Authors Notes: Surprise. I was sick for a week so I wrote this. Please don't expect frequent updates because this was written in the span on a week but yeah here ya go. I hope you enjoy a glimpse into chapter two and where it's going.
I have started editing Book 1 and made some sizeable context changes. I look back on my writing six months ago and it makes me want to burn it all down. shudder. That will definitely be done before I make a sizeable dent in book two so once again, don't expect much from book two for a couple of months.
Thanks to Nifty for hosting this story that so many of you have become fond of. Donate if you can, it's one of the few things that have kept me sane in this year.
Emails always open at frankkalau62@gmail.com! So until next time I decide to post farewell.
Barriers(Working Title) – Book 2 – Chapter 1 – Too Perfect
"You can't get enough of my dick." Jon grunted as he slammed all eight throbbing inches into me and I sat of him. "You're my slut."
Slapping of flesh and jumbled moans are all I could respond with as I rode him. It had been about two weeks since the storm of chaos that was our life had subsided. Thankfully Jon and I had kept busy fucking like rabbits. He was right though, I was addicted. He knew how to get me off. The way he growled as he held me. How he slammed into me without abandon. He was my new drug I couldn't get enough.
"You're so fucking tight." He picked up and put me on my back suddenly without missing a beat and now my legs were on his shoulder as he thrusted into me.
"Babe..." I finally managed to get out
"You're so fucking sexy when you're at my mercy." He panted. "You wanna get off or do you want to keep going?" He moved back and began using long, slow strokes to give me breathing room.
"Just come down here and kiss me." I answered breathlessly.
"Good answer." With that he leaned down and gripped my dick as he made out with me hard. He played with my tongue as my ass gripped his dick and my eyes rolled back into my head signaling my release between us. "So easy to figure out . I love it."
"Shut up." I cried with my eyes closed as my orgasm subsided.
We made out as he continued to thrust into me. He silently looked at me and I nodded confidently and he picked up to pace back to where he was before. He threw his head back as he hit his orgasm and collapsed onto me.
"You there?" I asked as I brushed his hair. I couldn't help but notice how he subtly mimicked my uncle Marcus. At some point Jon had decided to grow out his hair when he had been so militant about having it crisp over the last year. He snored into my chest telling me all I needed to know and grabbed the blanket and closed my eyes to join him in a mid-day nap.
"JON! I'M USING THE KEY." Ken shouted waking us up. I panicked slightly but in our sleep Jon rolled over and adjusted us so we looked normal other than the fact that we were naked under the sheets.
As Ken ambled down the stairs Jon scratched his face and looked around for his clothes, still looking for them as Ken hit the bottom. This stopped bothering me a couple of days ago when Ken pointed out they had seen each other naked hundreds of times at this point.
"You fucking promised you would be ready by three." Ken grumbled as he waited impatiently for his best friend.
"What time is it?" He asked as he threw on his boxers and pants.
"Three-Thirty." Ken answered quick.
"I guess a shower is out of the question then." Jon chuckled as he came over to me. "Alright babe. We need to go meet up with the boys and figure out how we're getting out of this slump before the recruiters start showing up." The basketball team hasn't been able to win a game since Ken came back.
I looked at Ken as he stood there on his phone. The first thing my uncle did was get him on medication for his acne and it was clearly working. However, if you didn't know it comes with a lot of nasty side effects, most notably a hormone imbalance causing attitude problems. From the way that he was typing away it was gonna be one of those days.
"Are we fucking going or you gonna stay down here and fuck Jace some more?" Ken spat as Jon took his sweet time.
"Alright, no need for that." Jon chuckled as he walked into our closet to find a shirt. "You've been so angry lately." He finished clueless to everything around him as usual.
"It's the acne medication." I reminded him.
"Oh right. Babe, where are my shirts?"
"Right closet, under my hoodies."
"Fuck this. Jon if you don't come out to my car in a minute you can drive yourself." Ken turned around and stomped upstairs.
"Babe, you really need to take him a bit more seriously." I told Jon as he walked out of the closet.
"He's fine." He soothed as he looked himself in the mirror. "We'll figure out a better plan with me playing guard since Joey's sick of it and we'll start winning again."
"I don't think that's the problem. Ken hasn't been playing well since he's been back."
"Eh, I think when he's defending me, he'll play better." He shrugged as he came over to me to kiss me goodbye. "What are you up to today?"
"Steven wants to grab lunch."
"Bonticello? I see you talking to him at the gym a lot." He cocked his eyebrow inquisitively.
"Yeah, he's actually pretty cool. We're gonna get something and head to the gym."
"I knew you would get into the gym if you kept at it." He replied before kissing one more time. This one was interrupted by a screeching noise and we both knew that was Ken speeding off meaning Jon would have to drive himself. "Man, maybe you're right. Oh well. I'm gonna go. I love you."
"I love you too" I gleefully answered as he walked up the stairs. It was nice to be in this bliss with him. We had finally weathered the storm and this was the reward.
I decided laying in bed all day probably wasn't a good use of my time so I walked over the shower to clean up. I took a look at my progress in the shower and as everyone expected it was coming along at a rapid pace. My pecs had pretty much swollen up and my rib cage was slowly disappearing on all sides. Evanna was an incredible trainer and I was excited to see where I could get to by the end of the school year. I took A quick shower and just as I was finishing up getting dressed Steve was knocking on the door.
"Hey bro." I greeted him as I opened the door.
"Wassup." He replied happily. "Wheres the boyfriend and the cuzzo?"
"Basketball crap and my uncles are back in Scotland finishing up the move, they'll be back by the end of the week." I answered turning around to walk back towards the living room.
