Bleeding Hearts - 16. Chapter 16

My mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out. How was I going to explain this? Did Jake see me? Even if he didn’t, Todd would tell him I’d watched him change, and he’d be mad at me. As my panic mounted, Jake burst into laughter.

“Killian, I’m kidding. I knew you were there the whole time. Did you enjoy the show?”

“You jerk!”

Was it all a setup? Did he and Todd plan it?

He was laughing so hard he was almost bent double, clutching his stomach. I, on the other hand, failed to see the humor in the situation.

He started to wind down. “You should have seen your face,” he gasped, which set him off again. A few minutes later, he finally seemed to get himself together. “Whew. Sorry. You just looked so freaked out. Relax. It’s not a big deal. I saw your reflection in the window. Do you think I always change out in the middle of the yard? I wanted to see how far I could go before you said something.”

I felt like my face was about to explode into flames. I couldn’t remember ever having felt more mortified in my entire life. I had no idea what to say or do. Should I just leave?

Then, before I could move beyond frozen to fight or flight, he stepped close, his chest brushing mine, leaned in and gently kissed me on the lips. It was over so quickly I didn’t even have time to process this new and highly unexpected development. He stepped around me and walked away up the path toward the house while I still stared straight ahead, wide-eyed and stunned.

I stood where I was until I’d calmed down enough to follow him.

“By the way,” he said when I caught up to him by the backdoor, “don’t expect a repeat performance anytime soon.”

“I...I...I don’t,” I stuttered, and he giggled again.

“Oh, and one more thing,” he said with his hand on the doorknob, “don’t worry about Todd.” I opened my mouth to reply, but he gave me a look that effectively said, “Shut up.”

I followed him inside, wondering the whole time where the nervous, self-conscious kid from the other day had gone. This confident tease was another whole side of Jake that I hadn’t even known existed.

Obviously, I still had a lot to learn about my new friend.

“Let’s go to my room,” he said, and started up the stairs.

I trailed after him as he led me down a long hall and into a bedroom furnished with an unmade full bed against one wall, the sheets rumpled and the blanket hanging off the end, a dresser wedged between the hall door and an open closet overflowing with both clean and dirty clothes, and a painted wooden desk positioned under the window. A wheeled desk chair sat in the middle of the floor, and surfing posters covered almost every square inch of the walls. Pretty much every flat surface in the room was covered with layers of clutter—school papers, books, random rocks and shells, a few outgrown toys, and God only knows what else. It was too much to take in.

I suddenly didn’t feel nearly as bad about the state of my room while simultaneously resolving to finish cleaning it as soon as I got home.

Jake tossed his backpack in the general direction of the closet and thew himself backwards onto the bed where he sprawled out, legs akimbo, and looked at me expectantly.

I decided it might be wise to keep some distance, at least until I’d figured him out a little more. I took the desk chair and swiveled it around to face him.

We stared at each other for a few seconds in awkward silence. Jake looked a lot less cocky now that we were in his room. The seconds stretched into minutes with neither of us saying a word. Jake began to squirm and even had the grace to look a little guilty. He was probably wondering what was going through my mind.

I was enjoying the sudden shift in power until I realized how sleazy that was. Then I just felt bad. I decided to break the silence at the exact same moment Jake spoke up.

“So, you wanted to talk about—” I started as he blurted out, “Killian, I’m sorry—”

“Sorry?” I repeated stupidly.

“For that whole thing down by the boathouse.” He looked quite sheepish. “Please don’t be mad at me. I know it was kind of shitty. Sometimes, I just do things without thinking. My doc calls it poor impulse control. He wants to put me on meds. I’m all for it, it’s, like, basically speed, right? But my dad says I’m just an idiot and I don’t need to be drugged up, I just need to grow up. I don’t know. But I do know I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable. I shouldn’t—”

“Jake!” I said loudly, cutting off his verbal diarrhea. “It’s...okay. Trust me, I’m not mad. Let’s just forget about it.”

As if I could forget how beautiful his body was.

He looked down at his lap, then back up at me through his incredibly thick lashes. Our eyes locked for several seconds as I felt my face heating up again. I broke first and glanced away.

