Chapter 75

Meanwhile, Jacky was dealing with some unwanted advances of his own.

“You have to come to the movies with me,” Cody said after Jacky had answered the phone. “Please. I need you.”

“Okay,” Jacky said. “What movie?”

“Nina wants to see that new horror movie. The remake of that old movie, with the guy?”

“So… you want me to go see it with you before you take her, so you don’t embarrass yourself by screaming?”

“No!” Cody laughed. “No, I want you to come with us.”

Jacky grimaced. “You want me there as a third wheel?”

“You wouldn’t be a third wheel, exactly.”

When Cody finally explained himself, Jacky agreed to go, and that was how he ended up on what was essentially a date with Haylee Hansen.

“You owe me,” Jacky hissed while they waited in line for popcorn. “You somehow get asked out by two girls and you want your gay friend to take the hit?”

“I know, I’ll owe you forever.”

Nina sat on one end, Jacky on the other, with Haylee between him and Cody. Jacky, figuring that he’d be more of a fourth wheel than a third wheel, settled back to eat his popcorn. But Haylee turned to him. “I love horror movies,” she said.

“Really?”

“Surprised?” Haylee said. She reached over and snagged some popcorn, which made their shoulders come into contact.

“A little, I guess.”

Haylee glanced over her shoulder. Cody and Nina were looking at something on Cody’s phone and laughing, their heads touching. Haylee’s hair whipped Jacky in the face as she turned back to him. “Oh, yeah. I watch horror movies all the time. The gorier, the better.”

“Oh. Cool.”

“What’s your favorite scary movie?” she asked. “Ha ha, get it? It’s a reference to Scream.”

“I haven’t seen that one,” Jacky said.

“Whaaat? You’ll have to come over sometime and watch it with me. I have the whole trilogy.” The lights dimmed for the previews, and Haylee settled back in her seat, but not before she looped her arm through his elbow. “So? What’s your favorite horror movie?”

“Um, Silent Hill,” he said.

“Seriously? You think that’s better than The Exorcist? The Shining? The Omen? What about Friday the 13th? Or Nightmare on Elm Street?”

“I don’t really watch a lot of horror movies,” Jacky said.

Haylee snuggled up to him after another sideways glance. “Well, we’ll have to fix that, won’t we?”

Jacky didn’t really think that was necessary. He was more concerned about how he could continue to eat his popcorn with his arm trapped. He decided to go for it. Luckily, Haylee realized the problem and loosened her grip.

“If you get scared and have to cover your eyes, I won’t make fun of you,” Haylee told him.

“Okay,” Jacky said.

He hoped, once the movie started, that Haylee would stop trying to make Cody jealous. He shoveled popcorn into his mouth to keep her from even thinking about trying to kiss him. Looking over at the happy couple, Jacky saw that Cody had his arm around Nina and her head was on his shoulder.

The tub of popcorn wasn’t near big enough. 

In a way Ryan was relieved when Alex and Matt left: he’d been nervous with Lance’s hand on his leg. It had only lasted a few minutes, but those minutes had felt far too long. And then, when they had settled in to watch the movie, Lance’s whole side was pressed up against Ryan’s. It reminded him of that time he and Jacky had watched Brokeback Mountain. Only Lance’s arm was even bigger than Ryan’s.

The whole movie was spent sweating it out and hoping Alex and Matt (and Lukas!) didn’t notice.

Now Ryan had his personal space back, only to encounter the bed problem.

When he came out of the bathroom in his pajamas, he said, “I don’t have a sleeping bag.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Lance. “Well, we can share, right? My bed’s pretty big.”

“Sure.” Ryan looked at it. The bed was king-size, and yet it did not look big enough for the two of them to have enough room.

“I’ll get you some pillows. Which side do you want?”

Ryan shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

“I’ll take the left,” said Lance as he crossed the hall to get the pillows from the guest room.

Looking at the bed, Ryan wondered if that meant the left side when he was looking at it like this, or the left side when he was lying down in it. Jacky always slept on the right side of the bed – he said it hurt his shoulder. But then usually, when they woke up, Jacky had rolled over and buried his face in Ryan’s chest.

“Here you go,” Lance said, returning with the pillows and handing them over.

“I could sleep in the guest room,” Ryan suggested.

“Nah, man. It’s okay. I’m cool with this.” Lance patted him on the shoulder. His big hand lingered, squeezing Ryan’s bicep.

“Okay.” Ryan decided to sleep on the side that was where Jacky usually slept. He figured that way there’d be no chance he’d wake up to find himself spooning Lance.

Lance reached down and took off his shirt. He flung it in the general direction of his closet before sliding off his jeans. In his underwear, Lance stood in front of the mirror, flexing.

Ryan focused on pulling back the covers and getting into bed.

His best friend sure had a lot of muscles. Of course he did. They lifted weights together during the off-season. He knew Lance was built. Whenever he had looked at Lance before, he’d only seen a muscle mass he hoped to attain.

Of course, he’d never watched Lance do his flexing mostly naked.

Ryan pulled the covers up and lay back. Lance wasn’t gay. He had to remember that.

And if he was?

It didn’t matter, Ryan told himself. Lance wasn’t really his type. His type was the dark-haired, lean muscle mass type. Most of the time, anyway.

Oh, god. Lance was facing him now, but still flexing.

Ryan looked in the opposite direction, at the calendar on the wall. It was a Patriots calendar with a big photo of two linebackers grappling with each other. “It’s about time you put those guns away,” Ryan said.

“Ha!” Lance grinned. But he left the mirror behind. And got into bed wearing just his underwear.

What was even happening? Ryan wondered, staring at the ceiling as Lance turned off the lights. There was definitely not enough room in the bed for the two of them.

“Ryan?” Lance’s voice was quieter now that it was dark and the silence of the house had fallen over everything.

“Yeah?”

“Have you told anybody else about… you know. That you’re gay.”

“Jacky. And Monica.”

“Yeah, Monica. That makes sense.”

“I wanted to tell you,” Ryan said after a long minute of silence.

“I know.” Lance shifted, rolled to face Ryan. “It all makes sense now. I get it.”

He reached over, under the covers, and touched Ryan’s shoulder again.

“Um,” said Ryan. The situation was swiftly turning into something he didn’t fully understand.

“It’s okay,” Lance told him. “I’m glad you felt like you could tell me, you know?”

Ryan shifted, moving his shoulder away from Lance, but facing his friend to get a better read on the situation. “I’m nervous about telling the other guys.”

“I’m sure they won’t care. Like me.”

Now Ryan felt bad for thinking Lance was coming onto him. Lance was a good friend. “Yeah. I hope.”

“They will, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” Ryan said.

“So, do you wanna make out now?”