"Cool wanna eat here?" He walked over to my couch and hopped on it.
"Yeah sure." I pulled out my phone and opened the app to order. "Salads? Chipotle?"
"I'm down to cheat." He answered as I joined him.
"Burgers it is." I put in my order for the hog and tossed him the phone.
"You mind getting this. I'm broke until next week."
"Like I'm gonna let you pay." I laughed as I sprawled over the couch to stretch.
"Thank man. You really are awesome." He looked down and smiled in gratitude.
"Don't do this bro." I got up and punched him. "I'm just a brat with a trust fund. I'm nothing special."
"I know. I try not to be jealous but it's hard."
"Anyways," I started trying to change the subject. "Tina Chen huh?"
"It's nothing." We caught them hooking up at a party last night and I had to ask. "We were horny. That's all it will be."
"I guess someone had to take over for Jon as the resident man whore."
"I don't know man." I look at you and Jon and Eric and Veronica and I kinda want something like that for myself."
"I mean Jenna's always..."
"Jenna and I don't click. After what she did to me at that party a few months ago I don't want that drama bro." He looked up and sighed. Steve seemed in a funk. Everything he did didn't seem good enough. He reminded me of Ken before his new found wealth.
"You're good man." I confidently comforted him. "You already have your scholarship to Penn State. Even if you don't find some girl out here in this stupid town, you'll find someone."
"You've flipped since you started dating Johnny." He laughed as he pushed me off the couch.
"Hey! You can't just do that to me anymore!" I exclaimed boldly.
"Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it?" He laughed and before he knew it I jumped on him and we were mock fighting like we were twelve. I never actually did this when I was younger and the whole gay thing made it awkward with anyone else. The great thing was it really wasn't erotic in any way for me because of how smitten I was with Jon. It was just two guys being idiots. Eventually Steve got the best of me and held me in a head lock and I had to surrender.
"Try that again twinkle toes." He said as he went to the door to get the floor.
"Shut up." I said as I brushed myself off and moved to the table.
We settled the food and dug in. Steve went on the conservative side as I went all out with the barbeque swiss burger.
"So you tell Jon how you felt about the team?"
"He's so fucking unaware man. I'm gonna give up and hope it works out."
"I mean, it doesn't matter anymore right? Ken can afford college now."
"I really think he's going through an identity crisis on top of everything. He hasn't been doing his replay reviews and has been disappearing lately."
"You talk to him about it?"
"No chances to. I'm too busy with Jon as it is."
"Level with me. How many times a week? Every day?"
"Uhh..."
"Eric owes me twenty bucks. I knew it was every day."
"Shut up man." I crumbled up my food and shot it in the trash. "Let's go! 3 points!"
"Jason Andrews saying "Let's go." Steve shook his head as he finished up his food. "You ready to die from my routine."
"Bring it."
I said goodbye to Steve after and called Jon on my way home seeing if he wanted me to pick up dinner.
"Hey babe."
"You want dinner?"
"Sure. Pick up whatever."
"What about Ken?"
"He went off as soon as we decided to start me again. Man I hope he can get off that shit soon because he doesn't want to be near any of us"
"Babe. Do you think maybe he doesn't care about ball anymore?"
"Nah, he's just super grouchy."
"But..."
"Babe, I know my best friend. He's just moody. I promise." It was the same conversation a million times over and I was sick of it.
"Ok babe you know best. I'm getting chicken."
"Sounds good. Love you."
"Love you too." I finished.
We settled down for dinner and my phone rang. As soon as I saw it was my uncle I picked up.
"Hello?"
"Jace. Speaker." Calvin demanded.
"Of course." I complied as I rolled my eyes.
"Who's with you?"
"Just the cat."
"LION." Jon corrected with his mouth full.
"Where's my son?"
"We're not sure." I answered truthfully.
"He went off on his own after we saw the boys today."
"It's fine I'll call him later. We're going to Texas for Thanksgiving so prepare to leave next week."
"We?" I asked looking at Jon.
"The little Hans are joining us. Karen has been a wonderful intern if not a bit arrogant and I would imagine you want your toy there with you. I had a wonderful conversion with Kun and he said it was a great idea."
"Thank you sir. I appreciate it." Jon replied over the phone.
"This is my mothers doing isn't it?" I asked annoyed.
"'Fraid so sport. I wanted to stay so Kenneth could stay close to his parents but you know how she is."
"Manipulated my dad. blah blah blah blah." I finished his statement rolling my eyes. "Is there anything else Uncle?"
"You need to decide which college you're going to before Christmas so we can make the proper arrangements."
"I was wondering when you would tell me this." I sighed as I looked yet again at my boyfriend.
"Well if that isn't ominous. Ok sport, I'm going to call Kenneth now. Jon make sure he goes to therapy on Wednesday please."
"Of course sir. Have a good night." He responded obediently before hanging up for me.
"Before you ask, I don't know."
"You mean you aren't going to blindly follow me to OSU and live happily ever after?" He joked before picking up his food once again.
"Come on. This isn't funny. You know I love you and it would suck to be long distance."
"Wharton is like the best business school in the nation over at Penn but I don't think your family has enough money to pay their way in." He responded honestly.
"Penn was just a thought when you asked me back then. I don't actually know. What if I wanted a gap year?"
"Like your Uncle would allow that." He answered as he finished his food.
"Jon."
"Don't worry about it." He picked up my hand and kissed it. "If you decide you want to go to another school, we will work it out. It's not like you can't travel to me if you miss me."
"True."
"Come on. Let's watch some tv until Kenny comes home."
"You mean you don't wanna go downstairs." I asked oh so innocently.
