Page 30 of Paint Eater
Logan nodded, and the lack of pause made Jay smile.
“Great! That’s great.”
Logan’s lips twitched into a smile at Jay’s enthusiasm. Jay just stared at him for a while, desperate to kiss him but unsure of how welcome it would be, especially out in the open.
“Okay. Well. Cool. Looking forward to it.”
Logan raised his eyebrows, amused. “Sure.”
Jay watched him get into the car, waving awkwardly. The moment the car door shut, he sprang into motion without thinking about it, rounding the car and getting into the passenger seat.
Logan startled. “What—?”
“Can I kiss you?”
“Yeah, fuck,” he murmured, already leaning forward, gripping Jay by the back of the neck and pulling.
The press of their lips was awkward for a moment, the angle wrong, but then Jay tilted his head and parted his lips, and it was as good and hot as always. Jay moaned, letting his tongue tease Logan’s own, pressing in closer until, suddenly, Logan was pulling away.
“They’re gonna steal your skateboard,” he said, already sounding a little winded.
“Let them,” Jay replied, absolutely not meaning it but having to kiss Logan again.
Logan stopped protesting. They kissed until it was completely dark around them, until Jay’s lips felt bruised.
They were both panting when they finally parted for the last time, their hands tangled up in hair and clothes, the desperate grip loosening as they each moved away to settle into their own seats.
They looked at each other in the twilight, the shining gloss of their lips, the flushed dark of their cheeks.
“I should go,” Logan said finally.
“Yeah.”
They looked at each other for another moment before Jay sighed, capitulating.
“Okay. Yeah, I’m going. See you ’round, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Luckily, Jay’s skateboard and duffel were still there when he got out of the car. He picked the bag up, giving Logan a wave and forcing himself to leave instead of crawling into the car again and dragging Logan back to his apartment.
CHAPTER EIGHT
JAY
It was only two days later, on Sunday night, when they next saw each other, with the addition of Nisha, who had been bugging Jay to hang out. Not that Jaydidn’twant to see Nisha—but, well, he’d kind of become accustomed to seeing Logan alone, enjoying all that had to offer.
Still, it was fun having Nisha and her dry, almost-cruel humour around. It’d been strange, the way she and Jay had reconnected. Or just connected, seeing as they’d never been friends at school.
Nisha had gone into the shop, looking to commission a tattoo that she’d hadn’t gotten in the end. She’d wanted Jay specifically, which was rare enough—sometimes people who had seen his tattoos on someone came to the shop and asked for him but, seeing as there were other, far more experienced tattooers there, this didn’t happen often.
Nisha had barely stayed on topic when they’d sat down for the consultation. Instead, she’d interrogated him about what he was up to despite it being fairly obvious, what with her being in his place of work and all. She hadn’t even seemed particularly friendly while doing so. Not that she wasunfriendly, but there was a certain pointedness to her questions. Jay had felt he was more in an interview than in a casual conversation, but there was something about Nisha he liked. She reminded him a little of Sunja—no-nonsense.
Despite her obvious curiosity, he’d been surprised when she’d asked him to hang out, but he’d had no reason to turn her away and, as it happened, they had gotten along well—Jay’s soft eagerness and Nisha’s sharp wit mixing instead of clashing.
Nisha, Jay knew, wasn’t particularly into drawing, but she was into art—fashion, primarily, but other forms as well, and had been fairly talented at painting if he remembered correctly from their school days, so he invited her along to one of Logan’s and his escapades.
Jay chose a more hidden spot to paint this time, a neighbourhood that went mostly ignored by police and where people didn’t mind seeing murals pop up instead of being covered by useless tagging.
