Page 41 of After the Siren
‘Both, duh.’
‘For you or for your date?’ Stavs had cheered up a bit now he’d gotten a dig in and nearly knocked Jake off the stool. The smile was starting to look real.
Greg – bloody Greg – snorted. ‘For his date, obviously.’
Obviously.
The smile froze on Stavs’ face and his brows drew together. ‘What, can’t Jaze have flowers?’
It was the first time he’d called himJaze. Not that Jake had been paying attention.
Jake pouted a little at the camera. ‘Yeah, what if I want flowers?’
Greg looked baffled. And all of a sudden Jake was tired in a way that felt like a kettlebell on his chest. Most of the time it wasn’t hard to pretend, because he’d been pretending his whole life, and he didn’t have to with the people he really cared about. The people who really cared about him. But for some reason, sitting in front of a stupid whiteboard for a stupid jokey video, he was exhausted.
His smile didn’t slip, because it was a reflex at this point.
‘You gotta bring flowers for Jaze on a first date, he’s worth it,’ Stavs told the camera, pulling Greg’s attention away from Jake.
Stavs nudged the cards across the table and Jake took one. This was probably what he deserved, karmically, for roping Stavs into this.
‘Stavs,’ Jake said, reading from a new card. ‘How many languages can you ask someone out in?’ It was lucky Stavs had gotten this one, because Jake’s answer wasOne, kinda.
‘Oh.’ Stavs sounded surprised. It was actually a pretty interesting question. Maybe Greg had googled for suggestions. ‘Um, I think four.’
‘Really?’ Greg looked like he was about to call bullshit. Jake might have thought the same thing a few weeks ago, but he didn’t now.
‘English, obviously. Then I speak some French and Spanish, and ...’ Jake wondered if he was imagining the slight hesitation in Stavs’ voice. ‘I speak Arabic with my family.’
‘Give us a demo?’ Greg said.
Stavs shifted, as though he was uncomfortable that everyone was finding out he was a fucking genius who could take a wicked contested markandknew about law shitandcasually spoke more than one language.
‘Yeah, you can pretend to ask me out,’ Jake said, because he was a fucking moron. ‘Come on.’
Stavs looked as though he was torn between laughing along and running away. ‘Sure, okay,’ he said, which took Jake by surprise. Then he leaned across the table andtook Jake’s hand. Jake regretted all of the choices in his life that had led to this moment.
Theo said something in, like, proper French. As far as Jake could tell. Which he probably couldn’t. But it was a couple of sentences, not justbonjouror whatever.
Jake had always had a bit of a thing for hot guys speaking different languages. Maybe it was just that, apart from his relationship with Kyle, most of his sexual experience had been with guys in Europe, so it was Pavlovian at this point.
‘Uh, oui?’ Jake said, trying not to sound turned on.
Theo grinned at him. ‘Great. And, uh ...’ He paused for a second and switched to Spanish. Again, multiple sentences.
‘Claro, guapo,’ Jake said, because he had learned some Spanish. Mainly variations ofYes, like thatandCan I?
He couldn’t believe this was happening while he was being filmed by Greg. Or maybe it was a good thing it was Greg. If Jake popped a boner, Greg would assume he was thinking about his best goals or something. But that was not going to happen, because Jake was a grown-ass adult andin control of his dick.
The Arabic was definitely the worst. Or the best. Maybe it was just that Stavs said more in Arabic. But he still had Jake’s hand in his, and he looked into Jake’s eyes as he said it, and Jake tried to look like he was on the verge of laughter rather than on the verge of grabbing Stavs by the collar and sticking his tongue down his throat.
‘What did you say?’ Greg asked.
Theo’s eyes widened for a second. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Um, I saidYou’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, Rumi would have written poetry about you, your eyes are like the ocean, please let me take you to dinner.’
‘Smooth,’ Jake said, and they both dissolved into laughter.
Thank God.
