Trick Me Once - 15. Four’s a Crowd

Separating their lips, the two friends looked at each other, unsure of what to say or do. A few seconds of awkward silence passed before they spoke.

“So, uh, was this as weird for you as it was for me?” Zoe asked hesitantly.

“Sorry, but… yeah,” Brad chuckled.

“I just thought… I don’t even know what I thought, but I don’t think I can do this. You’re my best friend, I love you, but…”

“But this isn’t right for us,” Brad finished her sentence.

“Yeah. Seeing you with Cathy, and Trick with Cody… I guess I felt alone and that annoyed me. Sorry if I made things awkward,” Zoe said apologetically.

Kissing Brad for her felt like kissing a brother. She realized that their friendship was too strong and that whatever she felt when she saw him with Cathy wasn’t because she had a crush on Brad, but because she was jealous of not being in a relationship herself. It came as a surprise because she thought that was so unlike her. Either way, she realized she’d have to learn how to deal with it on her own and not blame Brad or Cathy.

“Hey, no worries, man,” Brad said, shaking his head and smiling. “But can we agree not to mention this to anyone?” He didn’t want to jeopardize his relationship with Cathy even though they weren’t really serious, and he also didn’t want Trick to find out and tease them relentlessly. Although teasing was mostly Zoe’s thing, Brad knew that Trick also had his moments.

“Of course! Not even to Trick,” Zoe nodded, as if she knew what he was thinking.

“Yeah. I mean, he doesn’t tell us the details about him and Cody, why should we share our secrets? Although, they’re so loud I can almost hear everything anyways,” Brad chuckled.

“WHAT?!” Zoe almost screamed. “Oh my God, those horny pervs! What did you hear?!” she asked as Brad got up, laptop in his hands, opening the door.

“Uh sorry, I gotta run, Cathy’s waiting!” He scrambled out the door.

“I won’t forget this!!” Zoe yelled after him as he ran down the stairs.

--

“I never knew that!” Trick’s mom said, completely taken by surprise, as Cody’s mom was telling her about her sons’ high school drama.

The two have been sitting in the Henderson family’s living room, sipping hot coffee and chatting for over an hour. The main topic of their conversation was, of course, their two sons, and moms wouldn’t be moms if they didn’t share all the little moments from their children’s lives that they found adorable, but that Trick and Cody would find utterly embarrassing. Luckily for them, they weren’t there to hear the conversation, so whatever was shared remained between the two women.

“I mean, I knew about the harassment once Patrick told us, but I didn’t know the whole story,” Trick’s mom Sarah Pierce said as Lilly Henderson told her about Cody’s internal struggle and his feelings for Trick. “He never told us the details, only who was bullying him, but not that he had a crush on Cody. Of course, I understand why he didn’t want to get into details, it was so hard and embarrassing for him. And I certainly didn’t know Cody felt that way about my son,” Mrs. Pierce continued as she remembered those difficult days.

“I know, that’s why I’m telling you all this. I’m not excusing what my son did, far from it. Hell, I can’t tell you how angry I was at him. I didn’t want to believe that I failed as a parent, that I raised a bully. Luckily, he came around. He suffered a lot in the process, but that was mainly his own fault. The important thing is that he grew and matured,” Cody’s mom said. “I’m just saying, I wanted you to have the full picture.”

“Thank you for that, Lilly,” Trick’s mom nodded with appreciation.

Unlike their sons, it didn’t take long for the two moms to become friendly. After they exhausted the topic of their kids’ lives, they moved on to other, more casual subjects, such as TV shows, cooking and restaurants.

“Thank you for coming, Sarah, I promise to return the visit one of these days,” Mrs. Henderson said as she saw Mrs. Pierce out the door, both women certain they would be seeing more of each other now that their sons were happily together.

--

Cuddled next to each other with their legs up on the couch, Trick and Cody were sipping their blueberry and vanilla tea. Cody was just enjoying its scent and flavor, while Trick was mostly using it to buy time while he figured out how to explain everything to Cody. It’s not that he was scared that his boyfriend wouldn’t understand, it’s that he was embarrassed to admit he was still afraid.

