by Andy Gallo
Jack subtly inclined his head as Vanessa made her way over with their drinks, and Marcus shut up.
She placed the takeaway cups on the table, even gracing Jack and Brit with a smile. If it hadn’t been for Marcus’s accounts, he would have thought she seemed nice enough. Good-looking too. For a girl.
Stepping away from the table, Vanessa twisted her foot around the strap of Marcus’s bag. Caught, she lost her balance, heading for the floor.
Marcus grabbed her wrist and was out of his chair, keeping her on her feet. “You all right?”
“Yeah, um, thanks.”
Their eyes locked and Brit nudged Jack, causing his chair to creak. Marcus’s eyes darted to his friends, and he quickly dropped Vanessa’s hand. “Maybe if you painted your fingernails on both hands, you’d have more balance.”
Vanessa narrowed her eyes. “Maybe if you didn’t leave your bag on the floor all the time, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“All the time? What’re you talking about, lady?”
“Every class. Same thing. The high and mighty Marcus, star of the lacrosse team, saunters into class and dumps his bag wherever he wants. Then everyone has to climb over it to get to their seats. And it’s Nessa, not lady.”
Marcus muttered under his breath, “You mean Ness. Like the freaking Loch Ness.”
With an exasperated grunt, she left.
“Ouch,” Jack said. “That was harsh, bro.”
“Don’t you see why I hate that girl?”
Brit lowered her latte. “I think she likes you.”
Marcus snorted. “Where and who were you looking at the last ten minutes?”
“No, seriously. Maybe her arguments in class are her way of trying to impress you.”
“How do you even come up with that stuff? Jeez, your sex is so confusing. Jack has it easy. He understands guys.”
“Whoa.” Jack nearly knocked his paper cup over. A cup that looked remarkably like the one Marcus had been drinking from the other night…. Interesting. “Easy?” he continued. “Where’ve you been when my dating calendar has been so empty?”
“Well… I meant if… with Ed…. Oh never mind, you know what I meant.”
“We’re not all that difficult to get,” Brittany said through hiccups of laughter, then stopped. “Actually, maybe you have a point. I do have a hard time understanding guys as well. Like, won’t anyone from your fraternity ask me out to this dance? I hang out with you guys often enough.”
Jack’s eyebrows knitted closer, but she refused to look his way.
“The dance is ages away. Give it some time. It’ll happen. Or, hey,” Marcus suggested. “Go with me.”
“Ah, no thanks. I’m looking to get it in.”
Marcus looked at Jack and burst out laughing. “When did you try out to be the new Snooki on the Jersey Shore?”
Knowing who she had her sights set on, Jack didn’t laugh. Instead he kept staring a hole in the side of Brittany’s head.
“You guys aren’t the only horny ones.” She made a point of only engaging Marcus. “And seriously, this semester has been cruel. I can’t even, you know.” She made a motion that broke Jack’s glare and made his retinas itch. “Having a roommate sucks.”
Marcus closed his eyes and shoved his fingers in his ears. “Jesus, Jack, can’t you control your hag?”
Two sharp slaps on Marcus’s arm and Jack finally started to laugh. Before she could hit him a third time, Jack grabbed her hand. “Easy. He’s not used to you like I am.”
“Anyways.” She exhaled loudly. “You asked Ed to the dance yet?”
Jack’s stomach twisted. “Not yet.”
Brittany grinned. “Well, don’t leave it to the last minute. There’s so much to organize. You have to make the night special for him. Something he’d never forget.”
Jack gave her a wan smile before looking at his half-empty cup.
“Well you’re boring.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to find the ladies’ room.”
Marcus twisted his empty cup using his index finger. “Speaking of Ed.” He lifted his head. “When do I get to meet him?”
Jack climbed in the passenger side of the pickup. “I’ve been wracking my brain where we can go tonight, and—”
Ed made a sound in the back of his throat.
Jack raised a brow.
“Sorry, I thought I was on organizing tonight….”
What a relief. He’d only come up with taking Ed to Olive Garden or Applebee’s. “Sounds great. Where are we going?”
