Page 14 of Jake and Conner
~
"Time to change the channel," Conner said between one episode of The Simpsons ending and the next one starting.
"But it's not over yet," I pointed out. "Look." On the TV, the show's opening theme was starting to play.
"We've watched two episodes of that already, we can watch something else now."
"What do you want to watch? The history channel? That's boring," I said and grabbed the remote before Conner could.
"It's not boring," Conner insisted. "Yesterday they did this really cool piece on the French Revolution where the--"
"Boooring," I cut him off.
Conner scowled at me. Which was exactly what I'd been going for. I knew it wasn't nice or smart to rile him up just to piss him off, but I loved watching all sorts of different expressions flittering over his face. Iespeciallyloved his scowl. There was probably something wrong with me.
"What are you smiling at?" Conner asked, frown deepening.
"You're hot when you're mad."
Conner looked at me as if he didn't know what to say, and then he settled on, "You're an ass," and made as if to snatch the remote out of my hand.
I dropped the remote and closed my fingers around his. Then I pulled him closer and pressed my lips to his. He made a surprised sound, but didn't protest.
We jumped apart, though, when we heard my dad walk into the living room and clear his throat.
~
That was the first time we'd been caught kissing, only a couple of weeks after my fifteenth birthday. I remembered it as if it had happened only yesterday. My dad hadn'tsaidanything, but getting privacy had become a little more complicated for us from then on out. Only a little while later, my dad booked a trip for our family to go on vacation in Europe that summer, and then he started talking about how nice it would be for me to study abroad. Looking back, that probably hadn't been coincidence.
My parents had never made me feel like they didn't approve of my relationship with Conner, but I knew they were afraid we'd make the same mistakes they had and get pregnant too young.
I scoffed at the thought.
As if Conner would let me anywherenearhim without a condom. It didn't matterhowheated things go between us, he'd always take a moment to make sure we were being safe. I sighed as the memory made my pants uncomfortably tight.
I couldn't sit here and look at Conner and think about sex. So I got up and walked into the kitchen to get the coffee maker working. God knew I could use some of the black gold, and if Conner wanted to stick around after he woke up...
Why had he come here, anyway? If he'd told me, I couldn't remember. It was odd. He never showed up unannounced anywhere, least of all my house.
When the coffee was done, I filled two mugs and carried them into the living room. Setting one mug down on the coffee table, I held the other one in front of Conner's nose. He sniffed and then he roused, slowly blinking his beautiful eyes open.
"Morning," I said. I wasn't sure what time it was, but the sun was starting to rise outside the window.
Conner shot me a perplexed look, as if he was just as confounded by his being here as I was.
"Coffee?" I said, pretending that having him over was the most natural thing in the world. In a way, it was.
Conner took the mug from me. "Thank you." He eyed the liquid, which wasn't completely black because I knew he couldn't take his coffee without milk. He didn't comment on the fact that I remembered his preferences, but I could tell that he noticed, anyway. Finally, he shifted his gaze from the mug to me. "Sobered up?"
I dug my fingers into my pockets to appear casual. "I'm okay."
"Are you?" Skepticism was etched into Conner's features. Conner did skepticism so well. Lots of people shot me dubious looks, but no one could dissect me with their eyes the way Conner did. He could smell bullshit from miles away.
I sat on the couch and raised my mug to my lips, if only to inhale the strong aroma of the coffee. It was the only way I could distract myself fromConner'sscent, which was slowly filling the room. Open fields and sunflowers and something so uniquely Conner that I had to dig my fingers into the couch cushion to stop myself from doing something incredibly stupid like going over to him and--
"Jake?"
What? Oh, he was still waiting for a response from me, wasn't he? "I'm fine, I promise."
