Chasing Rusty Parker - 13. I’ve Been Friendzoned And I’m Okay With It

Chapter Thirteen – I’ve Been Friendzoned And I’m Okay With It

Could he lay like that and daydream about Rusty helping him out of his pesky virginity? No matter how many times he turned and turned the idea on all sides, his brain reached only one conclusion: he so, so wanted to that to happen. Seeing how his brain was the most rational part of him, there was no need to ask either his heart or his dick.

“I’m so fucked,” Matty groaned and grabbed a pillow to smack himself in the face with.

Since it was game week, he didn’t expect to have any kind of interaction with Rusty, and had only seen him from afar for the last couple of days. Granted, each time Rusty had waved at him like a madman and shouted his greetings, but they had stayed clear of each other, otherwise.

How did that saying go, that distance made the heart grow fonder? Fonder was a mild, unassuming term. In Matty’s case, it was absolutely raging wild.

The phone ringing pulled him out of his daytime dreaming.

“Rusty?” Matty asked tentatively.

“No, I’m some dude who stole the phone from Rusty, and now I’m holding it for ransom,” Rusty announced in a cavernous voice.

“Isn’t it game week?”

“What’s with the tone? Outside of tutoring, you’re my pal.”

“I didn’t mean to sound like I was reproaching you or anything.”

“No need to get defensive, Matty boy. I’m only pulling your leg, is all.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing else you’d rather pull?” Matty retorted, happy to hear Rusty, and only now realizing that it was better to remind himself that he had actually been dreaming of the guy until only moments ago.

“Your nose,” Rusty said matter-of-factly. “It’s kind of small.”

“Is it weird?”

“Nah. It’s cute.”

“Thanks, then. Why did you call me?” Matty decided to steer the conversation away from stuff that would only give him more dreams than he could handle.

“What, unhappy to hear me?” Rusty drawled.

“It’s game week,” Matty pointed out again. “I thought you needed all of your head in the game or something.”

“Hmm, it sounds to me like you want to get rid of me. Are you trying to study?”

“I finished studying for the day.”

“Good boy,” Rusty whispered, making it dirtier than the mere words would imply.

Matty groaned. “Am I at the receiving end of some crazy experiment?”

“No. I’m just bored. Give me an idea of what to do.”

“Play with your dick.”

“Already done it twice today.”

“Hmm. And I thought,” Matty cleared his throat, “that the Mighty Thor would keep you plenty entertained.”

“Yeah, but you spoiled me for my own handjobs. It’s a lot more fun when there’s someone else in the room.”

“Watching?” Matty asked, hoping that his attempts to catch the ball weren’t half-bad.

“I’m all for action, baby,” Rusty drawled.

“Eww, don’t call me ‘baby’. I bet that’s what you call all the girls.”

“True, true,” Rusty admitted. “You’re a dude. But you don’t get to tell me what I want to call you. I know. I’ll call you ‘baby dude’.”

“Baby dude.” Matty took a moment to collect himself. “I haven’t heard a stupider thing in my entire life.”

“That’s an accomplishment. I’ll write it down.”

“Why? Do you think you’ll forget a stupid term like that?”

“It’s not the name I’ll write. I’m making a small collection. It’s called Matthew Han – all the times his cage got rattled by something I said.”

“That’s a pretty long title. Why would you even create such a thing?”

“Because.”

Clearly, Rusty didn’t want to share the reason why he was collecting memories of their interactions. Matty didn’t insist. For many, Rusty appeared easygoing and fun, but he could be stubborn as a mule. Matty had learned that the hard way during their tutoring sessions.

“How’s practice going?” Any reason he could think up to keep Rusty on the phone for as long as he could manage was good enough.

“It’s going.” There was something clipped and strange in that statement.

“Anything wrong?”

“Why would there be?”

“Because you sound a little pissed, and that’s a side of you I haven’t seen much.”

“I’m never pissed. I’m all sunshine and rainbows.”

“Try as you might, you cannot fool me. Are you forgetting that I’m your tutor?” There wasn’t a card he wouldn’t play to get something more out of Rusty, something real.

“That you are. By the way, how did you manage to land the job? I can’t remember.”

“I hit you with a ruler and dragged my balls all over your Tinder profile. Does that ring a bell?” Matty rested one hand on his lower belly and played with the string of his sweatpants.

“Ah, right. You were a kinky bastard. In a preppy way. By the way, have you been touching yourself lately while thinking of that blowjob you gave me?”