Ed bit his lip and smiled. “You’ll see.”
Twenty minutes later, they came to a small airport.
“A puddle jumper?”
“Give it and me a chance, okay?”
Ed pulled something from behind his seat and carried it to the side of the truck bed. Jack got out to investigate.
On the grooved metal of the open truck bed lay a slowly inflating mattress.
“Um… it’s not what you think.” Ed stopped pumping and walked around to Jack’s side of the pickup. “Here’s the deal. A while ago I was working in those buildings over there.”
Jack followed his outstretched arm to a small office park across the road.
“When I left work, it was already dark and the airstrip was lit up with these green and blue lights. They started flashing, running down the rows. That’s when I heard the plane’s engine. A minute later, this little prop plane flies overhead, all lit up. It was exhilarating.
“I checked with the tower, and there are two planes scheduled to take off tonight in the next half an hour. The first one leaves in about ten. I figured we could sit together over a picnic and watch.”
Jack drummed his fingers over Ed’s forearm. He stepped forward, pulled Ed teasingly close. Instead of kissing him, he whispered over Ed’s lips. “What’s with the air mattress?”
Ed laughed, and soft puffs of air tickled Jack’s nose. “The back of the truck is uncomfortable. This is for cushioning.”
With a cute nudge of his nose against Jack’s, Ed moved away.
As soon as the truck bed was ready, Ed put the pump in the cab, and Jack used the tire as a step to hop on.
“This is really comfortable,” Jack said as Ed returned with a blanket, picnic basket, and coy shrug.
Lying back, Jack stared at the nearly cloudless night sky while Ed unfolded the blanket, positioning it and the picnic basket at their feet.
Ed mirrored him, his lips ticking up as he looked from the stars dotting the sky to Jack.
Jack shifted his arm until the backs of their hands touched. At once he was hit with a shock of electricity. He took hold of Ed’s hand, slowly sliding their fingers together. Ed gulped, and warmth filled Jack’s chest. This was nice. Romantic.
At least it appeared so. There was always the possibility taking Jack here had been because Ed didn’t want to be seen in a restaurant. That this was his way of playing it safe.
Jack frowned up at the sky, wishing the thought had never occurred to him.
Lights flashed. He and Ed scooted into a sitting position, resting back against the cab. Blues and greens lit up the runway. He looked at Ed, who was staring at him softly. Like he wanted to lean in and kiss him.
Jack raised a brow, daring him to go for it.
Ed darted a tongue over his bottom lip and closed the gap between them. The soft kiss trembled against Jack’s lips. Ed tasted like coffee and uncertainty.
Jack looked into his eyes, trying to read what was going through Ed’s head. Trying to figure out what the hell was going through his own.
Something about this guy tugged at Jack, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that this intense attraction was going to get him in trouble.
An airplane engine roared, shifting their attention to the runway.
“This is the fun part,” Ed said and tugged Jack back down to the mattress.
Ed pulled the blanket over them and stared skyward, body tingling with apprehension: the roots of his hair, the curve of
his neck and shoulders, his stomach, thighs, and toes.
The plane rushed toward them, heading for the truck, making Jack’s heart hammer. He shifted nervously, and Ed squeezed his hand, rubbing a callused thumb over the base of his palm. Down the runway the plane charged faster, faster—they were well back from the runway, but still.
“Holy shit!” Jack wrung Ed’s hand.
The front of the plane lifted and gained altitude to clear the trees and streetlights between them. It rushed over them with blinking lights and a wake of cool air that lifted the blanket.
“Whoa.” He finally released his death grip on Ed’s hand. “That was wild.”
Ed laughed and ran his hand through Jack’s brown hair. The thrill working from head to toe shot back to his groin.
A knowing smile curved Ed’s lips. “The next takeoff is in another twenty minutes.”
Jack slid his hand around the back of Ed’s neck. “Hmm, what to do with the time…?”
“There’s the picnic if you’re hungry.”
“I am hungry….”
Ed twisted his body, pressing closer, and Jack locked him there, throwing a leg over Ed’s. Gods, he was hungry to kiss Ed again. But first, he had to know more. “You said no one knows you’re gay. Doesn’t your family suspect?”
