Chapter 22
MASON
The rest of the evening at the library goes on with Callum and Mason shooting playful and not-so-subtle glances at each other but still managing to keep their focus on their work.
They are top students and at one of the best colleges in the nation for a reason, and they don’t let much get in their way of accomplishing things.
Callum brought Mason a coffee on his way back from his dorm, something that Mason still can’t stop thinking about.
It’s simple, but that’s his love language.
He still can’t believe that Callum is sitting in the chair across from him, in a big black sweater and gray sweatpants, like he was just leaving practice or the gym and decided to run after Mason, which he probably did.
He finishes a problem, crossing it off his list and moves on to the next one. He grins as he reads it.
A football is kicked with an initial velocity of 30 m/s at an angle of 45-degrees with the horizontal. Determine the time of flight, the horizontal distance, and the peak height of the football.
Mason gently kicks Callum’s leg.
Callum raises his eyes from his book at Mason and Mason spins his textbook to show him.
He points to the problem.
Callum squints his eyes at the problem. A slow smile creeps onto his face.
Mason wants to bottle that look forever.
“I think we should get your help for the team. Steinbeck could use some help with his kicks sometimes. He misses the goalpost a lot.”
Mason snorts as he brings his textbook back to him. “Funnily enough, Craig has said something to that affect.”
Callum smiles. “Craig’s the best.”
Mason smiles. “I really like him too. He said I was ‘the man’ after he read my article about you. Guess he thinks highly of me.”
Callum stares at Mason. “You’re a lot more liked than you know, Mase.”
Mason swallows hard and tries to hide his smile as he goes back to his problem sets.
Just as Mason starts a new problem, Callum’s leg brushes against his own and stays there.
Mason’s breath catches in his throat and his cheeks flush at the incandescent heat flowing through where their knees were touching.
Mason’s gaze flickers up to Callum, but his expression is unreadable, having gone back to reading his book.
Maybe it was accidental, but knowing Callum, it likely wasn’t.
Mason opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by the sound of a voice he didn’t want to hear just yet.
“Mason?” Jenna asks as she comes into view, dressed in sweatpants and a sweater herself, like she was settling in for the evening.
Mason’s body freezes as he notices Jenna’s eyes dart back and forth between Mason and Callum.
He wants to melt into his chair. He forgot to update her on anything and had completely forgotten about telling her the whole weekend.
So, this is how she’s going to find out about them.
He’s in deep trouble with her.
“Jenna,” Mason says, fully sitting up in his chair, taking his knee away from Callum’s.
Callum also jolts up, patting down his hair and going into his usual casual persona.
“And Callum,” Jenna comments as he makes eye contact with Jenna, who gives him a tight smile. She glances at Mason knowingly and he plays with a curl of his hair nervously as she puts two and two together.
“We were just…”
“Studying?” she asks, crossing her arms.
“Yeah,” Callum says, nodding.
“Huh,” she comments.
Mason and she have a stare down, like she’s waiting on him to break, but he won’t. He doesn’t know if Callum wants her to know anything or if their moments are for strictly their own eyes and ears.
“Do you want to join us?” Callum says.
Jenna glances at Mason again, raising her eyebrows. He’s not sure if she’s angry or if she’s just surprised.
“Sure,” she says, her voice curt.
She puts her bag down and splays her books and laptop on the desk wordlessly.
Mason expects her to ask why they’re together. He expects her to get up and leave as soon as she sits down. But she does nothing except take her study materials out and starts studying like she always does.
The night goes on like the three of them were normal with each other, like they all ended up being friends throughout high school instead of just Mason and Jenna.
Mason keeps stealing glances at Callum for the rest of the night, but his eyes seem to stay firmly planted on his laptop and paper, the same for Jenna.
Mason can’t stop thinking about the way Callum’s been looking at him all night. In the stacks of books. Sitting across from each other. When he showed him the physics problem.
He doesn’t want to stop thinking about it. And that thought is a dangerous one.
He lets it carry him through the rest of his problem sets, hoping that eventually, things will start being normal sooner rather than later.
“I’m not angry at you, you know.”
Mason nods as he crosses his arms.
The previous night had passed as normally as it usually did, with Mason and Jenna calling it a night at eleven o’clock, retiring back to their dorms at the same time as Callum.
It’s a rainy day at Montgomery, and everyone has already set up shop in the cafe, so Mason and Jenna are getting their coffees for takeout and going back to the library to fuel their midterm studying.
“I just would have liked to have found out sooner instead of you ignoring me.”
Mason hangs his head and sighs. “I know. I just—things got—”
“Difficult.”
Mason nods as he looks at Jenna’s sympathetic gaze.
“I’m just—hiding all the time and I got into this headspace… like saying whatever is happening with and Callum out loud would be blasphemy.”
Jenna rubs his shoulder. Mason clenches his fists as the gravity of his words hits him and how much he realizes he’s been hiding. His life is guarding secrets.
That he’s a physics major instead of a journalism major. That he doesn’t want to be a writer but is headlining The Goldberg. That Callum is just someone who he used to know in school who he just kissed. That he’s okay with pushing himself to be the best at everything when he isn’t.
It’s all coming to a head. He could pretend that getting to see Callum is enough, but he has to stop putting his head in the sand and be on guard for any more threats from Joel or his parent’s snooping more than they should.
