Saving an Angel

by Jason Finigan

This story is set in an alternate reality, and assumes the technology and capabilities of this reality's 23rd century are present in modern-day society.

Portions of this story contain copyrighted characters from other authors. Fictional organizations, situations, and characters from "Out of the Past" are copyright © by Dark Star and are used with permission. Clan Short is copyright © 2004-2008 CSU Productions; all rights reserved

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. This story may contain scenes which involve sexual situations between young males. If this type of material is offensive to you, or it is not legal for you to be reading this type of material, please do not read any further. This story is copyright © 2007-2008 by Jason Finigan, all rights reserved. Please do not copy this story for distribution or post on any online server without the author's permission. Please send all your comments to: jasonfinigan@yahoo.com.

From the last chapter:

Tears started to fall from my eyes as I looked down at her gravestone. Falling to my knees I began to cry. "Why mom? Why did you have to leave me? I miss you so much." I could feel Ryan kneeling down beside me, putting his hand on my back and rubbing it gently. He was the only person I had left in this world, and I threw my arms around him, holding onto him for dear life. He let me hold him, and I felt his arms wrap around me. In my ear, I could hear him telling me that everything is going to be okay. I wanted to believe him. I needed to believe him.

"Kyle, listen to me. You see this place here? This is your mom's new home, and you can come and visit her anytime you want. So long as you hold her in your heart, she'll never leave you, Son. She'll always be a part of you. She lives now in your memories, cherish them forever."

I looked up at Ryan, tears still in my eyes. "I will. I love her so much. You're right, Dad, I can feel her inside me."

"I know you can, Son," Ryan said. "Do you want to say goodbye to her for now?"

"No, can we just stay here for a bit longer?" I asked.

"Of course we can, Buddy. Take all the time you need, I'm not going anywhere."

"Thank you, Dad," and together we stood, with me leaning up against my new dad in front of my mom's grave. Just the three of us, family.

Chapter 4

Ryan had taken me to the place where his parents were buried. He tried not to show it, but I could tell that he missed them very much. Once, I even thought I saw a tear run down the side of his face, but I didn't say anything. These were his parents, and as much as I missed my mom, I knew he missed his mom and dad just as much. I did the only thing I knew to do, which was to hold his hand. A couple of times, he squeezed my hand as if to thank me for being there with him. Truth was, nothing in this world was going to take me away from my new Dad. I was determined to make sure of that.

Eventually we left, leaving both of our parents to rest. The drive back to my new home was spent in silence. I think Ryan was doing exactly what I was at that moment. Thinking back to the time my mom was still with me. All I could think of though, were the good times, and there were a lot of them. I could remember the time when my mom had my regular babysitter over for a picnic one day, and we all went to the beach.

His name was Simon, and he was really fun to be with. He was the only teenager I knew of that didn't see me as a little kid. He always treated me like he was my best friend. Actually, I kind of think I was his best friend. Not once did I ever hear of him mentioning anything about any other friends of his. Every time we were together, it was just him and me playing some game, or wrestling around, and the many times we just sat on the couch together and watched TV. Even when my mom couldn't afford to pay him to babysit me anymore, he still came by. The more I thought of him, the more I wondered what happened to him, and whether or not he missed me. I know I missed him.

Ever since I had left the group home, I had also wondered about the best friend that I made there. Even though I had left because I was afraid of something bad happening to me again, I still felt a little guilty for leaving my friend. I didn't even say good bye to him, and I always wondered if he hated me now because I left. There was only one way I could go see him again though.

"Dad?" Ryan had parked the car in the driveway and we were now in the house sitting in the living room on the couch together.

"Yes, Bud," he replied, waiting to find out what it was I had on my mind.

"You remember what I told you about what happened in the home I was in?"

"There's no way I could forget it son," he said sadly.

"Well, I was wondering if I could see my friend Greg."

"You mean the boy you made friends with in the group home?"

"Yeah. I kinda miss him," I said.

