Page 35 of Out of the Storm

But even with that knowledge, those embers continued to burn.

Jeff’s voice cut through Gary’s thoughts. “Hello?”

“Sorry. I was thinking.” Gary set his glasses on the desk and rubbed his eyes. “I mean, of course I still want to talk to you. Just...”

“What?”

“Jeff, I really like you.”

“Did you miss the part when I said I liked you too?”

“No, but—”

“It’s not like I’m interested in anyone else.”

“Okay, but... look, I know it’s none of my business, but if you like me—”

“Gare, it’s complicated.”

Gary’s face burned with some silly mixture of sadness and shame. What the heck was the problem here, then? Did Jeff think that Gary was too weird for him? Maybe Jeff knew he’d be embarrassed if the two of them ever became a thing? After all, Jeff was John Bender, and Gary was...

Gary caught sight of himself in the window and frowned at his blurry reflection.

He was pretty much the opposite.

“Can you, uhm, explain it?” Gary asked.

“I . . . can’t.”

Shit.

Silence stretched on and on, but Gary couldn’t make himself come up with anything else to say. His mind was muddled with confusion. Disappointment, too.

“Gare,” Jeff said, “I like you.”

“Okay,” Gary said, though his voice sounded small, and oh, how he hated it.

“I think about you all the time,” Jeff said. “Every night.”

Well, that was sweet.

“Yeah?”

Because Gary thought about Jeff a heck of a lot too. Still, Gary couldn’t seem to recover from the sting of rejection, which was still making his face burn.

“If you want, Gare, I couldshowyou how much I like you,” Jeff said, a sudden playfulness in his voice.

“What do you me—”

Gary was interrupted by the sudden, unmistakable jingle of a belt buckle, and he nearly choked on his own spittle. God Almighty! Reeling, Gary almost dropped the phone, fumbling with it pathetically for a split second before ultimately managing to catch it. Struggling to find the right words, Gary took a pause to close the blinds and tried to calm himself enough to speak.

Finally, though still not really calm, he managed to splutter, “Whoa, shit, Jeff!”

“Didn’t I say that Ithink about youevery night?” Jeff said, an obvious tease in his voice.

“Yeah, uhm, yeah.” Huffing a nervous laugh, Gary raked his free hand through his hair. “Should I... uhm... should I take mine off too?”

“Depends. Do you normally like to come in your pants?”

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