Was he still toying with me? I couldn’t tell. I felt as if I had to constantly be on my guard with him.

I risked a glance back at him to find a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Why are you blushing?” he asked.

“Why don’t we talk about something else?”

Smooth as ever.

“Why are you always avoiding my questions?”

“Why are you always asking such personal questions?” I countered.

We stared at each other for a few more seconds before my resolve cracked and I smiled. He grinned back, and we both relaxed.

“So,” I decided to try again, “you said you wanted to talk to me about the other person you saw with Seth.”

“Well...yeah...about that...”

“Come on! Don’t tell me you’re backing out on me now.”

“Not backing out so much as offering a rain check.” He gave me an apologetic, lopsided smile. He was the undisputed king of lopsided smiles.

I couldn’t stay angry at him. I sighed. Might as well give in with dignity, I thought. “So what is it now?”

“Well, the person in question asked me to hold off until they can talk to you themselves.”

“They? How many people are we talking about here?”

“Just one. I’m keeping things gender neutral.”

“You weren’t trying to keep things gender neutral outside,” I couldn’t resist teasing.

I was surprised when he flushed a fetching shade of red.

“I thought we were gonna forget about that,” he mumbled.

“Sorry.” I didn’t even sound convincing to myself.

Jake shot me a dirty look, though I could tell he was enjoying our verbal sparring.

“Hey, if you saw me naked, would you be able to just forget about it?” I asked.

His eyes immediately lit up with the same impish look he’d had outside, and I knew I’d goofed.

“Hmm, I don’t know,” he mused. “Only one way to find out...”

In one smooth motion, he launched himself off the bed and pounced on me like a cat. The chair spun, dumping us both onto the floor, where Jake quickly gained the upper hand. He straddled my waist and began to tickle me.

“Stop!” I gasped out between bouts of hysterical giggles.

I tried to push him off, and we ended up wrestling for a few minutes before I somehow managed to pin him to the floor, my bodies pressed together, legs interlocked, faces only inches apart. I suspected he’d let me win, but I didn’t care. I was too busy savoring our contact.

A feeling of déjà vu swept over me. The last time we’d been in this position in my room, he’d pulled away, and the moment had been lost. I decided history wasn’t going to repeat itself this time. Not if I had anything to say about it.

I moved slowly and deliberately, giving him plenty of time to protest. I brought my face ever closer to his, our gaze never wavering until the very last second, when he closed his eyes and lifted his head to meet my lips.

We were kissing for the second time that day, but this time I kissed back, and it lasted a lot longer. The kiss started off gently—we were both a little uncertain—until I let go of his wrists. Then his arms wrapped around my back and things quickly grew more heated. His tongue brushed against my lips, which I parted instinctively, and soon, we were full on making out, hot and heavy.

I couldn’t help comparing him to Asher, the only other person I’d ever kissed with this much passion. Asher was more controlled, or, at least, more in control. Jake felt wild and sloppy and uncontained. I decided neither was better than the other. They were both pretty damn great. Ten out of ten. No complaints.

As the kiss went on and on, I felt myself growing hard. Apparently, Jake felt it, too—not all that surprising considering my erection was pressing into his crotch. He responded by grinding up into me, revealing his own excitement. My breath rushed out, leaving me limp in his arms.

Jake rolled me over, maneuvering so he was on top. He started kissing down my neck, and I found it harder and harder to breathe. When he resumed the grinding, I thought I might die right there. He rose, straddled men again, and slid his hands up along my sides, pushing my shirt out of the way as he went. Then he bent down and pressed his lips against my bare chest.

“I can feel your heart beating,” he whispered.

I reached up and ran my hand through his still-damp hair, then slid my hand behind his head to pull him in for another kiss.

He broke away again and trailed kisses down my chest and stomach. He hesitated when he reached my pants.

Just then, I heard footsteps coming down the hall. Obviously, Jake heard them as well, because he was on his feet in a flash, panic in his eyes. He stood there a moment with a “what-do-I-do-now?” look on his face before grabbing my hand and yanking me up, too.

