9. Chapter 9
Jake was sitting in the dining hall with Mindy.
She was chewing her gum really loud, popping bubbles, and flipping through a magazine.
It was annoying to Jake, but he couldn’t be bothered to say anything about it.
He slumped there beside her, his chin resting on his hands as he looked around the dining hall.
He wasn’t really paying attention to anything.
He wanted to go back to his room and curl up under the covers.
“Oh, listen to this,” Mindy said. “This couple has been stocking up on canned goods and bottled water for, like, a year now, because they’re so paranoid about the world ending.” She chewed her gum. “Holy shit, they even bought a horse and buggy. How would you even find that?”
Jake grunted. “I dunno.”
“Huh.” Mindy looked at the pictures in the article. “This says, like, when the time changes on New Year’s, computers in nuclear reactors could malfunction.” She looked at Jake. “Would it be like Chernobyl then?”
“I don’t know .” He put his head down on the table.
“Oh my god,” Mindy said. “What if all the electricity cuts off and it’s, like, really dark everywhere?”
“Light a fucking candle then,” Jake’s voice was muffled.
Mindy set the magazine down, a look of horror on her face. “And if it’s really dark and there’s no computers, then nothing will work. You wouldn’t be able to buy anything. People would just steal then. Break into stores. Break into houses. It’ll just be chaos.”
Jake brought his head up to look at her. “Will you stop? Nothing’s going to happen. Okay? The world is not going to end.” Although, the way Jake was feeling right now, he wouldn’t mind that so much. “Just a bunch of stupid hype.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Ugh. Whatever.” He put his head back down.
Mindy looked over at him, chewing her gum. “Okay. What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” Jake’s muffled voice said.
“I don’t know why you even try to lie, but okay. Have it your way.” She looked down at the magazine. “I’m going to read you this ad until you tell me what’s wrong.” She cleared her throat. “Is your flow on the heavier side? Tampax Tampons have an absorbency—”
“Okay, stop.” Jake raised his head. “Stop, stop, stop.”
Mindy set the magazine down and waited.
“It’s just, um, the stuff with Ezra.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“Not exactly.”
“Okay? Why not?”
Jake sighed. “It’s just that there’s no point, you know?
I knew he was doing all this stuff for Sean.
I knew the whole time, so it’s like if I told him, I know he’s just going to do that whole ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t feel that way’ thing.
And that’ll just make things worse and really awkward in choir, when I literally sit next to the dude he’s dating. ”
“They’ve had one date,” Mindy corrected him.
“Whatever.” Jake paused. “And I did something kind of dumb. Well, not dumb, just… well…”
Mindy looked at him, waiting. “Well?”
“We kind of, um, slept together. And I tried to make it seem like it was for him to ‘practice’ for Sean. I guess I made it seem that way really good, because that’s all it was to him.
It actually meant more than that to me.” It hurt Jake’s feelings to know that Ezra had thought about Sean the whole time they were having sex.
Jake wondered if that was why Ezra touched him and kissed him the way that he did.
He was just pretending Jake was Sean. “I should’ve known better.
I actually did know better. It’s already going to be awkward after all that stuff we did, but if I bring up feelings, that’ll just make it worse.
And I care about him. I want us to stay friends. I don’t want to fuck it all up.”
“Oh. I see.”
“And I hate Sean.” Jake rubbed a hand over his face.
“Before he saw the makeover you did on Ezra, he said he wouldn’t date him.
He’s a shallow little prick. And Ezra can’t wear those T-shirts he makes around Sean because Sean doesn’t like them.
It’s bullshit. Why should Ezra have to change who he is? ”
“Well,” Mindy said, “wasn’t that kind of the whole point?”
Jake shrugged. “I guess. Yeah.”
“You know,” Mindy said, resting her chin on one hand. “I’ve actually heard from some people that Sean Campbell’s a little bit of a player. I thought I’d heard his name before when Ezra told me. He’s hooked up with some townies, and basically acted like he didn’t know them after.”
“Great. Thanks for telling me.”
“No, you should tell Ezra. Shouldn’t he know?”
“He’s not going to believe me. And besides, it’s rumors. Rumors don’t mean anything.” Although, Jake wouldn’t be surprised at all if it turned out to be true. “I can’t tell him something I just heard.” Jake sighed. “I just need to get over it, I guess.”
Mindy nodded. “Well, there’s a gay bar in town somewhere.”
Jake turned to her, ready with a smart-ass comment, but he thought about it for a second. “Maybe I could try it out.”
