Bright Young Things

by Anna Martin

  “I ate already,” Adam said. He sounded tense.

  “Piece of toast? I’ll put peanut butter on it for you….”

  “Bitch, please,” Adam muttered and hung up. Jared laughed as he quickly shoved three slices of bread into the toaster and checked over the contents of his bag to make sure he had everything for the day.

  He ignored the “hurry up” message from Adam and slathered peanut butter over all three pieces of bread and shoved one in his mouth, shouldered his bag, and lightly jogged to the door.

  Adam looked pissed off. A few months ago, it would have worried Jared to see him with the perma-scowl on his face. Now he was fairly sure it was nothing to do with him and certainly nothing personal. From his small fleet of cars, Adam had picked the sleek black Audi to drive this morning, and despite Jared’s desire to psychoanalyze his boyfriend’s choice of vehicle, he couldn’t be bothered. It was too early.

  He slid into the car and shoved the satchel between his knees, passed Adam one of the pieces of toast and leaned over to press a quick, sticky kiss to his cheek.

  “Thanks,” Adam said drily.

  “You’re welcome, darling.”

  Jared munched in contented silence as they made the short journey to school, the familiar sights of the island whizzing past them. Adam ate while he drove, then reached over and put his hand on Jared’s knee. That was the only way Jared knew he’d been bouncing it, full of nervous energy. He wiped his hands on his pants and laced their fingers together.

  Adam didn’t say anything at all, seemingly concentrating on pulling into the huge school gates and into his unofficial parking space.

  “You ready for this?” Jared asked, reaching for his bag.

  Adam quirked an eyebrow. “We’ll soon find out.”

  They got out of the car smoothly, and Jared leaned against the hood as Adam walked around. Plenty of kids were milling around waiting for the bell, and pretty much every one of them looked over at the two men who had shared a ride.

  “I need to go to the office to check about my college application,” Adam said quietly, words only Jared could hear.

  “Okay. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Adam nodded tensely and took half a step away. Jared stopped him by leaning in and pressing a quick, chaste kiss to his lips.

  There.

  Done.

  The hard mask on Adam’s face melted into a warm smile, and he licked his top lip almost unconsciously when Jared pulled away. He nodded, then his eyes hardened again, and he strode off in the direction of the office.

  Jared pocketed his phone and headed for the main steps of the school, aware that if people hadn’t been watching before, they certainly were now.

  A general air of expectation followed Jared around most of the morning. Younger students watched him in the hallways, as if expecting him to drop his immaculately pressed trousers and bend over right outside the French lab and be thoroughly fucked by his boyfriend. The fact that his boyfriend wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity didn’t seem to matter all that much.

  Jared took a leaf out of Adam’s book and held his head high, ignoring everyone else as if they were beneath him. Since he didn’t actually believe that, Jared thought he probably didn’t carry it off with the same pizazz Adam did, but it was worth the effort. Kids moved out of his way, probably sensing he wasn’t about to step around them.

  All their morning classes were apart anyway, and it was only when they got to the period before lunch—gym—that they were reunited.

  For some reason Ms. Allison had let them out of French a few minutes before the bell, so Jared arrived to an empty locker room and had the chance to change quickly and be out on the field for soccer practice before anyone else wandered in. That was good. He used the extra time to run a few laps on the field, warming up since it was fucking freezing outside.

  “This is not a winter sport,” Lewis yelled at Coach as the rest of the class piled out of the locker room.

  “Looks like Rawell disagrees with you,” Coach said smugly.

  Jared crossed the soccer pitch and came to a stop with his hands on his hips, breathing slightly heavier than usual.

  “Don’t use me as an example,” he said, any emotion stolen from his voice due to breathlessness.

  “In Europe they play when there’s snow on the ground,” Coach said. “Warm up. Go!”

  The fact that Jared was already warm didn’t seem to mean anything. They ran drills for a half hour or so, then split off into a match, Jared in goal, as usual. It was too late now for him to convince the school to get their shit together and put a school team out, but he was considering which colleges had an intramural soccer team he might be able to join in the fall.

  College applications were firmly on his mind as he rocked from foot to foot on the frozen solid ground, waiting for the ball to come back down this end of the pitch and attempting to stay warm while he did. Dylan had helped him put it all together, and his grades were strong now and predicted to continue rising. Ivy League was a possibility, although a slim one. Jared hadn’t given up hope yet and was praying that having New Harbor Academy next to his name would be enough to swing any decisions his way.