“Just when I thought we were having a decent conversation.”

“You just mentioned your dick.”

“I mentioned my balls.”

“Details.”

Matty would bet Rusty was sporting his signature smirk as they spoke. It made him feel warm and a bit dizzy that the king of Sunny Hill was on the phone with him of all people at that very moment. It also made him think that they were at least friends.

“How about you read to me from that book until I fall asleep?” Rusty suggested.

“Isn’t it a bit early for you to be going to bed?” Matty asked. Even for him, who wasn’t partying every single day until late at night as Rusty’s reputation went, it wasn’t the time for that yet.

“Maddie and Johnny boy are pestering me to get to sleep earlier. To show them, I shut myself in my room before dinner. Yeah, that’ll teach them,” Rusty explained with satisfaction.

“Maddie and Johnny?” Matty knew who those had to be, but he liked to hear the smallest things about Rusty straight from the horse’s mouth.

“They’re my parents. At least, they behave like they are. I think I ought to show them that I’m literally going through my rebellious phase right now.”

“Does Maddox like being called Maddie?”

“Nope. He gives me all these looks, you know, like killer vibes, but he got used to it. As for Hamilton, he’s like the mom; he just goes with everything and forgives me everything.”

“That sounds kind of nice.”

“Not always. They try to baby me on occasion. Is that why you’re envious? Because no one is babying you?”

“I didn’t say anything like that.”

“I can baby you.” Rusty paused for effect. “Baby dude.”

Matty groaned. “Cut it out with that stupid… whatever it is.”

“Come on, tell me a story so that I can fall asleep.”

“You’re really bent on it. Fine. But you’ll cry that you’re bored in less than five minutes, I bet.”

“Nah, I don’t think so. Go ahead,” Rusty egged him on.

Matty sighed for show but opened the book. “Should I start from the beginning?”

“Yeah. I really want to know what makes those zombies so appealing to you.”

“Okay. We’ll have a quiz after, though. Just consider yourself warned.”

***

Rusty lay on his back, hands behind his head, his phone by his side. He couldn’t stop smiling while Matty’s pleasant, slightly throaty voice, filled the room. It was such a nice distraction after having to keep his mind trained on nothing but serious stuff all day long. At first, when calling Matty, he had toyed with the idea of suggesting phone sex, but given up eventually. The chances were that if he started, he would have wanted more. A lot more. Maddox and Jonathan were watching him, though, and as much as he would have liked to avoid them by going out the window, he was aware of the risk of injury. The coach would have his head, and his dad, well, his dad would let him know just how disappointed he was in him. With that guy, he was always in the negative. The only thing left for him to do was to try and stay afloat, along the zero line.

Matty really had no idea how much this was helping. He probably thought that he was just indulging Rusty and his crazy demands, which, in itself, was pretty awesome. It wasn’t like he wanted to go to sleep so fast, but he needed to fill the hours with anything other than letting his thoughts gravitate toward the same thing, over and over.

And, since Maddox and Jonathan had warned him about playing with Matty in a sexual way, he at least had to try and keep his word. Normally, stuff like that wouldn’t even be considered a problem. Rusty didn’t do attachments easily, and especially with the people he fucked. That was why things had been so chill between him and Maddox when it came to what girls they chased.

Now, Maddox had Jonathan, and Rusty, well, he was free to do whatever he wanted.

But, he reminded himself, that didn’t include taking Matty’s precious V-card. Ah, fuck. He was getting horny, because he couldn’t think of that, without remembering what Matty’s unpenetrated hole looked like. That was enough to make his cock spring up in his sweatpants. Well, he had put aside the idea of phone sex, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t rub one out while thinking of the naughty stuff he had already done with Matty, without Maddox’s and Jonathan’s knowing.

He would just have to be very quiet about it. Matty would so think he was having it hard for zombies. And he’d have a laugh, for sure.

“They had started their attack at night,” Matty read, “while I did not know what they were doing or where they had come from, there was nothing else to do but defend the place. I sent two of my own men with orders to follow them and see if they could learn anything about their purpose while I remained in charge…”

Rusty hummed in approval and began feeling the shape of the Mighty Thor through his sweatpants.

“Are you really into this?” Matty asked.

“More than you would think.” Oops, now that had been a little slip of the tongue. And why on earth would he keep from fooling around with Matty, since the guy was game? Now that he knew he wasn’t supposed to do that, he wanted it even more. Damn, and he thought he only liked to jump in bed with girls. He had to add a dude to that list, and the name of that dude was Matthew Han.

