After the tour was over Zac was definitely ready for a long break at home. It was the beginning of August and his ad was going to be appearing in quite a few of the magazines due out this month. He was the only poster boy for the new style of CK jeans, and they were advertising like crazy, so that mean his face (and body) were probably going to end up in a number of magazines over the next few months.
When Zac got home the first thing he did was collapse onto his bed, his phone in his hand. With his head halfway stuffed in his pillow he dialed Bronwyn's number and put the phone to the only part of his face that wasn't covered in pillow.
"Hello?"
"Hey baby," he said. "I'm home."
"Zac? You are? Great, I'm coming over," Bronwyn said with an excitement Zac wished he had.
"Mmmkay," Zac said. "See you then."
"You sound tired."
"Like you wouldn't believe," Zac muttered.
"Oh, then I'll let you rest."
"No! No, honey, come over," Zac said. "I want to see you."
"Bronwyn, who's on the phone?" Zac recognized Jayden's voice in the background.
"Jayden's there?" Zac asked.
"Yeah, they're all over here," Bronwyn said. "We were going to watch a movie but we could always do that at your place."
"Yeah, sure, have everyone over!"
"Bronwyn!" Jayden yelled, impatiently.
"It's Zac! Oh my God, keep your pants on. Nobody wants to see that."
"I want to," Ben's voice said.
"Shut up, Ben!" Jayden said. Zac heard them all laughing and bit his lip. It'd been another two months without his friends and he was sure they were all used to Ben at this point. Although Zac had spent a lot of his free time thinking about Ben and his whole situation, he still wasn't sure if he was comfortable with it.
"Anyway, Zac, is it okay if we all come over?" Bronwyn asked.
"Sure, Wynn, we'll watch a move in the den or something."
"Great. We'll be there in, uh, twenty minutes."
"All right. But make sure they understand if I suddenly pull you out of the room so we can be alone together," Zac said. Bronwyn laughed.
"I'm sure they'll understand," she said. "Bye."
"Bye, Wynn." He hung up the phone and got up, groaning. He needed to make himself some coffee before they all came over. He went downstairs and found his mother in the kitchen. "Hey Mom."
"Hey dear," she said. She had already made a pot of coffee and he smiled upon realizing this.
"Is it okay if some of my friends come over?" he asked. "We'll probably just end up watching a movie in the den or something."
"Sure, Zac," she said. "How many friends?"
"Just the usual," he said. He got himself a cup from the cabinet. "Wynn, Jayden, Carter, Nix, and Ben."
"Who's Ben?"
"Oh," Zac said. He poured himself some coffee. "Ben's a new kid. He moved here from Denver about three months ago. I've only met him once but he's really solid with Jayden and them now."
"All right, dear," she said. "Try not to make a mess."
"Okay."
"Did you unpack?" she asked. He shook his head.
"No, not yet," he said. "I'll do it after they leave, or most likely I'll do it tomorrow. I'm wiped out."
"Well don't let your friends keep you up too late, dear. You know how you get when you're really tired," she said. Zac shrugged and took a sip of his coffee.
It was a good twenty minutes later when everyone arrived. Zac greeted them at the door, feeling a bit better now that he had a cup of coffee in his system. He gave a kiss to Bronwyn and a hug to everyone else until he came across Ben. Ben stood in front of his, his hands on his back pockets, a little reserved. "Uh, nice to see you again, Ben," Zac said.
"You too," Ben said. "Wow, nice jeans." Zac looked down at his jeans; they were the ones he wore in the Calvin Klein photo shoot. Although he was a pain in the ass to Liz, the photographer liked him and insisted he keep the jeans (along with the two shirts and the shoes). Zac hadn't mentioned a thing to his friends about the photo shoot, mostly because he hadn't spoken to anybody but Bronwyn and when the few minutes he did get to speak to her, he talked about more important things.
"Yeah," Zac said, looking down at his jeans. "They're a new CK line."
"Really?" Ben asked. "Awesome. They make your ass look amazing."
