You Complete Me - 3. Chapter 3 - Not a Fluke

It was a miracle Jake didn’t get into an accident on the way home. On a different day, he might have found this entire experience funny. He might have texted Luke to joke about his wild cousin later. Even some revulsion would have been an easier pill to swallow; he could address his subconscious homophobia later.

But this...no, this was unacceptable.

Jake had run out of the gym with his backpack awkwardly hanging in front of him, trying to conceal the erection that still persisted as he raced home. It showed no signs of going anywhere any time soon, but he didn’t dare touch it. Relieving himself as a direct result of seeing two guys having sex would add another layer of weirdness to this day, and he wasn’t sure he could handle that right now.

Despite deliberately filling his head with thoughts like his elderly neighbor in a bikini, Jake still hadn’t gotten control of his body by the time he arrived home and parked next to his sister’s bright green Charger under the carport. He was forced to tuck it under the waistband of his boxers and took a few deep, calming breaths before getting out of the car.

Ellie was waiting for him in the living room, stretching languidly across the plush leather couch and enjoying a cigarette. Her wide grin, identical to his own, was contagious; Jake couldn’t help but return it and forget his crisis for just a moment. He crossed the room and hugged her from behind the couch, playfully smothering her.

“Gross! You didn’t take a shower before you got here?” She laughed as she shrugged him off.

“I was in a hurry.” Jake walked into the kitchen behind them. A cold drink might help, and it also gave him an excuse to covertly make sure the liquor cabinet wasn’t missing anything. “You cut your hair?”

Ellie was a far cry from the bubbly high school valedictorian she had been before she left for college. In the past year, she had lost some weight and gained some tattoos and a smoking habit. This latest change reduced her long, dark-brown hair to her shoulders. Without it framing her face, she looked more mature and more like their late mother these days. “Aw, you noticed! I did it the day I started AA a few weeks ago. New hair, new me and all that.”

“You’re going to meetings now?”

Ellie nodded. “About to get my thirty-day chip. Dad didn’t tell you? He was the one that ‘talked’ me into it.” She made air quotes around the word.

Jake sighed. “Of course he didn’t. And neither did you.” Between Samwell throwing his weight around and his sister being forever elusive, Jake got left in the dark quite a bit. It was one of many burdens of being the younger sibling. Still, Ellie looked leagues better than she had the last time he had seen her, fresh from rehab, so he could hardly complain. “Sobriety looks good on you.”

“I disagree, actually. I thought waking up with vomit in my hair was a look.”

“Don’t joke like that.” Jake dropped into the space next to her with a glass of ice water in hand.

“Someone has to.”

It was hard to believe that Ellie had been a teetotaler for most of her life until she started dating Stella Lombardi her senior year, who was akin to royalty in this town. They ended up going to the same college, and that’s when the drinking became out of control, particularly after something happened with a male friend of Stella’s. All Jake knew was that Ellie and Stella broke up without comment after that, Ellie dropped out halfway through sophomore year, and she returned home only to be promptly forced into a program by their father.

“How’s Dad been? I know he’s still in California for that work thing, right?” She muted the 60-inch plasma display in front of them so they could talk.

Jake shrugged. “Yeah, and he’s still a pain in my ass, no thanks to you. I think he comes back next month. He sends me these emails, though. Weekly expectations and whatnot.”

Ellie tutted sympathetically. “Sorry, hombrecito. I did my time and now it’s your turn.”

“Yeah, but you’re actually smart,” Jake grumbled.

“I’m the smart one? College drop-out, remember?"

Jake wasn’t convinced. “Mom would say it’s just a temporary setback.”

Their late mother had been a Venezuelan woman that was positive almost to a fault, something that annoyed them both when they were young. Now, it was fun to imagine the ways she would spin shitty situations.

Ellie brightened immediately. “And that college wasn’t ready for me yet, anyway.” She snubbed out her cigarette in an ash tray on the coffee table. A few ashes got on the expensive teak, but neither of them cared. “How are we navigating the waters of high school these days? You came in looking like you’d seen a ghost.”