"Nah. I wanna see when this oaf comes home." He said with a side eye. "I think he has a girl and he's hiding her from me."
"You know, that makes a lot of sense." I said as I thought about it. "Do you think he's gonna sneak her up to his room?" After Ken's old home was cleaned out and moved to storage, he took the first guest room on the far end of the house away from my Uncle's room.
"No. He's not that stupid. He knows we're home." He lead me to the couch and turned on Netflix. "I just wanna talk."
"He'll actually fight you if you piss him off. He's probably still really angry." I reminded him.
"It's fine. Ooh. New season of that awful teen drama."
We settled in and enjoyed the show for a couple of episodes and eventually Ken wanderered into the door looking much happier than earlier today.
"Kenny! How was the date?"
"Huh?" Ken looked like a deer in headlights clearly not expecting the ambush.
"Is it Tina? I bet it's Tina."
"You're gotta be kidding me." Ken said as he caught back up. "No, it's not Tina. Lemme enjoy this before I tell you guys."
"I knew it!" He got up and hugged his best friend excitedly. "You lose it yet?"
"No, bro. Not yet."
"Come on! Tell me!"
"I was embarrassed of you when we first started hanging out." I reminded him. "Let him be."
Jon scanned his best friend and then his eyes went wide and a dumb smile enveloped his face. I hadn't seen that smile since I admitted we were dating.
"Babe...can you call Jenna?"
"God. Fuck you and your stupid mind reading." Ken accepted defeat as he shoved Jon off of him. "Yes! It's fucking Jenna! You can't let me have anything!"
Jon went into his laughing fit while running around the house as we both stood there wondering why we even associated with this idiot.
"I'm happy for you." I pat him on the shoulder as we observed the dumb cat jump around. "If she becomes too much, just tell me and I'll set her straight."
"It's strange. She's different when we're alone."
"You see a side of her nobody else sees?" I answered laughing.
"We noticed the similarities too." He admitted as Jon continued on. "Hopefully it goes as well."
"No you don't. The past three months were a nightmare." I reminded him.
"You know what I mean. You guys are in love and I hope I can get to the same place with her."
"DOUBLE DATE TIME! LET'S GO!" Jon picked up his keys way too excitedly.
"No." We said in unison as our eyes narrowed.
"Fine. Ahh my bro's dating my boyfriends best friend. Can't write a better script!" He ran outside to get more excess energy out.
"Head up. I'll wrangle him in and go to bed." I pat him on the shoulder one more time before walking towards the back.
"Thanks Jace. You think dad will mind if I bring her along on the trip?"
"Uncle won't, but my mother despises Jenna for some reason."
"That sucks. I'm still gonna ask."
"Go for it." I finished as I turned the corner out of sight.
I made it outside and hit my vape just as he was finishing up his victory lap.
"You're such a spaz."
"Your spaz." He reminded me as he came up to hug and kiss me on the cheek. "I'm so happy babe. The hero got the dream girl!"
"Everything's a story with you."
"And I get to be the trophy husband."
"Come on you. We have to get the house ready for everyone tommorow in the morning."
"Ah fuck you're right I forgot." He got off of me and walked into the house. "When are they coming over?" We decided to have a small get together with my new found friend group while the parents were away. Nothing crazy, just Eric, Ronnie, Jenna and Steve.
"Around noon. You think Eric will bring booze?"
"Maybe. We did talk today about how we're not gonna party hard until the seasons over. Not to mention all three of us aren't drinking."
"Three of us? Uncle only said me and Ken aren't allowed to.
"Babe." He came back and kissed me on the lips like the first day of school. Instead of standing there dumbfounded I returned it and it brought me back up from the moment of dread I had. "If you aren't drinking, it would be cruel to get drunk in front of you."
"Okay." I chuckled and we pressed our foreheads together. "You're too good to me. What did I ever do to deserve you?"
"I'm gonna remember that when you're mad at me." He grabbed my hand and lead me downstairs. "I need a shower. Care to join me?"
"Always."
"I'd love to have you in the gym showers after a game." He joked as we walked down.
"So fucking horny." I replied rolling my eyes.
"You gonna do something about it?" He asked as he took off his clothes.
"What if I don't?" I joked as I followed suit.
"Take a look at me and tell me you don't want me." He called my bluff as he walked to turn on the shower. His ass moved in perfection as he walked. The perfect combination of thickness and definition had me mesmerized as he reached in and felt the water waiting for it to warm up.
"This thing gets bigger every time I see it." I said as I walked up and grabbed it.
"Mmm. You like my ass babe?" He groaned as he backed into me to rest in my arms.
"I love it."
"Prove it." He challenged me once again.
"You're such a fucker." I groaned as I met his challenge by getting on my knees and spreading his cheeks and diving right in.
"FUCK." He yelled as the flat of my tongue enveloped as much as his beautiful sweat caked ass as it could. "Oh god babe."
"Try me again." I shot out between licks. God, he tasted incredible. The perfect amount of salt lingered on my tongue and wanted more.
As the room steamed up all that could be heard was Jon's cries as he held the doorframe of the shower. I felt like I was out of my own body as I continued my assault. Here I was deeply sexually involved with the schools point guard and he couldn't get enough of me. After a solid tongue bath I came up and embraced my panting loved and grasped him tight,
"Do I win?" I asked as I kissed his neck and grinded my dick into his now moist hole. "Or do I need to keep going?"
"You win." He answered breathlessly backing into me and grinding my erection. Nothing gets me harder than having Jon like this. It let me feel like his equal, that we were really in this for each other and I wasn't just another bottom to him.