We had just gotten our clothing straightened out and our erections hidden as best we could when the door swung open. I almost jumped out of my skin.

It was Todd.

He looked at me and then at Jake, taking in our flushed faces, and his eyebrows drew together in a frown.

“You can’t just barge in here, Todd,” Jake yelled. “And don’t look at me like that. We weren’t doing anything. We were only wrestling.”

“Oh, yeah, right, Jake,” Todd snapped. “Do you think I’m stupid? You should be glad it was me and not Dad.”

Jake’s eyes grew wide. “You’re not going to tell him, are you?”

Todd’s frown deepened. “I probably should.” He glared at me. “What kind of an asshole are you? Gilly could be home at any minute, and you’re up here screwing around with her brother.”

“I’m not—"

But he didn’t let me finish. “And you!” He jabbed a finger toward Jake. “I saw what happened down by the boathouse. You’re throwing yourself at him. You’re both pathetic. You deserve each other, a couple of little queers. If it weren’t for Gilly, I’d kick both of your asses. Get out, Killian. I’ll deal with you later. Right now, Jake and I are gonna have a little chat.”

“Todd—” I tried, but he quickly cut me off.

“Out!”

I cast one last look at Jake. He was red-faced, jaw clenched, glaring back at Todd and refusing to meet my eyes. I dropped my head and walked out of the room.

Gilly was coming through the front door as I reached the foot of the stairs. “Killian, I thought that was your car. What are you doing here? Have you been waiting long? Never mind, I just got home. This is perfect. I was going to call you later tonight. You know how we throw a Halloween dance here every year, right?”

I nodded. Everyone knew about the Sheridans’ Halloween party. It was practically legendary. I’d never been, but I’d heard all about it. It was the social event of the year for the high-school crowd.

“Well, it’s next weekend. You’re coming, right? I mean, of course you’re coming. You’re my date. Have you thought about what you’re going to wear?”

She was talking so fast I could barely keep up. I didn’t want to go, especially after my afternoon with Todd and Jake, but I didn’t know what to say without admitting I’d just been upstairs making out with her twin brother.

Gilly must have read my expression, though, because her face fell. “Please say you’re coming, Killian. I know I kind of messed up with that kiss, but I really don’t want to be alone at the party. Besides, it’ll look weird if you’re not there. Everybody thinks we’re dating.”

I sighed. “Yeah, of course I’ll be here.”

She frowned. “You could at least try to sound a little excited.”

I heard a noise at the top of the stairs. It was Jake. Our eyes locked and, for a moment, everything else faded away.

Then Gilly’s voice broke through and brought me down to earth. “Killian? Are you okay?”

I forced my eyes back to Gilly. “Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m fine, and of course I’ll be your date, but I, uh, hafta go right now.”

Gilly looked from me up to Jake and back at me. Her eyes narrowed, and for a moment I thought she was going to make the connection. Then her face cleared, and she linked her arm possessively through mine as she walked me to the door. “Okay, Killian. I’ll call you later to discuss our costumes.”

“Great.” I backed out the door, looking up at Jake one more time. Todd now stood behind him, glaring at me with eyes full of disgust. I spun on my heel and jogged off to the car, wondering exactly how much he’d overheard.

 

 

I had a lot to think about as I drove home. How did I feel about Jake? Obviously, we were attracted to each other, but was it more than just physical? I’d seen him around at school for years, but we’d never actually been friends. How well did I really know him? We definitely would have gone further if Todd hadn’t come in when he did. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Although part of me wanted to so badly, another part warned me that this could be dangerous territory. For some reason, it all felt easier with Jake, maybe because I didn’t have the emotional baggage with him that came with Asher. Or maybe because it was all pure animal lust with Jake.

Then there was Gilly. Would she be hurt if I ended up with her twin brother? She’d known I was gay from the beginning, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be upset. I couldn’t even pretend to understand how a girl’s mind works. There was that kiss on the back porch the night I met her family. Then she was all excited that I was going to be her date for the costume party.

I couldn’t forget about Todd, either. Where did he fit into the equation? He’d seemed to have it in for me from that first night. Why? Was he just the typical protective older brother? That was probably all it was, but it still made me uneasy. Now that he’d figured out Jake and I were gay, what would he do?

