Living in Surreality - 21. Chapter 21

chapter 21:
: edited by viv :

Jacob held his breath, waiting for Cody's response. It had been, what, two years since he'd last seen Cody?

"Yeah," the voice on the other end of the phone answered, and continued after a prolonged silence, "Long time no talk, huh?"

Jacob nodded numbly, figuring that was answer enough, not taking into account that Cody wasn't standing in front of him as he looked at his mother. Joanne had set her fork calmly down on her plate when Jacob uttered Cody's name, and had since been carefully watching her son, searching his face and body language for signs of trouble.

"Yeah," Jacob mumbled, shaking his head free of the stupor that had swallowed him with the unexpected call.

Cody collapsed back on his disheveled bed expecting Jacob to say more, feeling uneasy with the silence he found instead. The awkward silence continued, the dead air having the same affect on both sides of the line as it grated on both sets of nerves. "So..." Cody spoke, trying to salvage a phone call he already felt was a mistake, "How's life been?" he asked, wondering why he had even gone through the trouble of tracking Jacob down in the first place.

"Good," Jacob stated, not willing to give an inch more in the conversation. He knew his attitude was wrong as he delivered it. Cody didn't really deserve the attitude Jacob found himself leveling in his direction. Even if he hadn't tried to contact Jacob in almost two years, external forces had pulled them in different directions.

"I guess I deserve this huh?" Cody questioned with a morose laugh, referring to the short one-word answers he was receiving.

Jacob frowned, not liking how Cody could still know what he was thinking. "No," Jacob said, exhaling the defenses that had his shoulders held rigid. "It's just..."

"It's cool," Cody interrupted.

"It's just not every day I run into a ghost from my past," Jacob continued.

"Ghost?" Cody inquired, not catching the meaning in Jacob's reference.

"You disappeared into thin air," Jacob blurted out, not bothering to run his thoughts through that inherent self-censor before they rushed through his lips. "You were there, and then you were gone. No calls, no emails, just... gone."

"I'm an ass, Jacob," Cody sighed, hearing the truth blurted through the phone line. "I was then, still am now. You knew that. It wasn't anything I hadn't done to you in the past."

Jacob choked out a mean chuckle, "Yeah, except there's a big difference between a week and a couple years."

Cody's jaw set, the muscles of his mandible bulging as his eyes eased shut in remorse. "I'm sorry," he said, the words rushing out quickly and laden with emotion. "We got caught, the secret was out..."

"I'm sorry too," Jacob ceded. "I'm sorry you got caught with another guy's head in your crotch."

Cody's eyes flew open as he bolted upright on his bed, "It wasn't like that."

"No?" Jacob questioned with a heavy dose of skepticism.

"No," Cody assured, sounding panicky. "Moms' flipped, the school board flipped. I had to go to counseling; Moms' even got our priest involved."

"You weren't alone," Jacob said, feeling for what Cody went through, he had been through half of the same crap.

"She always liked you Jacob," Cody said, speaking of his mother, "The school never told her who I was caught with, I never told her," he confessed. "She asked about you, said you were a good influence. I stopped talking to her after that, stopped talking to pretty much everyone. That's why they shipped me up here to my grandma."

Jacob chuckled; the sound was lighter than, and not as acidic, as it had previously sounded. "So how do you like Oregon?" Jacob asked, easing into a casual conversation, figuring the past was behind him.

"It's chill," Cody shrugged absently. "I'm outta here at the end of the summer."

"Pennsylvania?" Jacob asked with an amount of trepidation, knowing full well that the two of them had planned to attend Penn State together before their world changed without their consent.

"You remembered," Cody smiled, thrilled that Jacob had. "Are you still going?" he asked, even though he already knew somehow that Jacob wouldn't be.

"Nah," Jacob sighed with a touch of remorse over the dream that died back in that high school locker-room. "I never played football again, never got a chance at the scholarship."

Cody nodded, the smile he was wearing fading into oblivion. "I figured as much, you got the rough end of the deal, getting tossed out of school."

"It's alright, it all ended for the best I guess," Jacob answered, not allowing the pity to spread beyond his collegiate aspirations. "I'm gonna do this firefighting thing at the local community college, see if anything else grabs my interest, if it does, maybe I'll be able to transfer to a bigger school in a few years."