Eh, his dick liked what he liked, and he had never been in the business of contradicting it. Rusty had great respect for his dick.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Sorry, Matty, someone’s at the door. Yeah, come in,” Rusty said loudly.

Jonathan peeked in and offered him a big smile, albeit a little strained. “Maddox asked me to come and get you for dinner.”

Rusty examined Jonathan carefully and put his hands over his crotch. Oh, Jonathan must have thought he was hard, and he was. Maybe he was just wondering why. Well, that was a good question, and not only for Jonathan. “Okay, okay, you drive a tough bargain. I’m coming. Sorry, Matty, the zombies will have to wait until next time.”

“No problem,” Matty replied cheerfully. “Enjoy your dinner. And your friends, too.”

“Do you want me to enjoy my friends over dinner?”

Matty groaned. “Only you would twist it like that.”

“Yeah, that’s me. Bye for now, baby dude.”

“Bye, tiny asshole,” Matty replied with a huff after a short hesitation.

Rusty laughed and jumped off the bed after ending the convo. Jonathan was staring at him, nonplussed. “What?” he asked. He looked down at his own crotch to see if he was still pitching.

“Why does Matty call you that?”

“He thinks he’s funny. Spoiler alert. He’s not,” Rusty offered with a smirk. He hooked one arm over Jonathan’s shoulders and guided him out of the room. “What’s for dinner?”

“Something you’ll like,” Jonathan said promptly. “Just before, I thought you were listening to an audiobook, not talking to Matthew over the phone.”

“He’s very dutiful. He was reading to me so that I could go to sleep.”

“It didn’t seem to work that well,” Jonathan said under his breath.

“I totally heard that,” Rusty protested.

***

The noise was deafening. Pacific Grove had brought quite the cheerleading squad with them from home, so it was twice the fun. Rusty liked to believe that he performed best under pressure, but not when the name of that pressure was Roy Parker. Even without looking, he was aware of those lips set in a grim line, the permanent frown, and whatever judgmental shit lurked under that broad forehead. Everyone who knew them both said they looked alike, but Rusty had the satisfaction of having grown taller than his dad. Also, he knew for a fact that he had inherited plenty from his mom, too, and it was probably her natural beauty that had been passed down to him and made him such a success with chicks.

As a child, he had always felt proud when people said he looked like his father. Things had changed a lot. His dad had just had to leave them and do whatever he wanted.

The whistle stopped him and forced him to return the ball.

“Parker!” the coach shouted at him. “Pay attention!”

Yeah, it was fucking hard to play as he should while that man was there. He hustled back in defense. The guy from Pacific Grove he had just taken the ball from pushed against him. Rusty pushed back, making the referee blow his whistle again.

The coach ran up on the sideline. “Parker, is this how you take charge? Should I send you back to kindergarten for the basics?”

Yeah, he should have fallen back, but instead had stood there, ready for the guy to crash into him.

***

“What do you think is going on with him?” Zoey asked, as startled as the rest of the audience at what seemed like amateurish mistakes on Rusty’s part.

Matty had no idea. He had already munched halfway through his lower lip while trying to figure out what was wrong with Rusty. If he thought about it, during some games in the past, Rusty had tended to make a mess out of things despite his otherwise excellent performance overall. Back then, he had wondered about the same stuff, only now he had a feeling that he was supposed to know.

“He’s clearly demotivated,” Zoey continued to comment, sounding as disappointed as everyone else seemed.

“He is just having a bad day,” Matty hurried to defend him.

“It’s totally weird. We should do something to motivate him,” Zoey said. Along with the rest of Sunny Hill, she began to cheer and shout Rusty’s name.

However, the blond head remained hanging in defeat, even as the crowd went wild.

“Zoey, I have to go,” Matty said brusquely.

“What? Now? Come on, Rusty is depending on you.”

“I have no idea if that’s the truth, but I need to do something. You, just make sure to keep an eye on your phone. I’ll be as fast as I can.”

“What are you planning? Hey, Matty.”

He ignored her as he pushed his way through the people in the stands so that he could get out of there as fast as he could. There was still plenty of time in the game left, but that didn’t mean that he could afford to waste any of it.

***

Rusty looked up at the stands with clouded eyes. Fuck, every time, it had to happen like that. All his muscles were locked in place from undischarged anger, and he couldn’t focus, either.