The lust in Ed’s eye dissipated, and he tried to roll back. Jack squeezed his thigh, keeping Ed in place, making Ed met his eyes.
“I hope not,” Ed said.
“Why?”
“Because they love me, and I kinda like that.”
“You don’t think they’ll accept you?”
“I’m too afraid to find out. It might be as simple as just telling them and they don’t care at all. Maybe just opening up and telling them would make them the happiest parents in the world. But… what if it doesn’t?”
“The unknown is scary. Sometimes coming out is easier dreamed of than done.”
“You’re not going to gently nudge me to man up and get over it? Just tell them?”
“No, but….”
Ed tensed.
“It would be easier if you were out.” For purely selfish reasons, mostly. Jack could ask Ed to be his date for the spring formal, and he wouldn’t have to worry about moving out of his dad’s fraternity house. Worry about letting Marcus down. He also liked the idea of having a boyfriend who would hang around no matter where Jack went. A guy who wouldn’t feel ashamed to have him at his side.
It would be easier if Ed was out. “But right now I feel ridiculously warm around you. Relaxed. Like I could just hang here and have nothing to say and it wouldn’t be uncomfortable.”
“And yet that sounded rather frustrated.”
Jack nipped Ed’s lips. “Yes, because it’s true.”
“And being in the closet sets the timer on us.”
“This isn’t first date discussion.”
Ed sighed. “I want to be upfront. I’m not coming out, Jack.”
“One day you’ll meet a guy who’ll be worth the risk.”
“Is this your way of telling me it’s over before it’s started?”
Jack cupped the side of Ed’s face. “It should be.” Nervous hope filled Ed’s eyes, and again something hard tugged in Jack’s chest. “I like what I know about you, Ed.”
“I like you too.”
Jack swallowed the small well of disappointment and focused on the cute guy looking at him with relief flooding his expression. “You are really hot.”
Ed smirked. “Oh yeah?”
Jack pushed Ed onto his back and rolled on top of him. Their stomachs touched where both their shirts had lifted, and their hard-ons nestled against each other. Ed lifted his head, coming for Jack’s mouth. Warm tongue slipped into his mouth, and Jack melted into the kiss. He tangled one of his hands together with Ed’s at their side, while Ed’s other hand made a delicious trail over his shoulders, down the base of his spine, to settle at the curve of his ass.
Jack rolled his hips into the kiss, and Ed pressed up into it, breaking away from the kiss to gasp. His exposed neck drew Jack’s attention, and he lightly dusted kisses under Ed’s ear. Kisses turned to nibbles down the cord of his throat, and at the junction of his neck and shoulder, Jack grazed his teeth and sucked hard.
The effect was immediate. Ed bucked and flipped them over, pinning Jack down with his toned body. Hands pushed under Jack’s shirt as Ed’s kisses turned wild.
The blanket had twisted between them, an annoying extra layer between their groins. Ed licked a line down his neck. Air made the streak tickle and, fuck, how could simply kissing Ed be more intense than anything else he’d done?
The roar of the next plane sounded around them, growing and growing.
Ed rocked against him. Jack steered Ed’s mouth to his and kissed him through the vibrations rumbling the truck bed.
Color burst overhead as the plane lifted, and a slam of air waked over them. All senses were on overload, and Jack was one thrust away from spilling in his pants.
“You’ve ruined me,” Jack said once the plane’s engine was a mere drone in the sky. “No other date can live up to that.”
Ed had slowed their kisses, possibly—hopefully—in the same predicament as Jack. “Good.”
Jack raised his eyebrow but didn’t want to reengage in their earlier discussion. Maybe Jack and Ed should make the most of what each was willing to give and enjoy it while it lasted.
Perhaps their insane physical chemistry would fizzle out the more time they spent together. They could have fun getting it out of their system and move on.
Ed settled on his side, snug against Jack’s, hand playing under his shirt, softly tugging at his chest hair. His fingers stilled over the ring threaded through chain.
