be deep in conversation. Eventually the two men were forced to keep each other company.

After a guard checked their names against a list, they were allowed into Splashtown. The restaurant nearest the gate was set up as birthday headquarters. The birthday boy turned out to be a toadish man of about fifty, whose fingers, wrists, and neck all strained under the weight of jewelry.

“Bling bling,” Ben muttered to Allison as they approached to wish him happy birthday. He couldn’t help but wonder what sort of favor the man owed Tim.

After some small talk they were free to strip down to their swimsuits and roam around the park. Ben did his best not to stare at Tim, but he hadn’t seen him shirtless since high school. His physique was a strange mix of the familiar and the unknown. The curves and lines of his muscles were mostly the same, just bigger, but he now had a scar running down his shoulder. Ben wondered at the story behind it. Where had he been the past five years and would his body feel different to the touch?

Some hurried mental exertion was necessary to keep from getting a boner. Looking away from Tim didn’t help because he ended up looking at Jace. His was a body that Ben knew well, since it had provided him hours of endless pleasure. Seeing Jace nearly nude only put Ben more in the mood. Allison was the only safe person to look at, an ironic truth considering how stunning she looked in her bikini.

Music pumped from the park’s loudspeakers, but otherwise the park appeared abandoned. Occasionally they would pass another group of birthday guests, but most waterslides were without lines. The lifeguards on duty yawned in the sun, many only perking up when Allison came around. They were at the third set of slides, blue covered tubes that twisted in all directions, when Ben’s secret agent abandoned the war.

“You can’t leave me,” Ben complained. “You’re supposed to be my chaperone!”

“Just look at him!”

Allison nodded in the direction of a lifeguard who was casually flexing his ebony muscles. “And what do you mean, chaperone? I thought I was just running interference.”

“You know what I mean,” Ben said, tearing his eyes away from the lifeguard. “Are you sure you want to hang around here when there’s a whole park to explore?”