Page 75 of Ours
Jackson laughed as he finished the last of his fries before standing to throw away his trash. “Ready to head out?”
“Yeah.” Cory threw his own garbage away and followed Jackson out to his car. “You sure you don’t mind taking me home?”
“Nah, it’s not too far, and it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.” Jackson unlocked his car and the two boys stepped in.
Cory buckled his seatbelt when Jackson started the car and guided him out of the parking lot and toward his apartment. Cory noticed Jackson drumming his thumbs against the steering wheel and smiled. Hewaskind of cute… Not that Cory really wanted to think aboutthatright now. Lucky for him, Jackson was about to pull into his complex.
“Thanks,” Cory started as Jackson neared his building, “for the ride and for just hanging out with me.”
“No problem, man.” Jackson smiled and patted him on the leg. “You looked like you needed a friend. And it sounds like it’s been kinda rough lately.”
“Yeah…” Understatement. “Well… See ya tomorrow at school?”
“Yeah, of course. Oh wait!” Jackson pulled his phone out. “Gimme your number.”
Jackson fired off a quick text after Cory told him, and Cory felt his phone vibrate. “That’s me. Text me anytime.”
“Okay. I will.” Cory smiled sheepishly.
Jackson just gave him another smile and unlocked Cory’s door. “See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.” Cory kept smiling as he stepped out of the car, waving as Jackson pulled away before turning to walk inside. Maybe today wasn’t theworstafter all…
The next few weeks were kind of weird. He rode the bus to school in the mornings, which he hadn’t done regularly in years. Classes were fine, except the ones he shared with Derek. Nic seemed fine with the cold shoulder Cory was giving him, but Derek… It was like Cory could feel his eyes on the back of his head. Cory was resolute though and didn’t so much as look in his direction. It was nice to be the one with the power for once. And he wasn’t alone. He had Stephanie with him at lunch. And then after school there was Jackson, who had been taking him home, where he would spend most nights studying for midterms until bedtime. Cory was keeping his mind occupied.
But now they were on break from school, and Cory had nothing to do. Normally, he’d ask the guys what they were doing, hang out, play some video games… Cory’s heart sank a little at the thought of playing Smash Bros. again without them. He texted Steph, but she was nose deep in a book she had to finish before classes started up again. That left Jackson.
[Cory: Hey!]
Oof, maybe that exclamation point is too much.
[Jackson: Hey what’s up?]
Cory smiled as the words popped on his screen.
[Cory: You doing anything? Wanna hang out?]
Cory wasn’t even sure what Jackson might want to do, now that he thought about it.
[Jackson: Actually, my mom needs me to run some crap to the post office. Wanna tag along?]
Post office? Not exactly Cory’s idea of hanging out.
[Cory: Sure.]
But it was better than sitting home alone right now.
[Jackson: Alright, see you in a few, boy!]
There’s that word again…
Cory blushed slightly. Then shook his head. Better get some clothes on.
Turns out “some crap” was a fewdozenpackages. Apparently, Jackson’s mom recently started some kind of Etsy business out of the house and was using Jackson to ship everything out. Jackson told Cory that he’dtriedto explain to his mom that she could get the post office to pick them up at home, but she was more than happy to have her son do it. He was thankful for Cory’s help in dropping everything off.
“Thanks again.” Jackson clicked his seatbelt into place. “Guess youarea good boy.”
Cory blushed fully this time, remembering the day in the library.