Even through the fog in his mind, he heard the change in the noises the audience was making. People were gesturing and pointing at the scoreboard. Rusty looked, too, while the referee called for the game to stop, and campus security was pushing its way through the crowd.

Rusty felt his entire face splitting into one huge smile. There, on top of the scoreboard, sitting with his legs hanging over, holding on for balance with his hands between his legs, was no other than Slicky Coolplums. He waved at him and the cat boy turned his head, his chin up, looking pretty pissed.

The security guys were shouting at the cat boy to get down, but it looked like they didn’t dare to escalate the thing. Slicky Coolplums lifted himself to his feet and stared down, crossing his arms.

“Get down from there, kid!”

Rusty hugged the ball while watching the show. Were they going to catch him? Maybe he would have to break out of jail, and Rusty would help him.

Another wave passed over the audience, and now, it looked like everyone was checking their phones. From the sidelines, Maddox called out, and Rusty hurried over to him. Maddox showed him his phone.

My, my, what an interesting development has landed in our lap. We just found out the name of the stray cat boy, who has been roaming our campus at night. We’re proud to be the first to announce it to you all.

Slicky Coolplums, as this is the name he goes by, however, has more than one cat trick up his sleeve. Apparently, he has the hots for no one other than our king, who, at the moment, is facing hard times on the court. We were informed that there’s a message Slicky Coolplums wants us to shout out. The message is…

If you win the game, I’ll let you touch my tail, king of Sunny Hill!

Rusty didn’t read the rest of what Xpress wanted to say about his performance or lack thereof. He patted Maddox on the shoulder and rushed back onto the court. From the scoreboard, Slicky Coolplums dove into the stands, jumped to his feet, and, helped by all the students around, found his way out while the security guys chased after him.

Yeah, good luck catching that tail. Rusty smiled and smiled. The tension from before was gone from his muscles, turning into nothing but smooth adrenaline. The audience erupted as he shot the ball straight through the hoop.

***

“That was insane,” Zoey shouted at him and hugged him so tightly he could barely breathe.

He was sweaty, freaked out after getting chased by security, and had barely gotten back in time to see Sunny Hill win gloriously against Pacific Grove. Hopefully, Rusty hadn’t searched for him in the stands, because it would be hard to explain why he had missed most of the big game. He’d find something to say if that happened. Right now, he was a bit too exhausted to care. Zoey continued to shake him and praise him for being completely reckless, and he didn’t care about that either, although he wouldn’t have minded a bit of rest.

“It worked, it freaking worked! Matty, you’re a complete genius. I knew it was a genius move for you to find your inner feline.”

“Zoey, this feline is absolutely broken after pulling that stunt earlier. Thanks for getting that rumor spread so fast.”

“I only had to talk to a girl from freshman year about the cat boy, and she told all her friends. I have no idea how it got in Xpress so fast, but it did. Now, I think it’s high time for you to present the champion with his hard-earned reward.”

“I am so not going back and changing into that suit again. I’ll honor that promise later.”

“But you will,” Zoey insisted.

“I wouldn’t disappoint the champion. By the way, did you see him? I bet he’s celebrating with the team and all.”

Zoey shook her head. “According to intel, he’s in the parking lot, seeing someone off.”

“Okay, I’ll go there. The least I can do is congratulate him on the game.”

***

“The problem with you is that you’re inconsistent.”

Those were the first words he heard from his dad the moment they saw each other. His dad was already holding his keys, ready to get into his car and out of there, back to his new family.

“And?” Rusty asked aggressively. “I won.”

His dad pursed his lips and shook his head. There were more white hairs on his head now, but he didn’t seem any less mean than usual. “You won by pure luck.”

“What pure luck?”

“That kid on the opposing team got injured.”

“So? It’s not like that was my fault.” He hated so much how defensive his voice turned each time he had an argument with Roy Parker.

“Your fault was playing like a brick for half a game. It doesn’t matter. It’s not like you’re going to make something out of basketball, anyway. You missed that chance, son.”

“I’ve played for you,” Rusty said thickly, each word weighing a ton in his mouth.

His dad seemed surprised and looked at him. “Then you didn’t do that good a job, if your only purpose was to impress me.”

“There’s no pleasing you, is there?” Rusty continued.

“You’re a piece of work, boy, aren’t you? I told you over and over. If you’re good, you will have all doors open in front of you. But you treated all this like some sort of joke, as you do with everything.”