Mindy nodded, flipping through her magazine.
“Just not now, though. I’m going to need some time. Especially since I have to see him in choir. Hanging all over Sean.” And especially since he was pretty sure he’d fallen hard for someone he wasn’t supposed to.
God, this sucked.
He’d loved being in the choir, but now that was going to suck too. His stomach started to hurt. How was he supposed to get through all the rehearsals now?
“Mmhmm.” Mindy blew a bubble and it popped. “You think there’s any of those old bomb shelters around here we could hide in on New Year’s Eve?”
Jake rolled his eyes and put his head back down.
Jake was at the country club, driving around three old men in a golf cart. The three old men looked like Larry, Moe, and Curly.
They were making jokes about Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and then laughing like those old men Muppets. Jake was trying to ignore them, even though maybe he should appreciate the distraction since he was trying not to think about Ezra.
But he was trying so much that he kept thinking about Ezra.
It was awkward in choir. Ezra wasn’t ignoring Jake. He had to tell Ezra about his exam, after all, which he aced. But it was awkward. Ezra’s face would get red when he’d talk to Jake as if he were embarrassed. But then Sean would show up and ruin everything and Ezra’s attention would be on him.
So, one thing Jake thought might distract him from Ezra was to look at other guys.
He was going to have to get over his feelings for Ezra one way or another, wasn’t he?
So, as Jake drove around the three geriatric stooges, he scoped out the men on the golf course.
He wanted to see how he’d feel, because he’d never really looked at another guy in a sexual way.
As Jake looked around, feeling dejected because all he found himself doing was searching for guys that looked like Ezra, he saw something.
A nice ass. The back of a curly, dumb head. Weird ears.
It was Sean. He was out on the green, by one of the ponds Jake had to fish golf balls out of.
Sean had a golf club in his hands. He turned around, setting up the ball, and got ready to swing.
But Sean wasn’t alone. An older guy was with him.
The older guy gestured to Sean, mimicking a golf swing, and Sean grinned.
Then the guy stood behind Sean, right up against him, sliding his arms and hands over Sean’s as if he was guiding him.
Then Jake saw the quick and subtle kiss the older guy placed on the back of Sean’s neck. Sean grinned even wider and carefully wiggled his ass against the guy’s crotch.
Jake abruptly turned the golf cart, making Larry, Moe, and Curly exclaim and grab onto something.
Jake sped the cart right over the putting green, right in the path of a golf ball or two and dodged a few people as they jumped out of the way and cussed at him.
Jake barely stopped the cart before he rammed right into Sean.
Sean staggered backward, almost into the pond, and stared wide-eyed as Jake hopped out. “What the hell, Fallon?”
Jake stormed over to Sean. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Sean looked around for a second. “You work here?”
“You got it, Einstein. So, what the hell are you doing ?” Jake gestured to the guy, lingering nearby looking very confused.
“Young man,” Curly hollered from the cart. “I’d like to speak to your manager!”
Sean lifted a shoulder. “It’s just some golfing lessons.”
“Like hell it is! I saw what you were doing.”
“So what?” Sean shrugged again. “I like to have fun.”
Jake shook his head in disgust. “What about Ezra? He really likes you.”
Sean smirked. “Yeah. He does. And I really like that he’s super smart and will write my papers for me.”
Jake grabbed the front of Sean’s polo shirt and yanked him forward, getting in Sean’s face. “You son of a bitch! I’ll break your fucking neck!”
Sean plucked Jake’s fingers from his shirt and took a step back. “Jesus, calm down. What the hell do you care?”
“Ezra’s a good guy, and he did all that stuff to change his looks for you.”
“Really?” Sean grinned. “How flattering.”
Jake bunched his fists. “He went through a lot of trouble for you. And all you’re doing is using him. But not anymore. I’m not going to hide this from him.”
Sean shrugged. “Fine. Let him know. But whatever you say, he won’t believe you.” He pretended to polish his nails on his polo. “Like you said, he really likes me.” Sean twirled the golf club. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He turned to walk off.
Jake was seeing red, and he couldn’t stop himself.
Before Sean could take two steps, Jake shoved him.
Sean’s arms flailed like a perturbed chicken as he fell backward into the pond.
The pond wasn’t deep. Jake had waded into it plenty of times to get golf balls, but Jake still waited until Sean was done flopping around like a spastic fish and could stand up.
Sean wiped moss from his face and hair. “What the fuck?! I’m going to kick your ass!”
“Bring it, shithead!”