Page 30 of Spoonful

“Yeah,” Jaylin said quickly. “That’s fine, sure.”

Miguel held out his hand for Jaylin to shake. “Welcome aboard, kid.”

***

Jaylin’s thoughts were still going a mile a minute by the time he finally got home. He wasn’t finished processing the fact that he had acquired a new job, three takeaway containers filled with food, and a pocket full of cash.

He put the food into his fridge, set the paper that he was supposed to fill out with his information on his table to do tomorrow, and pulled the cash out of his pocket to count it up. Astonishingly, it was eighty dollars and some change. That was eighty bucks that he suddenlyhad.That he could put into savings, or use for a little extra on groceries, or… anything he wanted.

And he had the chance to makemorenow, at a job he was even kind of good at, no real reading or writing required because he just memorized everyone’s orders. He’d had to scribble down approximations for the kitchen as best he could, but there hadn’t been any complaints so maybe it didn’t matter?

It was kind of mind-blowing howeasyit had been.

He tucked the cash away and jumped in the shower to try to calm himself down some, getting into his coziest clothes for bed. He’d had a long day and was tired, and he had the luxury of actually going to sleepnow,when hewanted to,instead of having to stay up and try to muddle through more reading.

He settled into bed with his phone and earbuds to listen to more of his book, when he realized he had gotten a voice message. From Hiro. That he must have missed, amid everything else that had happened that evening.

Fuck, the fact that Hiro kept sending Jaylin voice messages instead of texts warmed Jaylin down to his toes. It was such a simple thing, but so—sonice.Instead of having tostruggle through trying to read a message or making do with his phone’s robot recitation, Jaylin got to have Hiro’s voice in his ear.

He licked his lips and set it to play.

“It was really nice to see you again,”Hiro’s voice said, as pleasant and smooth as always.“I know you mentioned you have star charts to do for your astronomy class. Would you be interested in hanging out Sunday night? It’s supposed to be cloudless, so perfect for looking at the stars. We could do dinner first, if you wanted. My treat.”

Jaylin played the message three times to make sure he’d heard it right.

Yeah, he and Hiro had talked about astronomy when they were together earlier–Hiro had brought up Jaylin’s class, because Hiro was a ‘self-professed astronomy nerd’ and Jaylin hadmentionedthat making star charts was part of his homework, but he hadn’t thought Hiro had been serious when he’d lit up and suggested they go stargaze together sometime.

Apparently Hiro had been serious about both the stargazing and about wanting to spend more time together.

Jaylin stared down at his phone, trying to think. Because he might be terrible at readingwords,but he wasn’t half bad at reading intentions. It was a skill he’d picked up trying to survive, and for the most part he wasn’t off with his interpretations.

Hiro was giving Jaylin all the signs that he was interested. In Jaylin.

For some reason.

Jaylin could easily explain away their first few meetings as Hiro trying to do a good thing. Helping his friend’s little sister’s friend. Sure. That made sense.

But this would be the fifth time he’d invited Jaylin out, and that was after already helping Jaylin put all his disability accommodations into place. Jaylin didn’t technicallyneedHiroanymore, and Hiro knew that. Giving Jaylin a present for no reason, inviting Jaylin out for dinner with stargazing for dessert… those weren’t things you did because you were doing a favor for your friend’s little sister. You did those things because you were interested in someone and wanted to get to know them better.

Jaylin couldn't quite tell if he was flattered by someone like Hiro wanting to give him the time of day or worried. On the one hand, Hiro still didn't set off any alarm bells and he hadn’t made even the slightest insinuation that he wanted something from Jaylin that Jaylin didn’t want to give. Jaylinlikedhim. Hiro was smart and considerate and kind. He had a silly and slightly dramatic sense of humor that never failed to pull Jaylin out of his shell. He was so thoughtful, asking Jaylin about food preferences and thenrememberingthem. Jaylin was only just getting to know Hiro better, but he wanted to keep getting to know him.

On the other hand, Jaylin knew he was doomed to disappoint the man when Jaylin inevitably fucked up.

Not to mention the fact that Jaylin was already kind of… taken. Kind of.

It wasn’t as though Brent considered Jaylin a boyfriend or vice versa. The very thought was laughable. It had been made quite clear from the start that Jaylin was a plaything. He was an easy piece of ass who was at Brent’s beck and call, and Brent liked the power trip.

But Jaylin couldn't afford to lose what Brent was giving him. He needed to pay for school, he needed to pay his rent, and he needed to put food on the table. He couldn't work enough hours at the minimum-wage jobs he was qualified for to pay for all those things. Not with all the time he needed to put into school just to stay afloat.

His train of thought ground to a halt. All the time he had had to put into school… before his accommodations.

Before thisevening.He had eighty dollars in cash that he hadn’t had two hours ago. He had ajobthat he hadn’t had two hours ago. A job that paid eight an hour plus tips, that he could actually conceivablydo.Because school would take so much less time.

There was no way he’d be able to be free of Brent this semester. Maybe not even next semester.

But maybe… maybe there was the possibility of it happening after that.

The thought unfurled a tentative hope inside of him, and had him glancing back down at his phone.What if?

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