To top it all off, Jake had backed out on telling me who he’d seen with Seth again. I still wasn’t any closer to learning who killed Seth. I had to come up with a plan soon.

One thing was for sure, the Sheridans had definitely complicated my life, and it’s not like things were exactly simple before.

I arrived home to be greeted by an extremely happy Adam.

“Guess what?” he shouted before I even had the door closed.

“What?”

“Ilana called. Eve’s lawyer contacted her today—on a Saturday no less! He told her that Eve decided not to contest my request for custody. All we have to do is sign the paperwork and Kane will be moving in with us!” He grabbed me in a huge bear hug, lifted me off my feet and swinging me around the hallway, then stumbled over the rug and almost dropped me before finally setting me back down.

“Steve’s on his way over, and we’re gonna celebrate! Oh! I almost forgot. Kane called soon after Ilana and said to tell you the plan worked, but he wouldn’t explain what that meant.” He stopped and gave me a speculative look. “Does this have anything to do with your sudden interest in homework last night?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” I said with a grin.

“Are you going to fill me in?”

“No.”

“Fine, then, I won’t tell you my last piece of good news.”

“What? You have to tell me!”

“Not until you tell me about this secret plan of yours and Kane’s.”

“I’ll do it when Kane gets here, I promise. Now please tell me the other good news. Ple-e-e-ease?”

Adam gave a huge mock sigh, then broke into another grin. He was too thrilled with the way things were working out to even pretend to be upset. “Okay, well, Asher called in the middle of all this excitement and wanted to talk to you, so I invited him to the celebration dinner. He should be here in about half an hour.”

I felt my smile freeze and then slowly melt away.

“What’s wrong?” Adam asked. “Did I screw up? I thought you’d be happy. You guys have hardly talked in weeks.”

“Asher...hasn’t been very...happy about Gilly and me.”

“You didn’t tell him it’s just a cover?”

“I tried, but he won’t talk to me.”

“How hard did you try?”

“I mean, I texted him... He never answered. And I looked for him at school but couldn’t find him.”

“And it was easier to just avoid dealing with it. You shouldn’t have let it drag on this long. You should apologize tonight. Just clarify the situation and patch things up.”

“Well, there’s one other problem...” I was thinking about Jake.

“What’s that?”

“It’s...kind of hard to explain.” I felt myself start to blush.

“Does this have anything to do with that boy you brought home the other day? Gilly’s brother?”

It never ceased to amaze me how perceptive Adam could be.

“Yeah, his name’s Jake.”

“And you like him?”

I blushed again.

Adam gave me a sharp look. “What exactly is going on with you two?”

“Nothing! Um...well...it’s kinda hard to explain.”

“You just said that. Let’s give it a try, huh? Let sit down.”

I followed Adam into the living room and perched nervously on the edge of a chair. I haltingly began to tell him all about Jake and me, from our first conversation in the lunchroom, to the flirtation, to our interrupted make-out session.

When I finished, Adam sat thinking for a moment. Finally, he said, “Killian, you’d better be very thankful that Todd came in when he did. He stopped you from making what could have been a very big mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

“How well do you even know Jake?”

“I...I mean...I guess not that well.”

“Do you trust him?”

“I like him.”

“That’s not what I asked. Do you trust him?”

“I don’t distrust him...”

“Look, you’re sixteen. I get it. You’re exploring your sexuality for the first time and you’re starting to meet other guys like you. You’re going to be experimenting, and that’s inevitable.”

I was blushing furiously. Why did I feel like I was about to get the birds and the bees talk?

“I just want you to be careful. Remember what we talked about when you wanted Asher to spend the night?"

I nodded, but couldn't make eye contact.

“You're not in trouble, Killian. I just want you to be sure you know what you're doing. It sounds to me like what you experienced today was lust. It’s easy to be carried away by lust no matter how old you are, but especially at your age. That's not always a bad thing, especially when you are have a little more experience and can make more informed decisions, but I just don't want to see you rush into something and get hurt. Jake seems like a nice boy, but you don’t really seem to even know him. Just a few weeks ago, you were head over heels for Asher. Now it’s Jake.”

