Page 30 of Road Trip

“Yeah, I got that part,” I said, my heart pounding fast. “So what if you weren’t?”

“So…” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “So are you just gonna stand there with your dick out, or are you gonna put some clothes on?”

Right.

Just because he wasn’t straight didn’t mean he wanted to look at my dick.

I picked the towel up. “Like, I feel that when it comes to people in this room being blindsided, my dick is less surprising than what just came out ofyour mouth.”

“Fair,” he said.

How the fuck did he sound so chill about any of this? That was Jacob all over, though. He liked to think things through. He wasn’t a snappy, reactive shithead like I was. It was probably why he had a bunch of friends and I only had one. And that one was probably a fluke. Also, I might not have him in ten minutes depending on what the hell was going on here and exactly how badly I responded to it.

I needed to calm the fuck down and think before I did anything.

But this was Jacob, and I was pretty sure he wasn’t telling me for the hell of it, so he must feel something, right?

“You could try using your words,” Jacob suggested.

Right.

“Right,” I said. “Because when I came out to you, you said the right things.”

“Did I?”

You always do, asshole.

“It was okay, I guess.” I swallowed. “So, I can do that.”

A corner of his mouth twitched, telling me that we were back in familiar territory where I was fucking up and he was highly amused by that. “Okay then.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Um. So you’re not straight? Cool. Great. Good for you.”

He tilted his head slightly. “For a second there I thought you might actually pull it off, but even when you say supportive things, because they’re coming from you they sound really sarcastic.”

“I know!”

“But I know you actually did mean them, so thanks.” He wrinkled his nose. “For the record, I don’t know if I’m coming out or just questioning. Can they be the same thing?”

“Like I’m a fucking expert?”

“Fair point.” He let out a long breath. “Anyway, we should find a laundromat.”

“What?”

He gestured to the pile of clothes on the floor. “I have to do laundry. Do you?”

“No, hold on. We’re not just going from ‘I might not be straight’ to ‘I have to do laundry.’”

“Why not? I’m not sure it counts as coming out if I didn’t even know I was in. I’m still processing it. And I can process and do laundry at the same time.”

“Why now, though?” I asked. It didn’t make sense for Jacob to drop that bombshell without a good reason. That was the sort of shit I pulled, not him.

He ducked his head and the tips of his ears went pink, and he mumbled something that sounded like, “I like you.”

Wait. Back the fuck up.

I stepped closer. “What was that?” My heart pounded in my chest, and I prayed I’d heard right. Otherwise this might break me.

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