"He's in a group home though and they don't usually let people in who aren't family you know, Son," Ryan reminded me.

"I know, Dad, but maybe if you talk to that lady that was here earlier today, she could let us go see him."

"I can't make you any promises, Son, but I can contact her tomorrow to try and find out for you, is that okay?"

"Oh yeah, Daddy, it is! Thank you so much!" I said, giving him a kiss on his cheek, now very excited at the prospects of seeing Greg again.

"In the mean time, Buddy, we need to get your room set up, so that you have a place to sleep tonight. This couch wasn't made for sleeping in," Ryan remarked.

"Okay, Dad, lets go get it done," I said, already climbing the stairs to my new bedroom.

"Right behind you, Bud," Ryan said, though I think I was already in my room before he even reached the bottom of the stairs.

I looked around at all the boxes and instantly got lost. "Dad, how do you know what is what?" I asked, seeing Ryan finally outside the door to my room.

"Well, Son, I separated all the boxes so that they are roughly where they will eventually be, when they're put together. I think the first thing we need to do is get the bed ready. What do you think?" he asked me.

"Yeah, that sounds really cool. I can't wait to have my own bed again," I said excitedly.

"Well, when we're finished here it'll be dinner time, but then we can go out to get some things to personalize your room. I want to also go to Future Shop to get you a new computer so you can do your homework."

"Will I be going to the same school as Greg?" I asked, hopefully.

"I don't know, Son, that depends on where the closest school is to us. That's usually where you have to go."

"Oh, well I hope it's the same one as Greg goes to," I said.

"We'll just have to see. Now, how about we get this bed together," he said, grabbing the first box off the wall.

"Okay, Dad," I said, and sat down beside him as he started to open the box up.

The box containing the bed was huge, but it was also very flat. In fact, all the boxes in the room were like that. I guess it's just how Ikea packs things so that it's easier for someone to take it home with them.

Ryan and I had a lot of fun putting together the bed. It also took us the longest of all the furniture to put together. Not because of how big it was, but rather because we had some fun testing it out. First I pushed him onto the mattress, and then I jumped on after him. We ended up wrestling for a bit before tackling the rest of the furniture. It had been a long time since someone would wrestle with me, and I found that I missed it.

I did find out something about Ryan though; he's extremely ticklish. And do you think I didn't take advantage of it? You better believe I did. Pretty soon I had him almost crying from laughter. I stopped tickling him when he told me that he was going to pee the bed. No way was I going to let him mess up my new bed. It was huge! I think it was about the size of the bed that he sleeps on in his room.

With the bed completed, Ryan and I quickly got my dresser done as well, so that I could put away the clothes that he had bought for me at Zellers. By the time we had it all assembled and my clothes put away, it was quite late.

"Kyle, what do you say we forget about making dinner tonight and order Chinese food?" Ryan suggested.

"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed excitedly. "I love Chinese food!"

"You love every kind of food," he laughed. "Okay, you finish straightening out your bed, and I'll call for some Chinese. Anything you want in particular?" he asked me.

"Chicken balls!" I replied. They were my favorite with the red sauce that comes with them. I liked everything about Chinese food, but chicken balls were by far my favorite item on the menu.

Ryan left to go downstairs, while I straightened out the bed. We had made a mess of it while we were wrestling, which was a lot of fun. But now that I had a Dad, I knew that I'd be expected to help out around the house. It was the same with my mom. Truth be told, I didn't mind it. I actually enjoyed helping my mom out. When she was outside, I even helped her do the gardening all spring and summer long. Raking the leaves was fun too. We'd have all the leaves in a great big pile and then my mom and I would jump into it. It was so much fun.

Thinking about my Mom still hurt, because I missed her so much. Living with Ryan was a lot of fun, and he treated me much the same as my mom did. I think he and my mom would have made a really good couple if it wasn't for the fact that Ryan was gay.