"Firefighter?" Cody asked, a grin spreading across his face allowing his blue eyes to sparkle in the low light of his bedroom. "I could see you doing that," he decided, "all sooty... carrying a big hose..."

Jacob laughed slightly as he felt warmth spread across his cheeks. "Shuddup."

"Things are going good down there huh?" Cody asked with a wide smile, knowing he had Jacob blushing.

"Better than good," Jacob freely admitted.

Cody's smile faltered for a brief moment over what he was foolish enough to give up. "I'm glad," he answered, choosing to think of Jacob over himself. "You deserve that much."

Jacob didn't know what to think about the sentiment; he didn't know how he felt about anyone thinking that he deserved good things, especially when it was coming from a person that he felt for at some point in his past. In the end, Jacob decided to take it as the compliment Cody meant it to be.

"Thanks," Jacob said.

"No thanks needed," Cody remarked. "The continuation school must have sucked, so if you're doing better down there, I'm happy for you."

"It did suck," Jacob agreed. "Six months of reading comprehension packets dealing with out-dated pop stars like Annie Lennox."

"Who's that?" Cody laughed.

"Exactly my point," Jacob laughed with Cody, finding it both weird and good how the two of them could easily fall into casual conversation after losing contact for so long. The thought gave him pause as he listened to Cody's laughter on the other end of the line, realizing the sound was one he once enjoyed to a great extent. "Cody?" Jacob said, his tone turning solemn.

"Yeah?" Cody asked, his tone matching Jacob's as he noticed the change with ease.

"Why now? After all this time?" Jacob asked, conflicted about how the simple sound of Cody's voice could rouse something he thought was gone. Cody paused, not answering right away, and all Jacob could hear was a sharp intake of breath, before Cody exhaled slowly.

"I got to thinking about you the other day," Cody admitted, leaving out the questioning stranger who brought the thoughts on.

"I thought about you for a year and nothing came of it," Jacob admitted, not putting much thought into the conflicting power roles at play in his relationship with Cody, and his current with Matt.

"So is it okay I called?" Cody asked, concerned about the direction the conversation had turned.

Jacob shrugged; he had to think about the question a little. While the call had been unexpected, Jacob knew some small part of him would always wonder what happened to Cody, even though he knew he had found a better person in Matt. "Yeah," he answered, aware that he wasn't just saying the word to be nice, somewhere inside he actually did enjoy hearing Cody's voice again.

"What's it like down there, and you're really doing okay?" Cody asked, the guilt he felt apparent in his voice.

"It's cool, laid back, except if you get on the freeway, that's sorta' scary," Jacob laughed, remembering Valerie screaming at one driver while flipping another her slender middle finger on a recent trip. "I miss the green though; it's kinda brown down here."

"Brown?" Cody asked, not understanding what Jacob meant by the statement.

"Yeah, the grass is green for like a week in the spring then it dries out and you're left with brown," Jacob explained.

"That doesn't sound nice," Cody noted with a touch of disappointment in his voice.

"Yeah, that's what I thought when I got here. We're surrounded by brown hills, and I live on this long street with perfect lawns, it was just weird, I thought it was gonna suck," Jacob said, remembering his first impression of Oak Meadow and Lily Ct.

"It didn't?"

"The whole car ride down and the first few hours did, I changed my mind later that night though," Jacob said with a smile.

"Oh?" Cody inquired, curious as to what had changed Jacob's mind so quickly. "What happened? Lots of pretty people or what?" he asked with a sarcastic chuckle.

"Only one that matters..." Jacob admitted.

"Really..." Cody teased, the grin plastered across his face evident in his voice.

"Yup, met him the first night, he gave me a hand with some boxes. I thought I was interrupting his date," Jacob smiled.

"So does Mr. Handsome, whose date you interrupted, know you like him?" Cody asked with a joking laugh.

"It wasn't a date, they are just good friends," Jacob laughed along with Cody, "and yeah he does know..." Jacob admitted, flushing with pride.