“I did. You.”

“Ha, ha. No, seriously. Having issues with the Harpy?” She and Meg had met once over the summer and Ellie hadn’t been impressed.

“Don’t call her that. We’re doing good. I’m going to meet her dad tomorrow.”

“Wow, that’s a big step. You ready for that?”

Jake made a noncommittal noise, drinking his water to avoid answering. Even though he hadn’t met any girl’s father before, he intentionally hadn’t put too much thought into what it could mean. “It just seems like it’s that time. What about your dating life? Any guys or girls on the horizon?”

She giggled. “Your deflection skills need some work. You know I’m not supposed to date until I’ve been clean for a year – it complicates things.”

“Right.” Jake looked down at this lap, growing pensive as the conversation entered a companionable lull. “Can I ask you something?”

Ellie had gone back to scrolling through Netflix titles. “Shoot.”

“How did you know you were bi?”

She gave him a sidelong glance. “You trying to tell me something?”

“What? No! God no.” He tried to look offended. “I was just...curious. Since dating had come up and you don’t talk much about...you know.”

“Being with other women?”

Jake felt his face get a bit warm. “Yes.”

Ellie shrugged. “There’s not much to say, really. I guess I’ve always found women beautiful, especially Stella. But I didn’t know those feelings were more than just admiration until she kissed me, and it was a slippery slope from there.”

Jake nodded thoughtfully. “I see.” It didn’t explain his situation exactly; Jake had never been attracted to other guys before. Maybe this was just some sort of fluke and he was overreacting. He was seventeen – if he looked at a restored antique car for long enough, he’d probably get hard. “I’m going to go shower,” he announced, after draining the rest of his water.

“Thank fuck,” she said, earning herself an ear flick from her brother.

Once behind the door of his private bathroom, Jake popped an Adderall from his medicine cabinet. Samwell assumed Jake was taking his meds regularly, but Jake only took them on the eve of an exam or when he was really struggling – both criteria had been met in this case. There was no way he’d be able to focus on the periodic table without a different sort of chemical help.

Under the torrent of slightly cool water, Jake looked wistfully down at his dick, which had thankfully calmed down while he was talking to his sister. The urge was still there, though. He wondered if enough time had passed between now and the “incident” for him to jerk off without it meaning anything.

Fuck it. With a shrug, he gave his cock a few slow tugs. It came back to life eagerly, so he knew it wouldn’t take long. He closed his eyes and conjured up an image of his girlfriend, smiling to himself as he envisioned Meg at the other end of his shaft. He saw her long red hair splayed across her pale back, felt his hands clenching her soft breasts, and could hear her moans filling his ears. Jake felt his orgasm building and braced himself against the tile in front of him.

Just before he came undone, the image changed. The curvy form beneath him became more angular and the hair was shorter and lighter. Rivulets of water was running down his back and between the two perfect mounds that housed Jake’s pulsating cock. In this vision, Nic looked back at him with an accusing emerald gaze, his pink lips parted in ecstasy.

Jake came with a silent shudder, aiming a few thick ropes down the shower drain. He let his head rest on his forearms against the wall as he released a shaky exhale.

That definitely didn’t feel like a fluke.

***

“So how was it?”

It was Friday afternoon, and the second Shiv had spotted Nic on the courtyard during lunch, she had separated from her throng of senior friends and lured him down an alley between two buildings. They were sufficiently out of view of teachers monitoring the courtyard and Nic was almost as grateful for the cigarette Shiv offered as he was for the refuge from the blazing sun. Summer here was far more intense than it ever had been in Maine.

Nic took a long drag and let it out slowly before answering, partly because he wanted to savor a rare smoke and partly to make his friend squirm in anticipation. He smiled serenely as the smoke wafted around them. “It was decent, I guess. He was very enthusiastic.” Perhaps a bit too enthusiastic. His ass still burned a little.

“Just ‘decent’?” Shiv asked, sounding a little disappointed. She knew that Nic didn’t usually stick around for “decent” – they typically didn’t get repeat performances. A known matchmaker, she had introduced him to Vince, after all.