"Alright." I whispered into his ear as I took a hold of his pulsing erection. "Let me take care of you now."
My sexual journey with Jon was incredibly fast paced. In a short month and a half, I learned from Jon how sensitive you could be such simple touches. Kissing his neck, rubbing his nipple with my free hand and grinding into him all at once, I worked his entire body and we were quickly back to the submissive whimpering lion. All the signs started appearing. His breathing was quickly becoming short, his ass was clenching and dick was throbbing it was only a matter of time before he finally released.
"Babe..." He cried. "I'm gonna..."
Knowing this was the end I bit down and sucked on his neck as if I was trying to draw life from him. He screamed as forced him into climax and I felt his load withdraw from his balls and shoot right into the shower.
He backed into me and I held him up as failed to regain his composure. I didn't say a word as I brought us in and let him stand against the wall under the shower while I worked on cleaning him off. We eventually made it to the bed and as soon as I tucked him in, I heard the soft snore I had become accustomed to. While I loved the pillow talk, I couldn't help but be satisfied coming out on top. I took the other side of the bed and fell asleep with a smile that couldn't be knocked off my face.
II woke up alone to a lot of rustling upstairs. I scratched my scalp and worked my way up knowing those two were up to no good and sure enough I was right.
"Come on! Tell me!" Jon begged in a headlock.
"You need to know you're place." Ken demanded in a light hearted tone. "We'll have sex when I'm ready." With that he released his hold on Jon, got up and walked towards the kitchen.
"It's our senior year! How you're still a virgin I'll never understand."
"I was a virgin until homecoming." I reminded him and I hugged him good morning. "It's none of your business anyways."
Jon huffed like he always does when Im right but I squeezed him gently so he would let it go and he complied. I thanked him by kissing him on the lips for a bit.
"Damn you two really are in love huh?" Ken looked on from the kitchen as he skinned some potatoes for todays lunch.
"You're still surprised by this?' I asked as I walked towards the back dragging Jon along.
"You didn't know Johnny before you Jace." Ken reminded me "Jon loved pussy. He was banging chicks left and right."
"Are you trying to get him mad?" Jon broke free and threw up his hands.
"No secrets Jon." He chuckled.
"Oh NOW you use that against me." With that he charged right back into Ken and they were back to roughhousing like children. All I could do was shake my head and go outside.
You would think something like that would bother me but it didn't. Jon was different in a lot of ways before we met and that was just one dumb aspect of it all. I looked at the school as I hit my vape and gave a bit of thought to my future. The big question was on my mind. Would I go to the same school as Jon just to stay together? My uncle drilled it in my head that we were young and drunk on love but right now everything just felt so perfect that I couldn't imagine a second away from him let alone a long distance relationship. If I had to choose today, I would say yes but there were so many issues. I still didn't know what I was going to major in. What about Ken and his plans?
"Stop thinking about it." Jon said as he opened to door and sauntered over to me.
"I really wish you would stop that." I hopelessly requested as he came behind me and hugged me like we were before.
"Never. No secrets." He kissed my neck and rested his chin on my shoulder blade. "Your back is so much stronger now."
"Glad you like it."
"I love it. I love everything about you and everything you're becoming."
"Babe, how did you come to be like this? You definitely weren't like this when we first started hanging out last year. What gives?"
"It all changed that night you nearly drank yourself into a coma." He reminded me. "I decided if I can prevent you from being like that ever again then I should change for you." He brushed my hair as he continued. "It started with me just not wanting to have you mad and walk off, but the more I stayed this way, the more natural it became."
"So if we broke up..."
"I probably wouldn't go back to my old ways. I tried with Veronica and I just felt dirty." He completed my thought and continued. "There's nothing stressing me out right now and I hope it lasts."
"Me too." I said ominously.
"I said to stop thinking about it" He gripped me tight and did his best to break me of my funk and this time he succeeded and got me to chuckle. "There he is."
"Guys! Everyones here!" Ken shouted from the window.
"I guess that's that." I kissed him on the cheek and lead him in by the hand.
"So it's true huh?" Veronica asked Jenna as Jenna helped Ken cook.
"Why? Do you have a problem?" Jenna spit right back.
"Ladies." Eric came between them to stop any animosity. "We're just in disbelief that he managed to snag you."
"I'm not this crazy bitch everyone makes me out to be you know." She went over to Ken and kissed him on the cheek. "He'll tell you. We've been nice and boring this past week."
"Boring huh?" Jon joined in as we made our way over. "Reminds me of someone else."
"Yeah Ken. You gonna take Jenna to AC for her birthday too?" I added.
"Very funny. My trip is to Texas apparently." Jenna said as she rolled her eyes.
"Uncle said yes?" I asked Ken.
"He said it wouldn't be a problem." He answered happily.
"Man, I'm really the only single one left." Steve sighed announcing our presence to us.
"You could always date Tina." Veronica joked.
"We really shouldn't make fun of her. She's a sweet girl. She's just a slut." Eric chastised everyone laughing.
"Where's the booze? I need a cold one." Steve asked as he got up to look in the fridge.
"Locked up. Remember?" I reminded him rolling my eyes.
"Shit. I knew I should of picked up something."
"STEVE! Ken and Jace don't drink." Veronica got into her motherly tone immediately.
"It's fine." Eric immediately followed up and went to a brown bag with a six pack. "It's just me and him."
"Whatever. Just flaunt some drinks in front of Jace. That's not rude or anything." Veronica rolled her eyes as the two guys cracked open the beers and took generous drinks.
"Ronnie. I understand your concern but really I'm fine." I assured her as I squeezed my boyfriend.
