Page 86 of Ours
“Betterpeopleto do.” Stephanie snickered at her own bad joke. “I’m glad you’re happy. Tell me about the new guy.”
“Jackson,” Cory said without hesitating. When Cory asked if it was alright if he talked to Stephanie about it, Jackson had no problem. That was a nice change. “It’s good. Different, but good.”
“Is he like … your boyfriend?” Stephanie asked as she flipped through a magazine rack.
“Ah, no, I don’t think we’re anything like that,” Cory tried to sidestep the question, one he himself had thought about more than once. “I guess we’re kinda just … friends with benefits right now?”
“You okay with that?”
“Yeah.” Cory shrugged. “School is literally over in like a month. I’m fine with this just being what it is.” If Cory was beingtotallyhonest, he wouldn’t have been mad if Jackson had asked him out, but he wasn’t expecting it. It’s not like Nic or Derek had wanted to… “What about you?” Cory was eager to change the subject. “We spend so much time talking about my love life now… Sorry.”
“At least you have one. I can’t wait for college. Gonna go on a slutty clothes binge as soon as I move out. Really hoe it up for the next few years.” Stephanie looked wistfully off into the distance, only half-joking.
“You’ll kill it, I’m sure.” Cory laughed, flipping through a comic book. They still made Sonic the Hedgehog comics? “You already got accepted, right? Your first pick?”
“Virginia Tech.” Stephanie nodded. “Everyone who goes to that school is so smart… I’m kinda nervous. But what about you? Did you pick a school yet?”
Dammit, Cory was trying to get the conversationoffhim. That backfired.
“Still weighing my options.” He wasn’t lying. Hedidhave options. He just had no idea which he was going to pick. Part of him had hoped he, Derek, and Nic… “Haven’t decided yet.”
“Uh huh. Well you better make a decision soon. Not much longer to go.” Stephanie grabbed a candy bar to pay for at the front of the store.
“Yeah, yeah.” Cory rolled his eyes before checking his phone. “Hey, class is about to get out. Wanna head back?”
“So you can meet yourboyfriendafter his class?” Stephanie teased.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Cory pointed out again. “But yes.”
“You know, I could get used to having someone waiting for me like this.” Jackson smiled at Cory as the two boys walked from the locker room to his Jeep. All the seniors needed to have theirs cleared out by the end of the month and he asked Cory to help him carry some stuff to his car before they hung out.
“Might be a little difficult considering we only have four more weeks of school left,” Cory pointed out the obvious.
“I can get used to someone waiting for me like this for the next four weeks, then.” Jackson threw his bag into the back of the car with Cory following suit before the two boys climbed into the car.
“So, sir, can I ask you something?” Hoping the comment might be a sign, Cory decided to ask a question he had been avoiding.
“Sure.” Jackson turned to face Cory.
“Are we … going out? Or would you like to go out?” Cory fought the urge to close his eyes. Can’t hide from this.
“Oh. Uh…” Jackson stumbled over his words for a moment. “Well, no, boy. I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think we’re going out, or you don’t think you want to go out?” Cory was deflated either way.
“Err…” Jackson let the question linger a little too long. “Both. Sorry, boy.”
“Ah.” Cory tried to hide the hurt in his voice.
“It’s not that you’re not great,” Jackson began to backpedal. He didn’t quite seethiscoming. “It’s just, I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for right now.”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to explain.” Cory smiled or at least attempted to. “It was a stupid question.”
“No, really. It’s not you. It’s me.” Jackson suddenly scrunched his eyes, realizing the mistake of what he was saying. “It’s just that we only have a little more time together left. I don’t want to get into anything serious right now. Just have some fun. Who wants to go into college in a relationship, right?” Jackson looked over and smiled after finishing his question.
“Right.” Cory faked a smile. His feelings weren’tthathurt. Jackson had a point. It just would have maybe been nice to… It didn’t matter. “It’s cool. I get it. Thanks for being straightforward with me.”
“You sure?” Jackson smiled back. “Since weareon the subject of school ending, there’s an end of the year party next Friday in Hartford State Park. The one the seniors always end up having next to Lake Shepard. You wanna go?”