"Cool," Cody said with enthusiasm, he wanted to go on and say that he thought Mr. Handsome was lucky, but he thought better of the remark and stopped himself from saying it. "So tell me about him?"

"He's got green eyes," Jacob sighed, smiling as he though about Matt. "He's funny and quick, but brooding sometimes."

"Brooding?" Cody asked, hoping the guy wasn't an ass or anything.

Jacob smiled at the concern in Cody's voice. "He's had a rough few months. There's some issues with his dad and then..." Jacob's smile faded as he thought about his own actions.

"And?" Cody asked, getting comfortable on his bed once again.

"You're not the only one of us that's ever been an ass," Jacob admitted, feeling sheepish.

"Everything is working out okay though?" Cody asked, sounding hopeful as he rolled onto his side, lying on his bed and propping his head up on his hand.

"Yeah, things are going great with Matt," Jacob assured.

Cody laughed, "How about Matt aside, school and everything else, your mom?"

"Mom's good," Jacob smiled, looking over to his mother for the first time since he had answered the call.

Joanne, for her part, was trying not to eavesdrop on Jacob's phone call, but hearing Cody's name and knowing what Jacob went through the last time around, she couldn't help sitting there quietly; listening to the one side of the conversation she could hear. She had her doubts, hearing the first half of the phone call, with Jacob being stiff and standoffish. Her worries eased some as he began to laugh, but she still had concerns about Cody popping into her son's life so unexpectedly. Noticing her son was watching her, his head leaning towards his shoulder as he studied the creases in her brow, Joanne offered him a wan smile, trying to reassure him, but lacking sufficient assurances herself to deliver the message with a convincing effect.

"School's been good. I also got a job working at Valerie's Dad's garage," Jacob continued, rambling off events of the past year.

"The job sounds cool, definitely better than flipping burgers or something, but who's Valerie?" Cody asked, hearing his grandmother holler for him through his bedroom door, telling him dinner was ready.

Jacob found an easy chuckle over his omission of Valerie. "She's the girl I thought Matt was with when I met him the first night. She's cool. Can you believe she drives around in a vintage Mustang?"

"No shit?" Cody snorted, finding league with Jacob's envy of the girl and her car. "Hold on a sec?" Cody asked as he heard his grandmother holler again, sounding even more demanding the second time around. "Be right there Gram!" Jacob heard Cody shout back. "Dude, can I call you back sometime, soon?" Cody asked, not wanting to cut reconnecting with Jacob short.

Jacob didn't hesitate in answering. "Sure." Cody may have been many different things to Jacob at varying stages of his life, but the one constant was he always was a true friend, probably the best Jacob had ever had in Sacramento.

Cody smiled, pleased with himself for actually having the balls to track down Jacob, and pleased that it had gone better than the hundreds of times he'd played similar conversations out in his head. "I'll catch ya' later," he said, using the same line he had always said when he and Jacob were parting company, before disconnecting the call on his end.

"That was Cody," Jacob said, unable to hide the small smile that curled the corners of his mouth.

"I heard," Joanne responded, feeling more then her share of trepidation as she picked through what remained of her meal. "How is Cody?" she asked, feigning interest. She wanted to know of his motives more than his well-being.

"Good," Jacob answered, detecting his mother's true intent and finding it annoying. Instead of calling her on being a mother, he decided to ignore it and eat. "I think he's ready to get out of Oregon though, sounded like he's looking forward to moving to Pennsylvania," he continued while cutting the piece of roast on his plate.

"He just called to catch up suddenly?" Joanne continued her subtle interrogation after watching Jacob eat for a few minutes, not bothering to touch anymore of her own plate while she did.

Jacob stopped mid-chew, struggling to swallow the chunk of meat that he had just began to eat. It wasn't that he didn't know where his mother was coming from, he did. Jacob too had questioned the phone call when it first began, as the sound of Cody's voice churned up a mix of emotion that had lay dormant in him for a while. All the feelings of hurt and rejection seemed to dissolve as the call progressed until he was happy to have heard from Cody again.

"So when do we get the bike?" he asked, trying to steer the conversation away from the surprising phone call, and on to brighter things that didn't make him feel as if where being interrogated.