Now that I think about it, him being gay didn't really bother me. My mom had always taught me to never judge a person, and that love was a very special gift a person could give to another, no matter who that person was. My mom was right, the love I felt from Ryan made me feel really warm inside, for the first time since I lost my mom, I really felt like I had a family again. There was no doubt in my mind that I loved Ryan. As far as I was concerned, he was my real father.

"Kyle, you done up there, Buddy?" Ryan called up the stairs.

"Just finished now, Dad," I called back to him, straightening out a pillow on my bed.

"Okay, Son, dinner will be here in a few minutes, so why don't you go wash your hands and come down into the living room," Ryan suggested.

"Be right down, Dad." Satisfied with how my bed now looked, I left for the bathroom and turned the water on in the sink. It didn't take me long to get my hands washed and dried, and I left the bathroom, going downstairs into the living room. Ryan was sitting on the couch with the TV on.

The strange thing was, all I could see on the TV was the still image you see when the DVD player is turned on. "What are we going to watch, Dad?" I asked him, climbing up onto the couch and leaning my back up against him.

"Well, I don't really know, Bud," he said. "How about you go over there to the DVDs and pick something."

"Okay, Dad," I said smiling. Hopping off the couch, I went over to the DVD wall and began to browse through his massive collection of DVDs. I was in the mood for something with action in it tonight, and I decided to pick out one of my favorite super hero movies, Spiderman. Opening the cover, I took the DVD out and put it in the DVD player, then settled back down beside Ryan. No sooner had I sat back down than the door bell rang.

"Whoops! That would be the delivery guy," Ryan said, and pushed himself off the couch. I had to sit up to let him get up off the couch. A couple minutes later he came back into the living room with a couple big brown paper bags. The smell of Chinese food filled the Living Room and my stomach growled in anticipation. I watched as Ryan took Styrofoam packages out of the bags, and set them on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Kyle, Bud, would you go to the kitchen and grab us a couple of plates and some forks and knives?" he asked me.

"Sure thing, Dad," I said, hopping off the couch to go get them. I'm only ten, so reaching the plates wasn't the easiest. I had to stand on my toes to get them. When I had managed to get the plates out, and closed the door, I then took out a couple of forks and knives then returned to the living room.

"Thanks, Bud," Ryan said, taking a set of utensils and a plate from me. "Okay, dig in!"

Boy did I ever dig in. By the time I had finished getting the food I wanted to eat, I had a whole plate full. I didn't know if I would be able to eat it all, but just the sight of all that Chinese food made my mouth water. Ryan had ordered a good amount of chicken balls, which I was grateful for and I ended up taking six of them. Of course chicken balls aren't complete unless you have that red sauce, and I spread a liberal amount of sauce all over them.

For the next hour or so, we ate our dinner while watching the movie. I had already finished off all the chicken balls on my plate, as well as most of the rice and the vegetables. I know most kids my age usually don't like vegetables, and I'm no different, but when they're in Chinese food, I don't mind them at all. I guess it's that you can't really taste the vegetables when it's cooked like that.

Both Ryan and I got full pretty quickly, and we just laid back on the couch, watching the rest of the movie. It was a really good movie. I was literally stuffed. It felt like my stomach had grown twice the size it was.

"Hmmm," Ryan commented, patting my full tummy. "You keep eating like that and you're going to turn in to a beach ball!"

"Dad!" I protested, giggling at the thought of my stomach looking like a beach ball. "You ate just as much as me, and your stomach feels like you swallowed a basket ball."

"Oh it does does it?" he asked, a wicked smile forming on his face. Without warning, his hand pounced on my stomach and his fingers began to tickle me. I was laughing so hard, tears began to run from my eyes. "You give?" he asked me.

"Yes! Yes! I give! I have to go to the bathroom, Dad!" I exclaimed, and I wasn't kidding.

"Okay, you get up there and do what you have to do, then come back down so we can go out and get you a few things," He said.

I had to go so bad that I didn't stop to pause, running up the stairs to the bathroom and closing the door before I dropped my pants and underwear and let the contents of my bladder go into the bowl below. After washing my hands I ran down the stairs where I saw Ryan already getting his shoes on.

