Colorado Game - 11. Chapter 11

Joey just stared at me. He blinked once, twice and then hid his face in his hands, softly groaning. When he looked up, he sighed. I wanted to say something but he lifted his hand, indicating that I shouldn't.

"So that's what I heard? You and Ross weren't fighting?" I felt a blush creeping up my cheeks and fixed my eyes on a window, shaking my head. "Holy shit."

"You promised not to tell anyone," I said softly. He made a dismissive gesture.

"I won't. But dude... I thought you were strangling each other or something. I was about to go and have a look but it stopped, so... man, am I glad I didn't walk in on you guys."
He started to snicker and it didn't take long for it to develop into full blown laughter. It stopped when I punched him in the arm.

"Shut up, it isn't funny!" He hiccupped a few times as the laughter died down, rubbing his eyes.

"Sorry, it's just... man, just think about it. Me walking in on you guys while you're doing the dirty. I'd need my eyes lasered after that," he said, beginning to laugh again. Okay, if you looked at it that way, then it was kinda funny and so I smirked. Then he took a few deep breaths and turned more serious.

"So what's wrong; he didn't force you, did he?" I shook my head and stood, beginning to pace.

"No. Nothing like that. It's just... I woke up and he was gone. Everything was gone; his clothes, his backpack, everything."
His eyebrows shot up.

"Weird!"

"You're telling me?"

"Well, maybe he felt embarrassed? Was it bad?" I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, thanks. That's a real compliment."

"Don't go faggy on me now... I meant that maybe he woke up and didn't feel all that good about it. Maybe he checked into a hotel, because he figured it'd be inappropriate to stay here." I huffed.

"Inappropriate? Gimme a break; first he sticks his you-know-what in my fill-in-the-blanks and then he gets an attack of morality? Trust me; it wasn’t bad. It was damn good."

"Eww, dude... no graphics!" He shuddered.

"Sorry. We ehm... alright, I might as well tell you. We like each other, obviously. For a few days now, we had this... thing between us and yesterday... well, it developed."

"Developed how?" He asked, immediately holding up his hand. "No more gory details, please, I still have to eat." I smiled feebly.

"Two days ago, we were playing Monopoly with a couple of guys and I‘d been drinking. Okay, I was pretty drunk and I said a few things that were out of line."

"Out of line like...?"

"I told Ross to fuck off..."

"Great career move," Joey commented, shaking his head.

"Next thing I know, he's kissing me. Not romantically but you know... he was angry."

"Say no more. I've had a few girlfriends that drove me nuts and I handled in exactly that way; to shut you up, right? I did that with Janice, yesterday." The grin that appeared on his face was downright goofy.

"Exactly. Anyway, he left but came back later and apologized. We talked and everything was fine and he asked me to go skiing with him the next day. Not like with a whole group but alone."

"Gotta remember that one," he muttered.

"That was yesterday. So we spend the whole day together, and he taught me some stuff. I thanked him, and I was a bit too enthusiastic. So I kissed him. You know, as a thank you."

"Ooookay... is this a gay thing?" he asked, sounding unsure and I smiled.

"If you're asking if we always do that, then no. I guess I wouldn't have done it if it had been you or Joey or someone else. It was a moment. Unconsciously I felt like doing it and knew he wouldn't freak out like you or Eric would." Joey raised his eyebrows, insulted.

"Oy! I'm not a homophobe."

"I didn't mean it like that. But you wouldn't like it if I'd do it to thank you for something, understand?"

"Oh, I dunno... you a good kisser?" he winked, grinning.

"Shut up and let me finish." He raised his hands and nodded. "Alright... where was I... ah, okay. So when we came back here, the house was empty and we found the note but he invited me to dinner instead."

"Ooh, smooth." I ignored him.

"So we went to a restaurant, ate and talked. He asked me all sorts of stuff. Then, when we were done, we were walking back here and we saw these lights...?" I looked at him when he nodded.

"Yeah, been there, done that," he said, grinning. When I frowned he held up his hands, shrugging. "Janice saw them too and wanted to check it out."

"Ah, okay. Anyway, Ross said if I wanted to go up there and I said something like ‘how romantic', in a sort of funny way."

"Right."

"And he goes like...'so what?" and then he kissed me. Right there in the middle of the street."

"Hotdamn," Joey said, grinning.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Anyway, I wasn't too comfortable in the street so he pulled me into this alley..."

"No graphics."

"Relax," I grinned. "Let's just say we spent some time together; no, nothing dirty. Then we came back here. Spend some time with you guys, and then he went to bed. When I went up he was already asleep. But I woke up in the middle of the night and he was awake... well, fill in the blanks. Next thing I know is that I wake up just now and he's not there, his stuff is gone."

"Right. You want my opinion?" he asked, after thinking for a few seconds. I nodded. "Well, from the sound of it, he definitely has feelings for you."

"He kinda told me that, yeah."

"Okay... so what I'm thinking is that some sort of emergency came up and that he had to leave immediately."

"Without waking me up? Tell me something, anything? That takes what...two seconds?"

"I dunno man... I'm just guessing here. I don't know what happened or what his thoughts were. All you can do is wait and see if he calls or something."

"What if he thinks he made a mistake and when I get back, I'll have a Donald Trump style ‘you're fired' letter waiting for me," I said, making a face. "He got to screw me and then screws me one more time."

"Oh man, would you stop that? It's too much info! Relax, man; don't start freaking out for no reason. There's probably a very good explanation for it. But I do know one thing..."

"What's that?"

"That you, my friend, are a goner; you've fallen for him. Hard."