"Okay, let's go into the den, shall we?" Zac asked, immediately turning around and leading them into the den. He could feel Ben's eyes watching his ass as he walked and he began to walk faster into the den. He sat down as soon as he could. "So," Zac said. "What movie are we going to watch?" Before anybody could say anything Walker came in the room. "Oh, hey Dad."
"I didn't know you had people over," he said. He had a stack of mail in his hands. "Hi kids."
"Hi Mr. Hanson," they all said.
"Well I'll leave you guys alone. Mail's here, Zac, if you want to go through it," he said, and dropped the mail on the table in front of the couch Zac and Bronwyn were sitting on. Zac had his arm draped around Bronwyn's shoulders and could care less about the mail in front of him.
"What magazine is that?" Jayden asked.
"It's probably my sister's Cosmo," Zac said. Ben's eyes lit up and he grabbed the massive Cosmopolitan magazine. Bronwyn got up and moved next to Ben. They started looking through the magazine together and Zac got up, moving to the wall where they kept the movies.
"Hmm," Zac said. Jayden got up and looked with him, leaving Nix and Carter on the sofa together, not really caring what movie they watched. "How about Clerks?"
"But we've seen it a million times, Zac," Jayden said. "We need to see something else."
"Hey Zac?" Ben asked. Zac looked back.
"What?"
"What's this?" he asked, holding up Zac's two-paged black and white Calvin Klein ad.
"Oh," Zac said, turning around fully and dropping his hands. "That's�that's just my CK ad. It was a little something I did on the side, you know, on a day off�"
"Hey, are these the jeans you're wearing now?" Bronwyn asked. Zac nodded. "Damn, you look so sexy here."
"You know, I haven't even seen it yet." Zac sat down next to Ben and looked at his ad. "Oh, man, I didn't want them to use that photo�" The two-paged spread featured two of the shots Ben had taken, one with Zac sitting on the curb, his shirt open and his hand to his head, his stomach fully visible but the jeans kind of in the background to his blatant sexiness. The second page was him standing against the fence with his wifebeater, looking seductive and rugged, with a better look at the jeans he had on.
"When did you do this?"
"Way back in the beginning of June," Zac said. "It was just a little fun."
"Man, Zac, you do look good," Ben said.
"Ben, what did I say about that?" Bronwyn asked, giving Ben a look.
"I know," he said, looking slightly disappointed. "No stealing Zac from you�"
"I seriously doubt that's going to happen," Zac said. "Anyway, we need a movie." Zac got up and walked back to the wall of movies.
"I want to see sexy Zac," Jayden said. Zac rolled his eyes as Jayden sat down next to Ben and looked at the ad. Carter and Nix got up and walked over.
"Okay, okay, we've all seen me," Zac said, putting his hands up. "Yay me. I'm right here, you can look at me right now."
"Oh, but Zac you're not standing there with your shirt open," Jayden said. "It's just not the same!" Zac crossed his arms over his chest.
"When the hell did you get a six pack anyway?" Nix asked. "The last time I saw you, you had no definition whatsoever." Zac rolled his eyes.
"It's just the lighting," Zac said. "Are we going to watch the movie or are we going to stare at me in a magazine all day long?"
"Show us your six pack," Bronwyn said.
"What? No!"
"Oh come on, lighting helps but it can't do wonders like that." Zac shook his head.
"No!"
"You guys are crazy. I'm leaving."
"Zac, this is your house," Jayden pointed out.
"Then you leave!"
"Just show us your stomach, then we'll watch a movie," Bronwyn said, a smile on her face. Zac groaned and lifted up his shirt. All five of them burst out in whoa's and applauded. Zac immediately put this shirt down.
"Now if you'll excuse me," Zac said, "we have a movie to watch." Zac picked out a movie himself and put it in the DVD player immediately. He sat back down on the couch by himself. Bronwyn got up and sat down next to her boyfriend.