His dad seemed to be in quite the talkative mood. True enough, Rusty didn’t want to provoke him on the grounds of not wanting another to be put on the receiving end of a few hurtful words and disappointed frowns.

“It shouldn’t come as a big surprise. This whole school of yours is one big joke,” his dad continued. “Like that weirdo interrupting the game. I suppose I should be content no one ran naked across the floor.”

Rusty bit his lip. Now wasn’t a good time to be laughing.

“Something funny? Finish your damn school, and then you can do whatever you want.”

“Yeah, sure.”

No one was able to sour the mood like his dad. And, Rusty realized at that very moment, he had always been like that, even when he had been at home, supposedly playing the roles of father and husband.

He watched as his dad climbed behind the wheel without another word. He continued to watch while the car moved away, until its lights became dim and hard to see. Without his knowing it, his hands had curled into fists. Suddenly, he felt tired, wanting nothing but a damn shower and to hit the bed. Anything but to think of this crappy evening.

“Good game, Rusty.”

He turned his head and some of his tiredness disappeared when he saw Matty walking toward him. Could it be that Matty had heard that convo? At least, parts of it? Maybe he pitied him for having such a lousy dad.

“Yeah, it was pretty good,” he said, not wanting to ask Matty anything about it. If they both didn’t say a thing, it could be as if it never happened.

“You, playing modest? Really? You were awesome.” Matty smiled from ear to ear and wrapped one arm around Rusty’s. “How about you come with me and I can read you more of A Kingdom To Plunder?”

“Are you telling me that I could be celebrating with the entire cheerleading team right now, and you want me to come with you to your tiny cell aka dorm room so that you can read to me about zombies with hard schlongs?”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“That seems about right, then.”

***

Matty wasn’t going to comment on what he had seen and heard. Things were a lot clearer now. For a moment, the idea to interrupt them had crossed his mind, to do something even crazier than dressing up as a cat boy and having security chase him down. Something like waving his GPA score in front of Rusty’s dad so that the man would know that people were really studying at Sunny Hill, and that it was as good as any other school, and then say that basketball wasn’t everything—

He had stopped himself in time. It was a matter of respecting boundaries, and he was relieved that Rusty hadn’t asked him about how long he had been standing there, listening in on that strained conversation with his dad.

“Boy, I so need to take a shower,” he said, seeing how Rusty was silent, although he let himself be carried away as Matty dragged him along by one arm. “It’s hard work to scream and shout throughout an entire game.”

“Were you there the whole time?” Rusty asked.

“Yeah, I didn’t miss a second,” Matty lied through his teeth.

“I saw your friend’s uber pink jacket, but it was hard to see you in that crowd. So, you liked it?”

“I barely have any voice left,” Matty assured him. “You were a freaking star out there.”

“Not through the entire game,” Rusty said.

“Don’t you know what they say? It happens to the best of us.”

“Come on, Matty, tell me you didn’t feel the need to boo for at least like a minute or so.”

“No way. I’ll always cheer you on.”

“Regardless of how bad I do?”

“Regardless,” Matty replied. “Hey, how about we shower together? My bathroom is really tiny, but I think we can manage.”

“Is this your way of compensating for the cheerleading team?”

“Hey, I’m trying. And you haven’t yet seen my back soaping technique. I belong in a spa as a regular attraction.”

Rusty observed him through his eyelashes. “Now, you’re just bragging.”

“Hey, I guess you’ll have to see it with your own eyes. I mean, feel it on your own back.”

“Yeah, why not?”

***

In a way, Matty hadn’t been talking out of his ass. Rusty groaned as he felt the firm hands moving across his back and making him feel like knot after knot of tight muscles was getting unraveled like a ball of yarn. Funny. He was thinking of Slicky Coolplums while being soaped thoroughly and massaged by Matty. It was a little bit like cheating, but it wasn’t.

Ah, damn, he really needed to consider Matty as just a friend, and not even the buttfucking type of friend. Damn Maddox and Jonathan, and their unified idea that he shouldn’t be an asshole by playing too close to the fire with Matty.

For the umpteenth time, he had to say it to himself. They were right, obviously, even if they didn’t have a clue that Rusty might like having Matty’s hands on him like that a bit too much.

Still, that didn’t mean that his dick had any idea what being a moral upstanding person meant. The Mighty Thor had been twitching like crazy every time Matty had breathed on his neck by accident, each time his fingers had moved a bit too close to his ass for a non-sexual massage.

