Coach Nels gives them Sunday off from practice as long as they all hit the gym for an hour. Jackson doesn't see that as a day off, but it's two hours shorter than usual, so he'll take it.
Jackson wakes up early so as not to see anyone from the team. Apparently everyone else had that idea, so he ends up on a treadmill between Caleb and Theo, because that's how shitty his life is right now. He runs hard for twenty minutes, then gets off. Caleb got off halfway through that, and Theo thankfully stays on for longer.
Jackson sees Caleb hitting the weights out of the corner of his eye. He takes a deep breath, goes over there, and picks up a pair of twenty pounders and sits on the opposite end of the bench that Caleb is sitting on.
For a few minutes they don't say anything.
Then Jackson figures he'll be the bigger person this time. "Look, Caleb, I'm sorry. You're just trying to look out for me. That's what best friends are for."
Caleb sets down his weights and looks at Jackson with a seriousness that rivals that of Elena, then he breaks out in a grin.
"Aw man, come here. I hate fighting with you over guys you like." A few teammates give Caleb a curious look. Caleb doesn't seem to notice, and this just makes Jackson feel more grateful for his best friend and how he's really been taking him for granted lately.
They hug it out, chat a little about the upcoming soccer game, and just like that, the tension between them sputters out like a dying flame. Jackson can barely even remember how he could have gotten so worked up over Caleb.
As they leave the gym together, Caleb places a hand on his shoulder. "I'll always support you, okay? I even support you getting those guys, even though I know I couldn't do it, and not because I'm straight. You do you, man."
"Thanks, Caleb. And ... I guess I support you and Lauren too. Even though it'll make me a third wheel."
"Me and Lauren! I wish. We're just friends. Seriously."
"Caleb, you're never serious."
They smile at each other because it's not really true, but it's a nice sentiment, and Jackson closes the gym door behind him like it's the door to the past, and he doesn't even glance back once as they walk to their apartment together.
☆★☆
Unfortunately, Caleb forgiving him doesn't automatically mean Lauren does too. She's a girl, and although girls have always loved him for reasons he will absolutely not get into, they are always trickier when it comes to arguments.
Jackson finds Lauren studying in her room, the door half open. He knocks anyway. Lauren swivels around in her chair, and her smile falters when she sees it's Jackson.
"Oh. Hi."
"Hey Lauren." Jackson notices her screen is on Facebook, so she's probably not too busy. With a surge of false confidence he walks in and sits on her bed. "Can we talk?"
"Sure," Lauren says.
"I wanted to apologize. For leaving you guys at the pub and not telling you. It was really shitty of me. I know you guys are just trying to look out for me."
"Honestly, I forgave you a long time ago."
"You did?" Jackson did not expect this. And he's rarely surprised.
"Yeah. I was just hungover and you left me alone with Caleb, which is fine, but I invited both of you out, so it felt sort of like a rejection."
"So why were you ignoring me?"
"I wasn't." Lauren hesitates. "Well, not really. I wanted to give you space. I thought maybe you were mad at me."
"I wasn't mad at you. More at myself, if anything. And maybe Caleb too. But not anymore. We're good now."
Lauren smiles softly. "Jackson, don't take this the wrong way, but sometimes you act like the person you think others see you as, and not as the person you actually are. You're a good person, you just have to believe it."
"Thanks Lauren." Jackson doesn't want to unpack what she said just yet. They both get up and hug, much gentler than his hug with Caleb, and rests his chin on her head. "Now keep studying Facebook, I'm sure it's very educational."
She steps back and lightly shoves him. "Fuck off, I know you have better things to do than criticize my studying habits."
"As a matter of fact, I do." And his name starts with an H and ends with an R, he doesn't say, and makes his way to Hunter's apartment in the best mood he's been in since the semester started.
☆★☆
"I think it's the way you dress." Hunter watches Jackson from the bed with a sated look and a lazy smirk and absolutely no article of clothing on. "Your clothes scream I'm a straight male soccer athlete person who went to an all boys Catholic school and now studies Econ in Eugene, Oregon and not I suck dick after clubbing at Azure and I lure hot French soccer players to abandoned train tracks for drunk kisses at one in the morning."
