Page 46 of Stand By Me

We have, Mario wrote and then stared at the screen. There was no harm at hinting, was there?And maybe I'm no longer looking.

Ben sent back a bunch of question marks to which Mario very maturely responded with a winking face emoji.

He refrained from adding an eggplant one, at least.

You bastard, that's why you couldn't meet me over the weekend. You've already found a new guy!

Mario winced. He knew Ben didn't really mind about the weekend, but the joking would stop once he learned who the guy was. Because, at the end of the day, Ben didn't have a problem sharingMariowith anyone. He had a problem sharing Clay.

God, it was going to be a mess, no question about it.

Mario was determined not to let it destroy anything, though.

I'll tell you everything on Friday, he wrote back.I promise.

I'll bring popcorn, your dating stories are the craziest.

Mario snorted without humor.

Yeah, this one is going to blow your mind.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Clay looked around his apartment once Mario left and considered his options.

He could lie down on the couch and watch TV. He could clean up.

Or, he could pick up his phone and finally do what he'd been meaning to do for days now.

He went with option three, since he was finally feeling ready—or at least as ready as he would ever get before actually doing it.

Hey, you busy?he typed and sent before he'd talk himself out of the idea.

The reply came right away.

No, I'm free. Why?

Clay took a deep breath.I thought we could talk. I could come over tonight—or tomorrow night, since it's pretty late.

Normally, he wouldn't make plans at this hour, but now that he'd made the decision, he wanted to get this over with.

Sure, come over tonight! I really want us to talk.

Okay, I'm leaving in 5.

It took around half an hour to get to Jake's place, but once Clay got there, he still wasn't sure what to say. The downside of not really ever fighting like that through a decade and a half of knowing each other was that they had no blueprint of making up afterwards.

No time like the present to figure it out.

He took a deep breath and knocked, and the door opened right away. Jake was bouncing on his feet, clearly vibrating with nervous energy, but he still smiled at Clay as he waved him in.

"Hi, there. Thanks for coming."

"Hi." Clay paused to take off his jacket. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything, with Troy or—"

"No, no, Troy had already left by the time you texted. It's good."

Both of them hesitated, and Clay hated how stilted it felt. Before he could think of something to say, though, Jake gestured towards the couch.

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