Halfway through Econ, I couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled out my phone and held it under the desk where Professor Hardass couldn’t see it.
So, let’s say I’m right…
Couldn’t it be a good idea to let them know we know? Maybe that’s why Chase is so quiet.
I balanced my phone on my knee, so I’d see the screen light up when Brandon responded. Fifteen minutes passed and I worried he was ignoring me. Well, or he was being all studious and shit. Stupid over-achievers.
My phone remained silent until I was headed back to Talbert.
You’re not going to bring it up. You promised.
Yeah, but it was a dumb promise. There’s nothing wrong with the way we are. Chase needs to know that.
And you don’t need to be the one to educate him. Give. Him. Time.
Brandon could be such a spoilsport sometimes. Fine. I’d do things his way, but only because I couldn’t tell him that part of why I wanted to learn more was so I’d know if I was like Chase. I thought I might be, but I couldn’t be sure.
11
Matt
There were still days when I woke up and thought the past six weeks had been a dream. There was no other logical explanation for waking up in Brandon’s arms every morning and pretending to be asleep until he came to get me for breakfast. And fuck, he was so sweet. If I’d known he was this good of a boyfriend, I wouldn’t have bothered trying to hook up with other guys to forget about my stupid little crush on him.
But the best part of spring semester was Chase. Jayden’s last roommate had been a dick no one had particularly liked, but we’d put up with him because it meant having one of the bigger suites. Chase was cool as shit. Okay, so he was a bit of an odd duck, and the way he acted, it wouldn’t surprise me if he came out and told us he’d been raised in one of those kooky religious cults or something, but he was a good guy.
“Hey buddy, do you want to help me with breakfast?” I perked up, then deflated when I realized Brandon was talking to Chase. I didn’t like him using cutesy little nicknames for the new guy.
“Sure. What do you need help with?” he asked as he dumped tons of sugar into his coffee.Lucky little shit. When I did that, Brandon took the mug away from me and dumped it down the drain. It wasn’t my fault sugar made me hyper as hell. I glared at Chase and he stuck out his tongue.
“Someone’s cheeky this morning,” Brandon quipped. Ugh. I should be happy for Chase because we’d all been worried that he’d never warm up to us, but I didn’t like him taking all of Brandon’s attention. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s cute to see you coming out of your shell.”
“Um, what is the wrong way to take that?”
“Oooh, Chase is sassy this morning,” I teased. I glared at his cup of heavenly caffeination, wondering if I could get away with stealing it from him. The way he and Brandon were getting along, I doubted it. I slid the sugar bowl closer to the coffee pot. “Cover me. I need my caffeine.”
“You know he’s going to catch you,” Chase warned me, and my cheeks flushed. God, sometimes I hated how easily my embarrassment showed. One time. Chase had witnessed Brandon dumping out my sugary coffee one damn time, and suddenly he was the sweetness squad.
“I know.” I waggled my eyebrows. “But it’s more fun if he thinks I’m trying to be sneaky.”
“Matthew, what are you trying to talk Chase into over there?” Brandon scolded me. “You’re distracting him, and he’s supposed to be helping me.”
“Sorry, Brandon.” I winked at Chase as I pretended to sulk through the kitchen. “You guys should really get to work. Everyone’s going to be up soon, and you know Zach and Daniel will pretend they don’t care if they miss out on breakfast. They have early classes today.”
“Set the table, Matt.” Brandon needed to quit using his bossy voice when there were other people around. It got me all horny, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
“Hey Chase, do you want to hang out after class?” I asked as I finished setting the table. He started to say something but pursed his lips. If he wasn’t still skittish, I would have teased him about it. It was just dumb that he had a secret, and I had the same one, but both of us were careful to not say certain things. “I want to go play some Pokémon Go, but Brandon says it’s boring and dumb to walk around playing games on my phone.”
He smiled over at me and I felt like I was a king. I was the one who made Chase happy. “That’d be fun! I need to see if I have anything going on after classes though.”
“Cool. Just let me know if it’s okay—” Brandon set down his knife with enough force it made Chase jump. He glared at me, shaking his head before making a locking motion over his lips. When I said I wished there was a way to let Chase know that I knew, he’d made me promise to let Chase come out in his own time, if he chose to at all. I really hoped there was a loophole for when I was trying to get advice about my own fucked up head, otherwise I was going to be in trouble. “Sorry. I mean, let me know if you have any study groups or anything.”
“Table, Matthew.” Brandon shooed me out of the kitchen while waving his knife around.
“Sorry.” I expected Chase to laugh at me getting in trouble, but he looked freaked the hell out. I wasn’t the king. I was the court jester, the jackass. Maybe today was a stupid idea after all.
“It’s okay, buddy,” Brandon whispered to Chase. I looked over and saw Brandon comforting Chase. Because I upset him. Brandon was gonna be so mad. He guided Chase to the sink. “We’ll get you cleaned up and then you can go find Jayden while Matt helps me finish breakfast.”
“But I was supposed to help you,” Chase protested. Great. Now I was taking away his job helping with breakfast. I wasn’t sure it was possible for me to feel worse.
