Page 21 of Bet On It

“I see.” That was all his mother said, the room getting extremely quiet. A couple of minutes passed and finally she broke the silence. “I have to admit, it wasn’t what I was expecting.”

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Let me finish, Tyler.” Her tone had him shutting up pretty quickly as fear swallowed him whole at the thought of disappointing his parents. “It wasn’t what I was expecting since you’ve shown no signs before that you had…that kind of interest, but it doesn’t change anything. You’re our son, and we support and love you no matter what. Isn’t that right?” She glanced at her husband now, using those strong eyes of hers to make him snap out of his shock.

Clearing his throat, Ty’s father agreed, “Of course. Absolutely. Like I said, we like Spencer. If he’s important to you like that, then we support it.” Ty wanted to laugh at the awkwardness his father obviously felt discussing this but couldn’t love his parents more for their understanding.

“The thing is, I don’t really know what’s going to happen, but things are definitely different.” He wasn’t going to go any deeper with them, but he knew they had an idea of what he meant. “Just promise me, if nothing changes between Spencer and me, you won’t treat him any differently. I haven’t even told him I was going to talk to you about this. Then again, I had no idea I was going to talk to you about this either.” He laughed a little, hoping to take some of the tension out of the room.

“Your secret’s safe. Promise me something, though.” His mother held his hand now, comforting him. “If this develops further, don’t hide it from us, okay?”

“I promise.” The relief he felt was just what he needed tonight. Because it wasn’t just things with Spencer that were different. He was different. The ache in his chest every time Spencer referred to the bet was confirmation that Ty was feeling something more for his best friend. He couldn’t even deny anymore that maybe some of those feelings had always been there. It was the damn bet that was making Ty brave enough to admit what he wanted. But when the bet was over, would he be brave enough on his own to admit how his feelings had changed?

Better question was: had Spencer’s feelings changed?

By Tuesday night, Ty was definitely ready to spend some time alone with Spencer. He felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders by talking to his parents. Now, he couldn’t wait for him to get home from work.

The front door closing had him leaving his bedroom and quickly walking into the living room. Spencer had just taken his jacket his off, and his nose and cheeks were a little pink from the cold, winter chill. When their eyes connected, it sent butterflies to Ty’s stomach. Normally, he would’ve been embarrassed, but it seemed he and Spencer had gotten past the discomfort of their new situation and had moved on to some sort of acceptance.

“Hey, smells like tacos in here.” Spencer smiled and started to walk over to Ty.

“That’s what you ordered, right?” Ty met him halfway, and they just stared at each other. In any other relationship, he would have kissed his lover without hesitation, but they hadn’t established what their relationship was now. Ty was thankful not to have to make the decision when Spencer leaned in and pressed his lips to Ty’s.

“I missed you last night. What’d you end up doing?”

“Funny story, actually...” Ty knew Spencer deserved to know what he’d told his parents. He just hoped he would be okay with it. “Let’s eat, and I’ll tell you all about it.” He was nervous now as he went to plate both of their dinners. He could see Spencer staring at him out of the corner of his eye, trying to figure out what Ty was going to tell him.

They sat down on the couch, but as Ty went to turn the television on, Spencer shook his head and grabbed the remote to set it back on the coffee table. “No, let’s leave it off. So, where did you go last night?”

“I had dinner with my parents.”

“Okay, nothing weird there, so why are you so nervous?” Spencer pressed for information. Was Ty such an open book that he couldn’t hide anything from his parents or Spencer?

“Um, well, they sort of…know.” Ty winced, waiting for the blow.

“They know…about…” Spencer motioned his hand in between the two of them.

“Yup.” Ty hurried on, “I mean, they don’t know about this.” He pointed to his barely there clothing. “That would just be gross. But you know my mom! There’s no getting anything past her!”

“Your mom is scary that way.” Spencer laughed, and it relieved Ty to hear.

“Look, all I told them was that things had changed some between us. See, that’s exactly why I didn’t want to go to your parents’ house.”

“Yeah, but the difference between you and me is, I don’t care if anyone knows.”

Ty’s head shot up in surprise at what Spencer had just confessed. “You don’t?”

Spencer put his plate down and slid across the couch next to Ty. “No, I don’t. Why would I?”

Why wouldn’t he? This conversation was getting too serious, too fast. “I don’t know…I guess…people will look at us differently.”

“Then, I think the question you need to ask yourself is why do you care? I can’t answer that for you, Ty. You need to take a deeper look and see if you truly do give a shit what anyone else thinks.” Ty shifted on the couch, suddenly, feeling the weight of that question on his shoulders. Why did he care? The solemnity in Spencer’s expression was replaced with a mischievous gleam—no doubt because he’d realized the gravity of the question weighing Ty down.

“However, I think considering you wouldn’t go to my parents’ because you were scared they’d know”—he took Ty’s plate out of his hands and set it on the coffee table—“and then you went to your parents’ house and told them”—taking Ty’s hand, he pulled him up to stand—“well, I think that deserves a punishment. Don’t you agree?”

Ty licked his lips and nodded.

“Clean up this mess.” The authority in Spencer’s words leaked sexual intent. “Then come to my room.” He started to walk away then added, “No need for the uniform.” Well, hello there, Benny.

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