Chet Watakeekul

I sat waiting for class to start. I was early as I usually was and I wanted to take out my phone and browse through it, but I didn't. Before Saturday night, I would have pulled out my phone and looked at soccer articles. Since Saturday night I had been browsing gay sex. It was obvious Vincent wanted it and I wanted it. It had been difficult Saturday night to not accept his offer of showering together, but I didn't trust myself not to take things too far if that happened. My dreams had intensified. I knew reality wouldn't be the same as dreams though. It

might hurt. I expected it to at first, but that wasn't what held me back. Both Vincent and I were inexperienced. We hadn't talked about the details. Was that something we even needed to talk about? Or could we just go with the flow?

"Hi," Melissa said startling me.

"Hi," I said and hoped she couldn't tell I was blushing.

She sat next to me and pulled out her finance book from her backpack.

I pulled from my pocket the gift card she had given me for my birthday.

"I appreciate the card," I started, "but this is too much." I tried to hand back the gift card to my favorite sporting goods place, but she didn't take it.

"I can't return that and I don't know anyone else into sports," she said.

I looked around to make sure we hadn't garnered attention. I lowered my voice and said, "But $100 is too much. I really can't accept this." I was glad Vincent had never asked me if Melissa had put a gift in the birthday card she had given me. He definitely would not have liked this. He had put a $25 gift card to the Japanese restaurant in his birthday card to me, but he had given me something priceless with the birthday dinner and our intimate experience in the bathroom later that night.

Melissa still didn't make any move to take the card back. "Just keep it," she said. "We're friends."

I took her wrist and physically placed the gift card in her hand. "$100 is too much to give me as just friends," I said.

She gave me a strained smile and nodded. She tucked the card back into her backpack.

The professor walked in and started class. I pretended Melissa discreetly wiping at her eyes meant she had something in them and that she wasn't crying. I felt bad, but didn't know what else I could have done. None of my friends had ever given me anything worth $100. And I knew she had a crush on me. I didn't want her to think she had a chance with me by accepting it. And most importantly I knew Vincent wouldn't like it.

By the end of class, she seemed like her normal self. "Devon and Jimmy seem nice," she said. "I liked talking with them at the party."

"They are nice," I said. I'd only known them for a few months, but they had always been nice to me and I never heard they mistreated anyone.

"Devon asked me out for Thursday night," she went on. "I told him I'd think about it. What do you think I should do?" How could this poor girl still have hope in her eyes? How many times did I need to turn her down? I didn't like doing it.

"You should go," I said. And the hope died in her eyes.

She nodded and swallowed hard. "I will then," she said. "Do you think they'll be okay with me dating both of them because Jimmy asked me out for Sunday."

"As long as they both know about each other and you don't string one of them along if you have more of an interest in the other one," I said.

"Okay," she said. "I'll make it clear to them. Don't worry." Her eyes lingered sadly on me for a moment longer before she picked up her backpack and walked out of the classroom.

I followed slowly after. She was gone by the time I stepped out of the classroom. I blushed when I got to the cafeteria parking lot and saw Vincent waiting for me. Luckily my blush wasn't as obvious as Alex's.

I hadn't seen Vincent since I left his house Sunday morning. The morning after I had jerked him off hadn't been awkward or anything. On the contrary, it had been sweet when he made me pancakes. We had talked on the phone since, but it was just light stuff because I was at home and Kannika had super hearing.

He didn't know I had been looking up info on gay sex since then. He didn't know I had imagined him and myself in every position I had read about. He didn't know how much I had enjoyed him releasing all over my hand. My blush deepened. He spotted me and waved me over.

I rushed over. I might have actually skipped over I was that ecstatic to see him.

"Hi," he said to me when I made it to his side.

"Hi." We stared at each other for a few moments before he motioned for me to get into his car.

"Where are we going today?" he asked once we were in his car and pulling out of the parking lot.

I pulled out the gift card he had given me. He smiled.

