Jake and Mindy left, and Jake didn’t go anywhere else. He went back to his place, up to his room, lay down on his bed, and tried not to think about what Ezra and Sean were doing right that minute.
One of Jake’s roommates,Neil, got drunk last night and tried to bake a cake.
Neil had cranked up some Coolio, mixed up a lumpy batter full of eggshells, stuck it in a cold oven, and left it there while he passed out on the couch. He also left a sink full of dishes, flour all over the kitchen, and a whole bunch of trash and spilled cake batter on the table. And then Neil just woke up, went to work, and didn’t clean it up.
Jake wasn’t about to clean it up.
And with the table a mess, that meant when Ezra came over for their final tutoring session, they were going to have to go to Jake’s room again. Jake tried to get it ready. He changed his bedsheets and picked his underwear up off the floor. He kicked his towels and shoes under the bed and sprayed Febreze everywhere.
He even checked himself in the mirror a few times to make sure he looked okay. He also looked at his ears since Ezra seemed to have a thing for ears. Jake didn’t know if an earkink was a thing, but whatever floated the guy’s boat. And Jake thought his ears looked better than Sean’s. So, Jake should win Best Ears then. Best Looking and Best Ears. That’s what he’d win, if there ever was such a thing, and there wasn’t, but Jake didn’t think there needed to be, since he hadn’t thought about it all that much or anything.
When Ezra came over, and up to Jake’s room, Jake expected it to be a little awkward. And it was. Ezra looked nice, though. He wore one of his T-shirts under a short-sleeved button-up. The T-shirt saidPudding on the Ritzwith a cup of pudding wearing a top hat and monocle. It made Jake grin.
“What?” Ezra said, putting his books down on Jake’s desk.
“Your shirt,” Jake said. “I like it.”
“Oh yeah.” Ezra glanced down at it. “I just figured I’d wear one of them since I’m not seeing Sean today.”
“Why wouldn’t you wear it around Sean?”
Ezra shrugged. “It’s just not his sense of humor, I guess.”
“But it’s yours,” Jake said.
Ezra shrugged again. “So, did you do the practice test?”
Jake sighed. “Yeah. This morning. Here.” He handed it to Ezra.
Ezra looked it over for a few minutes, then he turned to Jake with a big smile. “Jake, you got every single question right!”
Jake smiled back. “Well, it was all thanks to you.”
Ezra looked back at the practice test. “You’re going to ace it for sure.”
Jake figured he would, and his Stats professor’s eyes might bug out upon seeing all the right answers on Jake’s exam. And Jake wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without Ezra.
Ezra went over a few more things with Jake, and Jake barely listened. He got the sense that Ezra wanted to avoid talking about anything else. But then the hour was up, and it was timefor Ezra to go. Jake sat on his bean bag chair and watched Ezra gather up his books and slowly put them in his bookbag.
After Ezra was done, he looked over at Jake. “You’re going to tell me how it goes, right?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“Good.” Ezra smiled faintly. He looked around Jake’s room.
And Jake looked around his room as if he might see something he’s never seen before.
“Well.” Ezra lifted his bookbag onto his shoulder. “Guess that’s it.”
Jake stood up. “Guess so.”
Ezra rubbed his lips together and looked at Jake for moment. “Listen. I really appreciate everything you did for me. Helping me and, well, you know.” He laughed softly, and ran his fingers through his hair, making Jake’s belly flip-flop. “Everything, um, from before.”
Jake’s mouth smiled but his eyes didn’t. “Yeah, sure. And I appreciate you tutoring me and stuff.”
Ezra lingered for a moment, then he went toward the door.
“Oh, wait a second,” Jake said. He went over to a shelf and pulled out a T-shirt. He handed it to Ezra. “Here. I got this for you.”