"Lets go, Sport," he said to me. Hurriedly I got my shoes on, and followed him out the door. "Time to get you a computer, and some things for your room."

"I've never had a computer before," I told him. "I don't know how to use them."

"Didn't they give you computers to play with in the group home?" Ryan asked me, opening the car doors.

"No. All we had was a TV that was on the main floor, and we could only watch that at certain times. If it wasn't for me being able to play with Greg, I would have been really bored," I said, climbing into the car after Ryan.

"Well, we're going to have to change all that. A boy like you deserves to have some fun, and you do need to have one for your homework."

"Can we get some games too?" I asked excitedly.

"Sure we can, but just remember, I don't want you to be spending all your time playing on that computer. Pretty soon you're going to make some friends, and I'd love to see you playing with them as well. Also, I think I'm going to enroll you in the YMCA so you can go swimming during the summer."

"Yeah! My mom used to take me there. I wanted to go to the beach to swim, but my mom said that the water was too dirty."

"She was right, Kyle. Most of the time the water in Lake Ontario is too dirty for swimming. You could do it, but there'd be a good chance of you getting sick," Ryan said, starting the car and backing out of the driveway.

"I hate getting sick," I told him.

"I don't think anyone likes it, Bud," Ryan said, laughing.

"No, I guess not. One time Greg was really sick and I was worried about him."

"Oh? What happened," Ryan asked.

"Well, he got these little red dots all over his face and arms, and he couldn't get out of bed for a couple days."

"Oh you mean he had the chicken pox, it's something pretty much everyone gets when they're little."

"I guess so," I said. "Did I get them?" I asked.

"I don't know Kyle, but tomorrow I'm going to set up an appointment for you to see my family doctor, and I'll get your medical records from Miss Jacobs."

"Okay," I said. I really didn't like doctors, but the one my mom used to take me to when I got sick was pretty nice. His name was Doctor Samuels. He always had a smile on his face when he saw me, and was always gentle. After he finished making me better, he used to give me a sucker. I always loved the orange ones and he made sure those were the ones he had plenty of, just for me.

"Who's your doctor?" I asked him.

"Well, I've had him as my doctor since I was a child, and his name's Doctor Samuels."

"Wow! Really?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, really. Why, do you know him?" Ryan asked me.

"Yeah, he used to be my doctor when I got sick."

"Well then, I guess he'll know more about your medical history than even Miss Jacobs does."

"Yeah, I guess so. He's pretty funny. And he always used to give me a sucker."

"Yes, I remember that," Ryan chuckled. "He used to do the same for me too when my mom took me to see him."

"You still go to him when you're sick?" I asked.

"Sometimes, but mostly I just see him when I need a checkup done," Ryan replied.

"Oh, well that's cool. That we have the same doctor and all."

"Yes, it is. It's a small world."

"Yeah! Just like in that Disney song."

"Oh my, I haven't heard that song in a long time!" Ryan laughed.

"Me neither," I said, laughing with him.

Eventually we pulled into a parking lot, where I saw this big store with a huge sign that said Futureshop on the front.

"Come on, Buddy," Ryan said getting out of the car. "Lets go get you a computer."

"Okay, Dad," I said, getting out as well. Ryan took my hand and we walked across the parking lot to the front entrance of the store, which opened automatically for us. "Cool! Just like in Star Trek," I said, referring to the doors.

"Yep!" Ryan said simply.

He took me over to the computer department, which was pretty full of people, and I saw several people wearing the same kind of uniforms. They were wearing a black shirt, and tan coloured pants, and they had a red lanyard hanging from their necks which had name tags attached to the ends of them.

Ryan guided me into the isles that contained the various computers that were on display. There were a lot of them. I had seen computers before in stores, but not this many. Seeing as how I didn't know anything about computers, I just followed him around and looked at the screens as he paused to look at one computer or another. It was at that time that a fairly young looking sales associate approached us.

"Good evening sir, my name's Jason, is there anything I can help you with today?"