"Shouldn't I just scream Jackson Cooper?"
"How boring." Hunter smiles. "You could at least scream Jackson Cooper with extra sparkles or something."
"The sparkles are the gay side?"
"No, the Econ major." Hunter rolls his eyes. "Yeah dumbass, of course the gay side. It's the best side of you. Except for your profile. Damn is your jawline sharp."
Jackson huffs a laugh and continues to mindlessly sift through Hunter's closet. He picks out a sparkly harness—not unlike the one that Timotheé Chalamet wore at the Golden Globes—and pulls it on. He feels oddly free with just the harness on and nothing else. With a spin, Jackson faces Hunter.
"Better?"
Hunter raises a brow. "Better for my dick. Not much for you, though."
"You said sparkles."
"Figurative sparkles, Jackson."
"I'm really fine with my fashion style."
"If it's comfortable, that's all that matters."
"Really?"
"Fuck no. You don't look this gorgeous feeling comfortable. Look, forget it. You're fine how you are. A little straight and a lot I-went-to-an-all-boys-school, but that's hot in its own right. Plus, your features help...I guess."
Jackson shakes his head in exasperation. "You really judge the world based on whether you get turned on or not."
"Of course. It's my sixth sense."
"Are you even a real person?"
"Wanna test that theory out for yourself? Preferably in the next half hour, because I have to go work on a group project."
"You are so..."
"Sexy? Fuckable? Irresistible?"
"I was gonna say annoying but now I'm thinking about changing it."
"Suck my dick, asshole."
"With the sparkles on or off?"
"What do you fucking think, you gorgeous human being?"
☆★☆
He's failing calculus. It's not illogical, but a little unexpected. He's always been good at math. Still, the professor is a bore, always talking monotone. Nice guy, but please, sound a little less like a robot. Jackson fails to stay awake every class.
Bonnie has signed him up with a tutor, which is mandatory protocol when you start failing a class and it's important for your major that you pass. Jackson tried to get out of it, but apparently charm only goes so far.
"It's only until you get a passing grade again," Bonnie said.
"I can do it myself. I'll start paying attention in class."
"You know that's not an option. Try it out first. You might be surprised at how fast your grades go up. The sooner you start, the sooner you finish."
Eliot Brooks. That's the tutor's name. When he mentions this to Caleb at Monday's soccer practice, he starts to laugh.
"Oh poor kid."
"What?" Jackson punches Caleb's arm when he just keeps laughing. "Tell me."
"Poor poor Eliot."
"You know him?"
"Yeah, through Hillel."
"And? Why are you laughing?"
"I just can't imagine sweet, shy Eliot Brooks tutoring...you."
"I'm not mean."
Caleb raises his eyebrows. "That's not what I'm worried about."
"Then what―" Jackson hears Coach Nels ordering them to run laps, "―forget it. I don't even want to know at this point. Our first meeting is today before my Calc class."
Jackson takes off running when Caleb bursts into laughter again, wondering what the hell he could possibly do to Eliot Brooks.
☆★☆
It turns out there are many things Jackson could do to Eliot Brooks, and all of them involve his mouth. He finds Eliot in the library reading a math textbook as casually as if it were a sports magazine, and he practically falls in love, if falling in love meant crawling under the desk and sucking his dick. Jackson lightly taps the table to get his attention, and Eliot starts and looks up at Jackson, before trying out an astonished smile.
For some reason, Jackson has a soft spot for nerdy, serious guys. Like Charlie. And like Charlie, Eliot has curly hair, except where Charlie is all golden skin and copper curls, Eliot is blonder at the ends and his skin is smooth and milky white. Round glasses frame his bright green eyes, like Harry Potter. Jackson says this to him on a whim.
"You like Harry Potter?" Eliot asks in open surprise.
