Chapter 22: Growin' Up...Not Grownup

"I love a man in uniform," I teased Jade. I was leaning on the counter watching my boyfriend trying to look like a professional coffee pourer, smoothie pourer & cashier.

Jade had just got a job working at Dade's the other day. Today was his first day on the job. His mom & dad had found about how his sister Jenna's boyfriend Cam, didn't actually dump her. Instead, they found out they she had flunked out of college. Not wanting Jenna to have no college eduaction, their mom & dad spent a ton of money to send her off to another college. With that amount of money spent, his parents insisted that Jade get a job.

"You kids these days just don't know what it's like in the working world," he said with a deep voice as he picked up a wet cloth & wiped down the counter.

"Well I for one can't wait to live it up & clean counters all day," said Collin. In sort of a celebration of the job, me, Collin, Alex, Dane, Jeff & Randy were all there. We laughed.

"You guys should get jobs here. That'd be pretty cool," Jade beamed, looking hopeful.

"Sorry man, we don't all have the luxury of having our folks spend a crap load of dough on our sister for a SECOND time," Dane replied.

"I can't believe her. I mean, hello? I have to go to college too ya know. I bet my parents won't have enough to put me through now, all because of my sister."

"J, I don't think she exactly planned for this. It's not like she WANTED this to happen," I said.

"Still."

"Plus, we don't want jobs. School's hard enough bud," Alex said flatly. I could side with that.

"But we'd make some money. Jobs also look good for college, getting a car, work ethic. You're lucky you have a job," Randy pointed out. "Actually, I'd like a job here to be honest."

Jade nodded his head in agreement. Then he turned to me.

"What about you, partner?"

"What?"

"You should think about getting job here. We could work side by sisde, you & me. Or if Randy works here, it could be the three of us," he said hopefully. Clearly, he wanted me to work with him. I of course wanted to, it was just that there were some things preventing that.

"You just got hired though. And even if Randy gets a job here, it's unlikely I'd get the job, too. I mean, with the economy the way it is, they probably aren't hiring now."

"Not true. The owner, Tom, says that more than half of the employees here quit because they needed better jobs that pay more. He's desperate," said Jade.

"How is that supossed to help?" asked Jeff with a confused look on his face. "If they're looking for better jobs, then why would you guys wanna work here?"

"We're kids. We don't care how much WE make, as long as we get it," Alex answered. Jeff nodded, understanding it.

I thought about it. Working with Jade & Randy seemed like a pretty good idea. I mean, I would make money, work with my lover & friend a lot, do easy things like pour a drink, wipe something or organize a rack & probably be able to socialize a little bit more than previously.

"So how 'bout it Noahy?" said Jade.

"Let's go talk to Tom," I said, smiling at Randy.

**********

"Hi dad," I said as I walked into the house when I got home. I was excited to tell him that I got a job at Dade's. Jade was right. The moment we walked into Tom's office, he stood up & asked if we were there for job applications. When Randy & I said yes, we immediately gave us the jobs, no interview required. Talk about desperate.

"Dad?" I called again.

I walked around the house a bit, looking for him in case he hadn't heard me. I saw him in the backyard doing some lawn work. The snow had finally melted, but that didn't mean the fallen branches from heavy snow melted with it.

"Dad!" I said, walking up to him. He turned around.

"Hey Noah."

"Guess what."

I knew he hated guessing games. But for me, it was fun.

"What?"

"Guess who you're lookin' at."

He looked me up & down.

"A 15 year old boy."

"A 15 year old boy who's the newest employee at Dade's," I corrected him.

His eyes got wide & a huge smile spread across his face.

"You got a job? Wow, when did you do that?"

"Well Jade got a job there & then Randy & I applied also."

"That's great big guy," he said, walking over to me & giving me a small hug.

"When do you start?"

"Tomorrow after school. I work Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturday & Sunday. On week days, I work from right after school until 5:30. On the weekends, it's from 3:00 until 6:00."

"That's great. How much do you make? Wait a minute, are you even gonna have enough time for school?"

"Yeah, of course I will. And Tom said I'll make $10 an hour, mostly because he's desperate for workers."

"Cool."