"As soon as you graduate and pass all the required courses to ride one of them," Joanne answered, "and stop dodging the bullet when I ask you a question," she finished, her gaze never wavering from her son as he stared at her.

Jacob buckled under her glare, chastising himself for not having a response at the ready had she brought the subject of the phone call up again. He didn't know why he didn't; he knew better than that, having fallen prey to this tactic of his mother's countless times in the past. Instead of just blurting out the truth, that part of him had been longing to hear from Cody again, he couldn't. Jacob felt the need to gloss over the feelings he still had where Cody was concerned, as if he needed to wrap them up in pretty paper, tied with billowing bows.

"He was a good friend," Jacob started, his voice meek as he questioned his own answer.

"I have no doubt about that, Jacob," Joanne started, effectively cutting her son's speech off. "The two of you made plans for college and your futures. In the end, he left and you abandoned the dreams you had."

Jacob's shoulders slumped with the weight of the truth. "I know," he murmured, staring at his plate.

"Kiddo," Joanne cooed in a gentle voice as her hand reached out and grasped his shoulder, rubbing it with ease. "I'm not trying to be mean, I just... I just don't want you making the same mistake and abandoning whatever dreams you have found here."

Jacob's head bolted upright, his eyes locking with his mother's in an instant. "I wouldn't," Jacob stammered as he shook his head with growing gusto.

Joanne sighed, wanting to believe his conviction as much as he did. She just knew how impetuous her son could be when he wanted his way, his tendency towards rash thinking had gotten him into trouble before, and she wasn't keen on witnessing it again.

"What did he talk about?" she questioned, thinking she could help him navigate the minefield of his past, having been in the same situation herself more times then she cared to confess.

"He asked if I was doing okay, and if I liked it down here," Jacob answered with a shrug of his shoulders, content to dig into his cold diner again.

Watching her son eat, Joanne stood gathering her finished plate in one hand and her son's head in the other, as she planted a quick kiss on the side of his head. "Of course you're doing okay," she stated with a wink and the best reassuring smile she could muster. "Better then okay."

Jacob grinned at his mother. "That's what I told him," he said, happy that his mother had decided not to worry about the phone call. "Oh, is it okay if Matt stays the night?" he asked, grabbing up his plate and meeting his mother at the sink.

"With school in the morning?" Joanne laughed begging off the notion.

Jacob just smiled as he took over Joanne's task of washing the dishes. "Actually there are no classes tomorrow, some sort of teacher meeting or something."

Joanne appraised Jacob in disbelief as he held up a set of soapy hands, signaling his surrender.

"Honest, check the calendar on the website," he defended as he went back to cleaning the two dishes and roasting pot.

"Does Viola know?" his mother asked, as her skepticism continued.

"I'm sure she does," Jacob answered with a shrug.

"As long as there is no school, and Viola knows her son hasn't been kidnapped. Should I dig the leftovers out and make him a plate?" she asked.

"Nope, I think he's going home first anyway," Jacob answered as he began drying dishes.

"We should do this whole 'you want something' thing more often," Joanne chided as she watched her son putting away the dishes.

Jacob answered his mother's statement with a confused look.

"You realize you just did the dishes without being asked to, right?" she laughed as she walked away from Jacob's blushing face.

Jacob finished the kitchen and took a shower, even managed to mess around with the homework that he had been assigned for the long weekend before he found himself dozing off in the middle of watching a show about the Mongol dynasties on The History Channel. A small smile played across his mouth as he felt a pair of warm lips graze his cheek.

"What took you so long?" Jacob asked, his eyes still closed, feeling the couch sink with Matt's weight.

"Mom and I went out to dinner with Valerie and her folks," Matt answered as his fingers tickled at the gap of Jacob's exposed flesh between his shirt, which had ridden up, and the elastic band of his light blue plaid boxer shorts.

Jacob squirmed at the tickle of Matt's grazing fingers, twisting around, his eyes slowly opened as he turned and faced Matt. Jacob just laid there on the couch, content to look at Matt and have him in such close proximity. As he did, Jacob tried to remember ever having a similar feeling about Cody, and as much as he searched for the familiarity, it wasn't there, not with Cody, not as it was with Matt.