Jack felt the metal lift as Ed pinched it between his fingers. Ed looked at him, and Jack’s body grew taut, waiting for Ed to ask.
Perhaps he felt Jack stiffen or sensed the ring’s importance because Ed gently set it back against Jack’s chest and withdrew his hand.
“It’s getting late,” Jack murmured, hoping his voice didn’t catch. “Drive me back to my Jeep?”
“Sure thing.” Ed pulled himself off Jack and out of the truck bed.
With his ex, Kieran, ending a date like that would have made the entire ride back tense. Kieran would tap the steering wheel impatiently and tell Jack to just spit it out or get over it. To be fair, Jack had been more volatile back then. He’d been coming off his antidepressants for the first time since his parents died. Out of the blue, something would make Jack think of his mom or dad and emotion slammed into him so bad he’d choke. Panic.
It happened less now.
But tonight showed him how easy another attack might come.
It was strange how easily Ed took his mood change in stride.
“Eat a sandwich,” Ed said, gesturing to their untouched picnic. “I didn’t know what you like, so I have a few options in there. With or without chicken, one with stuffing, one with avocado, one with everything.”
Jack smiled at him. “I want everything.”
Ed laughed. “Then everything you shall have.”
Chapter Eight
Jack twirled the keys on his index finger, humming “Underclass Hero” as he walked toward the door.
The house was its usual active self. The smell of stale beer and pizza assaulted his nose.
In the room behind the main room, the regular Thursday poker—two-dollar limit—had no empty seats at any of the three tables. Good. He sucked at poker, so whenever they needed a player, people tried to convince him to play. At least tonight they’d leave him alone.
“Jack! You’re back!” Billy came running across the room. He leaped to cover the last few feet and would have landed on Jack’s toes if he hadn’t stepped to the left. He reeked of beer, and his lack of coordination confirmed he was drunk. “You’ll never believe it. Seth has a date. Guess who it is? You’ll never figure it out, but guess.”
“Brittany Maddox.” He was going t
o kill her.
“Yeah.” His smile disappeared. “How’d you know?”
Rolling his eyes, Jack rubbed the top of Billy’s head. “Dude, she’s my friend.”
“Whoa, nice hickey.” Billy moved closer before Jack could cover it with his hand.
“Um… yeah, thanks. Why don’t you shout it louder?”
“Okay.” Spinning, Billy almost fell over the couch. He caught himself on the arm, stood up, and cupped his mouth with his hands. Jack scooped him up before he spoke.
“That was sarcasm, you drunk little twit. Keep it down.” He dropped his friend on the empty couch across from the silent television.
“Why are you hiding it? ’Bout time you got some action.” Billy sat up and tried to punch Jack’s arm. When he missed, Jack had to catch him before he fell over.
“Why don’t you go to bed?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve still got a couple more cans to pound.”
A very drunk Seth staggered into the room, a beer in each hand. When he saw them, he nearly tripped on his feet trying to change directions.
“Yo, Seth! Come see the hickey on Jackson’s neck!”
“Billy!” Jack grabbed his friend by the shirt, ready to carry him to bed, but stopped when Harper popped his head out of the poker room. They stared at each other for a moment, but Seth lurched toward him, breaking Jack’s concentration.
“You got a hickey? Where… whoa, that’s huge.” Seth tried to touch it, bringing the can toward Jack’s neck. Quicker than the drunk freshman could react, Jack grabbed his wrist and pried the beer free.
“You’ve had plenty.” With the open container safely secure, he pushed a wobbly Seth into his surprised roommate’s arms. Billy’s beer splashed over them both, and they both laughed.
In the few seconds it had taken to disarm Seth, Harper had walked over. “How much did you pay that hooker to give you a hickey, Murphy?”
The false bravado didn’t merit an answer, so Jack laughed and made for the stairs. “Douche.”
“Whatever,” Harper called after him. “The dance is weeks away. Good lucking keeping whatever blind fool gnawed on your neck that long. Hey!”
Seth and Billy stood in front of a visibly wet Harper. They smiled at each other and broke for their room. Billy ran behind the sofa, while Seth went around the front.