You Complete Me - 24. Chapter 24 - A Breakup?

Nic was already awake when his alarm went off, but that didn’t mean he was ready to get up. He tossed and turned on the sleeper sofa that had become his new bed until he found a position that didn’t result in a metal post sticking into him and groaned. He was used to not getting great sleep, but the cot was making him close to reconsidering his decision to move into the Ensings’ basement. Nic curled up around his phone to scroll and waste time, but instead was greeted with several direct message notifications from Jake. With a sigh, Nic dismissed them without opening them, turned off his phone, and wondered if skipping school today was an option.

“NII-IIC!”

As if God had heard him and had manifested into the body of a seven-year-old boy, Nic got his answer. Light from upstairs spilled into the basement, and his brother padded down the carpeted steps after it.

Besides the sleeping arrangements, it had been a relief to be under the same roof with his Joey and his mother again…but that also meant subjecting himself to occasional rude awakenings. Nic barely had time to sit up before Joey pounced onto him, spread-eagled. The impact knocked the wind out of him but failed to convince Nic to rise. Instead, he pulled the sheet over his head as Joey excitedly bounced up and down on the mattress next to him. “You have to get up!” he squealed. “Mom’s making breakfast!”

“Since when did you like Mom’s cooking?” Nic grumbled.

“Since I had to eat Aunt Karen’s food for a week,” Joey said, so deadpan that Nic had to laugh. Luke frequently complained about the strict diet his mother had enforced on the entire family over the last few months, which prohibited most things with a modicum of flavor.

“I guess burnt is a flavor,” Nic muttered into the pillow, as the pullout couch creaked under their combined weight.

Their mother, Kathy, had been living at home for two days now. It was a very quiet affair with little comment or negotiation: Nic arrived home with his mother, Aunt April – who wasn’t expecting her – made a bed for her sister in a spare room, and Nic moved into the basement the same night. It just felt right. No one knew were Amos was or if he wanted them back, and there was safety in numbers. April didn’t try to stop him, and neither did she inquire about the giant bruise on Kathy’s face. It must have been some sort of therapist technique. Whatever it was, the once-roomy Ensing home was getting increasingly full, but no one seemed to mind.

Once Nic eventually allowed Joey to drag him out of bed, the brothers went upstairs into a kitchen so comparatively bright that Nic had to squint for a moment.

Within it, his mother and aunt were drinking coffee at the breakfast table, but Luke and his father, Paul Ensing, were eating in the adjacent sunroom. Nic’s eyes lingered on them for a moment as he considered joining them. Mr. Ensing was nice enough, but he was a rich guy that was twenty years older than his wife and spoke little. Nic never quite figured out how to talk to him, but the alternative was facing his own mother.

Kathy was staring him, equally clueless. With their family habit of not discussing anything remotely painful, the past few days had been awkward. Nic made his decision and plopped into a chair across from her. Kathy smiled slightly and handed him a plate of a slightly charred continental breakfast, which he accepted.

Joey, next to him, managed to noisily stuff an entire handful of bacon into his mouth. Kathy glared her feelings about his manners at him, but Aunt April seemed to find him amusing. Her smile faded when she got her first good look at Nic. “Oh, honey, are you feeling ill?”

Nic frowned at her. “No?” He jumped when he felt a cool hand on his forehead from Kathy, which he shrugged off. “Seriously, I’m fine,” he assured her.

When she did acknowledge him, Kathy had been treating him like a delicate flower, and Nic was trying to be patient with her. In all fairness, he had shown up unexpectedly in her home and sobbed into her arms, but it wasn’t him with a black eye. The wound in question was yellowing as it began to fade, which Nic noted as she looked away from him, rejected.

“You just look like you haven’t slept well,” April said lightly. “I thought you might be coming down with something.”

“That’s just his face,” said a new voice. Luke waltzed in from the sunroom, carrying and empty plate that he then rinsed off in the sink.

