Page 23 of Cross the Line

Logan: fuck yes

Logan: fill me up bro

Hunter: thats what she said

Logan: youre an idiot

Hunter: fuck you

Logan: thats what she said

Antonio: cant believe you even asked I always want food

Antonio: im still jet lagged, spice me up alec

Hunter: is that innuendo?

Alec sighs, putting his phone back down on the counter. When it’s just Antonio he’s safe from that kind of thing, but most of their other friends are kind of, well, obnoxious about sex. Not that Alec is embarrassed by this kind of talk but it gets tiring after a while, having to hear about sex nonstop. Especially when he’s the only openly gay guy on his team, so all he hears about are girls.

The notifications keep coming, but Alec decides to ignore them in favor of pulling out a skillet and a carton of eggs along with the salsa he made yesterday, and some leftover tofu and black bean thing he made last night. He’s barely got the butter melting in the pan when his phone dings again. Tired of listening to it, he picks it up with the sole intention of silencing the notifications, only to notice the last one wasn’t from his group chat.

Tapping the notification, the uncomfortable knot in his chest loosens considerably.

Theo: see you soon

The sound of Theo pulling into the long driveway forty minutes after his first and only text has a smile forming on Alec’s face. Even though Theo had messaged him, and Theo is usually the kind of guy to stick to his word, he’d still worried he might not show up. His relief is palpable, and he wastes no time setting the dishwasher and then grabbing the foil-wrapped burritos out of the oven where he was keeping them warm. He packs them tightly into his cooler bag, along with some baggies of oranges he picked off the tree in the backyard, and an extra container of his homemade salsa for Antonio. He’s just zipping up the bag when the knock at the front door comes.

“Just a sec,” Alec yells, glad there’s no one around to witness the way he all but runs to the front door like an overeager puppy. Alec needs to develop some fucking chill around Theo or he’s going to walk away just like he did last time.

There’s no second knock, but Alec knows he’s still there on the other side of the door, waiting. It ratchets up Alec’s heart rate and he takes a deep breath, willing his body to calm the fuck down. He’s not going to make any steps towards getting close to Theo again if he scares him off by being too much too soon. Usually, he doesn’t care if people are turned off by his personality, but he lost Theo once, and the prospect of it happening again might be more heartache than Alec can bear.

He might be determined to be friends with Theo, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t privately wish Theo might see him as attractive.

Alec turns to face the mirror over the entryway table. He stares at his reflection, smoothing down his t-shirt. It’s hot pink with a tilted crown on the front, his last name and number on the back. Riley had it made for his birthday and Alec’s worn it three times since. He fucking loves pink. It highlights his freckles, something he’d spent years crying about as a kid and over time grew to love.

“You are smart, sexy and capable,” Alec says to himself, tousling his curls so they’re messier. He goes to great lengths for his hair care routine to make sure his hair is soft and frizz-free, but he also likes when it looks messy, like he was rolling around the grass or a bed. Pleased with the results, he takes a deep breath, repeating his positive affirmations to himself as he opens the door.

“Hey,” Theo grins, his smile soft and easy and robbing all thoughts from Alec’s brain.

“You’re hot,” Alec blurts, frozen in horror at his own slip-up. “I mean, uh, aren’t you hot?”

Theo shrugs, looking down at himself. He pulls the sweater away from his body, making the knit material puff up before clinging back against the flat of his soft tummy. “It’s a thin knit, and I don’t have anything underneath it.”

Nothing underneath his sweater. Fucking fantastic. That’s exactly the mental image Alec needs.

“Can I make a confession?” Theo hovers awkwardly at the front door, like he hasn’t been to Alec’s house thousands of times, like he didn’t live upstairs with Jason for an entire year after his dad moved away. That was the year Alec realized he was definitely gay, gay, gay. Not that he’s ever told anyone the impetus for his sexual awakening was Theo. That’s another secret he needs to keep locked down.

“You can tell me anything.”

Theo takes a deep breath and holds it before blowing it out. For someone so large, he manages to look small sometimes and Alec wonders if he does it on purpose or if he just subconsciously wants to fade into the cracks.

“I didn’t remember this.”

“But you’re here,” Alec frowns.

“Yeah, uh, Jason called this morning and was rambling as usual, but then he mentioned you and uh, you know you about asking about my plans and?—”

A weird buzzing noise fills Alec’s ears while Theo talks. It’s the party all over again, but Theo isn’t drunk and he’s going to notice if Alec is weird. He needs to calm down, but he is so goddamn tired of being seen as Jason’s baby brother first and foremost to Theo. Jason has such a big fucking mouth and Alec is going to kill him. This is why he shouldn’t talk to Jason about anything important. Ever.

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