Free Fiction Friday: Second Shot – The Senior Year – 41
Free Fiction Friday: January 2, 2015:
Second Shot – The Senior Year: Chapter 41
It’s been a hot minute (hour??) since my last Free Fiction Friday post. Since one of my 2015 goals is to post more consistently and to keep up with my FFF posts, it seemed right that I start the year off right. That said, many of you probably have no recollection of what’s going on—so before I post the next chapter here are the links of the last five chapters (If you like having the last five chapters at the top of the newest one, leave a comment and I’ll make it a regular feature):
Chapter 36:
Chapter 37:
Chapter 38:
Chapter 39:
Chapter 40:
Blake noticed his roommate had the deer in a headlight look on his face. It took a moment, but Brett finally blinked.
“Hi.” Brett hesitated for a second then held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Expecting Ethan to come back with something snarky, Blake crossed in front of his boyfriend. “We’ll be gone in a few. I just need my heating pad and some extra clothes.”
Brett nodded and his lips twisted in the way they did when Brett didn’t know what to say. When no one said anything, Blake ducked back into the closet to get what he’d come for. He all but tossed everything out of his way so he could quickly get the pad and get ‘back’ to the conversation before it turned ugly.
“Um…do you have a minute?” Brett asked, keeping his attention away from Ethan. “I wanted to talk to you.”
The words sent a chill down Blake’s back. He’d expected to have this conversation soon, but not this soon. And certainly not with Ethan present. If he said no, Ethan would be all over him for not standing up for himself, but if he said yes, he worried what Ethan would do.
He glanced over at Ethan and saw the muscles in his face twitch. “Um…yeah, sure.”
Sneaking a quick glimpse at Ethan, Brett quickly turned his gaze toward the floor. “It’s about…you know… what we talked about yesterday.”
“You can’t even—” Ethan stopped when Blake put his hand on his boyfriend’s arm.
“Ethan, please don’t.” He stared at Ethan to try to convey how much he wanted to handle this himself.
“Fine.” Ice dripped from the word. “Do you want me to wait outside?”
“No, but getting angry won’t help.”
The fiery spark winked out and Ethan’s body unclenched. “Okay.”
Blake didn’t have the time to decipher what just happened, but he smiled and rubbed Ethan’s back gently. “Thanks, Eth.”
He turned his attention back to Brett and raised an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about what you said. You know, about not having changed, and while that’s true, things are different.”
“Not between us.” Blake crossed his arms across his chest.
“That’s true, too. And that’s what I meant to say. I wasn’t expecting you to tell me you…you’re…you’re….”
“You can say gay. It’s not contagious, you know.” Ethan sat in Blake’s chair and refused to look at either of them.
“Look, Brett.” Blake wanted to get away from his room before Ethan escalated things further. “Just say it. I’m already offended by what happened, I doubt you can make it worse.”
“That’s just it, I don’t like that you feel that way. I don’t want that.” He played with the strap to his backpack. “I’m sorry for that.”
“Which part? That I’m offended or by what you did?” Although he’d tried to keep Ethan calm, hearing his roommates lame apology wore away at his control.
“I’m sorry I offended you.” He finally met Blake’s gaze. “I’m not sure what happened. I’m not homophobic and I’m not mad at you. I know I acted weird, but to be honest, I’m not entirely sure why.”
A snort from his left made Blake scowl, but when he looked over, Ethan held up both hands. “Sorry.”
“I get that sounds stupid, but it’s true.” Brett shifted his bag off his back and sat on the end of his bed. “Everything you said made sense, and I was still arguing with you. I guess I’m not as good as I thought I’d be if someone close to me came out.”
Hearing that Brett thought of them as having been close once, stung. “Where does that leave us?”
“I don’t know.” Brett shrugged. “But I know I don’t want you to move out. I…we’re good friends, or at least we were til I fucked it up. I get this is on me to fix, and I can’t say I won’t act still weird now and then, but I want a chance to get back to where we were.”
His roommate’s decision shocked Blake. Ethan looked equally surprised. He turned his attention back to Brett. “Um…That’s cool. I can work with that if you can.”
“Yeah?” Brett lifted his gaze with a hopeful expression on his face.
“Totally.” The urge to laugh almost overwhelmed Blake. “But I kinda have plans for the weekend.”
“I’m sure you do.” Brett snorted. “Go, we can talk more on Monday.”
Ethan shot Brett a look that only Blake saw. Unsure what to do next, he grabbed his things and put them in a bag. “I’m…um…we’re staying at Jase’s.”
“Yeah I figured.” For the first time since he and Blake had the ‘talk’, Brett looked mostly relaxed. The way Blake remembered him from their freshman year. “If you need something, just come back. I’ll be in and out.”
He nodded, motioned to Ethan and started walking. Ethan stopped before they got to the door.
“Thanks for that.” He held out his hand. “I know it wasn’t for me, but I’m glad you did it. Blake was kinda stressin about he and you being on bad terms.”
“You’re welcome.” His words came out unsure, but he shook Ethan’s hand without hesitation.
“Yeah, and now that he’s not stressin, we might have better weekend.”
Blake could feel his cheeks turning red as Brett looked at him. He grabbed Ethan’s arm and yanked him toward the door. “We’re going now.”
He didn’t wait for a reply from his roommate before he hustled Ethan away. “Why did you say that?”
“What? It was perfectly innocent.” He wiggled his eyes and smiled.
“Right.” Shaking his head, Blake checked the hallway and seeing no one, he leaned in for a quick kiss. “If I didn’t think you’d enjoy it, I’d threaten to make you pay.”
“Oh yeah, baby.” He whispered. “I like the sound of that. Make me pay.”
Blake’s laugh echoed down the empty hall. “You’re too much.” Of course the idea of what making Ethan pay entailed threatened to embarrass him if gave it too much thought.
“I do what I can.”
Their mood leaving was nothing like how they entered the dorm. An enormous weigh felt gone. It wasn’t perfect and he knew it was bound to have some rough patches, but it was the start he’d hoped for but didn’t expect.
Loved it. I love that progress was made and Brett and Blake will be able to salvage their friendship. Even Ethan was decent as they walked out by shaking hands with Brett. Let’s hear it for New Years resolutions and you getting back to this story!
Thanks 🙂 I’ll be honest, this might be one of the harder resol. . . goals to keep up with. It will require more organization skills than I’ve managed so far LOL. But thanks for the encouragement, I’ll need it going forward. 😀
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