“Oh, Luke,” April said, as if she had just remembered something. “I got an email from the school this morning. They said there was as serious vandalism incident last week and they’re installing cameras…why didn’t you two mention what was going on?”

“What’s ‘vandalism’?” Joey queried.

As Kathy tried to explain it to him, April kept her eyes locked on both Nic and Luke, who knew better than to look at each other. “News to me, Mom,” Luke said nonchalantly, not bothering to turn from the sink.

“First time I’ve heard of it,” Nic added, playing with his eggs.

April didn’t seem to find anything odd about their answers. She shrugged to herself, reading through the email again on her phone. “I guess there will be some kind of announcement this morning to the student body. You keep me updated, okay?”

Both boys muttered something in agreement, and Nic quickly changed the subject to Luke’s attire. “You going for a run or something?”

Luke was wearing basketball shorts and running shoes, which he took a quick glance at as if he just remembered he was wearing them. “Oh yeah. I’m starting to get a little stringy thanks to Mom’s famine rations so I’m going to start bulking up. Jake knows all about that, so we’re going on a run before school. Thanks for the carbs, by the way, Aunt Kathy.” Like the good nephew he was, he kissed the top of Kathy’s head in appreciation.

Joey jumped back into the conversation. “Jake’s coming? I like Jake.”

That had been the part Nic had honed in on, too. It was his cue to leave. His appetite gone, Nic pushed his plate to the side. “Have fun, then. Speaking of school, I should probably start getting ready.”

Luke was lingering by the doorway and checked his watch. “We’ve got an hour, dude.”

“Yeah, there’s no hurry,” Kathy piped up. She pointed to the chair that Nic had already half-risen out of. “Sit, eat, and let’s talk, Nic.”

That didn’t sound good at all, and almost everyone in the room seemed to realize it at once. Luke made a quick and silent exit to the living room to wait for Jake, and April tapped on Joey’s shoulder. “Want to go eat out on the sunroom with Uncle Paul?”

Still chewing and oblivious, Joey grabbed his plate and some extra toast before following his aunt of the kitchen. She closed the door behind her, taking the warm morning breeze and sunlight with her.

That left Nic alone with his mother and with little hope of escape. He made his face carefully blank: whenever he was nervous or uncomfortable, no one – not even his own mother – needed to know about it.

This seemed to intimidate Kathy a little, but she pushed forward anyway. “So…about the other day,” she began, clasping her fingers in front of her. “I wanted to talk to you about it.”

“We don’t talk about a lot of things,” Nic countered, crossing his arms. “What’s new?”

Kathy sighed, and Nic watched as she reframed her next words in real time. “Well, that’s the problem, but I’ll get to that. I hate how things went the day you left.”

“Me too,” Nic agreed. “You believed him over me.”

Kathy nodded, unable to lift her eyes from the table between them. “I’m sorry for that. Actually, I have a lot of things to apologize for.”

Instead of feeling placated, the apology pissed him off. They confirmed that he had been wronged, and he wasn’t going to let Kathy off the hook that easily, not matter how much he had missed her. “You always chose him over me. Us.”

Kathy started and stopped speaking several times as she clearly battled with the desire the defend herself and act genuinely sorry. “I know it looked like that sometimes,” she said carefully. “But you don’t understand. You were so young when your father left – ”

“You don’t think I remember living in the same car I drive to school every day?” Nic snapped. Kathy finally looked up then, startled. “I felt a hell of a lot safer when it was just me and you than I ever did after you met that asshole.”

Kathy just stared at him.

“Don’t act surprised. I’ve always hated Amos and never made that a secret.”

Recovering from her shock, Kathy peered at him curiously. “Why? Did he ever...?”

“No,” Nic said sharply, before she could even complete that thought. “Never.” The room was starting to feel hot, and he was eager to escape it. “Can I go now?”

Kathy didn’t look like she quite believed him, which Nic found incredibly ironic. She reached over cautiously to touch his hand, as if he were a horse that might bolt. Nic didn’t move away – her touch felt comforting. “I don’t want you to ever feel unsafe again.”

