Extra Credit: A Gay Love Story (Elliot Extra Book 1)

by Erin Bilton-Hayes

  Tyler nodded, carefully scooping a forkful of rice and fish before he continued. “So long as we’re playing twenty questions, what’s the deal with your family? Close? Not-close? We never really got into the sticky stuff last time we knew each other.”

  William finished chewing and swallowed. The food was really good. “I don’t know. We’re not not-close, but they’ve never been, uh, demonstrative I guess. Also, the only child part – I think they hoped they might get some grandkids out of me, and that’s, you know, more or less off the table now.”

  Tyler nodded. “My sister took a lot of the heat off me there.”

  “Older?”

  “Yeah, by a couple of years. She did the whole normal career, marriage, then kids, path so I don’t have to like… perform I guess.”

  “Perform, eh?”

  “Oh my god, shut up. That’s hardly even a single entendre.”

  “Sorry” said William, then “so how about you? A passable relationship with your parents?” He realized they were doing the third date routine, conversationally speaking.

  “I guess so? I haven’t told them about the break-up yet.”

  William made a noise and tried to cover it by clearing his throat.

  “I know, I know. We don’t talk heaps, I’ll probably call them this weekend. Now we’re back in the same time zone.”

  They ate in silence for a minute or so.

  “So, if you’re not having kids, is that because- “

  “I’m gay, Tyler.”

  “No, really?” said Tyler drily. “I know that, but that doesn’t actually mean you can’t, you know.”

  “It’s just, it’s- I don’t know if I’ve ever been settled enough for it, or if I ever will be. Or if I even want that. I don’t think I do.”

  Tyler nodded. “Are you – have you been seeing anyone?”

  William snickered, “’seeing anyone’ oh my god, that is exactly how my mother asks me about it too!”

  Tyler rolled his eyes and waited.

  “No, I’m not. Not for a while. I go on dates” said William, defensively. “I’m just, I don’t know. I’m busy, and I’m picky, and I want to date someone my own age, but I live in a college town.”

  “I mean, picky is fine. You should be picky, you deserve someone good.”

  William glanced sideways at Tyler who looked faintly mortified by what had just come out of his mouth. “Thanks? I’ll do the dishes” he said, collecting their plates and leaving the conversation hanging as he went to the kitchen.

  William was almost finished with the washing-up when Tyler appeared and grabbed a tea towel.

  “I’ll dry, that’s only fair.”

  William was going to die, he was going to die from how kind and considerate Tyler was, and from the effort of not constantly flirting with his new, straight, housemate.

  “Sorry about before, I didn’t mean to like. Pry into your dating life” Tyler said, putting away a fork.

  “Oh, it’s ok, really. I don’t date much, so there isn’t exactly much to pry into, to be honest.”

  Tyler took a plate that William handed him. “Either way, I didn’t mean to get too personal.”

  William shrugged and smiled. “It’s fine, really dude. No harm done. Plus, it’s not like I’ve given up on it, I’m only 31. Plenty of time for singles mixers at the retirement village”, he joked, trying to lift the mood.

  “Don’t, you’ll make me feel ancient. On the shelf, at the age of 33…”

  They lapsed back into an easy silence, moving around each other in the kitchen, and William resolved not to think too much about Tyler’s hand on his lower back gently moving him out of the way as he leant into a cupboard.

  Chapter 6.

  The first day of teaching was clear and crisp, spring setting in properly and William had the rare pleasure of feeling like he had everything under control. He didn’t tell anyone, of course, because that would jinx it. He particularly didn’t tell Stacey, who looked stressed out of her mind, because he didn’t want to sound like he was bragging.

  He stopped off at home to pick up a library book that he had finally had to stop renewing and return, finding Tyler working on his laptop at the kitchen table.

  “Hey, what’re you up to?”

