Jake sat up too. “You sure?”
Ezra looked around for his clothes and began to get dressed. “Yeah. I’ve got a project to work on, and, um… some other stuff.”
“Oh. Okay.” Jake didn’t know how to feel as he watched Ezra get ready to leave. He had some movies they could watch.Clerks. Dazed and Confused. Empire Records.He hadRomeo + Juliettoo, but nobody knew because he hid the tape behind all the other tapes.
Ezra looked around for his bookbag, then picked it up. “Well… guess I’ll see you.”
“Hold on a sec.” Jake got up and put on his boxers. “I’ll walk you out.”
And the downstairs TV had cable. It was basic cable, but still. They could watch something.Dawson’s Creekmight be on. Not that Jake knew or watched it or whatever. He’d just heard.
But Ezra was going. He went to the door with Jake behind him, and he turned as he grabbed the knob. “Thanks for… well, you know.”
Jake nodded. “Yeah. Sure.”
Ezra lingered and Jake leaned in just a little because he wanted to kiss Ezra, but Ezra didn’t lean in too. Instead, Ezra opened the door and walked out.
And Jake just stood there, in his boxers, all alone, and feeling kind of cold.
On Friday night, Jakesat in front of the TV on the big sofa in the student center with his arms crossed and frowning.
He wasn’t really watching it, but somebody had changed the channel to Nickelodeon and there was some new cartoon on calledSpongebob Squarepants.Jake thought he felt like how the squid dude looked.
Mindy came up behind him and shook his shoulder. “Come on. I thought we were going to Sharkey’s.”
“I don’t feel like it,” Jake said, scowling at the TV where a crab wearing pants ranted about money.
Mindy leaned over the back of the sofa. She had a Tootsie Roll pop in her mouth. “Seriously? You just going to sit here all night?”
“YoU jUsT gOiNg To SiT hErE aLl NiGhT,” Jake mocked in a high-pitched voice.
Mindy took the sucker from her mouth. “Geez. Who put sandpaper on your toilet seat?”
“Nobody.” He snatched the lollypop from her and stuck it in his mouth.
She scoffed. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
He twirled the sucker around in his mouth as he thought about it because he didn’t really know. Well, he did, but he didn’t know why. He’d had hookups before. Lots of them. Mindy was one, in fact. Sort of. And each time, it wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t think about it much after that. So, essentially, it should be that way with Ezra, right? Yes, he’s a guy, and no, Jake hadn’t done anything with guys before, butessentially, when you get right down to it, it was simply just another hookup. Right? And it shouldn’t mean anything anyway since it was for Ezra to practice.
To be with somebody else.
That wasn’t Jake.
And that’s where Ezra was right now. Out with Sean. On their big date.
It bothered Jake. It bothered him a lot.
Not just because the only reason Sean was on a date with Ezra was because he was hot now. It had been the whole point of this, to make Ezra more appealing to Sean, but it bothered Jake nonetheless.
And then there was the possibility they might fuck.
Jake had been thinking about that way too much. Who would be the top and who would be the bottom? He didn’t think Ezra had ever had sex before, but he didn’t really know. So, Sean might get to enjoy Ezra’s big dick. Sean might get to suck it or ride it. Or maybe Ezra would do the riding. Would Ezra let Sean fuck him? Jake didn’t know and it was driving him crazy. Jake crunched down on the sucker.
Mindy smacked his arm. “Jake!”
“Nothing’s wrong,” he lied, chewing on the candy.
“Okay, then let’s go. Everybody’s downtown.”
