Flash Fiction - Second Shot - The Senior Year - 21. Chapter 21

Taking the steps two at a time, Dean felt his heart race as he reached the second floor. It's not that he didn't like Peter–he did–but he'd been trying to speak to Jason alone all day. Of course had he said something, Jason could have come down to Dean's room, but that would've drawn more attention.

He poked his head into 'Jason's' room. Not that he expected his brother to be there. He always stayed in 'Peter's' room. "Jase?"

"In D's room." Jason's voice came from across the hall.

A frown creased Dean's face. If he didn't want to speak in front of Peter, he really didn't want to talk in front of Darryl.

Jason stepped half out of Darryl's room. "What's up?"

"Um…I um…never mind we can talk later." He really didn't want to wait, but this wasn't the time.

Jason's brow narrowed. "Whoa. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Dean knew his lie wouldn't hold up with his brother. "I just wanted to talk about something."

"You sure? I mean, I'm not busy."

Dean shook his head. "It can wait. I wanted to talk to you about this girl I met."

"Whoa thar, 'lil D!" Dean cringed at his stupidity as Darryl's voice echoed throughout the house. "You're asking him about girls? Jason?"

"He didn't–" Jason staggered into the hallway and Darryl appeared behind him. "–hey!"

Darryl patted Jason on the back. "Sorry, Jase, coming through."

"I…I'm not asking him how to get a girl." If there was a worse time to have tried this, Dean didn't know when that would have been. "I just wanted to talk to him about…something."

"And that is why you should come to me." Darryl put his arm around Dean.

Shrugging off his friend's hand, Dean ducked underneath and took a step back. "Thanks, Darryl, but I'll just talk to Jase."

"Bad move, 'lil D." Darryl's overly dramatic disappointment caused Dean to snort. He looked at his brother and found him rolling his eyes.

"If he can't handle it, Darryl, I'll come see you."

"Smart man. I'll keep my door open as I'm sure you'll be needing to talk."

"Whatever." Jason turned his back on them both and headed for his and Peter's room.

"Um, Jase." Dean waited for Jason to turn around. "Do you mind if we use my room? I'd rather not have Pete come in while we're talking."

"Sure." He gave Dean a quick nod. "Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just would rather do this alone."

Dean regretted asking to use his room when he saw how messy he'd left it. Clearing some of his dirty clothes off a chair he flopped down onto his bed. Jason shook his head, but didn't say anything as he took a seat.

"I know. It's a mess."

"Dean, school hasn't started yet. How are you going to function in this… this…."

"Shithole?" He raised an eyebrow and got a smirk in return from Jason.

"That's a word for it. I'd have gone with craphole, but shithole works." Jason shrugged. "Sorry, I know I promised not to get on you, so I won't, but…."

Scanning his room, he knew his brother was right. He wouldn't be able to get through the semester living like this. "I know I need to clean it and I will after we talk."

"If you need help, let me know."

"It's cool, I can handle it."

"So." Jason leaned back giving him that 'how can I help' look he'd given Dean since they were kids. If anyone would talk to him straight – no pun intended – it was Jason. "What's going on?"

"Well, Emily and I kinda split."

"You agreed to break up or you dumped her?"

"Actually, she dumped me." Dean shrugged. After a lot of thought he realized the only part that bothered him was that she did the breaking up. "It wasn't going to work. She wanted me to come see her every weekend."

"Gotcha. Sorry, I didn't know you two were having issues."

He tucked his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "Not sure how to put this, but I kinda knew we wouldn't last once I got to school. Long distance really isn't my thing."

He also knew being away from home he wasn't going to remain faithful even if they tried to stay together. Drawing a deep breath, he let it out in a rush.

"I also want to be single once school started."

"Okay."

"I know, I'm a douche, but I'm being honest. It's not like we were crazy in love and I want to be able to date someone here. That and, well you know, maybe get laid."

He peeked out of the corner of his eye and found Jason smiling. "That's fair enough. I know how I felt once I left the house. Of course I had a couple other obstacles."

Dean grinned at his brother. "Just a couple."

"So what's the problem? You seem to have this under control."

Running his hand up either side of his head, Dean strenuously rubbed his blond hair until it hurt. He closed his eyes and pushed the back of his head deeper into his pillow. "I…how…There are so many hot girls to choose from, how do I know which one to go after?"

For a few moments of silence, he heard Jason laugh. "I have no idea. Being gay didn't give me 'so many hot guys to choose from' on campus."

"Yeah, but you and Pete really love each other. How do I know when I've met that person?"

"You won't – at least not at first." Jason pushed himself out of the chair and picked up a soccer ball from the floor. "My best advice is to find someone you like, go on a few dates and see where it goes."

"Right, but what if you have two someones you like? How do you decide which one?"

Jason snorted and threw him the ball. "Maybe Darryl was right and you should talk to him."