Chapter 40: I Wanna Scream and Shout and Let it all Out
As Mason pulled the pair of ash grey jeans up his body, he noticed how easily his legs were slipping in. But for a guy who really enjoyed his skinny jeans, that was a bad sign. Once the pants were all the way up, he noticed, with a frown, that they were too loose. While they didn't fall down the second Mason removed his hands, they did leave more space around his legs than he would like. Pouting in annoyance, Mason left the changing room.
"These pants are way too loose."
"Nah, I like them. It's cute that I can see how your underwear is kind of digging into your stomach."
Mason scowled at Gabe who stood outside of the changing room with his hands in his pockets. The cheeky grin Gabe wore as he stared at the front of Mason's pants where the top had fallen was super annoying. But Mason had known Gabe for so long, he was used to the infuriating look.
"Why do you even wear underwear that's so tight?" Gabe asked him seriously, his eyes finally coming back up to Mason's. It was now Mason's turn to smirk as he placed his hands on his hips.
"You realize I wear skinny jeans, right? How else would I show off my ass?"
Mason left Gabe laughing as he walked back into the changing room, a pleased smile on his face. In hindsight, it was probably a bad idea to go shopping with Gabe of all people, but Mason hadn't thought that far ahead when he invited him.
Mason had been planning on going by himself. He was running low on pants and this time it was Jasmine who was already busy. But, not long before he left, he happened to get a text from Gabe. They ended up talking for a while about nothing important when Mason decided that it would be nice to see Gabe in person, so he invited Gabe to go with him.
And clearly, Gabe said yes. Although Mason loved just goofing off with Gabe, he knew that the smarter thing would be to buy his pants first. He already had one black pair that scrunched at the bottom and was fitted from the knee up but wanted two more pairs before he left.
Mason then went and slipped into a second pair. This one was a size smaller than the first in the same color and fit him much better. Looking into the mirror on the wall next to him, Mason smiled at his reflection. The pants weren't skin tight but showed the shape of his legs and, like Mason always wanted, showed off his ass. As a guy who did no physical activity, Mason was blessed with a good butt. Mason had personally always assumed it had something to do with being Yemeni but had never taken the time to check so for now, he would just be grateful.
"I like this size a lot better" was Mason's opening statement as he walked out of the small room and stood in front of Gabe. "Now I know that I need to get this size whenever I come to this store."
Gabe looked down at the pants with a small smile, humming to himself as he continued to stare.
"Yeah, these ones are really nice." He agreed, looking at the satisfied expression on Mason's face. "I can see why you like them tight."
Mason grinned widely but didn't verbally respond to Gabe's words.
"Okay, I think we can go to the next store."
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Gabe hadn't been Mason's first choice, but Mason was really happy that he came. In spite of all of his flirting and dumb jokes, he and Mason have a really good time when they're together. Mason enjoyed his company and was glad to have him around. Especially with everything going on with Mason, it was good he knew someone who put him in a good mood so easily.
A little over an hour passed and Mason was finally finished with shopping. Mason was glad he was done because the process was a little bit exhausting. Gabe, on the other hand, said he liked seeing Mason try on different clothes. He'd also added in a not so PG reason for that which Mason was trying to forget.
With shopping out of the way, they decided to go to the food court to get some dinner. Mason and Gabe stood awkwardly at one end of the food court, scanning the different restaurants. While Mason had his brows furrowed deeply, judging his options, Gabe was far more relaxed. He planned to just agree to whatever Mason wanted to eat so now he was just waiting for him to make a decision.
Unfortunately, Mason was feeling especially indecisive today. After five minutes passed with nothing coming out of Mason's mouth, Gabe's patience ran out.
"Why don't we go to that Chinese place? Their red chicken is delicious." Gabe suggested, watching closely to see Mason's reaction. Mason perked up at the suggestion, his eyes focusing on the restaurant on the opposite side of the room.
"That does sound good . . . okay, let's get it."
Mason piled his plate with food. Between the noodles and the three sides, it looked difficult for them to close the to-go container. But it was fine because he planned to pay for it himself. So he was shocked and a little irritated when Gabe swooped in and paid for both of them. He was mostly irritated because now, as he looked at his three-side plate, he felt guilty for eating it.
"You suck." He pouted as he dug into the red chicken. Yup, that is really good. Mason and Gabe had found a small table big enough to fit two people comfortably near one of the ends of the food court. It allowed them to sit right in front of each other and made it easy for Gabe to hear Mason's complaint.
"What did I do wrong? It was just one meal." Gabe argued, eating his food with a bit more finesse than Mason.
"Now I feel guilty about getting my food because you paid for me," Mason explained, gesturing to his meats. Mason tried their orange chicken, smiling in delight, before continuing his statement. "Throwing your money around is nice enough, it just annoys me."
Gabe didn't seem very convinced by Mason's statement. That was partly because Mason was going back and forth between complaining about Gabe and smiling about the food.
"In my experience, most people don't complain about free money," Gabe commented, chuckling under his breath. "Maybe you're just different."
"Maybe." Mason agreed. "Or maybe you just have a narrow view of the world."
"Oh, are you getting philosophical on me?" Gabe joked, raising a brow.
