game over ❇ 'level up' trilogy

(2) pranks or storms?

"You gotta breathe, big bro. Come on. Deep breaths. Then tell me why you quit." She was used to handling panicking like this from all of Lance's panic attacks that she had witnessed.

He took a few deep breaths before blurting out what happened, "IsleptwitymycoworkerJakeafterwegotdrunkatthispartyandnowit'ssuperawkwardbecausehe'sgayandIdidntthinkIwasgaybutIsortalikeditandnowIdon'tknowwhattodo!!!"

"Wait, what? Slow down." She looked over at Lance, who seemed to have understood some of that. His eyes were super wide.

Matt sighed and told her again, but a bit slower and with fewer details, "I slept with my coworker, Jake. Jake, who is male. A boy. I slept with another boy!!"

Her jaw dropped, "Holy shit! What happened?!"

He took another deep breath, "He invited me to go to this party with him. I thought nothing of it and said yes, sounded like it'd be fun. An hour into the party we're both drunk and hooking up in an empty bedroom! Apparently he's gay and invited me with those exact intentions."

She thought for a moment, "He didn't, like, force you... Right?"

"No! Of course, not! He's a nice guy!" He paused, "The problem here is that I never said no. I wanted to have sex with him. And I think I liked it, I don't know! It's really fucking with me because I never thought for a moment that I might be gay! But now...."

"But now you're not so sure." She sighed, "You quit your job because of this?"

"Yes.. And no." He was the one to sigh this time, "This happened last weekend. I tried talking to him about at work on Monday, to tell him I didn't like him like that. That I was drunk and it was a mistake to lead him on like that.."

"Okay, and how did that go?"

"I chickened out and ended up not telling him... I just avoided him all shift. But then he came to me after I clocked out. He assumed that since I was so into it at the party, that it would be a great idea to grab my ass. I instinctively slapped him but I felt really bad about it and started apologizing like crazy."

"Why did you apologize?!" She looked pissed, "He groped you, that's workplace harassment!"

"He didn't know any better! We had literally fucked two nights before, he thought I was into him!" He let out a deep sigh, "I felt bad about slapping him. But he thought I slapped him because he startled me, not because he grabbed my fucking ass. So he sorta cornered me against the wall, asking me out on another date. I totally panicked and pushed him into a pile of empty boxes before leaving."

Pidge's look of anger remained firmly planted on her face, "This Jake sounds like a huge asshole."

"He's really not! I just never got the balls to tell him I didn't like him. It was all a big misunderstanding! But the next day he came to talk to me again, but this time in the open and not in the back room. It was off to the side so we could talk a bit more privately but there were still people around. He said he was sorry if he did anything to scare or hurt me in any way. I was a stuttering mess but I managed to tell him why I reacted the way I did. It was super awkward. He felt really bad, thinking he had pressured me into it or something. Which he didn't, he didn't do anything wrong. It was all me. I feel really bad about it still. Wednesday and Thursday were beyond awkward. He avoided me at all costs, only talking to me if he had to. The whole time I'm having an existential crisis because I didn't think I was into dudes until now. Today I ended up quitting, it was becoming a distraction for both of us. I'm coming home in a few weeks anyway, I'd have to take leave or quit either way. So that worked out. But now I'm totally confused about everything!!"