She looked so earnest that Nic could no longer keep glaring at her. “Yeah, okay.” He cleared his throat. “As long as Anus stays the fuck away from us, I’ll be fine.”

Kathy wasn’t convinced. “You always fall back on that, don’t you? Being fine. And I get it, sweetie, I really do. It’s my fault that you feel that you have to be fine for both of us.”

Nic jolted back to attention. “What are you talking about? It’s…” He trailed off before he ended up switching gears completely. Amos was to blame for wrecking his family, but it was Kathy that had invited him in in the first place. He’d always known this, and now that his mother was more or less admitting it for the first time, he still wanted to absolve her. She was right: he was always protecting her even when he didn’t have to.

Kathy was waiting for him to finish his thought, but as Nic stayed silent she pressed him. “What are you thinking, Nic?”

Nic just shook his head, desperately wanting this conversation to be over.

Birds sung cheerfully from the Ensings’ garden, providing a serene background to the increasingly tense standoff between them. Kathy gave up first. “I understand if you don’t want to talk to me, Nic. I have to earn your trust back. But you need to talk to someone – all of us do. There’s been this...darkness surrounding you for the last few years and it’s not just Amos that was causing it.”

Nic's throat became suddenly tight with panic over what she might be implying. He’d never told her what really happened that night years ago, when he ended up in urgent care for a broken nose and so much more. Since he’d had this strange tendency for attracting violence since middle school, Kathy had never dug too deeply about it. But the way she was staring at him, as if she was reading his soul, made Nic wonder for the first time if some part of her had always suspected – maybe even known – that that fight was different.

“Why didn’t you ask?” His voice faint around that giant knot.

Kathy tilted her head at him. “Ask what, honey?”

The spell was broken. Nic wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed or some combination of both, but at least the tightness eased up. He cleared his throat of the rest of it and stood up, just as the doorbell rang throughout the house. “I’ll think about it. Talking to someone, I mean. Um…I really need to get ready for school.”

Kathy let him go, just as Nic heard Jake’s voice faintly from the living room. He couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

***

Jake’s car was thick with the smell of sweat even with the hood down. Wrinkling his nose, he turned up the AC, too. “I think it’s worth being late to take a shower, dude,” he told his passenger bluntly.

Luke looked like death. He was slumped against his own door, drenched in sweat, panting like an overheated dog. Their half-hour run had ended nearly five minutes ago, but it still took a solid thirty seconds before Luke could gather enough air to respond. “And get another tardy? I’ll dry off before we get to school.”

Jake snickered for the first time in days. Getting up an hour earlier than usual to run had sucked, but seeing Luke absolutely wrecked from a brisk jog made it worth it. “I warned you I wouldn’t go easy on you. I don’t know if you’ll be ready for football tryouts in the fall at this rate.”

Luke was quiet for a moment. He had to yell into the wind to answer, “They’ll need me if Nuemann’s out, and I’m damn sure I can outrun that fucking gorilla. I wonder what kind of changes are coming because of that flyer stuff.”

During their run, Luke had passed along some rumors that Bryan Neumann, the current quarterback, was no longer attending Greendale. It was good news – it meant that he was likely being suspected for sharing Meg’s nudes instead – but Jake hadn’t been in the mood to celebrate. “Why do you suddenly want to join the football team, anyway? Last I checked, Jazzy wasn’t too fond of those guys.”

“It’s not for football,” Luke admitted. “I think I’m going to join the Army after school.”

Jake very nearly ran an oncoming red light. He braked hard, until the nose of his car was a good two feet into the crosswalk. An old lady that was waiting on the curb gave him a wary look as she began to cross, but Jake didn’t care. “The Army?” he echoed incredulously. “Like…the U.S. one?”

“No, the Mexican Army,” Luke snapped. “While you’re at it, how fast can you teach me Spanish?”

Jake watched the old lady give Bond’s hood a wide berth as she passed by as he tried to figure out what to say. No, what to say first. “Where did this come from?”

Luke shrugged. “I don’t really like school.”