"Hi, Jason, my name's Ryan, and this here is my son Kyle."

"Hello, Kyle, it's very good to meet you," he said, shaking my hand. One thing I noticed about him was that he had a very friendly and outgoing attitude. I could tell right away that Ryan liked him, as did I.

"We're looking to get a computer for my son. It's his first one, and I need him to be able to do his school work on it," Ryan said.

"And I bet you want to play some games on it too, don't you Kyle?" Jason asked.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed, making both Ryan and Jason laugh at my enthusiasm.

"Well, I don't think that will be a problem at all. I'm sure we can find something to suite your needs. Did you have anything in particular you wanted the computer to feature?" Jason asked.

"Yes, I want to make sure that the computer has a decent processor, preferably an AMD Athlon 64 X2, at least two gigabytes of memory, about a two hundred gigabyte hard drive, and it has to have a wireless network adapter in it," Ryan said.

"Well you certainly know your computers," Jason said, obviously impressed.

"I own Hunter Consulting firm here in Burlington," Ryan said.

"Well that would explain it then," Jason said, impressed. "And I take it your name is Ryan Hunter."

"Yes it is."

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir. I applied for a position in your company a couple years ago, but didn't make it past the first interview."

"Why not? I'm not privy to every one of my employees hiring circumstances, but I'm curious to know why you weren't considered for the job."

"Oh, it probably had something to do with the fact that I am gay. It's not that I wasn't asked to come for a second interview, because I was, but I'd rather not work in an environment where there would be obvious conflicts due to my sexual orientation. I got the sense from the person giving me the interview that he wasn't too thrilled about the fact that I am gay."

"Jason, I want to thank you for bringing this to my attention, as I will definitely deal with this personally. Do you know the name of the person who was interviewing you?"

"I think his name was Rick. Yeah, Rick Thomas," Jason answered after some thought.

"I know the individual you are speaking of, he's one of my best managers. Which doesn't make any sense to me, as I had never sensed from him any animosity towards our gay employees."

"Oh, so you do have employees who are openly gay?" Jason asked with some interest.

"Yes, I do. And I'm one of them," Ryan answered.

"Oh wow!" Jason exclaimed. "Well, I wish I knew you when I was applying for that position."

"Listen, why don't you contact my office assistant in the morning," Ryan said, reaching into his wallet and pulling out a business card, handing it to Jason. "I don't want you getting the wrong impression about my company, based on one employee's narrow mindedness. I'll straighten things out with Rick, so you needn't worry about him, and I'll see you get a fair interview."

"Thanks, Mr. Hunter," Jason stammered. "I don't know what to say."

"How about that you'll consider my offer to join my firm."

"I'll more than consider it sir," Jason said, wearing a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

"Oh oh!" I exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked.

"You called him sir! He doesn't like that!" I replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Hunter," Jason said, now blushing.

Ryan actually laughed. "Don't worry about it, Jason, but Kyle's quite correct. Why don't you just call me Ryan."

"I'd like that very much, Ryan. Now, let's see about getting you a computer, shall we?"

"Yes, please. It's seven o'clock now, and it's getting late. Kyle and I still have a lot of things to get done today."

"Well then, what say we get out of this store, and find you a real computer then," Jason said.

"Are you suggesting that the computers that the company you work for aren't any good?"

"No offense, Ryan, but I'd rather buy my computer from a smaller computer store. In fact, I build all my computers myself. I've never owned a name brand computer, except for the Commodore PET and Apple IIe and Apple IIGS computers."

"Oh man, those are ancient!" Ryan exclaimed.

"I agree, but they worked, and that's all that mattered to me. These days, I'm a lot more picky. I want to get the best I can afford. Right now, I just have a cheap piece of garbage that I put together. It's cheap, but it does what I need it to do."

"They don't pay you enough here then, I take it," Ryan observed.

"Oh hell no! Oops, sorry, Kyle," Jason apologized.

"That's okay, Jason," I said, giggling.

