Trick Me Once - 18. Release Date

“Well, there we go, no turning back now,” Trick nervously muttered to himself, having just published his app after hours of sitting and changing his mind a hundred times.

He’d been working on it for months – perfecting it, testing it, sent it to his friends to test it as well, but he still wasn’t sure it was everything he wanted it to be. He was certain that as soon as he released it, he’d come up with some other ideas or features that he should’ve included, and then he’d have to hurry up and patch it again.

“As long as there are no major bugs in it,” he thought, but then laughed at himself. “Not that anyone would notice even if there were. I doubt anyone will even try it out,” he thought, partly in fear and partly in hope. Fear, because he was afraid this thing he’d been working on so hard would go unnoticed, and hope because he thought people might not find it good, so maybe it’s better if no one even sees it.

Good or not, the MusicMatcher was now released for everyone to download – of course, for free. He wasn’t so delusional to think he could get away with charging people for his first app. It’s not like he was some big developer with a huge budget for advertising. Well, maybe one day, a guy can dream…

The feelings of nervousness and fear that he felt at first were soon replaced by relief and curiosity. He was relieved that he had finally finished and published his work; it was now up to people to discover and try it out. As he was eating a banana and thinking what to wear for work tomorrow, he found himself checking the app store every ten minutes to see if someone had downloaded it. After about an hour, he finally realized he was starting to get obsessive so he turned off his computer and went outside.

Needless to say, going out for a walk wasn’t such a foolproof plan either – as long as he had his smartphone with him. After about twenty minutes, he fished it out of his pocket, connected to a nearby Wi-Fi hotspot and went to the app store again.

Still no downloads.

“Ugh, this is getting ridiculous,” he realized, annoyed with himself. “Maybe Cody can get my mind off of this,” he thought as he speed-dialed his boyfriend to see if he wanted to hang out.

Of course, Cody knew nothing about Trick releasing the app today. In fact, no one did. He didn’t tell anyone because he knew they’d make a big deal out of it, congratulate him and so on, which would only make the potential failure that much more humiliating and harder to bear.

Fortunately, Cody was free and – as always – he was up for seeing his boyfriend. If anyone could get Trick’s mind off of his problems, it was him. Needless to say, this plan worked perfectly. The guys spent almost the rest of the day together, playing video games and cuddling, which definitely helped Trick forget about his new obsession, at least for the time being.

As luck would have it, Trick’s secret managed to actually remain a secret for just a few days. It wasn’t long before Zoe accidentally stumbled upon his app while browsing the app store. At first she was livid, thinking someone had copied Trick’s idea and published it before him, but then she realized it was actually her best friend’s own app.

“What?! He never said anything about being finished?” she said. No way was she going to let this go just like that. As soon as she finished her college stuff for the day, she went to Brad and Trick’s dorm room, unexpected and uninvited. How else could you throw a surprise party for someone?

It’s an understatement to say Trick was surprised when Zoe showed up at the door with a silly grin on her face and two bags full of drinks and snacks in her hands.

“I knew you wouldn’t want to go out to celebrate, so I thought I’d bring the party here!” she exclaimed proudly, as if she just came up with the most brilliant military strategy that would defeat the enemy and save thousands of lives.

“Celebrate what?” Trick asked, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he figured out what she was talking about. “Ohhh…”

“That’s right, ‘ohhh’. Or did you think I wouldn’t find it?”

“Yeah, I guessed you would, sooner or later. But you know I didn’t wanna do anything about it, no parties,” Trick said, but there was no use. Zoe was already unloading her party supplies as Brad came out of his bedroom.

“What’s going on? Oh, hey Zoe,” he said, looking at both of them.

“Oh, he doesn’t know either? That makes me feel a bit better, to be honest,” Zoe smirked at Trick. “Our friend here has released his app, it’s on the Google Play and iPhone app stores, check it out!”

“Really?! Congratulations, man! Why didn’t you say anything?” Brad immediately pulled Trick into a hug.

“Thanks,” Trick replied, unable to hide the involuntary smile that found its way to his face. “I didn’t want anyone to make a big deal out of it. We can celebrate if it’s not a total flop.”

“Oh, come on, flop or not, it’s not every day this happens! It deserves a celebration, at least the three of us!” Zoe argued, and Brad was quick to agree.

“Well, maybe the four of us,” he said, as the other two looked at him questioningly. “Cathy’s coming over in a bit… But if you want, I can take her out.”

“No, it’s fine, you guys can stay,” Trick said. He still wasn’t particularly pleased about this, but he couldn’t deny he was happy that his friends were always so supportive of him.

Cathy arrived a little while later, and Trick had to explain to her what the app was all about and where to find it. She was kind enough to promise to tell her friends about it, since she didn’t need a dating app as she was seeing Brad.

“Well, at least it’ll have a few downloads,” Trick thought, hoping that Cathy had a very large circle of single friends.

As they were chatting and drinking, the doorbell rang again. Zoe played the role of the hostess and got up to answer it, finding Cody at the door.

“Hey, you’re just in time!” she said, ushering him in.

“Really? For what?”

“We’re celebrating Trick’s app release!”

Cody’s eyes immediately went to Trick and saw a guilty look on his face.