"Japanese cuisine it is," he said.

"It's not a big deal, but I don't want you to hear about it elsewhere and think I was hiding it from you," I started.

He glanced at me and turned his attention back to the road. "What is it?" he asked.

"Melissa gave me a gift card in that birthday card. I gave it back to her."

"Why?"

"I didn't think you'd like that she gave a gift card."

"I'm trying not to be jealous and controlling," he said. "She's your friend. She should stay your friend. If she gives you a gift as a friend you can accept it. I'm not going to stop you from having friends."

"It was for $100 though."

"Okay. I don't like that it was more than what I gave you, but it's not that big of a deal."

"That's a lot of money though. Too much."

"It is?"

"Yes."

He glanced at me confused before turning his attention back to the streets.

"We've got to work on your concept of money," I said.

He laughed at this, but didn't argue with me.

We arrived at the Japanese place. We ate. I paid for it with the gift card.

As we were driving back to the cafeteria parking lot he said, "Are you going to come over tonight?"

"If that's alright with you."

He smiled. "It's always alright."

"I don't want to presume. What if you weren't going to be home or what if your family was coming to visit."

"My family doesn't visit," he said. That was such a strange concept to me. If I had my own place, I knew my family would visit. "If anything like that does happen though," he went on, "I'll warn you first."

"Okay," I said. "I'll be over after soccer practice."

"I'll have food prepared for you this time so don't pick up anything on the way."

"Okay," I said.

We pulled into the parking lot. I almost forgot to look around before I leaned over to kiss him, but I did remember last minute. And I was glad I did because there were people nearby. I didn't kiss him. He looked disappointed until I pointed to the nearby students.

He sighed. "I'll see you later," he said.

"Bye." I almost said 'I love you' but stopped myself. It was hard to not say it. I wanted the first time I said it to be meaningful to him.

After soccer practice, I didn't get out of the locker room as soon as I wanted. Both Devon and Jimmy came up to talk to me.

"Did Melissa say anything about me?" Devon asked.

"Or me?" Jimmy said right beside him.

"Yeah," I said. "I think she is going to agree to go out with both of you." I studied them both carefully to see if either of them had a problem with that, but they both seemed fine with it. They talked to me about her for several more minutes before I could get out of there. Maybe if she hit it off with one of them she could give them the gift card.

I got to the bus stop and took the bus that would take me to Vincent's.

My phone rang. I didn't think it would be Vincent, although that was who I usually spoke with when I was on the bus. He knew I was coming over and would see him in a few minutes. It was Gareth.

"Hi," I said.

"Will you please tell your sister not to send me pictures of her school dance," he said. "I don't want to see them."

"Tell her yourself," I said. "She does whatever she wants."

He sighed dramatically into the phone. "Doesn't she have a boyfriend now? Why is she still contacting me?"

"I don't think Mason is technically her boyfriend. She also said Rachel told him specifically not to bring flowers because she was allergic, but he forgot. I don't think Kannika thinks too highly of him."

"Were we that idiotic when we were high school boys?" he asked.

"Me? No. You? Yes."

"Haha," he said dryly.

I laughed. I found myself funny at least.

"Can I ask you a serious question?" he asked.

"Why ask for permission? You're going to do it anyway."

"That's true," he said. "Is Vincent the person you have a crush on?"

I was stunned. Was I that obvious? That wasn't good. I needed to protect him from his family for as long as I could. My acting needed to get better.

"I'm going to take your silence as a yes," he said. "How did that happen? How did you get a crush on the guy trying to breakup your best friend and his boyfriend?"

"It just did. Don't tell Mateo. He's just starting to give Vincent a chance."

"Okay. I won't tell him who you have a crush on. It's not like anything has started between you two anyway."

"Right," I rushed to say when I realized I had paused. Hopefully he hadn't noticed.

"And tell your sister to only contact me in emergencies. I don't want pictures of her in a dress. I don't want any pictures of her."