“Who does? Your grades are better than mine, dude.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to keep doing it for another four or however many years. My dad always said, ‘it’s college or the military when you graduate,’ so I started looking into it. It’s not a bad deal, actually. A few years of service for free job training, rent, and more benefits than most civilian jobs…what’s not to like?”

The light was green again, but Jake was slow to respond. An indignant honk from behind spurred him into motion again. “Um…how about your life? What if you get sent to Iraq or something?” He almost finished the sentence with, “and die,” but bit his tongue at the last second.

Luke didn’t seem to notice. He shrugged again, irritatingly nonchalant in a way that reminded Jake who he was related to. “If it happens, it happens. And if I do get deployed, statistically, more people come back than die, right?” He turned on a crooked grin, but it wasn’t returned.

Jake had no interest in joking right now. “Seriously, why are you doing it?” They were approaching the school parking lot now.

Luke’s smile faded and he sighed. “You’re going off to Europe, Jazzy’s going to some fancy school in New York, and I want to do something important, too. My dad’s old, you know? I want to make him proud.”

Finally, Jake understood. Mr. Ensing was a spry for his age the last time Jake saw him, so he’d probably be around long enough to see Luke make something of himself. But like Jake’s father, he had a narrow idea of what success looked like. He had several, much older children from his last marriage that were similarly accomplished and wealthy, and Jake knew all too well what it was like to be the youngest in a family of overachievers. Luke wasn’t outwardly the insecure type, but then again, neither was Jake – circumstances made them that way.

Resolved, Jake decided right then and there that he wasn’t going to try to talk his friend out of it. “What about Jazzy? Does she know?”

“No one does, besides you and my dad as of this morning. Mom wouldn’t like the idea, so we’re trying to figure out the best way to tell her.”

Jake frowned. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to keep it a secret for long. You just got out of the doghouse for not telling Jazzy about the flyer thing, too.”

Luke looked slightly distressed. “I know, I’m just worried she’ll decide right off the bat that it’s not worth continuing…I don’t know.” He shook his head, signaling that he wasn’t interested in talking about it anymore. “You’re not going to cry or anything, are you?”

Jake didn’t answer – he was still processing, and even though he knew Luke was being facetious, the idea wasn’t completely off the table. This wasn’t the first time this semester that he felt the weight of major change coming. Jake swung into a space and got out of the car without a word. He understood what Luke was trying to do with his future, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.

Luke scrambled out of the car after him. “Hey, don’t make me run again! I’m weak!”

Jake didn’t slow down, so Luke ended up running anyway, until he was even with his friend once again. “Why are you so pouty all of a sudden?”

“Nothing, man. We’re going to be late.” His hands were deep in his pockets, so Jake pointed his chin towards the main entrance ahead of them, where there was still a line by the metal detector. Jake realized that he was being pouty after all and shook himself out of it. “You just kind of a sprang that on me, that’s all.”

“And you’re going to miss me. Admit it.”

Jake stopped walking and gave Luke a long, incredulous look. “Of course I’m going to miss you. We’ve been friends for years.”

“And that’s why I’m trying to hang out with you more, dipshit,” Luke said gruffly, since they were within earshot of other students now. “I hate running, but I puked up my breakfast just for you.”

“I told you not to eat before,” Jake chastised him, after wincing at the memory. He mirrored Luke’s macho demeanor by hunching his shoulders and looking down at his shoes. “So, just so we’re clear: we both want quality time and we’re going to do it in a totally normal, bro-ish way so no one gets any wrong ideas about us.”

Luke played into the joke, exaggerating his posture even more. “You got it, dude. No homo whatsoever. Just bros having bro-time.” To seal the deal, he spit on the ground off to the side and extended a hand. “We good?”

Jake grabbed the hand and pulled Luke into a very manly embrace. “We’re good.” In his ear, he whispered: “Now, suck my dick.”