"What?" Matt asked, his head lulling to one side matching the awkward angle Jacob's was in.

"Nothing," Jacob smiled, reaching his hand to Matt's shoulder and letting it smooth down the length of Matt's bicep, coming to a comfortable rest at his elbow.

"You're looking at me funny," Matt observed, closing the distance between their faces, brushing his nose against Jacob's before giving him a soft kiss.

"I like waking up to your smile," Jacob whispered, feeling his cheeks heat as his answer earned another small kiss from Matt. "Staying the night?" Jacob asked, sounding hopeful.

Matt looked thoughtful for a moment, his lips pursing in contemplation as if he had to think about the cost and benefit of sharing a bed with Jacob. As his silence wore on, Jacob's eyes widened in disbelief until, he noticed the beginnings of a sly smile playing on Matt's lips.

"Jerk," Jacob chided, slapping Matt on the elbow where his hand had been resting. Jacob's response brought out Matt's smile full force as he pulled away from Jacob and grabbed the backpack, which held a change of clothes for the morning.

"I thought that was the plan," Matt said while standing and offering Jacob his hand. "Unless, of course, you don't want me staying the night," he continued, pulling Jacob by the hand off the couch.

"Oh yeah," Jacob mocked with a smile as he hit the green power button on the remote, killing the image on the television, "I want to hit that," he continued, as his eyes theatrically roamed over the length of Matt's body, "and then tell you to hit the road."

"Prick!" Matt's mouth fell open as he shouted the word with a smile a little too loudly before dropping his bag and rushing towards Jacob, tackling him and pinning him to the couch, where Matt's fingers sought out the tender, ticklish ridges of Jacob's sides.

Jacob howled in laughter, with Matt's fingers assaulting his rib cage, He tried squirming out from the pin Matt's arms had him in on the couch, Jacob's arms trapped between his torso and Matt's, he grabbed hold of the first thing his fingers found, which happened to be the fly of Matt's jeans. Matt's eyes widened, his fingers halting their siege as he stared down at Jacob.

"You play dirty..." Matt said, observing a devious twinkle in Jacob's eyes as he felt the grip on the front of his pants tighten as Jacob let out an evil chuckle.

"Guys!" Joanne hollered from the doorway to her room, looking irritated over the ruckus disturbance. "Keep it down. There are other people in this house, and in the state that do have to work tomorrow."

"Sorry, Ma'," the two giggled in sheepish unison as they disentangled themselves from one another, Jacob's hand, however, not releasing his grip on Matt's crotch. Joanne shook her head and turned back into her room, calling good night over her shoulder before she shut her door, just in case the hi-jinks failed to cease.

The two ignored Joanne's farewell, staring instead at each other, panting, with some inkling of expectation from one another. Jacob's fingers loosened as he smirked, so he could adjust his grip on Matt's fly as he watched Matt bite on his bottom lip. Matt's reaction was lightning quick and unexpected by Jacob. His grip on Matt's groin faltered as he moved to protect his own crotch from the blur of Matt's attacking hand.

Matt laughed in triumph as he made perfect contact with Jacob's groin, causing Jacob to curl his legs up and his torso down protectively. In a flash, Matt was off the couch taunting Jacob with his tongue from beyond the protection of the armrest.

"Bitch!" Jacob shouted, springing forth from the couch, pausing briefly to divine which route Matt would attempt for escape before giving chase.

Matt faked to the right at the front door, only to veer to the left and the staircase that lead up to Jacob's bedroom. Jacob compensated for the deception, changing his course with split second timing that resulted in two pairs of feet thundering up the steps in close chase.

"Guys!" Joanne shouted again, her door flying open as the heavy footfalls were heard rushing their way towards Jacob's bedroom upstairs, followed quickly by the harsh sound of his door slamming closed.

Matt knew Jacob was quick on his heels, the sound of the bedroom door being slammed only confirmed that he was, and Matt now found himself willingly trapped in Jacob's bedroom. Giving up, or giving in, Matt flopped down backwards onto Jacob's bed, his arms and legs splayed out, just in time for Jacob to jump on top of him, beaming in victory as Matt, equally, smiled in defeat.

"I win," Jacob proclaimed his triumph.

