Page 23 of The Jock
“Sounds juicy. Forgive me for being so bold as to offer, but if you need someone to talk to about things, I promise that I won’t tell your brother, if you’re worried about that.”
“He’s your friend.”
“And you’re my friend too, right? At least, I sort of thought we were heading in that direction. I can be friends with both of you. There’s no law against brothers sharing their friends. It’s not like we’re besties.”
Taylor made a strangled sound that had Milo’s eyebrows arching.
“That was an interesting noise.” Milo made no further comment on it, and instead pulled out his favorite concealer. “We’re about the same complexion, so mine will do in a pinch, but you’re probably just a shade off. But we can make it work if you’re interested.”
Milo kept up a constant stream of chatter while he applied the concealer, telling Taylor what he was doing step by step and answering any of his questions. Taylor seemed to be enchanted by his every move. Obviously, Milo was there so Taylor could watch him, but he lacked the intensity Colby displayed whenever Milo caught him looking.
“I’d been watching makeup tutorials online, but it’s not the same.” Taylor fiddled with a tube of lip gloss. Turning it slowly, he scrutinized it as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.
“It’s really not. In person, you can ask someone questions as they come to you. You can interact in a more natural way. And if you don’t know where to start, it can be hard to figure it out. I get it.”
Taylor got quiet so Milo decided a subject change was in order.
“How did you get into the whole jungle theme?” He motioned to all the greenery in the apartment.
Taylor shrugged. “I don’t remember. One minute I was a normal gay, and then suddenly I was a plant dad gay. I have lemon trees and orange trees. I’ve started some avocado trees. It was a bit of fun that kind of got out of hand, I guess. I have some succulents and some regular plants, but I have to admit the trees are the most fun.”
“Well, if I’m taking a plant home, you’ll have to write down the care instructions for me so I don’t kill it. The only living thing I’ve ever been responsible for is myself, and I’ve done a questionable job.”
“Anything you want to talk about?” Taylor’s offer was sweet and he probably meant well, but Milo’s gut clenched at the idea of thinking or talking about his track record of bad decisions.
“I get it,” Taylor said, putting down the lip gloss and picking up a different shade. “I wanted to do the whole makeup thing so bad that it was almost like I couldn’t talk about it. It became this big choke point. I’d try to imagine telling someone, usually one of my brothers or my dad, and my throat would close up and nothing would happen. It might never have happened if Colby hadn’t stormed into my room that day.”
“He seems to care about you.”
Taylor nodded and a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “He’s always done his best to look out for Jonah and me. We’ve sort of been a team. Well, they’ve been a team. I was the baby, right, the one who needed protecting.”
Taylor paused and squinted at Milo. “Why am I spilling my guts to you?” There was no malice in his words, only genuine wonder.
“Makeup has magical bonding qualities.” Milo tossed Taylor a wink. He thought false lashes might be too steep for a first-time lesson, so he applied his favorite lash-plumping mascara and a swipe of lip gloss and turned to Taylor. “Your turn.”
“Can you, uh…” Taylor sighed. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Well, the best thing about makeup is that it washes off. There are no mistakes, only experiments.” Milo reached for the concealer, then changed his mind. “It would be a shame to cover up those gorgeous freckles of yours.”
“I used to hate them.”
“Do you know how many people would kill to have those freckles?” Taylor had a smattering of them over the bridge of his nose and a few across his cheeks.
Milo handed him an eyeshadow palette. “Any of these shades will look pretty with your eyes.”
Milo walked Taylor through a few different looks. At first he was still shy and tentative, but by the time they were done, he’d loosened up and admitted to Milo that he’d had a lot of fun.
“Did you want to snap a few pictures?” Milo asked. “We can do a mini photo shoot. Your plants will make a nice backdrop.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
Taylor mulled it over for only half a second before grinning and getting to his feet. He unlocked his phone and handed it to Milo. “Here, use mine.”
“You better text me one.” Milo opened the camera and herded Taylor to the perfect spot. “Here, sit in this chair and pretend the camera doesn’t exist.”
“I’m a horrible actor.” Taylor laughed as he looked directly into the camera.