"Tell her yourself," I said and hung up before he could argue with me.

I got off the bus when I arrived at the stop closest to Vincent's apartment building. It was a short walk. I took the stairs to his floor even though there was an elevator. I rang the doorbell and waited for a few short moments before Vincent answered the door.

Before I could greet him, he put a finger up to his mouth to indicate me to be quiet and then he motioned me inside. He had his cell phone up to his ear.

"That's a relief," Vincent said. "Did they have an estimate of how long it would take for a trial?"

It smelled good. There wasn't any food on the table. I peeked in the kitchen. There was a dish on the counter that had lemon pepper chicken in it. I sniffed to take in the delicious smell. My stomach growled loudly. I glanced at Vincent embarrassed as he came into the kitchen behind me. He just smiled at me.

"Okay," he said into the phone. "Keep me updated. Say hello to your mother and Mateo for me." He hung up.

"Alex?" I asked.

He nodded and embraced me from behind. I enfolded my arms over his.

"He said the police have arrested Jason. They are going through his phone and computer now for evidence. Apparently Alex wasn't the only one he has done this too, but Alex had the most evidence saved."

"That's good," I said. "Gareth called me as well. He figured out I have a crush on you."

"Alex figured out I had a crush on you," he said. "He caught me checking out your legs at the soccer game."

The heat burned my cheeks in a sudden blush as I remembered his hand exploring my thigh. I didn't think Vincent noticed my blush.

He pulled away from me. "Are you hungry? Do you want to eat?"

I nodded and followed him back to the little table as he carried in the chicken and a salad. We settled in the seats and I took a bite of the lemon chicken. It was tender and as delicious as it smelled.

"You're a great cook," I said.

He smiled grandly at this. He took a bite of his own food then.

"My dad is a good cook too," I said. "My mom can't cook. Did your mom or dad teach you to cook?" I took another bite.

Vincent scoffed. "Neither of them taught me how to cook." He paused for a moment with a thoughtful expression. The fork with a bite of chicken on it was forgotten in his hand. "I can't recall ever seeing them cook."

I couldn't imagine it. His family got stranger and stranger the more I learned about them.

"Theresa and Priscilla taught me how to cook," he said. "They are our chefs. Just simple dishes though. I don't know anything complicated."

"Complicated doesn't matter," I said. "What matters is the taste and this," I pointed at the chicken with my fork, "is delicious. How often do Theresa and Priscilla cook for your family?"

He looked at me like I was crazy. "They cook every meal for us," he said as if it was obvious.

"They are there from morning till night to cook your food?" He nodded. "Do they clean the house too?"

He shook his head. "No. Esther's team does that."

I couldn't fathom his lifestyle.

"Theresa and Priscilla organize the kitchen," he said as if that would help me understand.

"Don't they get any vacation days? Sick days?"

"Of course," he said. "They don't take those often though."

"So who cooks when they are gone? Your grandma?"

"No. We either hire substitute chefs for the day or order in, but mostly it's the substitute chefs."

I shook my head as I took another bite of chicken.

We cleaned up together after we ate and then we sat at the table to work on our school assignments. We played video games. He took a shower before bed. While he was in the shower I washed my face and brushed my teeth in the kitchen sink. It was a little weird, but that way I was in bed when he came out.

Vincent turned out the lights and crawled into bed. My eyes met his through the dark. He ran his fingers over my cheek. I leaned in and kissed him. His hand ran down my arm and took my hand as our kiss continued. He moved above me. His warm lips moved down my jaw, traced my neck and settled over that spot by my collarbone. It made me tingle. A moan escaped my lips with the sensation. His tongue ran over that spot and I shivered. There was a stirring in my groin. I pulled Vincent's face up to look into my eyes before I could be aroused any further.

"Goodnight, Vince," I said.

He rolled off me, but threw his arm around me and pulled me close. "Goodnight, Chet."