“Well, I wasn’t invited or even told about it, so I don’t know… Maybe I should just go,” he said, turning to leave.

“You’re dead,” Trick spat out at Zoe as he jumped to go after Cody.

“Cody, wait!” he pleaded as he hurried after his boyfriend. “Please!” Cody stopped and turned around. Trick looked as if he had just ran over Cody’s favorite puppy.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, looking Cody in the eyes just for a brief moment before looking down at his feet.

“Why didn’t you tell me? It seems even freaking Cathy knew before me!” Cody said, trying hard not to come off as too angry.

“It’s not like that… I didn’t tell anyone. Zoe find out on her own and came over and decided she wanted to celebrate. She told everyone and that’s when you came. I swear,” Trick said as he took Cody by the hands.

“Still… You should’ve told me. I mean, who are you gonna tell if not me?”

“You know why I didn’t tell anyone. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid.”

“Yeah, but I would’ve respected your wishes.”

“You wouldn’t have made a huge deal out of it, or tried to get me to celebrate like I’ve won the lottery?” Trick asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Well, maybe just a little,” Cody smirked. “It’s not every day your boyfriend becomes an IT tycoon!”

As Trick pretended to elbow him in the ribs, Cody got out of his grasp and started to run away.

“Ok, ok, I’ll be good!” he laughed as Trick grabbed hold of him again.

“You better!” Trick said, pulling him in for a kiss. “But seriously, baby, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You know it had nothing to do with you.”

“I know, I’m not mad. Well, I was a bit, but not anymore,” Cody gave him a gentle smile. “But please, you don’t have to hide things from me, ok?”

“Ok, I promise. So, wanna go back inside and join them?” Trick asked, taking him by the hand, but Cody didn’t move from the spot.

“Well, we don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean, you didn’t want to celebrate anyway, so we could just stay out, take a walk?”

“Sounds much better,” Trick readily agreed. “Besides, I wanna give Zoe a few more hours to live before I go back and finish her off.”

“Ouch, poor Zoe! I hope I won’t be the one to have to break the tragic news to Theo.”

Trick laughed out loud as he was walking along Cody, holding hands with him.

“Yeah, they just started seeing each other, such a shame…”

While Zoe, Brad and Cathy stayed inside, wondering what’s taking Cody and Trick so long to return, the two guys were already on their way to one of their favorite coffee shops, ready for a quiet evening together.

“Yeah, I don’t think they’re coming back,” Brad said after half an hour had passed and the boys still hadn’t returned.

“Good, at least that means things are good between them,” Zoe sighed. She was worried about what had happened and was coming up with what to say and how to apologize to both of them.

“No thanks to you,” Brad snickered at her.

“Hey, get off my back, I’ll have enough of that from Trick when he gets back,” Zoe said, getting up and moving away from the window where she was sitting all this time, waiting to see if Trick and Cody would return.

“So, when are we gonna see your new boyfriend? We wanna meet him, right?” Brad asked, pointing at Cathy beside him.

“Yeah, of course we do!” Cathy agreed.

“Theo’s not my boyfriend, we just went out a few times,” Zoe corrected them.

“Ok, he’s not your boyfriend yet,” Brad said.

“You’ll meet him when I decide. Not today anyway. I don’t wanna call any more people over, Trick is pissed at me enough as it is,” Zoe said, preparing herself to face the wrath of her best friend.

--

Much to his own surprise, Anders managed to contain himself and not question Trick or Cody about what Mason had told him. Whenever the three of them would hang out, he thought he wouldn’t be able to resist his curiosity and would have to ask something, but he stayed strong. Whatever happened between them is their own business and he doesn’t need to bring up potentially touchy issues from the past just to satisfy his own curious nature. Besides, as long as the two of them are ok now, that’s all that matters.

After another successful practice, he was ready to head out and meet Trick. The two of them were supposed to go to the park and pick up Cody and then go someplace to have lunch.

Once again, Blaine was the last person to stay in the classroom with him after everyone had left. He came over to Anders, who seemed to be busy checking something on his phone.

“Hey,” Blaine said, getting Anders’ attention.

“Hey, man! What’s up?” Anders looked up and smiled, his light blond hair in his eyes. Blaine felt his heart speed up as the blond cutie looked at him.

“Not much. I just wanted to see if maybe you wanted to hang out, I’ve got an hour break right now.”

“Oh, I’d love to, but I made plans with some friends, sorry. Maybe next time,” Anders said apologetically.

“Ok, no worries,” Blaine replied, hiding his disappointment with a smile.

As Anders left to meet Trick who had just arrived and was waiting for him outside, Blaine stood at the window, looking at the scene from the distance, as the two friends met.

“So, this is your app?” Anders asked, impressed.

“Yeah, what do you think?”

“Well, I don’t know, haven’t tried it yet, but congratulations, man! That’s awesome! I’m sure it’s amazing," Anders said, giving him a hug.

“Thanks, I hope other people share your opinion,” Trick said. “Install it and let me know what you think, ok?”

“Sure!”

With a sigh, Blaine moved away from the window and went to the library to kill time before his next class.

So, how many downloads do you predict in the first two months?