“So, wanna tell me what’s wrong?” Cody asked. “Or do I have to tickle it out of you?” He started tickling Trick with his free hand, causing him to squirm.

“Nooo, I’m gonna spill my tea!” Trick laughed, trying his best to keep calm and not spill hot tea all over them. “I’ll tell you, but it’s embarrassing.”

“It’s me, who are you gonna tell if not me?” Cody asked a rhetorical question, placing a hand on Trick’s.

“The truth is, I already went there yesterday.”

“To the rink?” Cody asked, surprised at his boyfriend’s revelation. Trick looked at him and nodded. “How come?”

“Well, I wanted to try some skating before we went, I didn’t wanna completely embarrass myself in front of you.”

“Oh, sweetie, I don’t care. I wanted to teach you…”

“I know, but I care. You’re good at everything, baseball, skating, you’re confident, and I’m just… me.”

“And you’re amazing! Just because you don’t know how to skate, doesn’t mean you’re not an amazing person and a great boyfriend,” Cody said passionately, lovingly running his fingers through Trick’s hair. “Besides, you have other skills that I don’t. You think I would’ve known how to make that app that you did? I wouldn’t even know where to begin!” He laughed and got a small chuckle out of Trick.

“And whenever I come over and you make me spaghetti or some other food you know I love… I don’t even know how to make mashed potatoes, but you make it seem so easy,” Cody said. He caressed Trick’s cheek with the back of his hand before pulling him in for a kiss. “So I don’t wanna hear you talk shit about my boyfriend, got it?”

“Got it,” Trick laughed, giving him a peck on the lips.

“So what happened? Did you master the art of ice skating?”

“Totally, I’m thinking of doing it professionally,” Trick smirked and then got serious again. “No, I… Well, I had some help from a guy working there, so I didn’t break anything. But when I went to leave… I ran into Mason from high school.”

“Oh…” Cody looked at him with concern. Mason and Logan were horrible, even after Trick changed schools they continued to harass other kids. Cody hated himself for ever hanging out with them. “So that’s why you didn’t want to go back.”

“Yeah. I just… I didn’t feel comfortable around him at all.”

Cody thought for a few moments, trying to find the right words to encourage Trick. Now it was his turn to sip on some tea while he was figuring out what to say.

“Look, baby, I get it, I totally do, but things are different now. First of all, you’re not fourteen anymore, you’re a big ass man now. Secondly, you’re not alone, now you have me. Besides, nothing happened, right?”

“Yeah, we just looked at each other and I left.”

“I’m glad to hear that. He can’t bother you anymore, you know? Yeah, he may call you names if you ever run into him again, he’d probably call me names as well,” Cody chuckled, “but you just gotta show him he can’t push you around anymore.”

“You’re right, I know.”

“Of course I’m right,” Cody smirked as he felt Trick place a hand on his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. One heated kiss quickly turned into a full-on makeout session, and just a few short minutes later Cody was carrying Trick to his bedroom to continue what they started.

Much to Trick’s satisfaction, Cody decided to stay the night. They made love once more in the morning, although they had to be quiet due to Brad being in the bedroom next door. After some morning coffee and breakfast, the boys decided to get dressed and head out, ready to do some ice skating.

They arrived at ten, which was a great time as it wasn’t crowded, even though it was Sunday. There was loud music playing as people were skating, and Trick tried to remember if there was any music the last time he was there. He was so nervous that time that he didn’t even notice it.

As they went to get some ice skates, Anders greeted them.

“Patrick, you’re back!” he said enthusiastically, smiling at him.

“Yeah, hey Anders,” Trick said as Cody was eyeing the blond guy suspiciously. “Cody, this is Anders. Anders, this is my boyfriend Cody,” Trick said proudly, smiling at Cody.

The two guys shook hands and exchanged polite greetings, but Cody seemed to notice that Anders was trying to hide his disappointment.