"Oh, I'm sorry, baby, did I embarrass you?" she asked. He gave her a look and turned on the television to the movie that was already starting. Carter, Nix, and Jayden sat down, leaving Ben on the loveseat by himself. "Oh, Ben, come over here and sit down," Bronwyn said, patting the spot next to her. Ben put the magazine back on the table and sat down next to Bronwyn. As Zac put his arm around Bronwyn his hand grazed Ben's shoulder, and Ben looked over.
"Sorry," Zac muttered.
"It's okay," Ben muttered back. Bronwyn looked up at Zac and he continued to look at the screen, ignoring the tingling sensation he felt in the fingers that had grazed Ben's shoulder.
Zac had almost fallen asleep during the movie so after it was over it was obvious that he didn't want to entertain any longer. Jayden, Carter and Nix had left already and Bronwyn and Ben were following close behind. Bronwyn was getting a ride back to her house from Ben.
"I'll be out in a sec, Ben," Bronwyn said as Ben walked out the front door. He nodded and walked over to his car. Bronwyn turned to Zac. "I think you should spend some time with Ben."
"Excuse me?" Zac asked.
"You're still uncomfortable around him," Bronwyn said. "It's not cool because we're all comfortable with him, we all joke with him�there's just this tense atmosphere when the both of you are in the room together. You should spend some time alone with him, just the two of you."
"Just the two of us?" Zac asked, glancing around. "But Wynn, he's got�" She waited. "He's got, like, a crush on me." Bronwyn laughed.
"No he doesn't."
"He doesn't?"
"No!" She was still laughing. "Yeah, he thinks you're attractive but he doesn't have a crush on you. Come on, Zac, why would he? He knows you're straight." Zac made a face. That was a shocking blow to find out but most of all, he was really disappointed to hear that Ben didn't have a crush on him. Although the thought of another guy having a crush on him, him, made him cringe, it sucked to know Ben didn't. "Oh my God, you look so disappointed!"
"Well," Zac said, "it's always nice to be admired." Bronwyn shook her head.
"Whatever, Zac. I'll see you later." She kissed him. He watched her leave and she waved as she got into Ben's car. Ben waved as well and they drove off together. Zac turned around and went upstairs. He was ready to crash even though it was only six o'clock. He went into his room, shut the door, and took off most of his clothes before he climbed into the bed and closed his eyes.
He was woken from his sleep about an hour later when the phone rang. He groaned, reached out a hand, and picked it up. He put it to his ear. "Hello?" he asked, sleepily.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?" It was Ben. Zac smiled.
"Well, yeah," Zac said. "But don't dwell on it. What's up?"
"Bronwyn said I should call you," Ben said. "But maybe I should call back later, though."
"No, I said don't worry about it." Zac sat up, rubbing his eyes. "I'm awake now. So I'm guessing she said we need to spend time together didn't she?"
"Yeah, she did," Ben said. "I wasn't entirely sure we should, but she was pretty persuasive. She's a nice girl."
"She is," Zac said. "So, I guess we should do something then?"
"Yeah. Um�what do you want to do?" Zac paused. He had no idea. "Well, we could do something tomorrow. I could come over there, you could come over here; we could watch a movie or something, you know, pretty much like we did today just without everyone else around."
"That sounds good. Maybe I could come over there."
"Great." There was an awkward silence. "You know, the only reason she's doing this is because she wants us to be comfortable around each other. Personally I don't think I'm the one with the problem�"
"Oh, so you're saying it's my fault?" Zac asked.
"Yes. Before you found out I was gay we were just fine and now you're having a terrible time even talking to me."
"Am I really?" Zac asked, his voice rising. "Well I'm going to come over there right now and we're going to hang out and we're going to get along!"
"Um�okay?"
"So can I come over?" Zac asked.
"Yeah, sure."
"Great. I'll see you in twenty minutes!" He put the phone down, but before he hung it up he put it back to his ear. "Wait, where do you live?" Ben gave him directions and Zac hung up the phone. He threw his clothes back on, took a quick glance at himself in the mirror, and left.