Page 112 of Method Acting

Chase looked up at me then, his eyes reflecting the sun and the water. “I don’t know. I think maybe he was right.”

“Chase,” I whispered. Not sure what else to say.

“See?” He stood up, on the verge of tears. “Not a good reaction, Amos. Not a good reaction. If you could just pretend you’re Elijah just one more fucking time, pretend that you even like me, that’d be great?—”

He was about to turn, but I grabbed his arm. His eyes met mine, fear and hope looked back at me. “I was never Elijah,” I said. “I was never pretending. Every kiss, every touch, every time. It was me. All me.”

He nodded. “Me too.”

I cupped his face and brought his lips to mine. Soft and warm, with every emotion I couldn’t name. I pulled him against me, his arms holding me tight, and I buried my face in his neck.

“Chase, I was never acting. Not with you. Not once. I kept telling myself ‘it’s what Elijah would do,’ but it wasn’t. It was what I wanted.”

“Same,” he mumbled, nodding. “I tried. I tried to separate it.” He pulled back and looked me in the eye. “In the beginning, it was just fun and exciting. Then it was too much fun and too exciting, and I thought, wait, is this what having a boyfriend is actually like? Because if it is, then I want that.”

I laughed. “I want that too.”

His smile was everything. “Just so you know, I will fuck something up at some point. And there’s a one hundred percent chance of it being epically bad.”

I held up my hand and counted off my fingers. “No cheating and no lying. It’s not hard.”

“Is that it? Are those the rules? Because those are easy.”

I thought for a second. “No sulking, no miscommunication. We’re going to talk like adults.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “I can do that.”

“And no being a wallowing, melodramatic bisexual.”

He made a face. “Okay, look. There are limits. The bisexual is a constant, and the wallowing, melodramatic part is almost guaranteed at some point. You’ll just need to learn how to deal with it.”

I laughed and with my fingers under his chin, I tilted his face and kissed him again.

“So? Boyfriends?” he asked. “You’d technically be my first ever, so if you want the title, it’s up for grabs.”

“I want the title.”

He laughed and threw his arms around me. “Does this mean there’ll be orgasms?”

I wrapped my arms around him tight, laughing. “I think it might, yeah.”

We walked into Chase’s house holding hands and as we were about to take the stairs, Jimmy poked his head around the corner.

“Oh, hey,” Chase said. “Can’t chat. About to get a dicking.”

Oh god.

Jimmy laughed. “So does this mean . . . ?” He looked between us.

“Yes,” Chase replied. “To all the questions. Yes, we made up. Yes, we’re officially dating. Yes, he’s gonna dick me so hard, and yes, if you break the lock on my door to film us, I will kill you.”

Jimmy grinned. “I’m glad. Glad you worked it out, I mean. We watched the livestream. It was pretty cool. Max can finally stop moping.”

“Yeah, it was pretty cool,” I said.

Jimmy flattened down his shirt. “I, uh, I was just about to leave, actually. So you’ll have the house to yourselves. Tate and I are heading down to the bar with the girls. Georgia asked me,” he said, blushing. “Hope that’s okay.”

“Hell yes it’s okay. She’s a great girl. And tell her I told you to tell her to give having a boyfriend a try. It’s awesome. There’s sex on demand, Rick and Morty marathons, and snacks. And cuddles. Literally no downside.”

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