As intended, Luke completely lost it. He let out such a loud bark of laughter that several people around them jumped. It was contagious, too: the two of them were still chortling by the time they made it to class, in such good spirits that Jake almost forgot what he was upset about in the first place. As they settled down into their chairs, however, the overhead speaker crackled.

At the first “Attention, student body” everyone was listening intently. Even their math teacher, who was just about to begin lecture, looked at the speaker with some interest. The so-called weekly announcements usually died down after the first month or so of the semester – there typically wasn’t much to report on about school activities at that point, unless something was wrong. Jake and Luke exchanged a quick, panicked look as the Rhonda, the office assistant, read off the announcement in a brusque, no-nonsense tone.

“As a result of an incident that took place last week,” she began, “Dr. Martin would like to remind everyone that we have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of harassment. We take this matter very seriously, so there will be some changes taking place over the upcoming weeks. An email has been sent out to your parents already, but please listen carefully to the following for your own reference: first, additional security cameras will be installed in and around the school premises …”

Jake had expected that much at least. It could have been worse.

“…This will be going into effect right away, so do not disturb any technicians you may see in the coming days and weeks. In addition to providing improved security, the second change will be that every room will require key access, even during school hours. This especially pertains to club meeting rooms, computer labs, and the printing room. Any student led organization that has a key to any of those spaces are required to turn them in to the appropriate party by the end of the week, and you must have documented permission to sign out a key after school hours.”

A few groans slipped out around the room. This would make it a real pain for club leaders trying to get work done after hours, and Jake wasn’t thrilled, either. He sometimes led additional rugby practices on weekends when games were approaching, when Coach Reynolds wasn’t always available. It would be annoying to not get into the gym or supply room whenever he needed something, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

“Finally,” Rhonda continued, “I’m sure you’re all aware that this is a large school with a lot of unused space. Over the years, we’ve occasionally found several of those unused rooms forcibly entered and containing certain items that are not allowed on school grounds. Hereafter, we’ll be changing the locks and anyone seen attempting to enter them will be suspended indefinitely, if not expelled.”

There was the kicker. They finally hit Jake where it hurt: his sex life. It was no great loss, since Jake wasn’t sure if Nic would ever sleep with him again anyway, but he still had some good memories from that empty classroom. And not so good ones. He really needed to talk to Nic.

***

It took a while for Nic to convince his mother that he wasn’t one step from being committed, so he was in an even lower mood than usual by the time he got to school. He managed to make it one of his favorite classes of the day, his art elective. It was a borderline useless course, but it was an excuse to tune out and draw and get credit for it, so he didn’t mind. His seating partner, Kenny, was usually talking his ear off for some good background noise, but today he was strangely quiet.

With his earbuds in, class was almost over by the time Nic realized that Kenny hadn’t said much more than “hi” in the past hour. That was mainly because he could feel the intensity of Kenny’s stare, which he realized was an outright glare when he chanced a quick look at him.

“You don’t even care, do you?” he hissed.

Nic raised an eyebrow at him. “Not about most things, no. What’s up?”

Kenny shook his head in angry disbelief. “I’m not stupid, you know. I know it was you that put those flyers up last week. Of that cheerleader.”

Nic’s pencil stilled in the middle of line. Just as his mind began to race, the bell went off then, initiating a flurry of chatter and the sound of materials being hastily put away. It killed the conversation, but Nic was still looking at Kenny, waiting to hear more.

Similarly, Kenny seemed to have been waiting for Nic to deny it or try to defend himself, but his silence just seemed to annoy him more. With a dramatic sigh, Kenny crumpled up the stick figure he’d been working so hard on for the last hour and tossed it into a nearby trash can. “Don’t worry,” he muttered. “I’m not going to rat you out.”

He shoved his remaining materials into his bag and stormed out. Nic took a moment to reconsider his next steps. His conscience eventually won out, and, against his better judgement, hurried after Kenny.

Kenny had a decent head start by then, but, luckily for Nic, he had a very distinctive hair color and he knew where he was heading anyway. He closed in before Kenny could disappear into another classroom, and poked him hard on the shoulder to get his attention.

