Chapter Twenty-Three #2
We don’t need to be those things. We aren’t those things. Fuck them.”
Jonah tried not to smile too much; he couldn’t let Dexter see how happy those two words made him, but he couldn’t stop himself,
and Dexter smiled right back, and holy hell, Jonah couldn’t get over just how beautiful he was.
“Come with me?” Dexter asked, taking Jonah’s hand into his, and Jonah let him pull him through the throng of people, ignoring
the cooing noises from their castmates while hiding his smile with his free hand.
“Where are you taking me, Mr. Ellis?” he asked as Dexter led them out the front of the bar, where a string of people stood
along a wall smoking and vaping, the smell of nicotine mixed with summer berries and bubble gum almost nauseating. “It better
not be a back alley.”
“I’m taking you home with me.”
Jonah stopped and cocked his head to the side, doing his best impression of a pigeon eyeing up a Krispy Kreme wrapper on the
floor. “Did I say I wanted to leave?”
“Are we gonna play that game?” Dexter stepped toward him and tucked a curl behind Jonah’s ear.
“You want to stay, babe? We can stay.” He spoke with the voice he knew made Jonah weak at the knees, low, as if he didn’t want anyone in the world but Jonah to hear his words.
“But I’m sure I can put my mouth to better use than singing karaoke. ”
“What’s brought this on?” Jonah asked with a laugh. “Was all that flirting turning you on?”
“Flirting?”
“With the guy in there. I saw.”
Dexter smirked. “The flirting made me realize I didn’t want to flirt with anyone other than you.” He squeezed Jonah’s hand
lightly. “Come home with me?”
“So we can fuck casual?”
“So we can fuck casual.”
The Northern Line ushered them into a stifling hot carriage, still filled with tired bodies despite the unsociable hour, though
Jonah knew it couldn’t have been as late as he thought, given the trains were still running. Dexter kept pressing kisses to
his forehead as they stood in the carriage. Usually such public displays of affection made Jonah a little nervous; being gay
meant still looking over his shoulder for someone who felt the need to throw hate his way. But no one took any notice of them.
They looked at their phones or reveled in drunken conversations and didn’t bat an eyelid when Dexter took out his phone and
snapped a photo of him and Jonah, Jonah’s head resting on his shoulder as he pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Jonah half wondered if Dexter was drunk; he’d never been so open with their situation, he’d never kissed him in front of anyone
else, and to do so in front of so many people they worked with must have meant something. Fuck casual.
“I hate the tube,” Dexter said as they came to their stop and the doors opened, allowing them to disembark to the equally
stuffy platform.
“I know. You say that every time we get on it.”
“Can’t break the habit of a lifetime.”
Emerging from Camden station finally allowed them a breath of fresh air, and Jonah inhaled deeply as Dexter fiddled with his phone beside him.
Jonah glanced at his screen as they walked and saw the photo Dexter took on the tube: them together, the perfect image of a couple, loved up, traveling home together.
Then he saw Dexter typing something, a caption, and he realized Dexter was posting the photo.
“Wait. Are you posting that?” Jonah asked as they made their way down Kentish Town Road. “Colbie might—”
“Colbie can’t tell us what to do,” Dexter said. “But, if you don’t want me to . . .”
“No. It’s not that I don’t want you to. I just . . . your fans can be pretty intense. They’re going to jump all over that.
I mean, the stuff we’ve posted before, it’s friendly, there to be taken as more if someone looks. But that? That’s obvious.”
“Is it too much of a fuck casual statement to make?” Dexter asked as he turned his phone over in his hand.
“Maybe?” Jonah could see a warring range of emotions spreading across the other man’s face. “Earlier today we were a secret.
Casual. Now . . . now you want to post that?”
“I thought . . . I thought this was what you wanted?”
“I do,” Jonah said quickly and took Dexter’s hand into his, reassuring him. “Let’s just . . . enjoy this tonight, yeah? Enjoy
being no longer casual without posting it on social media?”
“But, Jonah,” Dexter said as he allowed a smile to reach his lips again. “Nothing is official unless it’s on social media,
don’t you know that?”
“Should we announce to the world we’re officially no longer casual with a TikTok dance?”
“That is a perfect idea. I’ll choreograph it. We can wear matching outfits.”
Jonah shook his head and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Can’t wait. But for now, let’s go and fuck casual, Mr. Ellis.”
Dexter closed the social media app on his phone. “Yes. Fuck casual. Casual was a stupid idea, anyway.”
“Wow, you’re admitting one of your ideas was stupid?”
“You’re the stupid one for not protesting it.” He slipped his phone back into his pocket and took Jonah’s hand into his as
they walked.
“Ah, it’s my fault, of course.”
“Everything is always your fault,” Dexter said fondly. “And that’s why we work.” He smiled before groaning and pulled his
phone from his pocket. “Oh fuck, Colbie’s calling me.”
“It’s so late. She shouldn’t be calling you. Don’t answer it.”
“I . . . should, though, right?”
Jonah could see the panic in Dexter’s eyes. “She should get a fucking life.”
Dexter paused, conflict warring over his features before rejecting the call. “You’re right.”
“Does she usually call you in the middle of the night?”
Dexter cleared his throat and shook his head. “No. Well. No. It’s a bit more complicated.”
Jonah waited for him to elaborate, but when he didn’t, he decided to push just a bit further. “Complicated how? She’s the
producer of the show you’re in, how can that be complicated?”
“She used to be a friend.”
Jonah clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as Dexter dropped his hand and looked back at his phone, his thumbs
swiping across the screen as he typed something out.
“A friend?” Jonah played on his acting skills to sound as casual as possible.
“She’s best friends with Stephen.”
Well. Fuck. Goodbye, Achilles.
Dexter put his phone back into his pocket and smiled at Jonah as they walked. A second later Jonah felt his own phone vibrating
in his pocket, but he ignored it, fearing it might be a scathing message from Colbie, though he knew it wasn’t likely the
case.
“Did your phone go off?” Dexter asked, his own acting skills failing terribly as he sounded far from relaxed.
Jonah narrowed his eyes at him. “Are you a fucking bat with sonar hearing?” he asked but got his phone out to see a message
from Dexter illuminating his screen. “You’re such a loser.” Jonah opened the message as Dexter nonchalantly peered at the
screen beside him.
The message showed the photo Dexter took of them of them on the tube with a message typed underneath:
Who knew Achilles and Hector would fall for each other?
“Needed to post it somewhere,” Dexter said. “If it’s not online then . . . might as well send it directly to you.”
“Fall for each other?” Jonah looked from the screen to Dexter as his heart thumped in his chest.
“I know it’s too soon for love. I mean, it took Stephen almost a year to tell me he loved me. But I think . . . when you know,
you know, right?”
“And this is your way of telling me you’re falling for me?”
“Isn’t it kinda romantic?”
Jonah wanted to hug him, he wanted to wrap him in his arms and shower him with kisses, but doing that on Kentish Town Road
at an ungodly hour didn’t seem like the right time to do it. “You’re an idiot. You know that, right?” Jonah said, putting
the phone back into his pocket. “You could just . . . you know . . . say it?”
“Well, I can’t now, can I?”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s going to sound weird and unnatural.”
Jonah laughed and kissed his cheek. “See? This is why you’re an idiot.”
“You could say it, you know.”
“No, I can’t.” Jonah shook his head. “You’ve made it into something and now we can’t address it for at least seven working
days. Who knows, you might change your mind by then. Karaoke can make people feel all kinds of things.”
“That’s very true. We’ll blame the karaoke.”
“Splendid idea.”