  Tyler quickly tabbed to a new window and looked guilty. William paused. He hadn’t caught him watching porn - Tyler seemed too polite and sensible to do that outside his bedroom, didn’t he?

  “Sorry”, William apologized instinctively. “Working on something private?”

  “Just some writing”, Tyler still looked shifty.

  The penny dropped. “The manuscript?”

  “Yeah”, Tyler didn’t meet his eyes.

  Something still felt off, but William didn’t feel like pushing it. “Well I promise not to peek over your shoulder anyway. I’m just picking something up then heading back to campus, I’ll be home properly at about seven I think.” He couldn’t shake the feeling that the way he was interacting with Tyler was more like a live-in partner than a housemate, but then maybe it was just that he’d never had a housemate who was home when he was.

  “I’ll cook dinner again?”

  Ok, no. It wasn’t just his imagination, this felt very much like having a live-in boyfriend again. It was nice. It was also going to ruin him, William could just tell, the possibility of having this for real playing around the edges of his mind.

  “If you don’t mind, that’d be amazing, thank you.”

  Tyler smiled, his face open and guileless “of course”.

  William was fucked.

  William made it to Thursday still holding onto his feeling of goodwill and competence, but sooner or later he needed to tackle the partly written article he’d shoved to one corner of his desk. He simultaneously hated and appreciated the habit he’d developed of working with hard copies whenever he could. It was more difficult to ignore a stack of paper than it was a file hidden away in his laptop, and it also felt more satisfying to schlep it down to the coffeeshop. He picked up the pile of papers, the middle section still mostly comprised of handwritten loose-leaf and shoved it into his satchel. He left his phone behind, and a note on the kitchen table for Tyler in case he worried that William had died or been kidnapped or something similarly dire, given he was typically perma-reachable over messenger.

  Jodie wasn’t in today, but Ben waved from behind the counter.

  “All on your lonesome today, huh?”

  “I’ve been trusted with the keys to the city” agreed Ben. “Big boy coffee?”

  William rolled his eyes. “A quad shot, no sippy cup thanks.”

  “Writing bender in a cup, sure.” Ben smiled beatifically and slid gracefully behind the espresso machine.

  “So where is Jodie, anyway?”

  “Off sick, I think. What are you working on today?” he nodded towards the satchel.

  “Oh, same as last time. It’s a bit more together, but still not quite there.”

  “I’ve got to write something this semester, actually.”

  “Really?” Ben was a music major, as far as William knew.

  “Only 500 words, but that’s almost harder.”

  William nodded. “What’s it on?”

  “It’s a, fuck what’s the word. Explaining my composition, basically.”

  “In 500 words?”

  “Yes. Not due for ages though. I’ll hit you up if I need any after-school tutoring.” Ben winked, back to his usual tone, and slid the coffee across the counter. “No charge, since there’s no table service today.”

  William dropped a few bucks in the tip jar, which was newly covered in hot-glue and sequins for some reason and went to find a table.

  William had tucked himself into a corner and was finally making headway with the article, bits of it coming together. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was going to make himself finish this draft before he went home. His mind started to wander back to Tyler, who’d been doing yoga in the lounge when he’d left. (“
Sorry, am I in the way?” he said, apologetically shimmying closer to the couch.) He tried his best to push those thoughts to the back of his mind and focus on the paper in front of him, gritting his teeth and making more notes to stitch together the two paragraphs he was working with. (Was yoga always so shirtless? William didn’t recall that being such an integral part of it.) He gripped his pen tighter, squeezing his eyes shut and looking at the soup of red pen covering the page.

  “Can I have another please?”

  “It’s like 4pm dude, you’ll be bouncing off the walls” Ben looked genuinely concerned for William’s wellbeing.

  “Please” said William, plaintively.

  “Customer’s always right” shrugged Ben. “I think I’m obligated to tell you caffeine increases anxiety though. You look super tense.”

  William nodded “I’m aware.”

  “You should try yoga or something, it’s meant to work wonders for that.”