"Is that philosophy or fact? You did say that your parents like to use money instead of communicating. I wouldn't be surprised if you're just spoiled." Mason teased with a broad smile. Gabe clutched at his chest with a cough.
"Damn, that hit really close to home." Gabe laughed, still rubbing at his chest. "What if I was insecure about that?"
"About the money or being spoiled?" Mason asked more seriously now.
"Both."
Mason paused in what he was eating, staring at Gabe with concern in his eyes. Gabe could tell that Mason was waiting for elaboration and sighed. Now that he brought it up, he couldn't really ignore it.
"My parents are fine, you know. They mean well and that's what matters but it's sometimes hard to differentiate between what they want and what I want. Being comfortable and spoiled is probably better than the opposite but still, I wish I didn't have that pressure, you know? I guess I'm just trying to figure out who I am."
"I think everyone has that problem. With or without pushy parents." Mason added with a soft smile. He knew someone else who had the exact same problem but tried not to dwell on him again. Gabe laughed along, nodding his head in agreement.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He sighed, leaning back in his seat with a grin. "So, now that you know my deepest darkest secret, you have to share yours."
Mason shot Gabe an incredulous look.
"If that's your deepest darkest secret then you really have no life." He sassed, laughing when Gabe pretended to be insulted. "Okay, I'll tell you my deepest darkest secret since you were so kind and shared yours."
Mason took another bite of his food and chewed for a while. Already, he had something in mind but wondered if he should really say it. Technically, Mark had given him the go-ahead to tell people and he doubted that Gabe would judge.
"Okay, um, you know that Mark and I are friends right?" Mason began, waiting for the nod of confirmation from Gabe. "Well, a few months ago we kissed and after that, we decided to become friends with benefits. It seemed like a good idea, except, we also would go out together, basically on dates and I . . . I guess I didn't want to be tied down like that and now, our friendship's kind of gone as well. We still will meet up for, you know, but that's about it. So, uh, yeah. That's my secret."
Mason didn't mention that his true secret was that he was in love with Mark and asked for space out of self-preservation. But Mason thought he was entitled to a few secrets.
To Mason's shock, Gabe didn't seem surprised. He listened to everything Mason said with a straight face and just nodded once he finished. Mason waited silently for Gabe to say something.
Gabe, however, had several things running through his mind. Since he first met him however many months ago, he'd been pursuing him, waiting for the right opportunity to make his attraction known. But he never found the right moment. Mason never seemed to take him seriously, but now he understood why. It was Mark. Mark was in his way, tying Mason down and keeping him from seeing the better options in his life. Now Gabe knew what he had to do. Mason and Mark's relationship had to end. With this in mind, Gabe thought carefully about how he would get this done.
Leaning onto the table, he smiled gently at Mason.
"So, your friendship was ruined because you wanted space and he gave you too much?" He asked, calmly eating his food. Mason looked around them as he thought, frowning at the odd phrasing.
"I guess if you put it like that, yeah."
Gabe chuckled, shaking his head as he looked at the Arab boy across from him.
"Mason, you should have asked me to be your fuck buddy."
Stunned, Mason burst out laughing. There was no reality where Mason would have considered sleeping with Gabe, so he immediately took it as a poorly made joke.
"You joke around too much, Gabe." Mason laughed, dabbing at his watering eyes. Gabe frowned as Mason continued to laugh, growing a bit annoyed.
"I wasn't jok-"
Without any warning, a child at a nearby table burst into tears. With the way their father didn't look concerned, Mason could guess that the reason for his tears wasn't serious. Regardless, he was screaming and crying so loudly, Mason and Gabe could barely hear themselves think, let alone have a conversation.
"We'll talk later." Mason mouthed to the best of his abilities. Gabe nodded but still looked upset. But what could Mason do? He couldn't stop the kid from crying. But Gabe wasn't upset about the child, he was upset that Mason still didn't take him seriously. At the same time, Mason being so oblivious made him more of a challenge, and Gabe really liked being challenged.
It's alright. Gabe thought, a determined gleam in his eyes. I'll change that soon enough.
A few minutes later, Mason and Gabe gave up on waiting for the child to quiet down. His father had used several methods to calm him but the boy insisted on complaining that he wanted some toy his dad refused to buy. The child was far from done and Mason, who wanted to hear the words that came out of his mouth, suggested they go.
Packing up their food, the boys left the food court, laughing once the kid and his father were out of earshot.
"Oh my god, that kid was something else." Mason sighed, chuckling when he could still hear the child from down the next hall.
"I really don't know how he does it. My vocal cords would have been shot if I screamed that loud." Gabe joked brightly, rubbing his throat with a wince.
As the two walked out of the mall, Gabe threw his arm over Mason's shoulders. The shorter boy leaned into the touch, smiling at the familiarity of it because he'd done it a million times before. Gabe McCartney really never changed.
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So we got some Gabe action today. Some of you might like that, others not so much.
I think it's funny that this has been one of the easiest chapters to write in a very long time, and it's already been pretty easy. I don't know if that's because of Gabe or if it's because I already wrote two other chapters this week (38 and 39). I guess we'll never know.
Anyway,
What do you think Gabe's brilliant plan is? Hint, it's not that complicated.
Anywho,
Vote, Comment, Share, Follow, anything else you can do with this book and I'll see you next week. Bye!!!