Page 26 of The Moon Also Rises
Smiling as I read each one, I sit on the end of the bed to reply.
I’m just returning my phone to my pocket when there is a series of loud bangs on the door. Opening it, I see a very flustered Jake standing with his hands on his hips.
“Fucking Lionel!” he barks in my face. “He saw that we were assigned a room with single beds and swapped us into this room.”
“Ah, that’s so sweet of him,” I say as Jake barges past me and throws the straps from his bag onto the bed. He must have had them this whole time. I don’t know why but this makes me want to laugh a little but seeing Jake’s thunderous expression, I manage to contain it.
“Oh yeah, a real fucking sweetheart,” he spits out.
“Jake,” I begin. “It’s not a big deal. The bed is plenty big enough, and we’ll no doubt be going to bed late anyway. It’s just to sleep in.”
“Of course, it’s just for sleeping in! Jesus, did you think I was going to try and seduce you?”
“That’s not what I—”
Jake ignores me as he collapses onto the end of the bed, sitting in roughly the same spot I just was. “It’s just very annoying when I planned this to be as easy as possible for you. I am aware how much I’m asking of you, coming here and pretending to be gay and my boyfriend. And I do not say that lightly or easily. I’m not good at praising straight people.”
“Err, why?” I ask, suddenly bewildered.
“Because life is already easy enough for you,” Jake says with a small shrug. “Life-threateningly boring, of course, but easy too.”
“Jake, what if I—” I start to explain.
Still, he interrupts, “Here’s what we can do. We can top and tail? Or put pillows down the middle? Or if we have enough spare bedding one of us could sleep in the bath? Wait—” He stands up and rushes to the door of the ensuite bathroom. “Yes, there is a bath. Good. We have options.”
I lift my hands up to grab his attention when he turns back around. “Jake, I really don’t care if we share a bed. You’re actually coming across as kind of homophobic yourself right now getting all worked up about this.”
Jake’s face turns a brighter shade of red and I notice a vein throbbing in his neck. “I am not getting worked up!” He points a finger in my direction but then looks down at it for a moment before lowering it, his voice also dropping. “Okay, maybe I am getting a bit worked up.”
I hesitate for just a moment before I walk over to him and grip his upper arms. “Sit down,” I say and lead him back to the end of the bed. “I’m going to run you a nice hot bath, find you a glass of something alcoholic and then I’m going to play you one of my chillout playlists that never fail.”
“You make playlists? How very nineties of you,” Jake mutters and I can’t decide if he’s being sarcastic or genuine. Regardless, it reassures me that he won’t assume it’s one of the playlists I created when I was once an award-winning DJ.
I glance at my watch. “We have exactly two hours before we have to be downstairs for the welcome drinks, so that’s plenty of time to calm down and get ready. I mean, it’s more than enough time for me. Is it enough for you?”
“Haha, Lover Boy,” Jake sneers, his eyes narrowing as he looks up at me. “Believe it or not, I can go from gargoyle to goddess in thirty minutes flat.”
It’s then I notice for the first time that Jake has a thin strip of freckles decorating the bridge of his nose and under his eyes. They’re so light they’re barely noticeable but the sunshine filtering through the window makes them pop and it also makes the hazel in his eyes more golden, like pools of liquid honey.
“I’m sure you’ll look amazing,” I find myself saying. It would appear Jake is as stunned as I am by my words and he doesn’t say anything, not even a quick scathing retort.
Blinking and stepping back, I go to my bag and find the Bluetooth speaker I packed on a whim. I put it on the desk opposite the bed and then get out my phone. Once the two devices are connected, I find my Soul Chillout playlist and hit play. I then take the speaker into the bathroom, put it on the windowsill above the bath, and adjust the volume so it can still be heard over the rushing of the water as the tub fills. I’m grateful that the provided toiletries are of decent quality, and I pour half of the bubble bath into the tub.
“You really are running me a bath?” Jake appears in the doorway carrying two quite large bags of what I assume are his toiletries. “That’s sort of nice.”
“Well, it’s in my interest to lower your flapping levels.” I shrug as I move to leave the room. I can’t stop myself searching for his freckles again as I walk past him.
“Thank you,” Jake says so quietly I’m not sure he wants me to hear it, so I don’t respond. I just close the door behind me after I leave.
*****