“I still like Asher.”

“Which means you need to be even more careful. If you care about Asher, then you need to consider his feelings in all this too. I know I can’t stop you from fooling around, but I hope you’ll at least take some advice from me. Wait until you love and trust the other guy for your first time. It’ll be so much more special.”

I nodded. What he said made sense. “Okay. But how will I know if I love him or I’m just attracted to him?”

“That can sometimes be confusing, even for someone my age. But when you really love someone, you’ll know. And trust me on this: it’s worth the wait. Maybe it’ll be with Jake, or maybe it’ll be with Asher. Maybe it’ll be with someone you haven’t even met yet. But when the time comes, I want you to promise me one thing. If and when you do have sex, you’ll use protection. I’ll even buy you condoms if you want.”

My face flushed hot again. “I’m not doing that!” Adam raised an eyebrow. “I’m not! I’m not ready for all that. Sheesh.”

“Maybe I’ll still get you some, just in case.”

“Can we please stop talking about this now?”

Adam laughed. “Come on! I'm not that bad, am I? I think I'm being pretty cool about all this. Besides, you've got the privilege of learning from an elder. I wish I'd had that when I was your age."

"At least you got the elder part, right..."

"Watch it! I may have gotten a later start on all this, but I still have a lot more experience. Learn from it. I’m lucky enough to have found my right guy, but I made a few mistakes along the way.”

As if on cue, we heard the front door open, quickly followed by Steve’s voice. “Adam?”

I watched Adam’s face light up. You could see the love he’d just been talking about reflected in his eyes.

“We’ll finish this later,” Adam said with a wink, practically flying from the room.

I followed as he met Steve just inside the door. Adam leapt into his lover’s arms, and they just seemed to melt against each other.

“I’m so happy for you, babe!” Steve mumbled into Adam’s shoulder.

They hugged for a few more seconds and then stepped apart.

“Let’s get dinner started. The other guests will be here soon.” Adam grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him toward the kitchen.

“Who else is coming besides Asher?” I asked, trailing behind them.

“Ilana and her husband, and my long-time friend Bryant and his current beau, who I haven't met yet. Ilana said something about bringing some guests that were in town, so I guess we’ll see. We’re making extra just in case.”

The next twenty minutes were spent cooking pasta and making the garlic and clam sauce that would go over it. When the doorbell rang, Adam went to get it.

Once he was out of the room, I asked Steve a question that had been bubbling in the back of my mind since he’d arrived. “Why don’t you live here with Adam?”

Steve carefully set down the pan he was holding and turned to face me. He leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “You picked a good time to bring up a very complicated question. The short answer is that, when we first discussed it, we didn’t think it would be a good idea. Seth was about to move in, and my job was hours away. Plus, things were still up in the air with whether or not Adam would have visitation rights with Kane. We feared me living with them would complicate things. Of course, he didn’t end up getting them, but we didn’t know that when we were making those decisions.”

“Why didn’t you move in once Seth came and you knew he was gay, and Adam wasn’t going to get to see Kane?”

“Well, all that didn’t happen overnight. The whole court case with Kane took months. By the time everything was decided, we had settled into a comfortable routine. It didn’t come up again until Adam and Seth moved down here. We were talking about it then, but when Seth was murdered, it didn’t seem like the best time to press the issue. And then you moved in, and we weren't sure how you'd feel about it.”

"I'd be fine with it!" I said quickly, amazed and touched they'd even care what I thought. It was their lives and Adam's house. I was just some strange kid he'd taken in.

He nodded with a smile, but before we could say anything more, we heard voices coming toward the kitchen. Steve gave me a wink and turned off the stove, then went out to greet our guests.

I followed, but stopped in my tracks in the doorway, surprised to find a large group crowded into the hallway. Apparently, everyone had arrived at the same time.