"I just..." Veronica used to be rich when we were younger but her father has a terrible drinking problem and abused her and her mom so she was very sensitive about my current situation. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate her concern it was just I didn't want everyone's good time to suffer on my behalf. "Are you sure you're ok with it?"
"II wouldn't hide It I promise." I assured her.
"Alright. Everyone sit down. Food's done." Ken commanded and we all followed suit.
The rest of the night involved your usual teenage antics. Rough housing, weed and tobacco smoking, and general conversations about what we wanted to do over the holidays. Everyone eventually got me to promise another slammer here before the weather became too much and planning that was pretty much on my mind for the rest of the night. Around two everyone said their goodbyes until tommorow and we all went off to bed. I was surprised Jenna didn't stay the night but it made sense considering how slow they were taking it.
On Wednesday between school and my therapist my uncles walked into the house and of course Calvin wanted something from me so I came up from the basement and indulged him.
"How was the flight?" I asked as I approached.
"Slept the entire way through." Calvin answered as he flipped through a book about adoption. "The Houstons are coming over for dinner on Friday before we leave. I decided to be nice and tell you ahead of time."
"Is that all?" I laughed at the absurdity of what I was just told. "You really are hellbent on me making up with him aren't you?"
"It's an exercise in being a compassionate human being." He said at if he got it straight from one of his books.
"Oh yes because Calvin Andrews the trust fund owner knows so much about that." I snapped out immediately.
"I see the bliss of your relationship has faded." He replied unphased by my outburst. "No matter. It's still something you need to do. Martha and Gregory want to see you anyways."
"Whatever. Sure." I said as I walked away. "Going to therapy now. Farewell."
"I just don't get it. He's not going to be in my life any longer after this year. Why do I need to forgive him?" I ranted to my therapist.
"Do you think it's ok to hold grudges when he's adamant that he's sorry?"
"It's about intent. He's still this cocky arrogant asshole who can do no wrong." I explained. "He started a fight with my cousin over nothing! People like that don't deserve my forgiveness."
"Interesting." She elongated as she typed away.
"I'd rather hear it straight from you than do this whole Socratic nonsense doc." I replied immediately. "Can you tell me what you actually think?"
"Very well. Jason, I believe you grew up very resentful. There was a multitude of conflicts in your life and you believe that conflict should always exist."
"Are you saying that I look for problems?" I asked incredulously.
"Are there any real problems in your life right now you think you should worry about?"
"No! Everything is going well!" I answered immediately
"If that's the case, you should be able to live your life without any qualms, right? I think you should explore why you are so adamant of letting your former best friend be such a negative part of your life when you've come so far in such a short period of time. When one grows up with constant conflict, it tends to warp their view of what actually makes them happy."
There I was again with that dumb look on my face. This is why she is where she is now.
I came home and noticed everyone was home including Jon. After another grueling gym session with Evanna I needed to think so walked to the backyard into a conversation I didn't think would happen so soon.
"You know it's not fair to them to keep going like this if you've made up your mind." Jenna said as I opened the door.
"Have I made up my mind though?" Ken asked as I backed against the wall to continue to listen.
"You were staring at the screen for the past two hours doing nothing with the game footage before I dragged you out of your room."
"I'm just in a funk babe. I have to be."
I was right. Ken had lost his motivation for basketball and Jenna was trying to show him that. As much as I enjoyed being right, this wasn't going to bode well for Jon's future. This was his whole future and I think Ken knows that. I decided I had heard enough and walked into the back and announced my entrance.
"Hey lil bro." Ken waved as Jenna got off of him. "Why are you back here?"
"The house is too noisy. I just wanna think about what the therapist told me about Houston." I answered honestly pretending I didn't hear a word out of them. "You know they're coming over for dinner on Friday right?"
"Yeah. Dad told me. You wanna talk about it?"
"Not really." I continued to answer. "What are you two up to?"
"He was staring at his computer all day so I brought him out here for some fresh air." Jenna finally spoke up.
"How sweet." I said sarcastically. "Is Jon downstairs?"
"Yeah he decided to take a nap while you were at the gym with Steve."
"I'm surprised Jon isn't jealous of your budding romance with him." Jenna joked.
"it's not like that. He's a really nice guy but I couldn't date someone so large." I've given this a lot of thought. Jon just complimented me so well I don't think anyone could replace him. "I need to find him a girl. I'm surprised nobody's interested in him."
"Honestly..." Jenna started. "He's just a real sad guy at the end of it all."
My eye twitched immediately as I thought back to a couple of days ago when we really started to get to know each other.
**
I was coming out of newspaper club and the idiots were away at a game so I had nothing to do so Steve and I decided to make the most of it and just grab food. After some arguing about the price, I managed to pay for everything.
"You seem down." I noticed after we placed our order at my place.
"I'm fine man."
I chuckled before continuing. "You're talking to the king of negative emotions dude. Come on, whats up?"
"What's gotten into you?" He asked annoyed.
"I don't know man." I answered as I sat back and sipped my ill-advised beer. "It's hard to be upset with how everything has been going."
"It's nice to see what Jon's done to you."
"It's my hound of an Uncle too." I admitted.
"I'm jealous. I wished someone care about me that much."
"You're on the only successful program at our school man. What do you mean nobody cares?"
"It's just a means to college man." He sighed. "If I don't try, I'm going into the army. Coach doesn't get involved in our personal lives as long as we play well. Leaves me with a bunch of free time on my hands."
"Why did you start hanging out with us?" I asked trying to change the subject.
"I don't really get along with the wrestling team." He admitted quickly. "I'll scrim. I'll give my all on game day. I'll win my match but past that they're all just so annoying. You guys didn't seem to hate me so here I am."