“Thanks a lot, Matty boy,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant and his usual self. “I think I can take it from here.”

“Sure.” Matty was obviously fighting to hide the disappointment in his voice. “I’ll wait for you to finish, and then it’ll be my turn.”

“Yeah, thanks. Just make sure not to fall asleep without reading some of that zombie stuff to me. You lured me here with that promise alone.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Rusty waited until Matty closed the door to grab hold of his now fully hard cock. “I’m fucking supposed to be a nice dude and stop jumping Matty’s bones, you fucker,” he admonished his longtime friend.

The Mighty Thor could be an asshole. He sprung happily in his hand while Rusty closed his eyes. He needed to think of some girls and stuff. Yet, each image he conjured in his head somehow metamorphosed into the only person he wasn’t supposed to fantasize about. A pair of juicy tits invariably turned into Matty’s smooth chest, a tiny waist into the guy’s hard abs, and he didn’t even dare to think about butts. If he went there, he was bound to become a goner in less than sixty seconds.

“You will pay for this.” Rusty pumped his cock a couple of more times and then slapped it one time. “You will go to sleep, blue balls and all. That will teach you.”

***

Matty showered in record time, wanting so much to understand why Rusty had assumed that completely non-combat attitude toward him, although they had practically stood naked in the shower together. He had expected at least a bit of teasing if not something physical, yet nothing of the kind had happened.

It was all right. After all, Rusty had just gone through a tough time, first through that miserable first half of the game, and then that conversation with his dad. Matty couldn’t even imagine how it would feel to be in open conflict like that with his parents. They were demanding and wanted him to excel in his studies, but they never looked down on him or made him feel bad about himself, as he had seen tonight while witnessing Rusty and his father from the shadows.

He groaned and pressed the palms of his hands against his closed eyes. He was being an asshole. No one in their right mind would think of sex under circumstances like that. As much of a free spirit as Rusty was, there was no way that kind of rejection wouldn’t get to him. Right now, more than anything, the guy needed a friend, not a horny dude who could barely wait to get into his pants.

When he got out of the bathroom, the sight that greeted him made his resolve shake a smidge. Rusty had only a pair of sweatpants on – he must have had them in his backpack, and he was lying on Matty’s bed, hands behind his head, contemplating the ceiling. When Matty walked in, his eyes turned to him and he smiled, not like his usual flirtatious or teasing smile, but the genuine kind.

Rusty moved away from the edge of the bed, closer to the wall. “Come on, hop in. I can really barely wait to hear more of what happens in that crazy fantasy.”

Matty smiled, too, as he grabbed the book and climbed on the bed. As a friend, he would ignore Rusty’s naked chest, and the warmth of his body, and the pleasant smell of his skin. He fluffed his pillow and arranged it so that he could lean against the wall in a sitting position. Rusty rested his head in Matty’s lap immediately, wrapping one arm around his left leg.

It was pure temptation, so he reached for the blond head and began caressing it gently. Rusty immediately made a purring sound, and Matty snickered. “You’re like one big cat. By the way, that thing with the cat boy, right? Wow.” He waited with bated breath.

“Yeah,” Rusty agreed quietly. “He pulled me out of my funk. Just what I needed at that moment.”

“How could he know you were having a hard time?” Matty asked. Damn, he really loved to play close to the fire.

“He’s a student here, at Sunny Hill. There’s no other explanation.”

“Do you want to touch his tail?”

“It’s a pretty fluffy tail.”

Silence followed, and Matty considered if all this probing was a good idea on his part.

“I don’t know how he knew what to do, but it’s like he really knows me,” Rusty continued.

“He sounds like a friend,” Matty commented, his heart in his throat.

“I don’t want to be friends with him,” Rusty retorted. “I want to pull his tail and fondle his butt, because he’s a total cockteaser. Plus, I have plenty of friends already.”

“Like Maddox and Jonathan,” Matty pointed out.

“And you. You’re an awesome friend, Matty.”

“The kind whose butt you want to fondle?” he risked.

“Yeah, about that. I shouldn’t do that to a friend.”

Matty pursed his lips and blinked hard. What the hell was going on?

“Now, go on, start reading. My eyes are already closing.”

“Okay,” Matty said softly.

He had just been friendzoned. Just like that. Although his eyes were getting moist and he no longer could see the letters clearly, he continued to read. It was fine. It was totally fine. Rusty needed a friend, and he, Matty, was okay with that.

TBC