Adam introduced us to the group. First, there was Ilana, a tall, elegant woman with bronze skin, golden brown eyes, and straight glossy brown hair that she wore cut just below her shoulders. She looked to be somewhere in her early forties. Her husband Lysander appeared to be perhaps a little older. He was a very handsome and distinguished black man with close-cropped hair graying at the temples and a pencil mustache. They had different last names, although I missed his, so I assumed she had kept hers for professional reasons.

Ilana’s guests turned out to be Lysander’s daughter from a previous marriage, Nila, and her partner, Heather. Over dinner, I learned they’d been together for four years, having met as freshmen in college when they were both eighteen. Heather looked like the quintessential college student—long curly brown hair pulled up into a ponytail, a sweatshirt bearing the university’s initials, jeans, and glasses. Nila, on the other hand, had the exotic beauty of an actress or a model. She wore her long, straight black hair parted in the middle and hanging on either side of her face like a curtain. This only served to accentuate her high cheekbones, straight nose, and pouty lips. Her dark skin seemed to glow in the kitchen lighting. She was quite stunning. I was not at all surprised to learn she was majoring in acting.

Then there was Adam’s friend Bryant and his boyfriend, Calvin. Bryant had wavy brown hair that he wore longish and unstyled. He looked pretty buff under his sweater and khaki slacks. He had pushed up the sleeves of his sweater, showing that both of his arms were fully tattooed. Calvin, who quite a bit younger than his boyfriend, had longish bleached blonde hair and piercings in almost every conceivable place one could stick a piece of metal through—several places on each ear, eyebrows, nose, and lip. He was very tall, thin and wore oversized, baggy clothes. He also had a few tattoos, though not full sleeves like Bryant.

A few steps behind everyone else came Asher, looking a little lost and maybe just a touch pouty. I gave him a small smile to let him know I didn’t mind his being there, and he offered a halfhearted version in return.

After all the introductions had been made, most of the group headed for the living room. Steve and I stayed behind to finish up the food preparation. Asher stayed, too, standing around awkwardly for a few minutes before sitting down at the table. We all made small talk, but it seemed forced and more than a little uncomfortable—at least for Asher and me. Eventually, Steve put him to work setting the table, which helped break the tension hanging in the air.

When dinner was ready, we called everyone in. Even with the extra leaves in the table, it was a tight fit, but the atmosphere was festive, and no one seemed to mind.

Kane was the main topic of conversation. Everyone was very happy for him and Adam, with the possible exception of Asher. Not that he wasn’t happy for Adam, but he didn’t know Kane and it was obvious he was distracted. I kept catching him staring at me with a slight frown.

Once dinner was finished and everyone started back toward the living room with several bottles of wine, Asher asked me if we could talk. We excused ourselves and walked upstairs to the room I would soon be sharing with Kane.

“Killian,” he said as soon as I closed the bedroom door, “we need to talk.”

“I know,” I agreed. “I need to explain some things to you.”

“I need to explain some things to you, too.”

“I’ll start,” I offered, and quickly rushed on before he could say anything. “I’m not really going out with Gilly. It’s just a cover so I won’t get harassed at school. I need to find out who killed Seth, and I can’t do that if everyone knows I’m gay. Or maybe I could. Not as many people seem to care as I thought. It’s just that those who do care have been very vocal about it. Anyway, I’m still just as gay as I was before. I wanted to tell you all this right away, but well, you pissed me off and, well, I guess I lost my temper. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me, too.” He sat on the bed and stared down at his hands. “I was an ass that day in the lunchroom. I was jealous and hurt, and I just said a bunch of shit I shouldn’t have. I want to ask you to forgive me for all the stuff I said...and see if maybe we can start over...or something...maybe?” He glanced up at me hopefully.

“I’ll forgive you if you’ll forgive me, but what do you mean by start over?”

“I don’t mean as boyfriends or anything—at least not yet—but I’d hate to lose the best friend I’ve ever had over something like this.” He gave me his best puppy-dog eyes.

Who could resist that? I closed the distance between us as he stood up to meet me, and we wrapped our arms around each other in a tight embrace.

My phone interrupted our moment.

“I should probably get that.” I reluctantly disengaged myself from our hug. “Not many people call me.”

“Killian!” Kane started screaming before I even had the phone to my ear. “Did you hear?”