**********

The next day, on Wednesday, I started work right after school with Jade & Randy. Jade showed us a little bit of what he knew, even though his first day was the day before. He told us how to use the coffee machine, make a call to management, bring in things from the storage room, work the register & make other things on the menu. He also told us to generally stay away from upstiars because the people who worked up there weren't so friendly. I recalled when I had met up with Alex & Jade here when Alex & I fought that it was a little creepy up there. It was typically more for older teens & young adults who wanted to hang out & make out behind closed doors. He said if we ever needed anything up there, use the phone to call somebody working upstairs.

Thankfully, Randy's & my first day went smoothly; not too many people. It gave me a chance to figure out the flow of the joint, which I liked. What I didn't like was what happened next.

Just as I finished giving a receit to a customer, I looked at who walked into the place. I mean, I loved him & all, but I didn't really want my dad there at the moment.

He came up to me & started talking.

"Hey you," he said happily.

"Hi dad."

"Hey guys," he said towards Jade & Randy. They smiled & waved & went back to work.

"So Noah, you know what you're doing, right?" he asked.

"Yes dad, I know what I'm doing."

"Good. Make sure that you don't get into fights with customers who seem to be jerks ok? Even if you're right, admitting you're wrong is better than getting in trouble with management," he pointed out.

"I know."

"Don't be socializing with your friends too much, all right? You need to stay focussed."

I started to get slightly red in the face considering my dad was telling me how to do my job when I was waiting for him to move aside so I could assist the next customer behind him.

"Dad, I appreciate the advice & all, but I kind of need to get back to work now. Are you gonna get something?"

He looked up at the menu, going over what we had.

"Just a cup of coffee. You know how I like it, right?"

"Yup, hold on," I told him. I walked over to the machine, made his coffee & gave it to him. He payed for it, but not before giving me a thumbs-up on when I gave him the change from the register. I couldn't help but smile a little, even though I was turning red.

As he went over to one of the open seats avaiable, he sat down, took out his laptop from his work bag & started doing his work on it.

The next customer asked me if there were any more smoothie drinks on the wrack. Even though we made our smoothies from scratch, we also sold smoothie bottles on the wrack. When I looked, I noticed it was empty. I told the man to wait a minute while I went to the back to refill the wrack with the smoothie drinks.

When I opened the door, Jade was in there, going through a box that said "napkins" on the side. He turned his head & smiled.

"Hey you."

"Hi."

I walked up next to him, looking on the shelf for the box that said smoothie drinks.

"Isn't this cool?" he asked.

"What?"

"Working side by side. Not only with us, but with Randy, too."

"Yeah, I like it."

I heard him put the box down. He turned to me & kissed me on the cheek. I liked it, as usual, but wondered where it came from.

"What's that for?"

"For being an awesome boyfriend," he said warmly.

"Well you're not so bad yourself," I said back. I leaned in & kissed him on the lips.

"Your lips are sweet," Jade pointed out.

"Well thank you."

"No," he rolled his eyes. "I mean they taste fruity. Did you have a smoothie earlier?"

I did. But it was kind of empty earlier. There had been only one person there.

"Maybe."

"I like it. You should drink them a lot. I liked fruity lips," he laughed, kissing me on the lips again. This time though, it was a longer kiss. He moved in a little closer to me, his body right up to mine. I put the box I was holding back on the shelf slowly. Talk about fast moving.

I could feel Jade's hands coming up from behind me, wrapping themselves around my waist. I stuck my tongue into his mouth, liking the feel of his tongue with mine. He placed his hands on my neck affectionately, running his thumbs around my ears.

Jade proceeded to run one of his hands into my blue apron uniform & up my shirt. I felt his warm fingers to lightly pinch my nipples, causing me to stiffen a little bit. I liked it when he did that.

When I felt his other hand move over my flat belly & slowly down into the waistband of my pants, I raised a hand to stop him.

"Whoa, J, we can't do it here."

"Why not?"

I gave him a look.

"Oh I don't know, because we have people out there waiting for us maybe?" I responded as if it were a question.

I grabbed the box of smoothies.

"Sorry babe, but I gotta get back to work. And should you."