“Ouch! What the hell?” Kenny spun around suddenly, and Nic immediately prepared himself for a fight.

Just as quickly, he shook the tension out of his clenched hand. Muscle memory. “You tell me.”

“Do I have to spell it out for you?” Kenny burst out. He glanced nervously around him, but no one seemed to care about his outburst. He lowered his voice anyway. “They track how much paper we go through; you know. I had to fight just to keep them from temporarily disbanding the newspaper committee.”

Nic flinched guiltily. “I didn’t think – ”

“No, you didn’t,” Kenny snapped.

Nic had never seen Kenny this pissed, and until now he didn’t know he was capable of anger. Unlike a certain six-foot-tall rugby player, he found no pleasure in riling him up. Rather, he felt like he’d disappointed his mother or a favorite teacher. The only thing he could think of saying were his least favorite words in the English language: “I’m sorry, Kenny.”

Kenny had his mouth open, preparing to yell at Nic some more for whatever smartass comment he’d probably been expecting. The apology seemed to disarm him, but only for a moment. “Sorry…for what, exactly?”

“Uh…for causing trouble for your club and upsetting you?”

Kenny’s shoulders slumped in sheer exasperation. “You’re an idiot.”

Nic snorted, half out of shock. “Okay, wow,” he said, completely off-guard. Kenny had caught him on a rare instance that he wasn’t prepared to exchange insults, least of all with someone that had always been pleasant.

“I didn’t really mean that,” Kenny admitted. “You’re actually really smart and funny and cute. I just…I like you, and I thought you went out with me because you liked me back. But you used me.” He started backing away from Nic, as if trying to escape from his own admission. “And that’s not cool, dude.”

Kenny turned and went into a nearby classroom, his shoulders hunched over in defeat, leaving Nic to stand there like the idiot he had pegged him to be and feeling like a biggest piece of shit to ever stain the halls of Greendale High.

By the time lunch time finally arrived, Nic was still too guilty to feel hungry. Cigarettes usually helped with bad feelings, though, so he made it his mission was to snag one from Shiv and bitch about his problems. It was their weekly tradition. They found a quiet spot together and Nic told her about Kenny between puffs.

Shiv was cross-legged on the soft grass next to him, her back against a brick well. “I can’t believe you managed to get two hot guys you don’t want drooling over you and I can barely get a text back.”

“What happened to the rugby guy? I forgot his name…”

“Chester. Ghosted me.” She scoffed to herself before taking a long, irritated inhale from her cig.

The only thing Nic remembered of the guy was his mohawk and nice pecs, but they at least seemed cute together. He gave her a sympathetic shoulder squeeze. “He obviously didn’t deserve you. Isn’t there some kind of house party coming up that you wanted to go to? Maybe you can pick someone up there.”

“Maybe,” Shiv said, though she still sounded forlorn. She wasn’t the type to moon over guys for long, so Nic was relieved when she visibly shook herself out of the brief funk. “Anyway, that’s my sad love life. Back to your boy issues. I think we’ve all told you that people don’t like being used, Nic.”

Nic snatched his hand back. “No one complained when I got the flyers – ”

“That you obtained to impress some other dude you’re fucking,” she reminded him bluntly. “It’s kind of fucked, when you think about it. You knew the little guy – Kenny, right? – had a thing for you, and you took advantage of that. Like you always do.”

“Hey! Whose side are you on?”

“The side of common sense, dipshit. Listen, Nicky, I don’t know what you want from me here. Arnie’s still wrapped around your little finger, and as entertaining as it was to see him and Jake puffing up their chests at each other, you know what you’re doing.”

Nic wasn’t so sure about that. All he knew was that the second he realized that someone had feelings for him, he had to fuck it up. He didn’t know how to explain to Shiv why he was compelled to chase people away when they got too close, because he didn’t fully understand it himself. It was only a problem when people like Arnie and Jake wouldn’t just go away. Or, in Kenny’s case, actually held him accountable. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he said, after a long and thoughtful pause.