"Man I'm sorry." I sighed as every avenue I used failed. We all knew Steve casually but it hadn't occurred to me that he was just kind of there. We kind of just absorbed him after the funeral and he seemed like a decent dude so nobody objected. This was the first time I actually got to know him and it was another story from the apartment block.
"For what?" He chuckled. "My pathetic life?"
"It's not pathetic dude."
"Don't sugar coat it man." He leaned back and stopped the tears from flowing. "I've known man. It's what I've got though. Maybe if I hang around you guys it'll get better."
"Come on Jenna." Ken followed up immediately. "He's just like me...well the spot I used to be in. It's stressful. Cut him some slack."
"You're right." She quickly admitted raising my eyebrow for another reason. "Sorry."
"I have NEVER heard Jenna say sorry." I pointed at Jenna and looked at Ken. "The hell have you done to her?"
"I SWEAR TO GOD JASON." She started as she walked over
"YOU'VE FALLED FOR THE BIG OAF HAVEN'T YOU?" I yelled over her.
"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU." She screamed even louder as she started to make good on her promise.
Jenna chased me around the pool area for a bit until she ran out of energy. I guess the gym was paying off after all. After we got all our energy out over nothing, we met our two boyfriends up on the deck and enjoyed a nice dinner cooked by Uncle Calvin. Jenna had to close at her job after so she left leaving us alone in the basement for the first time in a couple of weeks.
"So what do you think Kenny?" Jon put a bunch of plays on the TV. "I was thinking we bring back the classic for a bit and then move into the three pointers with Eric if we run into problems."
"Whatever you want Johnny." Ken said distantly looking at his phone.
"Great!" Jon closed out blissfully unaware came over to the bed. "Let's get back to that show we were watching the other day."
"Sure." I agreed as I nuzzled into him. I as we watched I couldn't help but think about what I had heard a half hour ago. After two episodes Jon received a call from his mom and he decided to be a good son and go help her out. This left an awkward silence between the two of us.
"How much did you hear?" Ken asked looking at me dead on.
"All of it pretty much." I answered. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm talking to coach about it on Monday. I'm not gonna leave the team but I am going to step down."
"You're gonna break his heart you know.." I said crestfallen
"I'll figure out something for the OSU scout." He said confidently. "Do you think if I begged dad he could pull strings for Johnny too?"
"Let's go find out." I hopped out of my bed and motioned him along.
"Wait. Jace. I don't think..."
"If you're going to be an Andrew, you need to learn how to be blunt." I said cutting him off. "Come on. The worst he can say is no."
"Jace! Come on wait. Let me at last figure out what to say." Ken begged as he followed me up.
"UNCLE." I shouted expecting him to be upstairs.
"Jace. I'm right here." He answered from the living room. "What is it?"
"Ken wants you to pull a favor for Jon." I answered as I felt Ken freeze up.
"Get him into the basketball team over in Ohio?" Calvin raised his eyebrow from his book.
"Well...I mean...if you could Dad..." Ken stammered nervously. It was so weird having Ken as my cousin and I was still getting used to it so I could help but laugh.
"Well. I might as well tell you guys now since you're asking about it." Calvin put his book down and took off his glasses before sipping on some drink he made. "They want nothing to do with him."
"What?" Both of us shot out.
"I had one of my assistants look into it. They've already decided on their recruitment schedule this year and Wilson isn't on it. I offered a large donation for them to come check you and Jon out, but they denied it." He shrugged.
"You could take some money out of my trust if it meant..."
"Jace. I assure you this is something a reasonable amount of money can't buy. I offered a little over five-hundred grand."
"HOW MUCH?" Ken asked shocked. "How much are you people worth?"
"Don't worry about it son. Now, if Jon wants to go to Ohio State normally then I could pull that off but the price for a spot of on their team? Too much for even me." He shrugged before putting his book on the table and walking towards the stairs. "Sorry boys, you can't have everything." He pat Ken on the head as he passed. "I can break the news to him if you want. Just let me know."
"Well Shit. Whats even the point then?" Ken asked hopelessly.
"I couldn't tell you...Maybe you guys see this all the way through for the sake of completion?" I replied pulling an answer out of my ass
"This was only for Johnny." He admitted for the first time. "Fuck bro. What am I gonna do?"
"I'm just surprised you don't care about Basketball anymore. What's up with that?"
"It was for college man. I don't have to worry about that anymore. I wanna go to school to be a chef and open up my own place." He played with his hands as he nervously told me everything. "It was so stressful being the guy who needed to have all the answers and honestly I'm over it. I was gonna just do my best for Johnny but he can't make the team at OSU theres no point."
"Yeah...but how are we gonna tell him?"
"Sooner is better than later." Ken shrugged as he turned around to join my uncles upstairs. "We should probably do it before we leave for Texas."
The next morning I woke up at around five but I just laid in bed not wanting to get out. Like clockwork Jon ambled downstairs and I pretended to be asleep so he could have the satisfaction of waking me up. He straddled me and pressed his nose against mine and eventually I opened my eyes to his wonderful smile that made me feel guilty beyond words.
"Good Morning." He said before kissing me.
"Do we have to go today?" I asked. I just wanted to spend as much time with him as possible knowing what was coming soon.
"Kenny already left to meet with Coach. I should probably follow along for the tail end of it." He answered before getting off of me. "Do you want me to go ahead?"
"No, no. I'll come along." I said as I got up. "Just give me a minute."
The house was strangely empty as I made my way out. Both of my uncles must have had an early start as well. I tried to enjoy the walk but Jon seemed hellbent on being there so we were at the locker room in no time.