Nic nodded, flicking a few ashes off the end of the cigarette. “Maybe I’ll upgrade him to ‘okay’ since it’s been a while. And he was touchy-feely when we were done,” he added with a small shudder. He liked sex – a lot – but not the intimate parts of it. It also signaled to him that Vince might get clingy later down the road, and Nic wasn’t equipped for that.

Shiv rolled her eyes. “God forbid someone wants to make out after a good shag.”

“You know I have issues with that. As long as he doesn’t get too weird, maybe we can keep having sex. He just doesn’t particularly excite me.”

“Not enough tattoos for you?”

He glared at her. “It’s not me that got the wrong idea.”

She batted her eyelashes innocently. “I didn’t say anything about that, but since it’s apparently on the table now...you had us all fooled, not just Arnie.”

“And I’ve apologized for that. Repeatedly.” Nic sighed. “Can we not get into this right now?”

“No problem, luv,” she said sweetly, exaggerating her Irish accent.

Nic couldn’t really blame her for having mixed feelings about what happened last summer. Shiv and Arnie had been friends for years before Nic had entered the picture. She still talked to Nic even after Arnie had ostracized him and had gone out of her way to try to get them to make up. She knew Nic was fucked up, so maybe it was out of pity. It took six months after Nic went back to Maine before Arnie unblocked him and another few months before they could have a conversation without fighting, and that was probably mostly due to Shiv mediating behind the scenes.

They sat in a slightly tense silence for a moment, mostly focused on their cigarettes, when Shiv suddenly asked, “What did you do to Abercrombie?”

“Who?” Nic looked up, and Shiv motioned out into the courtyard. Jake was walking towards their little alleyway, his normally pleasant expression dark with concern and his hands in his pockets. Nic let out a small scoff. “His name’s Jake. And I think he’s upset because he walked in on me and Vince.”

Shiv nearly dropped her cigarette. “He what? You did not mention that part.”

Nic shrugged nonchalantly, but he couldn’t help but grin. “I forgot. I was busy with other things at the time.”

“You mean you kept going!?”

He merely shrugged again. Jake was almost here now, so Shiv was forced to quell her amused disbelief.

Jake stopped a few feet from Nic, shuffling awkwardly. “Hi, Nic.” He nodded towards Shiv. “And Nic’s friend.”

Shiv didn’t volunteer her name, but she did stand a little straighter as she assumed a more defensive posture. Nic braced himself for whatever she was cooking up, and he wasn’t disappointed. “Girlfriend, actually.”

The poor jock’s eyes grew to the size of saucers and Nic barely managed to keep a neutral expression. “What?” He turned to Nic. “I - I thought you were...?”

Nic just continued silently smoking, not giving anything away.

“You thought he was what?” Shiv asked.

Jake blinked at her speechlessly. “Uh, nothing. Not my business.” He was starting to walk away before Shiv finally cracked, dissolving into giggles. He frowned at her, perplexed.

“She’s fucking with you,” Nic explained, snickering as he elbowed his friend into silence.

Now Jake was annoyed. “Funny.” He cleared his throat and crossed his arms self-consciously across his broad chest. “Right. Nic, got a minute?”

Nic considered it for a moment. “Depends. What’s this about?”

Jake just looked at Shiv pointedly until she groaned in exasperation.

“Fine! I’ll give you two some privacy.” She sauntered away without another word, but giving Nic a look that clearly said, “Tell me everything later.”

To his credit, Jake didn’t make any snide comments about Shiv once she was out of earshot. Now that they were alone, Nic looked at him expectantly as he and relaxed against the brick wall behind him. He was more than halfway done with his smoke and had already decided that this conversation would be over before it was down to a nub.

Jake shuffled his feet again, clearly wishing he were anywhere but here right now but also resolved to his fate. “So…about yesterday.”

“What happened yesterday?”

Jake stared blankly at him. Nic stared back.

“You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”

A quiet chuckle. “Nope.”

“I get it if you’re embarrassed—”

“I’m not embarrassed.”