Nothing more was said, as the guys went to put on their skates and do what they came there to do.

For a moment, Cody thought about asking Trick about Anders, but he didn’t want to ruin their date. Instead, he focused on having a good time with his boyfriend and teaching him how to skate. They spent most of their time holding hands, first out of security, as Trick was still a little unsure of his skills, and later out of pleasure – they enjoyed circling around on ice, holding hands and not caring who sees them.

“Having fun?” Cody asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“Yeah, we’ll have to do this more often,” Trick nodded. He was glad Cody was encouraging him to experience new stuff.

“Sure! Watch this,” Cody said as he started showing off, spinning around and doing some of his fancy moves on ice, while Trick stood by watching.

“Wow, that was impressive!” Trick said.

“Want me to teach you that?” Cody asked as he returned to his boyfriend and took his hand again.

“Ummm, let’s just stick to the basic stuff for now,” Trick laughed.

Just as he thought, he was having much more fun now than last time and it was mainly because of Cody. He was patient with him, teaching him how to move without falling and hurting himself. Even when it looked like Trick would fall, Cody would quickly wrap his arms around his waist, stabilizing him. Of course, neither of them minded that they had an excuse to constantly keep their hands on each other.

Trick had to admit he was glad Cody convinced him to come. He had a great time and was planning to thank him for it later that night.

After about an hour, they finally got tired and decided to head out and grab something to eat. As they were leaving the skating rink, Cody went ahead, suddenly seeing the face neither he nor Trick wanted to see again.

“Look, the fag is here,” Mason said condescendingly. “You know, I saw our old friend here the other day.”

“Get a life, asshole,” Cody replied, unimpressed. At that moment, Trick appeared behind him, putting his arm around his waist and looking at Mason.

“Hey baby, let’s go,” Trick said as he pulled Cody in for a kiss. Looking at Mason’s stunned face, they could barely hold their laughter – they thought his eyes would pop out of their sockets at any moment.

“What’s the matter, you big larva?” Trick smirked.

“Are you… kidding me?” Mason was at a loss for words. He knew both of them were gay, but he never in a million years thought he’d see them together. Just as he was about to say something, Anders appeared behind him.

“Oh, I see you guys have met Mason,” he said happily, oblivious to what was going on.

“Wait, you know these faggots?!” Mason asked sharply.

“You know this greasy Neanderthal?” Cody asked.

“Ok, what’s going on, guys?” Anders said, taking turns looking at all three of them, trying to make some sense of the situation.

“We went to high school together,” Trick said, rolling his eyes.

“Unfortunately,” Cody quickly added.

“Yeah, until this one ran away,” Mason chuckled, pointing at Trick.

“What?” Anders asked, still confused.

“Never mind the jerk,” Cody said.

“How do you know the little queers anyway?” Mason asked, turning to Anders.

“What’s your problem, man? I don’t know them, I just met Patrick a few days ago, he seemed like a cool guy,” Anders was getting more and more irritated as he spoke.

“A cool guy? You don’t think a guy sucking dick and taking it up the ass is fucking disgusting?!” Mason spat out angrily.

“No, I’m gay, so I think it’s fucking hot! What kind of opinion do you have of me then?!” Anders replied, hardly believing the words coming from a person that was supposed to be his friend.

“What? You’re… gay? You never said…”

“I thought it was obvious and that it didn’t matter. But if I’d known you were such an asshole, I would’ve told you right away and we never would’ve became ‘friends’,” Anders replied sarcastically, using air quotes.

“Just… get away from me,” Mason mumbled, turning around and pushing people out of the way, wanting to leave as fast as possible.

“Well, that was fun,” Cody smiled at Trick, playfully raising his eyebrows. Still holding his arm around his boyfriend’s waist, Trick looked at Anders, feeling sorry for the fact that he found himself in the middle of this. “How did he get caught up with Mason anyway?” he wondered, trying to find the words to break the awkward silence…