"Babe.." I said before I let him face the music.
"Whats up?" He turned around and came close to me and smiled again. "I'll see you after first period you know."
"It's nothing." I lied.
He looked at me and knew he was lying but clearly getting to his meeting was more important to him so he kissed me once more and said we would talk about it later before running off.
"Hey bro." Kelber greeted me as he approached the locker room. "What are you doing on this side?"
"Hey man." I still didn't like Kelber after all the shit that transpired between him and Ken but It was easy enough to be amicable with one of Jon's good friends. "They missed you yesterday. Why'd you back out?"
"My parents made me go to some fancy dinner with scouting specialist." He said as he motioned me to follow him into the locker room. "I have to break it Johnny today that OSU isn't interested in our shitty program."
"Yeah, we found that out last night as well." I answered a bit too quickly.
"Oh so Johnny knows?" Kelber quickly responded
"Well..." I said slowly not wanting to admit we hadn't told him yet.
"Oh. Don't worry bro I got this." He put his stuff in his locker and walked toward the office. "Just head to homeroom. With that Kelber jogged his way into the office. It was at this point I realized I was late for my own morning meeting so I made my way to Judy's class and walked into what I was sure would be another one of Leena's schemes.
"I can't thank you enough for agreeing to this." Leena said as I made my way into the room.
"It'll be cool to be on the front page." Steve said as they both finally came into my line of sight.
"Jason!" Leena excitedly rushed over to me. "You and Steve are gonna do another interview for the front page of the Thanksgiving edition of the paper!"
"Who said I agreed to interviewing someone else?" Admittedly, I didn't do anything the last time but I still didn't like interviewing my friends or anyone for that matter. I was supposed to just be the damn opinion columnist.
"Oh come on bro. It'll be easy." Steve said chuckling.
"So it's settled!" Leena forced the issue through as she always did.
"Where is Judy?" I demanded as she was my only defense from Leena.
"She's going to be here for First but come on! Don't you want the paper to look good?"
"No. I don't particularly care. This is a time kill for me and I don't appreciate you using me so adamantly. Can't someone else do this?"
"Jace. Come on bro. We can get out of first period a couple times this week. It'll be fun.!" Steve came up and shrugged his shoulders trying to get me to agree.
I think Steve just liked the attention he was getting. He was good at what he did but like with everything else he was just ignored because he wasn't showing off. I guess this was his chance to be in the spotlight and he didn't want to pass it up.
"Fine." I threw my hands up in the air and walked out of the classroom to smoke after reluctantly agreeing. Leena was way too good at what she did and I needed another form of defense against it lest I wanted this to keep happening.
I came out of first period looking for Jon but he was nowhere to be seen. After about a minute my phone buzzed and a simple text told me all I could know for now.
"I'm not mad I promise. I'll see you at home." The text read. I sighed in relief because it meant he took the news better than I thought so I went about my day as usual.
After classes were over for me, I decided to see what Ken was up to and he told me he was still working on his program so I decided to join him in the gym.
"Why are you still working on this?" I asked as I walked over with the delivery app open eyeing our options for Lunch.
"Coach said he'd agree with me stepping down if I finished this thing." He said as he continued to type away. "Can you test it for me?"
"It's crazy that you designed this and now you just don't even care about it." I said as I lined up with the ball.
"I kind of do. It's why I agreed to keep going." He looked at me and touched up the camera before continuing on. "Alright you're all set. Shoot."
I shot the ball and made it into the hoop and I heard the computer go off like it always did so I joined him behind to see what it had to say.
"Not bad little bro. You've come a long way since we started a month ago." He typed away and moved the screen towards me. "Look at this graph, it shows how much better your approach as gotten."
"Come on Ken, you know this doesn't mean shit to me." I said as I laughed and handed him my phone. "I want sushi. Pick what you want and I'll have them drop it off here."
"You gonna order me something?" Jon asked as he leaned in the doorway.
"Jon! Where did you run off to? I didn't see you in first."
"I had stuff I needed to take care of." He answered as he came over and took the phone out of Ken's hands. "Why are we even bothering with delivery? We can just go eat out."
"Coach expects me to be around. I've been getting away with too much he says." Ken said rolling his eyes.
"Ah. I guess he had to get you on something." Jon said chuckling before handing the phone back over.
"Ok. How are you ok with everything? Your entire plan just collapsed in front of your eyes." I asked adamantly. Jon was always a hot head and this was something that certainly should of sent him off.
"You think too much you know that." He pierced me with his eyes telling me he was right inside my brain seeing everything. "It's fine."
"Forgive me if I don't believe you." I said crossing my arms unphased that he was in in my thoughts.
"If you must know. I always knew I was lucky enough to get this far." He looked up at the gym and shook his head before looking at me again. "I'm a short, aggressive asshole who brute forced his way to a Semi-Finals that I didn't deserve and it most certainly wasn't going to happen again based on how the past few weeks have gone. It's a pretty big relief actually."
"That still doesn't answer where you ran off to after the meeting." Ken said as he demanded an answer.
"I had to talk to Calvin." He casually answered. "Figure out my options."
"What did he tell you?" I asked.
"Well he said I wouldn't have to worry about which school I was getting into." He walked over the Ken as he continued. "More importantly, he told me how you wanna open up a place of your own."
"Blasted uncle." I said rolling my eyes.
"Let's do it bro." He held his arms out wide waiting for a hug. "Let's open up a place together. You run the back and I'll run the front!"