"I get enough to pay for my apartment, and maybe get enough canned food to last every two weeks. It's not the easiest, but I make do."

"Well, that won't do at all," Ryan said. "You call that number tomorrow and we'll see what we can do."

"I'll do that. Now, let me just go tell my boss that I'm not feeling well, so I can get out of here."

"Lying on the job now, Jason?" Ryan asked, smirking at him.

"No, I'm really sick," Jason admitted.

"Oh?" Ryan said, obviously concerned.

"Yeah, sick of working here!" He confessed. That made Ryan laugh really hard. I thought he would have fallen over, but as it was, he ended up leaning up against a shelf. Once he had settled down, he waited with me until Jason came back. When he did, all he had with him was a baseball cap."

"If you'll let me, I'd like to pick out the components for Kyle's computer. I think I know what he'll need, and I want to show you just what I know," Jason said, as we walked out of the store together.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Ryan agreed. "Where's your car?"

"I don't drive actually. I can't" Jason admitted.

"Oh? Why not?" Ryan asked.

"Because I'm colour blind and I failed the road test twice. The second time when I couldn't tell the difference between a tree and a stop sign," Jason said, with an almost sad look on his face.

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.

"Well, I stopped at a three way intersection and the person administering the test asked me why I had stopped. I told him it was because there was a stop sign there. And he then told me there wasn't. Well, he was right because what I saw as a stop sign was actually a bunch of branches and leaves in the shape of a stop sign, and because I couldn't tell the difference, I failed the test."

"Oh, I'm so sorry for that, Jason, I really am," Ryan said.

"What do you mean colour blind?" I asked. "Does that mean you can't see colours?"

"Well Kyle, people who are colour blind can't see colours the way you and I do because there's something missing in their eyes," Ryan explained.

"You see Kyle, with me, I'm red and green deficient. I can still see red and green, but different shades of those two colours give me trouble. They end up either a shade of gray, or I mistake the colours for something eles. The only colour I can see perfectly is Blue."

"So you can see red and green, but when the colours are mixed, you have trouble?" I asked.

"Essentially Kyle," Ryan said. "I bet you and your boyfriend have some fun with that."

"Oh, I'm single." Jason said. I could definitely tell he was sad about that.

"I'm sorry, Jason. I shouldn't have assumed you'd have a boyfriend," Ryan apologized.

"No, it's okay. I'm used to being alone," Jason said.

"No it's not okay, you're a good looking man, and any gay guy would be proud to have you for a boyfriend," Ryan said, causing Jason to blush.

"How old are you, Jason?" I asked him.

"Kyle! That's something you don't just ask someone," Ryan admonished me.

"Sorry," I said, bowing my head down.

"No, don't be sorry. It's okay. I don't mind. I'm thirty-four, Kyle."

"Thirty-four?!" Ryan exclaimed. "But you don't look any older than about nineteen!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Jason chuckled.

"Well, I guess you're going to need a lift to get to the store you want us to go to."

"Yes, if you don't mind," Jason said.

"Not at all. Would you mind sitting in the front with me?" Ryan asked.

"I would like that very much, Ryan," Jason said, smiling.

Jason had us exiting the parking lot and turning south on Guelph Line. It was actually the same street that we had taken to get to Futureshop in the first place. Ryan and Jason were chatting away in the front seat. I could tell right away that they were really starting to get along. Jason had Ryan pull into a small strip plaza that was located right across the street from the Zellers where Ryan had purchased my clothes and pointed out a store to Ryan, who nodded his head and parked the car in front of it. Above the store front was a big sign that read 'Nigel Computers'.

"I'm not familiar with this store, Jason," Ryan admitted.

"Well, it used to be called Summit Direct, before the owner decided not to renew the license and went independent. Now it's called Nigel Computers, after the owner's name."

We stepped inside, and were greeted by a fairly tall black man. He had a smile on his face that was infectious and I couldn't help but smile back. Right away he seemed to me to be a really friendly guy.

