The Guy Thing 7/18:  Jefe

"Uh, eight foot , six and uh five sixteenths inch, jefe. . .  or five
eighths, maybe."

Xander sighed at the new guy.  "Santos, you gotta get the measurement right,
otherwise you're wasting time and wood."

"But there's a lot of wood, jefe."  The kid grinned, pointing to the stack
under the tarp.

Xander shook his head and smiled at him.  "Go measure it again, Santos."

"Right, jefe."   The kid took off to measure again.  About 10 yards out, he
stopped, and turned around, a bit chagrinned.  A waiting Xander tossed him
the tape measure.

The kid caught it one-handed, "Thanks, jefe."  He turned and jogged back
inside the building.

Xander turned to one of the older guys, "And 'jefe' means . . . "

"It means 'boss', boss."

"You sure about that?"  Xander raised a mock suspicious eyebrow.  "Cause it
could be slang for 'moron'."

The guys in the crew all cracked up.

"Harris!"  Came the bellowing cry from the trailer.  Xander turned his head.

The big boss motioned for Xander to come over to the trailer.  Xander told
the guys to get back to work, and he trotted over.

He pulled off his hardhat as he walked in.

"What's up, jefe?"

The boss grinned at him.  At least Xander knew for sure it didn't mean
'moron'.

"Just wanted to let you know that you're doing a great job.  Sort of wanted
you to come in here so you could hear me congratulate myself for making the
right decision putting you in charge of the carpentry crew on this job."

"Thanks."  Xander grinned from ear to ear.

"And you're good with bringing the new ones along.  I like that.  You're
good with people."

"And power tools."  Xander added.  The boss nodded and smiled at the attempt
at a joke.

"We made the bonus deadline yesterday."

Xander nodded.  "Appreciated the overtime."

"There'll be a little bonus in your pay envelope as well.  You did a good
job."

"Thanks.  That's great!  Uh. . . "

"Yeah?"

"How bout my crew?"

The boss nodded at him.  "Yeah.  Them, too.  An extra fifty bucks."

"Great!"  Xander gave him a genuine smile.  "Can I tell 'em?"

"Sure."

Xander headed out, at the door he stopped to put on his hard hat.

"Harris."

Xander turned.

"The last carpentry crew boss never asked about his crew getting the bonus."

Xander shrugged, "I can't get the job done without them."

"You learn fast, Harris."

Xander gave him a nod and headed back to his crew.  There were high-fives
all around as Xander told them about the bonuses.
 

=================
 

Xander hadn't seen Riley for a couple of days.  They had been trying to meet
the bonus deadline at the new construction site, and Xander had been putting
in some overtime, and between work and Anya, he hadn't really had time for
much else.  But tonight, Anya would be at Giles' store till nine.

OK, Xander had freaked a bit at Riley's confession.  OK, not a confession.
His statement.  A statement, pure and simple.  He'd been thinking about . .
.  well, sex.  With Xander.  Sex with Xander.  And OK.  Xander had brought
it up, well, indirectly.  To Buffy.  That night when he first saw the
initiative.  Asked her if he could have sex with her boyfriend.  Hey!  As a
joke!  Well, mainly as a joke.

Just cause they'd both thought about it didn't mean it was ever gonna
happen.  Xander thought about sex with a lot of people, but it wasn't like
he had sex with a lot of people.  He started to feel guilty.  He could have
called Riley, could have gone out for a beer with him, played it cool.  He
had told him it was cool.  But shit, he hadn't acted cool.  He sighed.
Riley was an all right guy.

Xander sighed.  Decision taken.  Time to go see Riley.  Let him know he was
still cool.

"Coming for a beer, Xander?"  asked one of the crew guys.

"Can't today.  Gotta check in on a friend.  Uh, did you ask the new kid if
wanted to go with you guys?"

"I will."

"Thanks."  Xander nodded and flashed the guy a grin.

He stopped at a pay phone, and fishing in his pocket for a quarter, picked
up the phone.  He dialed Riley's number.

Riley answered on the third ring.

"Hello."

"Hey, Ri.  How's it going?"

"Hey, Xand."