"That just depends on how you look at the situation," Matt smiled, wrapping his legs around Jacob's hips and hooking his ankles as he adjusted his position below Jacob.

Jacob took a second to ponder Matt's statement before ultimately deciding that Matt spoke the truth, as Jacob would gladly swap positions with him. Not saying a word, Jacob still delivered truce with his lips as he leaned down and began kissing and nibbling the side of Matt's neck just below his jawbone.

Matt emitted a gasping giggle at the sensations Jacob's truce was causing. Instinctively, his head bent in towards Jacob's assaulting lips as his hands wrapped around Jacob. One hand grasping at Jacob's back, pulling him closer, while the other grasped at the back of Jacob's head, running through his hair, applying pressure there, pulling Jacob closer to himself as he ground his crotch upwards into Jacob's.

Jacob grunted as he broke the contact between his lips and the now salt-less flesh of Matt's neck. "Have you given anymore thought to USC?" he asked, having been curious to know all day if Matt had.

"A little," Matt sighed, knowing he had given almost no thought whatsoever.

Jacob smiled lightly as he peered at Matt below him. "I just want you to know, L.A. or San Francisco, you won't be able to escape me so easily...," he said, accentuating his words with a thrust of his pelvis into Matt's groin.

"Oh?" Matt questioned, liking the sound of Jacob's threat as he began tugging at the hem of his t-shirt.

"Yup," Jacob answered, raising his weight onto his knees to finish what Matt had begun. "Mom is getting me a bike for graduation," he smiled, tossing the shirt aside and leaning back into Matt.

"Cool," Matt decided, concerned more about the present than four weeks in the future, as his hands began playing with Jacobs's belt.

"Cool?" Jacob asked, smacking Matt's hand away and pushing himself off Matt, disbelieving the shallow utterance over him getting a bike. It was so much more than just 'cool'. "It's great," he said offering Matt a hand and pulling him off the bed before pulling Matt's shirt off.

"Great," Matt echoed as he kicked off his shoes, wanting to get back to the whole lying down thing. Jacob chuckled, amazed at how both Matt and Valerie could claim he only ever thought about sex, when that was clearly Matt's objective right now.

"Horny much?" Jacob asked, watching Matt shake his legs free of his pants.

Matt stopped undressing, leaving one leg stuck in a tangle of jeans, wondering if he was being too direct. "It's not my fault," Matt blushed, cupping his hands in front of the obvious excitement tenting his boxers.

"Whose fault is it then?" Jacob asked, shuffling forward and grabbing Matt's wrists, prying them away from hiding his cotton shrouded erection.

"Look in the mirror," Matt answered with a smile. "Ever since I left for work earlier, it's just been there... I'm glad I was working the drive-through tonight cause I swear..." he finished, shaking his head as Jacob began to chuckle.

"Good," Jacob smiled before giving Matt a quick kiss and nuzzling his nose. "And," he said looking down between their bodies, "you don't have to hide that from me," Jacob continued, releasing his hold on Matt's wrists before tweaking one of his nipples. "I like seeing that I have that effect on you."

Matt only smiled, wanting to say that he enjoyed Jacob's effect on him, but he thought it would sound lame and agreeable. While he didn't mind the agreeable part, that was physically obvious, he still didn't want to seem lame to Jacob.

"Say it," Jacob whispered, more of a plea then a demand.

"Say what?" Matt questioned, as his hands roamed up Jacob's nude chest.

"Say that you like the effect I have on you," Jacob pleaded in a hiss as Matt's hand swept over his flesh.

"I like the effect you have on me..." Matt admitted, feeling Jacob's fingers wrap around his wrist as he dragged his fingers across Jacob's chest. "It's the best feeling in the world," Matt breathed. "Just doing nothing, being content in the fact that, as crazy and big as the world is, that someone loves me, and sporting wood in the drive-through because of it," Matt said, his eyes washing over Jacob's bare skin and the movements of his musculature underneath.

"I do," Jacob said, his finger guiding Matt's chin upward so he could look him in the eyes. "I love you," he whispered before leaning in and kissing Matt.