“Yeah, Kane, I heard,” I laughed. “And it’s a good thing I heard before you called. I think I’m deaf in that ear now.”

Kane laughed, too. “Your plan worked. I told Mom I wanted to live with Dad, and when she asked why I told her it’s because I relate more to him since I’m gay, too.”

“What did she say?”

“Well, she just sat there for a minute, then she walked out of the room. A little later she came to my bedroom and said she’d called the lawyers, and it was being taken care of.” Kane’s voice changed at this point from supercharged excitement to uncertainty. “She seemed really sad, Killian, like I had let her down.”

“I’m sorry, Kane. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all. I mean, it is kinda lying.”

“No, even if I’m not sure, it was right ’cuz it means I get to come live with you guys now! Hey, I’d better go. I don’t want Mom freaking out at this point. I just had to call you. Thanks, big bro!”

“You’re welcome, Kane.”

I hung up and turned to find Asher had slipped out of the room while I was on the phone. I started to go look for him when the phone rang again. It was Gilly calling to plan our costumes.

I was eager to get off the phone to look for Asher, so I agreed to whatever she suggested without really hearing a word she said. I told her we had company, and I couldn’t talk for long.

While we were talking, my phone kept buzzing. I assumed it was Kane texting me, so I ignored them. After we hung up, I realized I had no idea what I had agreed to wear. I shrugged it off, figuring I’d find out sooner or later.

I checked my texts only to find it wasn’t Kane after all. It was Jake, and it was a series of messages.

“Hey.”

“I’m really sorry about everything that happened today.”

“the boathouse”

“in my room”

“Todd”

“I don’t know what’s going on with me”

“I’d blame it on the moon or something but I don’t even know if it’s full or what”

“Anyway, I’m just really sorry.”

I quickly text back, “Jake, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” Then added, “Are things okay with Todd?”

“Don’t worry about him. I can handle my brother. Can I call you really quick?”

“Yeah, but I can’t talk long," I replied.

My phone rang almost instantly.

“Hiya, Killer,” he practically sang when I answered. I winced a at Killer, but I quickly recovered since I could hear the cheeky smile in voice, which made me picture that lopsided grin I liked so much. “I just wanted to hear your voice...and make sure you weren’t just blowing me over text. You’re really not mad at me?”

I laughed. “No, I’m not mad.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Good. ’Cuz I like you.”

“I like you, too, you goof.”

“No, I mean I like you. A lot. I want to spend more time with you, but I don’t know how with Gilly and Todd and all.”

“Hey, we’re friends, right? Friends spend time with each other.”

“Do you think maybe we could be more than friends?”

“Maybe, but let’s take things one step at a time for now. I think we were moving a bit too fast today. It’s probably a good thing Todd walked in when he did.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well, I probably won’t see you really before the party, but I know what you’re wearing so I’ll look for you.”

“At least one of us knows what I’m wearing. What is it?”

“You don’t know? You literally just got off the phone with my sister. I was listening the whole time.”

“That makes one of us, then, because I wasn’t paying much attention. Don’t tell your sister.”

He laughed. “Maybe I will and maybe I won’t. What’s in it for me?”

“Jake...” I wasn’t in the mood to flirt. I still needed to go find Asher.

“Fine. Gilly wants you to dress up in some costume she found in a thrift store. She showed it to me, and I guess it’s pretty cool. It’s like this long black hooded cloak that goes over this tunic thing and tights, with a fake sword and all. It looks kinda creepy, but cool. Gilly bought a cloak of her own, so I guess you guys are going as a medieval couple or somebody from Middle Earth...I dunno.”

“Did you say tights?”

“I haven’t decided what I’m wearing, so I guess you’ll be surprised.”

“Tights?”

“Hey, I have to go. I just wanted to apologize and all. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“I have to wear tights?”

“Yes!” he exclaimed. “And I, for one, am looking forward to seeing it! Bye, Killer.”

His calling me Killer snapped me out of my horror at the thought of wearing tights. “Bye, Jake.”

I hung up and turned around to find Asher standing in the doorway staring at me accusingly. “Jake, huh?” he asked quietly.