Mark
My mouth felt dry. I thought about it more and more. I reasoned my way out of that idea as Matt kept asking me "What is it??". I kept thinking about it. No, it couldn't be. There's no way that's not him. It is...isn't it? "Nevermind," I said. My voice was clear.
"Woah, woah, woah, you can't just do that to me. You almost just fainted! What were you thinking?!" Matt raised his voice.
"Shh," I whispered. I put my finger to my mouth. "Jack is trying to sleep." I started to walk out of the room to get some water.
"Why do you do that?" Whoops. Matt was pretty mad at me.
"Look, just forget about it. It was just a dumb thought. I don't know why I thought that could even be possible." I chuckled to make it seem like it really was just a stupid idea. It didn't work.
Matt looked down at me right in my face. We were now standing in front of each other. "Tell me."
"It's not even that big of a deal. Just chill."
Matt gave up, but I knew he was still angry at me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We took Jack to a really nice restaurant. Matt was still mad at me, though, and I'm pretty sure Jack could tell.
I kept looking at Jack, but it wasn't because I had missed seeing him (which I did, don't get me wrong). I noticed subtle things like his body language or how he spoke seemed a little strange. I was getting uncomfortable. The way he was acting vaguely matched the idea I had this morning. I tried to push that out of my mind and just talk with him. So I did. I paid attention to the talking and laughed. I originally thought that I felt weird with Jack because we hadn't told him yet about Matt and I being gay and living together (which makes a lot of sense). But I knew that wasn't it, or at least not completely, when I noticed Jack's accent kinda break off. That was weird. I ignored it. Five minutes later it happened again and a lot more noticeable this time. I looked at Matt to see if he had noticed it too, but he didn't seem to pick up on it. Am I really that paranoid? I excused myself to go to the bathroom.
I opened the door to the bathroom and pulled out my phone. I went by the sinks and unlocked it. I opened my texts and scrolled down pretty far. There it was. The conversation was from Chris from back when we were in the cabin. I reread it.
Mark: So you're hiring...what...like private investigators ..to keep tabs on me? Pretty damn sure there's a law against that too.
Chris: I'm going to need you to come back to me.
M: No. I'm happy with this guy. Besides, you're a good looking guy. You can probably get another boyfriend in no time. Just go hit up a gay bar. I'll promise they'll be a better bottom than I ever could be.
C: No.
C: Youre not happy with this guy. Youre not happy with...
C: Matthias?
C:What an ugly name.
M: Wtf. Leave us alone.
C: Listen to me! He's no good for you. I would know. Leave him. Or I'll hire people to bring him to me. And from there? I'll show him what I did to you. You remember, don't you? After all, it's hard to forget when you got the scars. Hate fucking is the best fucking.
M: stop.
C: Remember the night I got laid off? You can't say you didn't enjoy every punch and kick, because I know you did. You're slutty.
I put away my phone.
I swung the bathroom door open again and headed back for the table.
I bit my lip.
Matt was talking to Jack, Matt's back to me.
Jack was facing my direction and looked at me and smiled.
I came closer to the table and sat down, flashing a fake smile.
I looked at Jack hard.
He looked buffer. And then I saw it.
His eyes were grey. Just like Chris.