Matt smiled loving the words, and the kiss, which Jacob had just pulled back from, his eyes watching Matt. "I know," Matt said taking a moment to tweak Jacob's exposed nipple again. "I love you."

"Something else interesting tonight," Jacob admitted, wanting to be honest with Matt above anything else in the world. "Besides the whole me getting a bike and you being all aggressively horny," he smiled.

Matt chuckled, swatting Jacob on the ass as he stepped away from him and took a seat on the bed waiting for Jacob to continue.

"Cody called out of the blue," Jacob said, hoping Matt wouldn't get mad, but understanding if that was Matt's initial reaction, after all it would probably be his.

"Cody?" Matt asked looking at Jacob curiously, suppressing the urge to be fearful of whomever Cody was.

Matt's look had Jacob realizing he had never given either Matt or Valerie his complete history. In fact, he had pretty much misled Valerie when he initially told her about Cody and his relationship. Thinking on that he knew he'd face Valerie's wrath for that, eventually, but right now he wanted to talk to Matt about his past. Taking a deep breath, he started telling Matt about Cody.

"Cody was the guy I got caught with," Jacob said, watching Matt carefully.

Matt sat there, clad in only a pair of red checked boxer shorts, looking confused before realization slowly dawned. "You mean..." he started, but couldn't finish, as he watched Jacob nodding his head.

"I told Valerie it was just a thing, but that was kinda a lie," Jacob said looking pained with the admission. "He was my best friend and it turned into something else that ended badly when we got caught."

Matt nodded, feeling broadsided by this revelation. He wanted to ask Jacob if they had slept together, but knew it was a useless question because he already knew the answer. Resolving not to get too worked up, he managed to ask a more pertinent question about Cody.

"Did you love him?" Matt asked, his gaze never wavering from Jacob's face.

"I thought I did," Jacob answered honestly. "I thought it was going to be Cody and me forever. Then he disappeared and everything changed."

"And the phone call?" Matt asked, uncharacteristically calm, scaring Jacob because of it.

"He was asking how I was doing, and..." Jacob began to answer, feeling a bead of sweat trickle down his side.

Matt shook his head, dismissing Jacob's answer. "How did you feel?"

"I was mad, mad that it took him so long to call, but in the end, I was glad that I had heard from him again," Jacob answered.

"Did you tell him about me?" Matt asked, trying to quell the nausea of fear in his stomach with information.

Jacob's straight lips blossomed into a slow lopsided smile, "Leave out the best thing that has happened to me, ever?" Jacob answered, moving into kiss Matt. "Of course I told him about you."

Matt stopped Jacob's advance with his hand, having one more question. "He's not moving down here, is he?" Matt asked with a smile.

Jacob laughed with ease, "No he's moving to Pennsylvania."

Matt shrugged. "Okay," he said leaning back on the bed as his fingers traced the waistband on his boxers.

"Okay?" Jacob asked, confused.

"What? You told me he called, you told him about me. He's not moving here, so I don't see a problem with it," Matt answered. "You could have lied, or just not told me about it, but you did," Matt said tugging at Jacob's arm.

"So you're not mad?" Jacob asked as he gave into Matt's tug, spinning around until he was lying on top of Matt.

"I will be soon, if you don't finish getting undressed," Matt smiled before kissing Jacob hard.

Raul stood in the park watching the group of late teens play a game of touch football, thankful that enough sun had peeked down on Klamath Falls to require a pair of sunglasses and a Bermuda hat. He gave the youth approaching him an even nod, as he slapped the envelope against his thigh.

"Hello," he spoke with a smile, watching as Cody pulled his shirt from where it was slung over his shoulder, using it to wipe the beads of sweat from his face, and then from his lean, sculpted torso. "Nice day today," Raul commented, making small talk.

Cody spared the man a sarcastic smile. "Nice shirt," Cody smirked; panning the loud Hawaiian print shirt Raul wore with the top four buttons unbuttoned revealing the white A-shirt he wore underneath.

"You didn't call me out here to mock my shirt," Raul observed, receiving a surrendering half-smile from Cody in the process. "I take you called me out here to talk."

Cody took a moment to think about the guy's assessment. Figuring it was mostly true, he gave Raul a cocky nod, accentuated with an even cockier smile.