Jake stopped, his mouth flapping uselessly for a moment. “Not even a little?”

“Nope. I don’t mind an audience. Did you enjoy the show?”

Jake blanched, which Nic thought was an amusing reaction. He smiled up at Jake as he tried to collect himself. “What are you here for, Jake?”

Nic had been in this situation before. Maybe not this exact one, but he’d come across his fair share of homophobic jerks. Jake seemed like a nice guy, but Nic never let his guard down. Begging to be left alone never spared him of an ass-kicking if that was in his future, and it was way more fun to be a jerk back. However, Jake surprised him.

“I just wanted to tell you to be careful.”

Nic extinguished the cancer stick against the wall with a frown. “Careful, huh?”

Jake gave him a one-armed shrug. “This time it was me. Next time it could be Neumann or one of his friends. That’s all.”

Nic hm’d noncommittally. “I’ll remember that for next time.” He pushed himself off the wall and gave Jake a ghost of a smile. “Thanks for the warning, Abercrombie.”

“Abercrombie?” Jake asked his retreating back.

Nic didn’t answer beyond raising a hand in a lazy wave.

***

Jake sawed into his steak with some unnecessary force, a muscle in his jaw twitching in annoyance. The forkful of meat he took into his mouth was delicious – cooked to perfection and flavorful – but it wasn’t as if he could enjoy it. Thanks to the Adderall, his mouth was so dry he had to work to taste anything, and he completely lacked an appetite. He had only finished half his expensive dinner by sheer force of will and to avoid having to answer any questions.

The dapper middle-aged man across from him wearing a surprisingly convincing toupee was most certainly the type that would have something to say about Jake not finishing a free steak dinner. Jake could hear exactly how that conversation would go in his head. He’d have to explain why he was taking what was basically legalized speed, and yes, he actually had a prescription for it, then launch into a spiel about how ADHD was more than just a disorder that made it hard for him to sit still, and then by the end of it, Mr. Watts would be thoroughly convinced that his daughter was dating a future dropout. He’d made it clear so far that he was approaching that conclusion already.

Though Jake did not want to admit it, Nic was a big reason why he was in a terrible mood, and he had no clue why. Their encounter had been hours ago, and he had mulled over every second of that conversation with the insufferable little bastard since. Where did he get off treating him like that? With his smirk and his cigarette, held lazily yet delicately between his nimble fingers, haughtily breathing smoke in Jake’s face. Jake should have let the locker room thing go if he didn’t want to be subjected to that sort of disrespect, but for some reason he had to talk to Nic about it. If anything, to prove to himself that it had actually happened.

Next to him, Meg looked almost, but not quite, as moody as Jake felt. She had put ranch on her salad - that’s how Jake knew she was a bit stressed. Dressed in a floral sort of number, she had fussed over his clothing choice the entire drive to the restaurant, which Jake still didn’t understand. He had dressed as if he were going to Mass: slacks, nice loafers, and a polo – what did she expect, a three-piece suit?

“So, Jacob - ” Mr. Watts began, and Jake had to fight to not correct him, “Are you also applying to Princeton?”

Princeton was Meg’s first choice, amongst a few other very good schools. “No sir,” Jake answered, and paused, wondering how he’d explain that he wasn’t sure what school he wanted to apply to yet, or what schools would even be willing to take him. “I was thinking maybe the State college to start.”

He had the audacity to look relieved. “Well, I’m sure there’s something out there for you,” he said, dripping with condescension.

Jake bristled, and Meg jumped in to try to save him. Or herself. “Jake is going to try for an athletic scholarship, Dad. Then he can go wherever he wants.” She looked at Jake imploringly, as if to ask, “Right?”

That mildly interested him. “Oh, you play soccer or something, Jacob?”

Jake shoved aside several lingering thoughts about whether or not he had just been hit with a microaggression. “Uh, no. I play rugby, actually.”

The interest was snuffed out abruptly, to be replaced with skepticism. “I wasn’t aware of many rugby scholarships.”