Shiv let him suffer for a moment before answering. “I’m not your therapist, Nic – ”

“Why is everyone telling me to see a therapist?” he snapped. “I’m not fucking crazy.”

Shiv blinked at his outburst, but she didn’t seem to take offense. “If you let me finish,” she began pointedly, “I’m not your therapist, but I am your friend and I’m there for you as a somewhat judgmental, exasperated, yet constant presence.”

Nic smiled at her. “Thanks. I think.” He noticed someone approaching from behind Shiv and the spark of positivity he felt quickly faded. “Trouble’s coming.”

“When I’m with you, it’s expected,” she said dryly. She turned to follow his gaze and squealed excitedly. “Ooh! My favorite of your boy problems.”

Jake was already too close for Nic to reprimand her. A strong sensation of déjà vu settled over him: a month ago, the same jock approached had him with a similarly troubled expression, and he hadn’t been able to get rid of him since. This time, however, Nic wasn’t expecting to be directly confronted by him. Couldn’t he take a hint?

“Shiv,” he began.

“I know, I know,” Shiv groaned, already getting to her feet. “I’ll leave so you two can talk grown-up matters. Can I at least say hi, though?”

Nic wondered when her and Abercrombie had become besties, but he tried not to care. “Whatever.”

Shiv’s version of “hi” for people she decided she liked was a bit unorthodox. As soon as Jake was close enough, she went to twist his nipple. Far more agile than his size would suggest, Jake somehow saw it coming and managed to dodge her hand. “What are you doing?” he asked, laughing a little out of sheer surprise.

“Just wanted to get a smile out of you before Nic eviscerates you,” Shiv said sweetly as she extinguished her cigarette against the wall. “You two play nice.” With that, she flounced away to talk with another group of friends.

Nic knew what she was doing, though. That smile was to remind Nic how attractive Jake was, and he hated her for it. It faded as Jake watched her go, looking bemused and annoyed. “She’s…special, that one,” he muttered under his breath before turning to Nic.

Now that the spotlight was on him, Nic quickly got to his feet. Whatever was going to happen, he didn’t want to feel cornered. Remembering that Jake didn’t care for cigarette smoke, he put it out before he could comment. “What do you want, Jake?” he asked wearily, trying to sound as tired and inconvenienced as possible.

The tone was lost on Jake, who was no stranger to Nic’s attitude. He merely raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s ‘Jake’ now, huh?” Nic wouldn’t dignify that with an answer, so he shrugged in response to his question. “I just…wanted to check on you, that’s all.”

For some reason, his sincerity just angered Nic. He knew he wasn’t specifically angry at Jake, but he was angry about what he represented. If it wasn’t for Jake, he wouldn’t have these weird feelings for him and Nic’s darkest experiences wouldn’t be so close to the surface. Nic wouldn’t have manipulated one of his few friends into helping him. He wouldn’t be keeping quite as many secrets. Worst of all, Jake wouldn’t give him the peace of going back to being miserable and alone.

Sick of it all, Nic threw up his arms. “Well, here I am, alive. Are we done?”

“No,” Jake said simply. “I want to know why you’re ignoring me.” He didn’t even seem that offended about it.

“You heard the announcement this morning. Our suite’s closed, your bitchy ex left you alone, and that douche Neumann is expelled. As far as I’m concerned, our business is done.”

Jake looked down at his feet, smiling faintly. “‘Business,’ he calls it. That’s what I get for worrying about you. You know what? Text me when you’re horny, or off the rag, whichever comes first.”

He started to leave, which was all Nic thought he wanted, but he still wasn’t satisfied for some reason. “Not going to happen,” he said, half under his breath.

Jake must have been waiting for him to say something else, because he stopped, listening.

“We’re done,” Nic said, louder. “Don’t you get that?”

Jake marched back up to him and stopped just short to stare Nic down. Nic glared right back at him and fought the conflicting desires to step back and get closer, so he just stayed still.

