Page 15 of Dire Straights

“Yeah, I do that all the time. It’s really good.”

“Can I try it?”

“Uh, yeah?” I answered, confused by his question. The restaurant was clear about the free refills, so I didn’t know why he felt like he needed to ask me. Then I felt my mouth drop open a little as his hand whipped over from his side of the table, grasping my cup.

I’d always heard people tell stories and claim that they watched something happen in slow motion, but I’d never experienced it until that moment. My abdominal muscles clenched and my fingers spasmed in my lap, like I was having to fight off my instinctual urge to snatch my cup back from him. Was he going to use my straw? I’d already taken a sip from that. My lips had touched that straw, and now his were also going to touch it? He actually had pretty nice lips, for a guy. They looked soft and had a nice color to them. Wait, why was I even noticing that?

An intense wave of relief and…something…washed over me as he bypassed my straw and sipped directly from the cup. The ice cubes made a clink against the side as they shifted, and a drop of condensation dripped down the outside to slide over one of his fingers. I hadn’t noticed before, but he actually had pretty big hands. Wide palms and long fingers.

“Hey, it’s actually really good!” He said, completely oblivious to the weird shit going on in my head as he set the cup back over on my side. “Did you name it anything?”

“Orange soda and Sprite.”

He laughed, like I’d made a funny joke. His laugh made my stomach muscles clench again, for some stupid reason. I quickly decided we should just start working on the writing assignment while we waited. Surely he wouldn’t be able to find anything to laugh at if we were doing that. But I found myself staring down at his hands as he typed on his laptop, noticing the way his long fingers pecked at the keys. What the fuck was wrong with me? Was I going insane?

When they called out our order number, he jumped up.

“Do you want to go grab the pizza?” I asked, pointlessly. Clearly he did, or he wouldn’t have jumped up. But all these weird thoughts were gumming my brain up.

“Yeah, I can get it!” He eagerly scampered off to complete the task. It took every ounce of self control I had not to watch him walk away. I definitely didn’t care to know what kind of lean, toned musculature he might have. That would be certifiably insane. And I was certifiably sane. Usually. But why was I even forming theories about what some guy’s body was like? That should have been the last thing on my mind.

Heaving the deepest sigh I’d ever sighed, I gulped down the rest of my drink before getting a refill. I was very, very thirsty. But for some very strange reason, I suddenly had the distinct feeling that orange soda and Sprite weren’t exactly going to cut it this time in terms of quenching that thirst.

We took a break from working to eat. The pizza was pretty damn good, I had to admit, but apparently I wasn’t liking it anywhere near as much as Ren. He kept making these noises that sounded like they were from a porno. Or at least, that’s how they sounded to me.

There was no way in hell I was sitting in a booth in a public fucking restaurant, with the world’s most oblivious, air-headed nerd, getting turned on from aguy’sweird pizza appreciation sounds. That wasn’t happening in any universe, least of all thisone. I wasn’t gay. And I wasn’t weird. And none of this bizarre fever dream that had been going on since Monday was real.

Annoyance and frustration welled up in me, tensing my muscles. If anything, it washisfault for making everything so weird. Calling me out as his friend in front of everyone at the party, and making me into some creep, almost lighting someone’s house on fire.Hewas the one acting all clingy, texting me all the time, like we were boyfriends or something. And then introducing me to his gay friends like we were on some double date. I didn’t ask for any of that. I was just trying to be nice to the guy.

“You know, I heard some people talking about food trucks on the boardwalk,” Ren said, between bites. “There’s one that does all this weird stuff, like sushi pizza and grilled barbecue mac and cheese. Have you seen it?”

“No.” He was only making it worse, being so nice and so friendly and so damn… I didn’t even know how to describe it.

“Me neither!” He said, reaching out to grab his soda and take a long slurp from the straw. My eyes, of their own accord and completely not from my command, darted to his lips again. If I’d hung out with a billion guys in my life, and only one of them made me have these weird ass thoughts, then it was him that was the problem, not me. “We could check them out together! I’ve been wanting to take a day and go to the boardwalk.”

“Just me and you?” I asked, barely able to keep from gritting my teeth. It was undeniable proof. He was trying to go on some weird date with me.

“Well, yeah, or we could invite some people if you think that would be more fun.”

Oh sure, let’s invite some people so we could show off what a cutesy, adorable couple we were. We might as well just get married and suck each other off on the boardwalk so everyonecould think that I was gay and into some ditzy, socially awkward computer nerd. With a dick.

“Look.” With my frustration reaching its bubbling point, I smacked my hand down on the table, hard enough to rattle our cups and Ren’s laptop. He jumped, obviously startled, and gave me an incredulous look. “I’m not going on some weird date with you, okay? Get that out of your head.”

“Jeez!” He complained, looking wounded. A small part of me felt a bloom of guilt, but was quickly stamped out by my frustration. “You don’t have to go all caveman like that. And what do you even mean, date?”

“Just becauseyou’regay, don’t go… You know, making us into a couple or something, alright? I’m not gay.”

“I’m not gay! I had a girlfriend through most of high school!” He protested. But even though he said that, I could see a dark blush starting to bleed through his skin. “I wasn’t even saying anything weird, I just said we should check out some food trucks!”

“You wanted to split that eclair with me the other day! That’s what guys do for theirgirlfriends. I’m not your girlfriend!”

Shaking his head as if he had to clear it, he stared at me like I was insane. “I only did that because you didn’t want to eat a whole one! You sound crazy!”

“I’m not crazy!” I snapped, rising from the table. “You’re obsessed with me! Thinking about me all the time, and texting me soIthink aboutyouall the time!”

Ren blinked, staring at me, with some look in his eye like he’d finally figured out some confusing puzzle. “Do you… Think about me a lot, Maddox?”

“No, I don’t!” I snarled, snatching up the stuff I’d brought and shoving it in my bag. “Stop trying to make this into something it isn’t!”

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