"You can't go back to work now," he said blankly.

"Why not?"

"Not with that like that," Jade said, pointing to my groin. It was true. I had a bulge partially poking against my uniform. I hated boners in public. One bad thing about hanging out with Jade in public.

"I know how to make it go away," said Jade.

I was desperate.

"How?"

"C'mere, I'll show ya," he whispered, moving towards me in a sexy fashion.

Not that desperate.

"Nice try."

"Noahy, c'mon, take a little break. I promise you'll like it," Jade tried to persuay me.

"Even though I admit J, that I do like being a little...intimate...in public, this is different."

"Fine," he pouted.

I thought for a moment. Oh whatever...

"Tonight," I breathed out. He suddenly looked up & had such a cute face on that I almost wanted to do it right now despite what I said.

"Awesome."

***

Later, when work was finished, I was getting my stuff when Tom came out of his office & walked up to me.

"Noah, right?" he asked, wanting to remember my name.

"Yeah, Noah."

"Cool. Hey, this is for you," he smiled, handing me my very fist paycheck. When I thought about it, this was my first real step into the adult world. It was a baby step, I know, but still, I was thrilled about it.

"Wow. Thanks Tom."

"Well, you'll be getting a lot of those hopefully in the future, so stick to it all right?"

"Yeah."

"Great. See you Saturday," he said, then left for his office again. Jade was waiting for me outside the shop.

"Hey," he greeted me. "Wanna catch a movie?"

I gave a sad smile as I said, "Actually, could I pass tonight? I'm kind of tired from my first day of work."

He seemed a little disappointed, but kept a straight face.

"Sure. But remember, you promised we'd have some of our OWN fun tonight, ok?"

"I didn't promise anything, but yes, I will try to meet up with you. At your house. Your mom & dad are out tonight."

"How do you know?"

"Because my dad got invited to go with them," I said.

"Then why not your house?"

"'Cause we always do it at mine."

He squinted his eyes at me, resenting, but still loving me.

"Fine. My house. Tonight. Be there. Or else," he said.

"Or what, you WON'T have sex with me?" I laughed at his empty threat. Unlike him, I could live for a little while without sex. Sure I wanted it a lot & I certainly thought it meant a lot between us, but I could hold out longer than him. No doubt.

"I'm coming over," he said as a matter of fact.

"C'mon J..."

"No, hear me out," he started. "I'll be good, I promise. I just...I don't know, I guess I just kinda wanna be with you today."

I smiled as my heart warmed up.

"You love me, right?" he said.

Yes. I did. I loved him. I was in love with him too, but most of all I loved him. I was in love with him as a boyfriend, but as a friend, I loved him, which I valued more. Jade was my brother. Not my ACTUAL brother, but it sure felt that way sometimes.

I said nothing, but instead nodded. I walked up to him & kissed him lightly on the lips.

"C'mon, we're going to my house," I said.

**********

When we got in, I was exhausted. We had walked home because apparently, the bus driver forgot about the stop that we were at. And since our folks were out, we silently knew that we were walking.

I went up to my room, let Jade in, closed the door, opened my bureau, got some stuff out & changed into a loose t-shirt & pajama pants. Jade did the same using some of his clothes he kept in my closet. After that, we lay down on my bed & turned on my tv to some SNL. Jade was on the side of my bed closer to the window, leaving me on the side closer to the door down & the tv.

Jade draped an arm over me, holding my hand. I scooted back into him a little bit & wrapped my legs around his, entangling them together. I felt his head lay on my shoulder right above me since I was on my side facing the tv. I held his hand up & kissed it. After about an hour of just some "snuggin'" as Jade called it, his breathing was heavier & there was a faint wisp of air coming from his nose that I could feel on my neck. He was asleep, still holding my hand.

Soon after, I felt my own eyes begin to weigh down & sure enough, I fell asleep with my loving boyfriend holding me. When I woke up the next morning for school, I realized that even though we're weren't in the same position, there were two blankets over us. My dad must have come in while we slept & covered us up.

I was happy that there were two guys who I loved no matter what. Even though I loved both of them in different ways, I was still glad they cared for me very much.