Jackson could take this as an insult, but Eliot has this air of innocence he doesn't want to break. "Fuck yeah. I'm a true potterhead. Ask me any trivia question, I'll know the answer."
Eliot blushes and stays silent for so long Jackson thinks he's never going to ask. "Why does Hermione kiss Ron?"
"He says they should get the house elves out of the kitchens so they don't die."
"So you are a fan." Eliot blushes even more, and on his pale skin it's like a red rose on his cheek. "Most people only watch the movies. In the movies it's different."
"Personally, I prefer their kiss in the books. It gives Hermione more dimension."
"Exactly! Everything's better in the books."
"So you're a Harry Potter fan, a genius at calculus, and your eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad. Could you get any better?"
Eliot now has a permanent blush and Jackson feels a little bad for coming on so strong right off the bat. He's probably not used to such flirtatious conversation.
"Sorry, we should probably do calculus. I'm much better with Harry Potter trivia though. You've been warned."
"It's okay," Eliot says. He has a small smile on his thin, pink lips. So much like Charlie. Jackson feels like he could lean over and drop his hand right onto his—"So, let's start with a brief review of the concept of limits..."
The fantasy fades away. His voice is soft yet firm, and Jackson finds himself focusing despite the initial diversion. The gentle movements of his hands while he talks almost hypnotize Jackson, and by the end of the session, he understands more of calculus than he has this whole semester.
"Thanks again," Jackson says as he packs up his belongings. "So next Monday, same place same time?"
"Yes." Eliot hesitates. "Maybe text to confirm?"
"Of course. I have your number." He turns to leave, then decides to take a shot, and faces Eliot again. "Hey, Eliot."
"Yeah?"
"Maybe we could hang out sometime. Watch the first Harry Potter film? I haven't rewatched them in a while."
Eliot's cheeks pink and he looks stunned. "Oh. Yeah, sure."
"Maybe some time this week. Are you free?"
"Yes. But not Friday."
"Thursday?"
"Yes. That works."
"I'll text you. See you later, Harry Potter." Jackson leaves Eliot at the desk, flustered and rumpled even though he hadn't left his chair for the last hour.
Jackson knows Caleb would kill him if he found out he invited Eliot to watch the first Harry Potter film. Kill him, and then watch it with Eliot himself. So that's why he will not mention it. What Caleb doesn't know won't kill him, right?
It turns out that the Jewish Club meets more than one time a week, and it looks like what Caleb didn't know will now kill Jackson instead. This thought runs through Jackson's mind the moment Caleb barges into his room on Tuesday night and screams when he sees Jackson.
Hunter has his mouth halfway down Jackson's naked chest, fingers curling under the band of Jackson's boxers, and stops to look at Caleb. To everyone's surprise—including Caleb himself—Caleb does not run away, but plants himself firmly on the ground, with one hand on the wall as if for support.
"What I am about to say is so important that I am willing to say it right now even after interrupting your...activities." Caleb avoids looking directly at them, so it looks like he's angrily talking to the wall behind them.
"Speak your fucking truth babe," Hunter says, and Jackson motions for him to stay silent while trying not to laugh.
"Eliot Brooks! Eliot! Brooks! Jackson, how dare you defile such a sweet boy!"
Jackson rolls his eyes. "I didn't defile him—"
"Yet," Hunter interjects slyly.
"See! Hunter understands." Caleb makes the mistake of pointing and then looking at Hunter, who has not moved from his compromising position. His eyes shoot up and he groans. "Nope. Okay. That's all I can take. The last thing I'll say is that you better keep your hands to yourself the entire time or I will..."
"...steal me away to a private island where we will eat fresh seafood romantically on the beach and make love beneath a waterfall to make Jackson jealous?" Hunter asks.
"Exactly!" Caleb points to Hunter without looking down. "I like you." Then he rushes out of the room, slamming the door dramatically behind him.
Jackson raises an eyebrow at Hunter. "Would you really do all that with Caleb?"
"Oh honey." Hunter slides Jackson's boxers down. "In a heartbeat."