Jake had been expecting that, and for once he was ready with answer. One good thing that came out of his dad’s obsession with Jake going to college was when he forced Jake to research colleges that were big on the sport when Jake made the switch. He straightened up in his chair a bit, giving up on attempting to finish his steak. “It’s a club sport in the U.S., so generally there aren’t any. But I put together a pretty good list of universities in the U.K. that do. I can forward them to you sometime, if you’re curious.”

“That’s quite alright,” was the quick response, and Jake inwardly scoffed. Of course Mr. Watts wasn’t curious, he just wanted to dig at him. “Aside from sports, what do you do outside of school?”

For some reason, Jake’s brain froze. What did he do? He played video games, hung out with friends or went on dates with Meg, partied – but none of those seemed like acceptable answers. “I...uh, work.”

Meg not-so-discreetly elbowed him for some reason.

“You work,” Mr. Watts repeated it back to him flatly.

“Yes, sir.”

“No volunteering? Internships? Where do you work?”

“Flaming Amy’s?” Jake continued using a confused tone, not understanding why Mr. Watts seemed incredulous about his after-school activities.

Mr. Watts’ immaculate mustache twitched, as if he were dangerously close to laughing in his face. “You’re going to need a lot more than a few hours at a burrito restaurant to stick out on a scholarship application, son.”

He was starting to sound a lot like Jake’s father, and he really didn’t like it. He also really didn’t like how quiet Meg had become as her dad patronized him. “Between practice, working, and studying, there isn’t really a lot of time to do anything else.”

“Meg here has a hospital internship, is head cheerleader, and is on track for valedictorian.” Watts smiled proudly at his daughter, and Meg had the nerve to smile back.

Meg also had a very rich father that gave her a few hundred dollars a week, no questions asked, as an “allowance,” while Samwell interrogated Jake if he asked for money. He’d gotten a job as soon as he was legally able to. However, Jake knew if he admitted that money was the issue, it would get misconstrued somehow into being too poor to avoid working through high school. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, meekly.

Dinner ended shortly after that, with Mr. Watts motioning for the check the next time the waiter walked by. Jake considered insisting he pay his for his own half-finished meal, just to show off a few of the perks his dinky restaurant job could offer, but once he caught a glimpse of the triple-digit total he decided against it. The lingering effects of Adderall thankfully tempered his impulsivity a bit.

In the parking lot, Mr. Watts clapped Jake on the shoulder. “Good luck with your endeavors, son,” he said dismissively, as if he didn’t expect to see Jake again. “Coming, Meg, sweetie?” He gestured towards his sleek Lexus on the opposite end of the parking lot.

Meg’s eyes widened as both Jake and her father looked at her expectantly. Jake had driven her here because they had planned to go see a movie after dinner. She looked at Jake sheepishly, and he realized at that moment that her father wasn’t the only one he had failed impress tonight. He was about to be ditched.

“I forgot to tell him,” she whispered.

Jake forced a smile, knowing she was lying. Her spending the rest of the night with him had been contingent on how well this dinner had gone, he realized now. “It’s fine,” he said tightly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” She gave him a chaste peck on the lips and hurried after her father, who didn’t spare Jake another glance.

Jake stood there silently in that parking lot for a second more, relishing in a sort of relief akin to completely bombing a test. It was relief that acknowledged and accepted that it wouldn’t look good on his report card in the long run, but at least it was over. He checked his phone as he started walking towards his BMW.

Luke had texted him a few minutes ago. Hey are you still with Meg? If not, wanna hang

Jake dropped into his leather seat with a deep sigh as he answered. I’m done, he wrote, then paused, watching Mr. Watts’ Lexus peel smoothly out of the parking lot through his rearview mirror. He could see Meg in the passenger seat, laughing at something. Jake frowned and suddenly thought of Nic, casually smoking on campus on his first week at a new school, having fucked a guy he just met in a locker room the day before, all without a care in the world.

It must be nice, to be that carefree.

He felt the weight of his phone in his hand and realized that he had wandered. I’m done and I think I'm gonna break up with Meg, read the message that Luke received.