After a moment, though, the tension passed. Jake’s shoulders relaxed and he studied Nic’s as if he was a fascinating science project. “I don’t get you,” he said finally. “But I want to.”

“Too bad,” Nic said, laughing bitterly. “I mean it, Abercrombie, if you like the nickname better. We had a good run, but it was just sex. I’m bored and I moved on.”

“You didn’t seem bored last time. Scared, mostly. Like you are now.”

Nic snapped. “Jesus, fuck, what will it take to get it through your head? I’m break – ”

“ – Breaking up with me?” Jake finished, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

Nic felt his face getting hot. “That’s not what I meant.” His composure and his control were quickly fading, and he had to find a way to get it back now. He had to get rid of Jake and that irritatingly cocky smile of his that was slowly approaching full wattage. “I fucked Arnie last night,” he said coldly, watching with satisfaction when Jake’s face fell. “It’s over, okay?”

The satisfaction mostly came from feeling that he had won, and it was short-lived. Before he could properly take in that he had hurt yet another person in one day, Nic walked away from Jake. It felt less and less like he’d won anything with every step that separated them.

Nic rejoined Shiv at a nearby lunch table, where she had clearly been watching the two of them bicker. “Yup,” she muttered, watching Jake as Nic sank onto the bench next to her. He put his head down on his hands with a sigh, but he still heard her report whatever carnage he left behind him: “Utterly eviscerated.”

***

On the contrary, Jake was a man on a mission. As soon as he dropped off ever-oblivious Luke at the end of the school day, he went to the first grocery store he came across on his way home. He didn’t really have a plan, but

Well, maybe he was a little eviscerated at first. Much like the night Nic had joked about sleeping with Kenny, this new lie was like a punch in the gut. However, he was getting a little better at reading Nic every day. What he had seen that last time in the dusty classroom was pure, unadulterated fear. Today, it wasn’t quite as raw, but that same desperation was there: Nic wanted to get rid of him for some reason, and until Jake knew why, he wasn’t going anywhere.

As Jake browsed the aisles, skimming a recipe off his phone as he dropped items into his basket, he realized that he was also a man that was obsessed. Not in a stalker-type of way, but in a “confronted with a puzzle that needs to be solved” kind of way, with maybe a little bit of horniness and other gooey feelings mixed in there for good measure. Altogether, it was a perfect storm of emotions that meant he was far from being done with Nic, mainly because Jake was almost certain that Nic didn’t actually want that, either.

Jake left the grocery store with a bagful of supplies and headed home. Just a few minutes later, he walked through the door and unexpectedly found Ellie doing yoga in the living room.

“Oh,” he said, by way of greeting. The plastic bag he was holding was limp against his side. “I thought you had work.”

Ellie, who was on all fours, looked up at him with a hint of annoyance. They had barely spoken over the past few days since she was still seething over his drug accusations at school. “Didn’t feel like going, so I gave my shift to someone else.”

Jake didn’t know what to say other than “oh” again, so he held the bag up slightly towards her, almost as an offering. “Want to help me make cookies, then?”

Ellie settled back up on her knees and crossed her arms. “Cookies.” It wasn’t a question, but more of a statement of exasperation. She shook her head sardonically and looked down at her yoga mat for a moment. “What kind?”

“Oatmeal raisin.”

“What the fuck?”

“I know. But Nic likes them, so…”

Ellie’s eyes widened. “You’re making oatmeal raisin cookies for your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my – ”

Ellie waved off his protest. “You can’t cook for shit.”

“I know. So are you going to help me or let me poison him?”

In response, Ellie got up, dusted her knees off, and walked into the kitchen. A moment later, Jake heard a beep that meant she had preheated the oven and smiled to himself.

So...my fall semester plan for this story kind of fell apart. Grad school took a lot out of me, but I'm working hard to develop better time management skills this semester, for the sake of my hobbies (this story included) and my own mental health. 
I'm not sure when the next one will be up, but I'm going to do my best to try to get a chapter out every month. Follow me as an author for updates, and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter  I've missed writing these guys.