"I need space." Those were the words Jacky said to Ryan the night before they both left for separate colleges. Now, each of them will try to learn who they are without the other. Will their paths lead them back together?
About an hour later, the bedsheets rustled, and in a croak Pete said, "I'm never drinking again."
Ryan tried not to show how relieved he was that Pete was conscious. "You've said that before."
"This time is for real. I think I died for a little while."
"I was worried," Ryan said.
Pete tried to prop himself up on one elbow and immediately groaned and laid back down. "What happened last night?"
"A lot," Ryan sighed.
"Oh, God." Pete pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. "What did I do?"
Ryan chuckled. "You didn't do anything. Well, you may have touched a drag queen's breast plate, but otherwise nothing. Oh, and you kept sticking out your tongue and asking me what color it was. And there was an incident with a feather boa."
"Oh, God."
"But I really almost forgot about all that, after everything else happened."
Pete rolled toward him and cracked open one eye. "What else happened?"
Ryan told him how Jacky had shown up.
"Oh, shit! Really?"
He explained how they'd talked and how Jacky had fallen asleep on his chest.
"Shit."
Then he told Pete how Charlie had shown up.
"Oh, shit."
"And then Charlie broke up with me and Jacky left," Ryan finished.
"All that," Pete said, licking his lips, "makes me want to have a drink."
Ryan lifted his eyebrows. "How about we get you something to eat first?"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Has he texted yet?" Billy asked.
Jacky flopped onto his bed. The car ride back had felt longer than the ride there; they'd all been sleep-deprived and grumpy and there had been a fight over Liliana's charging cord since no one else had thought to bring theirs along. Now it was almost eight and Jacky had a pile of reading to do for the coming week and zero desire to do it.
"Why are you so obsessed with my love life?" Jacky asked.
Billy snorted. "I don't know why you don't just call him."
"I just put the ball in his court! He said he would call me once he got his phone fixed and I need to honor that."
"You put your balls where?" Billy asked, and against his will Jacky laughed.
"Why don't you go put your balls somewhere," Jacky said, sitting up just enough to drag his journalism textbook over.
Billy struck a pose and puckered his lips. "Like where?"
"Anywhere but here."
"You're no fun." Billy pouted for half a second before sauntering to the door. "Maybe I'll go visit my new best friend Braedyn."
At that, Jacky looked up and made a face. "Really?"
"Just because you couldn't coax him all the way out of the closet doesn't mean I can't."
"Ugh."
Billy took a step away from the door, which was thankfully closed. "He clearly likes you, to drive you all the way out to Boston and back. I mean, Ryan's a total hottie, but he seemed a bit reserved. Don't you want a guy who will make the grand gestures?"
With a sigh, Jacky opened his textbook. As annoying as Billy was, he was amazingly perceptive about people. "Ryan makes grand gestures. This time it was my turn."
"Oh, so this is normal relationship behavior for the two of you?"
He thought about how junior year, as Jacky was beginning to wonder if Ryan would ever come out and admit they were dating to his friends, Ryan had gotten up on stage at a dance and basically announced it to the whole school.
"No," Jacky said stubbornly. "It's just that I broke up with him, so I had to make it up to him. Now go make whatever bad decision you're going to make and let me do my homework."
With a huffed, "Nerd!" Billy left the room.
The silence was immediately too loud, so Jacky got out his headphones and put on his favorite study playlist. For about five minutes he was able to focus.
Then he pulled out his phone and opened up Instagram, even though in his head he knew Ryan's first action after getting his phone fixed wouldn't be to post on social media. He had assumed Ryan would be getting his phone fixed right away, or at least today. Otherwise, when would he have time to get his phone fixed during the week, when he had classes? It was nearly eight o'clock. All the phone repair shops would be closed. Ryan should have called him or at least texted by now.
He shut his phone off and sighed. Maybe things hadn't gone as well with Ryan as he'd thought.
Suddenly his eyes stung. He hated not knowing what Ryan was thinking. Having to second guess and dissect everything they said to each other to figure it out. Did Ryan's silence mean he didn't want to call? Did it mean he needed privacy to call and was having a hard time finding any?
Jacky was about to let himself go into full wallow mode when his phone lit up with an incoming call.
---
Sorry about the long wait for an update! I'm hopefully going to have time to do some writing this week and pump out some words - life has been way too hectic...