Ken's scowl quickly turn into a smile and just like that he was picking up Jon and giving him the hug of his life. All I could do was shake my head as the two idiots picked up right where they left off being best friends and I couldn't help but be jealous. It seemed like any turmoil the two ever had was quickly resolved and they just couldn't be broken. I wished I had someone like that in my life.
"So what does that mean Jon? Are you just abandoning OSU like that?" I asked snapping my fingers.
"Well I mean, that's kind of you now." He was put down and scratched the back of his head as he came over to me.
"What do you mean on me?"
"I'll make a decision based on where you want to go babe."
"Babe I have no idea where I..."
"I know. That's why I'll wait." He came over and kissed me softly. "I don't want this to burden you so take your time."
I huffed and turned away getting a chuckle out of the two idiots. Jon really had be cracked but I refuse to give him the satisfaction. They went back to their conversation about what they wanted to do with their future and I sat on the side lines and threw a few more baskets until the food got here.
"It's just so strange doc. Everything is going so well. There's no way my life became this easy! I don't even want to drink anymore!" I ranted to my shrink to start the session.
"We talked about this last week. You deserve this comfort in your life. You've worked very hard for it Jason."
"Have I though? I'm just this spoiled rich kid with an understanding boyfriend and a great group of friends and I just don't think I fit in."
"Why is that?" She asked as she continued to type away
"I'm an actual loser. I'm coasting by and if I didn't have money I would have zero prospects."
"What you deserve is irrelevant of your past Jason. You deserve to be happy."
"I just can't buy that Doc. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. It's why we're working through it." She continued. "Lets take this step by step."
"Sure." I agreed unsure where she was going with this.
"How long have you and Jon been together?"
"It's two months on the dot."
"Why are you still together?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"Please just indulge me." She looked up from her laptop for the first time and smiled gently to coax an answer out of me.
"He makes me happy." I answered simply.
"Does he just do it naturally?"
"Not really. He pisses me off all the time."
"If he annoys you, why don't you just stay friends?"
"Well I mean the sex is pretty great."
"You can have a healthy sexual relationship with him without being committed."
"He's more than that." I admitted. "He's unreasonably patient."
"Do you think you two work well?"
"Well yeah." I thought back to the few times I had him eating out of my hand and struggled to keep my erection down.
"Well there you go. You've made an meaningful impact in your boyfriends life. Can you think of what you do for your friend Ken?"
"Well I mean my uncle adopted him so that ones easy."
"Jenna?"
"I'm her home away from home. She can come to me about anything and I'll figure it out for her honestly."
"You seem like a point of strength in your friend group. This goes far beyond your money Jason. People know they can come to you and you'll be honest with them and that's very hard to find."
"I guess..." I rolled my eyes as yet again Ms. Lin has proved me wrong.
"Let's talk about Mark."
"What about him?"
"Do you think some part of your self-worth is tied to him still?"
"Absolutely not. He can go rot in hell for all I care." I shot out quickly.
"Well then this dinner should be an easy way of ending this chapter of your life."
"Why do I have to give him the satisfaction?" I scoffed as I adjusted myself in the seat.
"I dare say this isn't for him Jason. It's for you."
"Please explain doc. Everyone keeps saying this but I just don't understand."
"Everyone around you wants you to let go of an unnecessary grudge."
"He outed me and made my life a living hell for three years. How am I supposed to forgive him?"
"Have you considered his feelings in all of this? He may not be good at apologizing and is actually making the effort."
"Why does he get to decide when I forgive him?" I quickly pivoted not wanting to give him any ground.
"It's a healthy way for you to move forward and prove that you've truly changed in your mindset."
"It all circles back to my growth doesn't it?" I groaned.
"You've changed plenty of things in just two months. How much is this really worth to you?"
"I can't quantify it doc."
"Here is what I want you to think about for the rest of the week and we'll pick it up when you come back from your Vacation. You are emotionally intelligent and very compassionate but you are allowing traumatic experiences to hold you back from being the person everyone else sees."
"She's right." Jon said after I gave him the entire recount as we got ready for bed. He came over to me and butted into my head after I put on my shirt. "You're a great guy and..."
"This is another step in my growth?" I asked as rolled my eyes. "I know what she said Jon."
"It's good to reinforce things." He said before pecking my on the lips before hopping in bed and screwing with the TV remote. "Wanna keep going on that terrible drama?"
"I'm still not convinced you're happy with everything going on." I said annoyed.
"We don't have to do this." He raised his eyebrow and he put the remote on the night stand. "Come here. Let's just relax."
"I'm not starting a fight, I'm genuinely concerned considering your entire life plan just blew up in smoke because nothing worked out." I replied crossing my arms. I did want to get the subject off me but this as bothering me quite a bit.
"How about you come here and I'll explain it further?" He pat the empty side of the bed and I obliged, snuggling up to him. "My life is wonderful right now babe. I have you and my best friend is thriving in ways that I only dreamed of for him before." He panned out his arm for dramatic effect as he went on. "I wanted to be mad this morning but Kenny had this sorry look on his face and Kenny has never let me down so for him to lose all the will and drive to continue on for the team means that he must have been really burnt out from everything."
"But what about your aspirations? You can just chuck them away like that?" I asked trying to pry further.
"I can still live out my dream babe. I was going to go to school for business management. I think you thought I was dreaming to be this big shot basketball player. I'm too short for that." He said sadly.
"So that means..."
"I'm still waiting on you." He brushed my hair getting me to look in his eyes. "I don't want you to come with me for the sake of being together and I mean that."
"What other plan do I have right now though..." I asked looking back at the television.
"Gonna have to figure that out soon."
I nodded as I got under his arm. I always just kind of thought my passion would just appear in front of me like it seemed to for everyone else. I needed to figure it out soon though...