Riley did not sound good.

"Uh, you up for a beer?"

There was a bitter chuckle. "No beer here."

"What's going on, Riley?"

"Nothing." Riley's voice assumed a more normal tone.  But  it was pretty
forced.  "Nothing's going on, Xander.   I'll talk to you later, OK?"

He was sounding worse and worse to Xander.  "Look, I'm coming over."

"Xander . . . "  Riley started to protest, but Xander had hung up the phone.

=========================

He knocked on the door.

"It's open!"  There was no enthusiasm in Riley's voice.

Xander entered.  Riley was sitting on the couch, half sprawled out.

Xander looked at him and sighed quietly, putting down the beer he'd picked
up on the way over.  He pulled a folding chair next to the couch and sat
down.

"What's the matter, big guy?" He asked softly.
Then he saw the half-empty bottle on the floor.  "Riley."  he sighed.

"No riot act, OK?"

"Yeah, Ok."  Xander hesitated and then reached over and gave Riley's arm a
bit of a squeeze.

Riley drew in a sharp intake of breath.

Seeing the pain in his eyes,  "What happened, Ri?"

"Nothing.  I sat her down and told her how I felt, and absolutely nothing
happened."

"No response at all?"

"She just smiled that coy smile of hers and changed the subject."

Xander cracked a bit of a smile.  "She's a complicated girl.  Trust me, I
know.  She's action-gal.  Maybe you gotta pay attention to what she does and
not what she says."

Riley nodded.  "Yeah."  He did not sound convinced.

Riley bowed his head, so Xander couldn't see his eyes.  Xander put a hand on
his shoulder.  "Dude"  he whispered as soothingly as he could.
"Shit, Ri.  You don't think I ever cried?"

Riley looked up at Xander, tears starting to form.

"It's OK.  You can kick my ass afterwards if you need to get all macho
again."

Riley managed a crooked smile.

Xander gently pushed him down on the couch, facing away from him, while he
moved down on the floor, keeping his hand on Riley's shoulder, just letting
it rest there.

There was an attempt at a laugh from Riley.

"What?"

A muffled whisper. "Just imagining what Graham would say if he saw this."

Xander said softly  "It's OK, Riley."

Riley's torso heaved slightly.  It was more a series of sobs.  Xander sat
there, staring at the back of his head, finally letting his hand gently
massage the back of Riley's neck as the guy softly cried.   Xander had to
admit to being slightly embarrassed by the whole thing.  He was glad Riley
couldn't see his face.  But he wasn't sorry he was there.

It seemed like it lasted for hours, but a check on his watch showed that it
was less than five minutes.  Riley stopped crying.  Xander pulled his hand
away, and got up off the floor.  Riley wiped his eyes with his shirtsleeve,
and gave a deep sigh.  He sat up.  He avoided Xander's face, deeply
embarrassed.  He got off the couch and headed to the bathroom.

Xander went over and got himself a beer, and listened to Riley pissing and
then washing his face, as he opened the beer and took a few swallows.  He
leaned against the table.

Riley came back out and looked at Xander, still a bit ashamed.  He managed a
sheepish smile.   "You think I'm a total wimp, don't you?"

"Pretty much, yeah."  Xander grinned at him.  "Your macho soldier-boy cover
is totally blown."

"Yeah, I was afraid of that."

"Uh, I was just kidding about you kicking my ass afterwards.  You got that,
right?"

Riley grinned and nodded.  "Yeah, I got that."   Riley met Xander's gaze.
"Thanks."

"No problem, buddy."

Riley sighed.  Then brightened.  "You eaten yet?"

"Nope."

"OK, my treat."

"Nope, mine.   Just got a bonus.  We gotta celebrate."

Riley nodded.  "But it's gotta be someplace that serves thick steaks."

"with baked potatoes. . . "

"and no vegetables. . . "

Riley pulled on his jacket.
"that's never heard of bean sprouts. . . "

"or avocados. . . "

The two headed out the door.

"with no salad bar. . . "

"or vegetarian pasta special of the day. . . "

"or ferns in pots. . . "

"or . . .  "

========================