“Next,” the cashier’s voice startles Mason as he gets out of his head and orders his coffee. He pays for Jenna’s too as an apology and they go and stand in the corner as they wait.
“I just don’t know how to get out of all of it. I’m just stuck now, I think.”
Jenna smiles knowingly at him. “You’re Mason Fanning and you’re a physics and math genius. You know how to solve any problem.”
Mason snorts. “I’m not sure about this one.”
A throat clears behind him, and he spins around, expecting to see Callum but his mood sours as he’s met with Joel’s steely blue eyes.
“So you’re really doing the sports thing, huh?”
Mason clears his throat. “Uh—yeah. You know this. Is it supposed to be a surprise to you?”
“Hmm,” Joel says, but Mason knows he wants to say more.
“Is that a problem?” Jenna asks, taking a step forward next to Mason, her eyebrows downturned in annoyance.
Joel scoffs. “Not at all. I’ve just been thinking… that since Mason hates sports that there must be some kind of reason to stay on it.”
Mason bites his lip. Joel’s pressing on a nerve and he knows it. He’s noticed Mason’s tension about Callum last weekend and he’s putting two and two together. But there’s no way he knows about him and Callum. He can’t.
Mason crosses his arms. “Sports is a highly coveted section of the paper.”
“I thought maybe you’d maybe want to report on anything physics related, you know? That seems more like your thing since it’s your major. I’m sure your mom would love to read all about it at Thanksgiving,” Joel says, shrugging and brushes past Mason like he dropped a grenade behind him.
Mason’s throat tightens as he follows Joel’s frame and the chatter of the cafe’s patrons, and the squeal of the steam wand disappears and muffles out as a loud ringing rips through his ears.
It’s a thinly veiled threat from Joel. And he can use it at any time. And he likely plans on using it at Thanksgiving.
Jenna darts over and grabs their drinks. Apparently, he doesn’t even hear his own name as Jenna grabs his shoulder and helps him out of the cafe into the pattering of rain outside.
Water droplets pelt his face and the wind bites at his skin.
Jenna ushers him to a nearby overhang.
“Mason. Look at me,” Jenna says, grabbing his shoulder.
“He—He wants to tell them. He’s going to tell them. I—They’re going to hate me. They’re going to make me do journalism for the rest of my life. Or they might even pull me out of school. Or—or make me pay for it myself. And I’ll never be able to see Callum again and—and—”
Jenna grabs both of his shoulders and forces him to face her and look into her eyes. “Mason. Stop.”
Mason’s blurry vision meets Jenna’s eyes, and he finally calms a little.
He’s panicking. He knows that. But he doesn’t know how he can get himself out of this one.
He knows his parents are going to find about his degree.
It isn’t a matter of if, it’s a matter of when, and he’s planning on that happening at his graduation, not three months into his degree.
“Joel can’t hurt you. He’s this random guy your cousin brought home and always hated you in high school. If he tells them about your physics degree, who are they more willing to believe? Him or you, who has—in fact been taking journalism classes and is actually on The Goldberg?”
Jenna always goes straight to logic. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t. His parents are already getting suspicious of him, and he knows any little droplet of information could make them snoop. And snoop they would.
They were born to do it.
“But if he tells them, they might even check my acceptance letter anyway, even if they don’t believe him.
They’re like that. Nothing gets under their noses.
It’s something I’ve perfected but rarely get away with.
It’s only working now because I’m away at school,” Mason says, pacing with his hands on his hips.
He has no brain space for this. It’s midterms week, and he can barely understand what’s happening with Callum. He can’t handle something else on top of all of it.
Jenna looks at him gravely. “I think you should tell Callum about him, Mason.”
Mason’s eyes widen. “What? Why? What’s that going to do?”
“He—He can tell Joel to back off.”
“That’ll just give him more ammo. He might already be suspicious as it is! If Callum himself tells Joel to stop, he might be even more galvanized to do something!”
Jenna shakes her head. “You gotta stop using journalism vocabulary with me, Mase.”
Mason snorts and closes his eyes.
“I—I can try. Maybe Callum can make it casual or something.”
“Or maybe Callum has something to threaten Joel with to stay silent. Joel’s problematic on his own, so who knows what he’s said and done behind closed doors,” Jenna says, rolling her eyes.
“Fair.”
Mason sighs and stops pacing, his heart finally decelerating to a dull hum. He inhales deeply, letting the cool autumn wind fill his lungs and ground him to the concrete under his feet.
“I—I think I’ll tell Cal. He—he’ll know what to do. I just… really don’t want to make him even more stressed than he probably already is. He’s under a lot of pressure too.”
Jenna nods but clucks her tongue. “You are too, Mase. Too much.”
Mason’s throat clenches and he nods. He wills himself not to cry. Just hearing someone say he’s going through a lot is enough to make him cry.
He wishes all he had to worry about were his exams, but he’s made this mess for himself now, and he has to find his way out of it.
If there’s a way he could lie his way through the end of the semester and end up with Callum, perfect grades, his degree fully funded, and his spot on the paper, then everything will be fine.
But as Jenna links arms with him and they walk to the library, he has a sinking feeling he might lose all of it by the end of the semester, and the worst thing he’s scared of losing isn’t his grades, his tuition money, his parents’ acceptance, or Callum.
He’s most afraid of losing himself.