  William let out a squeak and didn’t meet Ben’s eyes.

  About an hour later Ben showed up at William’s table, holding a plate with a large piece of caramel slice on it. “Peace offering” he said, placing it in front of him.

  “Huh? I mean, thank you.”

  “You seemed kind of, uh, put out before. Sorry, I didn’t want to push it too far, I just remembered how mad my Mom gets when someone suggests yoga to her.”

  William blinked.

  “She’s quite anxious” Ben continued, helpfully.

  “Uh… huh. It’s fine, really. I’m really only anxious about the writing”, said William, which wasn’t actually true, he was anxious about a lot of things, including this conversation.

  “Oh! Well, caramel slice anyway!” said Ben, “I made it myself”.

  William took a bite. “It’s great” he said, his teeth half stuck together with the thick glue-y caramel.

  “Thanks! I worked in a bakery for a few years before I started studying, comes in handy now I’m working here.”

  William paused, doing the math. “You’re in your third year, right?”

  “Yeah. I took a couple of years to work out what I wanted to do. I figured there was as much money in composition as in baking, y’know.”

  William snorted. “I guess.” He paused. “Is it weird being older than the rest of your class?”

  “We can’t all be prodigies, Professor Young and Eligible Bachelor.”

  William inhaled a piece of slice, sparking a coughing fit.

  “Oh my god. I’m kidding! Don’t die in my coffee shop please.”

  “I’m fine” managed William, catching his breath.

  “Good. I think that’s the last piece of apology-slice today” added Ben. “Come back tomorrow, I’m doing something with the last of the apples though.”

  William watched him go, for the first time in a few weeks able to honestly say he wasn’t thinking about Tyler.

  William usually went to bed later than Tyler, as far as he could tell. He was reading in the lounge, a notebook at his side when Tyler poked his head around the door.

  “I’m turning in, g’night” he raised his hand in a half-wave.

  “Night, I’m just finishing this chapter then I’ll follow I reckon.”

  Boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend chanted the voice in his head. He turned back to the page he was on, reading it five times before giving up and accepting his concentration was probably shot for the night. He waited a few minutes until he couldn’t hear Tyler moving around any longer, then walked softly to his own bedroom. There was no light from under Tyler’s door.

  William stepped out of his jeans, throwing them onto a chair in the corner of his room, pushed his door until the latch clicked and turned off his own light. He wasn’t really tired, but it was late enough he ought to try to sleep. Ben had unfortunately been right about the late-afternoon coffee. He felt antsy, a kind of thrumming energy running through his fingers. He lay back against his pillow and thought about Ben, who he figured must be at least 26? 27? Old enough that William didn’t need to feel like a creep for finding him attractive. And in a completely different school to boot, so he wasn’t breaking his own rules (William had been archly critical of professors fucking their students, and while he sometimes had flexible morals he did try not to be an outright hypocrite.) Ben was hot, and Ben flirted with him more than could be explained purely by hospitality politeness.

  William stilled for a moment listening for any sign that Tyler might still be awake, then slid his hand under the waistband of his boxers and stroked his hardening cock. He closed his eyes and thought about Ben’s build, compact but solid, and how good his ass looked in the indigo-wash jeans he’d been wearing today. He imagined how Ben’s hands, slight calluses from the strings and coffee, might feel running down his back and shivered. William liked, but almost never got, someone who could push him around in bed. He was usually too bossy for it to work though, but Ben seemed like he could match him and push back. He stroked faster, letting his mind wander, feeling arousal pulling tighter though his stomach, thinking about how it might feel to have his wrists pinned above his head. Ben might be too short for that to work, but the way Tyler had looked in the lounge today, stretching his arms forward, graceful, the muscles through his shoulders flexing and moving fluidly under the skin. He looked strong and… William came hard, turning his head into the pillow to muffle a cry as the aftershocks pulled through his belly.

