The Bet (DDlb book)

8

"Luke," A man called out form the side of the movie theatre.

Luke spun aorund and smiled at his friend. "Hey, Josh. How's it going?"

"Really good. Hw about you? Did the captor let you out for the evening?" Josh asked.

"What?" Luke laughed.

"We heard about what your father had done. We're sorry about that. But he must be a nice guy if he let you out for the evening."

"I ran away."

"Then maybe not," Johs muttered. He handed Luke his ticket for the movie and alked up to the usher. Luke walked to the bathroom, telling Johs he'd be there soon. He went into the men's room, where it was loud with lots of talking, and Luke went into a stall. He quickly pulled his pullup off and throwing it awzy. He used the bathroom and quickly wahsed his hands before walking into the theatre.

Josh waved at Luke and Luke sat dwon besode him. A bag of popcorn sat in Josh's lap, and Luke couln;t help hut think about the prior day when he was eating and watching TV with his daddy, and how they had their first kiss.

The movie soon started, and Luke leaned his head on Josh's shoulder, who leaned his head back onto Luke's head. For as long as he could rememeber, Josh had a crush on Luke, and he was sure Luke liked his back. They always acted lke a couple, but there were never any labels.

As the movie began, Luke noticed people enter from the corner of his eye. He gasped though when he saw none other than Steve enter with a woman.

&

"Steve!" Holly, an close friend of his, shouted as she entered the house. "What is going on? WHy were you texting me about a life and death situation?"

"I found a little," Steve began.

Holly squealed. "Is he here?" she asked.

"He ran away. I don;t know where he is, and I'm worried about him. I have no idea where he ould be. I've lost him forever," Steve whimpered as he placed his head into his hands.

Holly walked over to the couch and patted Steve's back. "It's okay. Where did you find him?"

"I won him in a game of poker." Steve yelled at the ceiling as he stood up. "He must hate me now. No wonder he ran away. I forced him into this lifestyle, and now he has a whole resentment for me."

"Maybe he went back to whereever he lived before. We can go check."

"N. He knows I would check there first, so he must be waiting to go back there."

"Then let's go take a breather and go out. The new Planent of Apes movie came out. Let's go see it and then we can go back to his old house and get him back," Holly suggetsed.

Steve hated to admit how much of a good idea it was, and he did want to see the movie. He thought he would have to wait for it to come out on DVD because Luke seemed scared of it, but now he could go see it and hopefully enjoy himself.

"Let's go," he said.

&

"Babe, your shivering," Josh cooed as he wrapped an arm around Luke, who snuggled into his chest.

"He;s behind us."

"Who?"

"WHo do you think? The one who won me."

"Okay, well we'll just go out after the movie. He doesn;t seem to recongizie you, so don;t worry. Maybe we can go to the gay club after this," Josh suggested.

"That sounds really nice, atcually," Luke said as he relax ed into Josh's arms, though he couldn;t help but with they were Steve's in a way.