"You're Nigel?" Ryan asked, shaking the man's hand.

"Yes I am, what can I do for you?" Nigel asked.

"This here's Jason, and he's here to build a computer for my son Kyle here."

"Well, there's no better person for that job than Jason," Nigel said.

"Ah, you know Jason then?" Ryan asked.

"Jason comes here all the time to buy stuff from us. I know he works at Futureshop, but he rarely ever buys things from them. And he's brought a lot of customers to our store, which we appreciate. I'll let him select the equipment you need for your computer, and when you're done, and I've processed your sale, I'll have one of my technicians set it up for you and get everything running free of charge."

"Well, thank you very much, Nigel, that's very kind of you," Ryan said.

"Not at all. It's the least I can do for Jason and his friends." With that Nigel left us to pick out the parts we would need for my computer. I could tell that Ryan was impressed with Jason's knowledge of computers, as a couple of things Ryan selected Jason immediately told him wouldn't be suitable for my computer at all. After about an hour, Jason had selected everything needed to put my computer together, and had it all piled up on the counter for Nigel to process.

In total, it came out to just over a thousand dollars. Nigel told Ryan that his computer wouldn't be ready until tomorrow afternoon, so we left the store. Jason and Ryan were still talking, and I listened in to their conversation as best I could, even though I didn't know half of what they were talking about.

"I noticed that you had them include Windows XP rather than the new Windows Vista operating system, why is that?" Ryan asked.

"To put it bluntly, Vista sucks." Jason said, laughing.

"I have to agree with you on that one. Several of my technicians have complained about having to deal with several of Vista's shortcomings."

"Hey, what do you expect? It's made by the same company that invented the blue screen of death," Jason said. This comment made the both of them laugh hysterically.

"Is there anywhere I can drop you off Jason? Kyle and I need to get home as it's getting really late and I want to get started early tomorrow."

"If you want, you can drop me off at my apartment."

"Okay, not a problem." It only took us another couple of minutes to get to his apartment. It was a rather old looking apartment building, but it looked to be well maintained. Pulling up to the front doors, Jason got out of the car, as did Ryan.

"You take care of yourself, Jason, and I'll talk to you real soon," Ryan said, shaking his hand."

"Thanks again for everything Ryan, and I'll definitely call for an interview tomorrow. I'll see you later." Then he bent down by my window so that I could see his face. "And thank you too, Kyle. You're a very nice young man, and your father is lucky to have you for a son," he said.

"Thanks Jason. I hope we see you again soon sometime," I said.

"I hope so too,"He answered, and shook my hand.

"Actually, why don't you join Kyle and me for dinner tomorrow night. We'd love to have you over."

"That sounds nice, Ryan, I'd like that a lot."

"Great, then we'll pick you up tomorrow at say about six o'clock?"

"I'll be ready. I look forward to it," Jason said, and shook Ryan's hand one last time before heading into the doors to his apartment.

Then Ryan climbed back into the car. He had a strange look on his face that I hadn't seen on him before. I had a good idea what it was though, and it made my giggle a bit.

"What are you giggling about, Buddy?" Ryan asked me.

"You like him, don't you?" I asked.

"What do you mean? He's a nice guy for sure, and helped out a lot."

"No I mean you really like him, as in you'd like to date him," I said, still giggling.

"I don't know Kyle," Ryan said with a sigh.

"I do, I think you're falling in love with him, and you even asked him out for a date."

"Asking someone over for dinner is hardly a date, son," Ryan said.

"Do you like him? I mean, more than just as a friend?"

"I don't know, Kyle," Ryan finally answered. "He's a really good looking guy, and I do like him. I just don't want to rush into something."

"I know, Dad," I told him. "But I like him too, and I think you and he should go out together. I think you'd be really happy together.

"I don't know, Son, but we'll see," he said.

What is this? Is Ryan going to get a boyfriend? Things are definitely getting interesting now. You can reach me at: jasonfinigan@yahoo.com. You can also visit my site at: www.jasonfinigan.net