  Fuck.

  Chapter 7.

  William got up earlier than usual, moving quietly around the kitchen, hoping he might be able to get out of the apartment before Tyler woke. He felt guilty, like Tyler would be able to see inside his head, see the image of him stretching above William which was burned inside his eyelids. The thing was, William had fallen asleep almost immediately after coming and felt perfectly refreshed, despite knowing he was probably setting himself up for some sort of terrible heartbreak down the line. He just didn’t want to look Tyler in the eye.

  He was congratulating himself on pulling an undetected exit off, had arrived at work and was making his fourth cup of coffee in the pokey little staff kitchen, when he had his first encounter with another person that day.

  “Hey” said Stacey, ambling in, a tote stuffed with books and a laptop slung over her shoulder. She looked him up and down, then narrowed her eyes. “Did you make it home last night?”

  “Uh. Yes?”

  “Isn’t that the same outfit you were wearing yesterday?”

  William dimly recalled pulling a sweater off his floor and jeans off his chair this morning, trying to get dressed as quickly as possible. “Maybe? All my clothes are black, it’s hard to tell.”

  “What’s his name?” Stacey continued, positively gleeful.

  “I didn’t go home with anyone, I just overslept!” William protested.

  “You’re half an hour early”, Stacey pointed out, “and a terrible liar. Let me know how the second date goes.” She fished milk out of the fridge, waiting at William’s elbow to grab the coffee pot after he was finished with it.

  “Did you get all the extra exams marked?”, William tried to change the subject.

  “Yep. I get at least a week of needling you about this one though, I don’t think I’ve ever known you to have a crush before.”

  “Well I don’t have one now”, William said curtly, his well-slept good mood disintegrating by the second, holding the coffee pot out of reach.

  “Jeez, I’ll avoid teasing you before noon in future. How are your classes this week anyway?”

  Mollified, William handed over the coffee pot. “Ok, I guess. No complaints about their grades, which is something.”

  They settled back into a back and forth about the decrepit grade entry system which crashed at least twice a day during exam season, and William hoped he might make it through the rest of the day without any more prying into his solo dating life. It was a Friday, surely no one had the energy for that.

  Five minutes before the end of his second class his phone
buzzed in his pocket. William had been less absorbed by his phone than usual the last week, which was probably a good thing – and certainly an unexpected perk of having someone else around the house. He slid it out - his students were working in pairs, he figured he could get away with it without them noticing, and peeked at the screen.

  “Romcom Sunday? Promise not to leave me out in the cold?” It was Gen.

  “Class now, chat soon. Yes to Sun.”

  His phone buzzed another three times before the last of his students filed out the door.

  “How’s your new live-in crush going? Joining us for movies?”

  “Is he a fan of Netflix and chill?”

  “I’m just kidding Will, answer your phone.”

  William leaned against a desk, tapping a reply. He was obviously not going to be granted the dignity of suffering from an unrequited crush in private.

  “No phones in class, strict teacher” then “it’s good. No gossip, sry. I’ll ask about Sunday though”.

  A reply blipped up on the screen almost immediately. “Should I pick something to set the mood on Sunday?”

  “Please no.”

  “When did you stop being fun :(“ followed by “I’ll be on best behavior, I want to meet him properly though”.

  Somehow, he made it through the rest of the day without anyone else crashing into his phone or coffee breaks to interrogate him about his outfit and/or lack of love life. William arrived home and flopped dramatically onto the couch, burying his face in the cushions. Now he was so close to them he began to think that maybe his cleaning frenzy had stopped a little soon. A minute or so later he heard Tyler walk into the lounge, and stop at the end of the couch, but couldn’t be bothered moving.

  “Long day?”

  “Long patches of boredom with short periods of terror.”

  “Sounds like a great work environment” said Tyler sincerely. “How do you feel about maybe going out tomorrow afternoon? If you don’t have too much work to do.”