  A freezing, drizzling rain had started to fall by the time Coach blew his whistle again and sent them to the showers. The fact that he’d been put on the same team as Adam, and Adam’s skills as a forward were coming along rather well, meant Jared hadn’t done much through the forty-minute game, and he was cold. More than cold. Fucking freezing.

  “Shit,” he murmured, pulling the goalkeeper’s gloves off and pinching at his almost blue fingertips.

  Steam was already pouring out of the showers, and he stripped the rest of his clothes quickly, grabbed his towel, and ducked under one of the shower heads that gave off a decent spray.

  Jared hissed at first, the boiling hot water like a million pins into his cold cold cold skin, and he grit his teeth hard, waiting for his muscles to warm through and start to relax. There was mud on his knees and up his arms, and he watched the first flakes swirl down the drain before scrubbing at the dirt.

  “So, Rawell,” someone shouted over the noise of thirty-something pounding showers. Jared groaned internally. This probably wasn’t going to end well.

  Jared looked up and pushed wet hair out of his face.

  “Who takes it up the ass, you or Hemlock?”

  A burst of appreciative snickers followed, and Jared rolled his eyes. He’d barely spoken to Adam since they got to school, apart from a few shouted directions on the soccer pitch. They were keeping a distance from each other in the showers and locker room by mutual, silent agreement, not wanting to invite this very kind of confrontation.

  Across the tiled shower room, Jared saw the muscles in Adam’s back tense.

  “Why?” Jared drawled slowly. He had to respond to this. Had to cut it out right now, or they’d be targets for the rest of the school year. “You want tips? I’d invite you to watch, Fisher, but I’d probably lose wood.”

  The appreciative snickers turned to laughter, and Jared turned around, determined to end this now before it got even bitchier. He finished washing himself off quickly and ducked out of the spray, wrapping the towel around his waist and heading for the locker room before anyone could interrupt.

  They didn’t. Jared wasn’t sure what it was—his put-down of Lewis Fisher’s stupid comment, the aura of regality Adam wore like a crown, or if they were actually starting to respect Jared in his own right, but no one said anything to him as he dried off and dressed in his uniform, the air thick with the smell of adolescent aerosols.

  By some coincidence, Jared found himself at the door at the same time Adam shouldered his bag and sauntered across. Because he could, and because they were heading in the same direction anyway, Jared threw his arm around Adam’s shoulders and kissed the damp hair on the side of his head.

  “You okay?” Adam murmured, reaching up to lightly grasp the hand on his shoulder.

  “Yeah. I’m good.�
�

  If Adam cleared the hall on his own, and kids moved out of Jared’s way, the pair of them together drew looks and gasps and full-on staring as if they were the fucking king and queen of England. Adam’s the queen, Jared decided, and smirked to himself as they walked into the cafeteria.

  “You want anything?” Jared offered as he pulled his arm back and took a few steps toward the lunch line.

  “Um… get me some fries?”

  Jared took that the “please” in that sentence was silent and nodded before moving off to join the line. Unlike some people he didn’t cut in, content to wait for his double serving of fries. He picked up two sodas and his habitual apple, and held the bright blue tray high above the other kids as he weaved between tables and stuck-out legs.

  “I sincerely hope you’re not expecting me to share those,” Adam said as Jared dumped the tray in front of him.

  “Oh, get over yourself,” Jared said and snatched a fry from the top of the mountainous pile.

  Adam sniffed and took the Dr Pepper, not waiting for Jared to offer him the choice between the two cans. Under the table, where no one could see, Jared bumped their knees together. Adam said nothing, didn’t react at all other than the gentle bump back. They were in this together.

  “God, you two are disgusting,” Clare said, sliding into her seat next to Chris with a large protein shake travel mug full of a suspicious green liquid. The mug had a straw attached, and Clare flipped it up and took a delicate sip of the concoction.

  “I think they’re adorable,” Ryder said from across the table. “What are you drinking?”

  “Kale and cucumber juice,” Clare said, not missing a beat. “I want to lose three pounds.”

  “Now, that’s disgusting,” Adam told her. He dunked two fries into ketchup and ate them with relish.

  “So, are you two, like, a couple now?” Ryder asked.

  Jared looked at Adam and shrugged. “Sure. If you like.”

  “What about Dylan?”

  Clare’s voice was far, far too innocent for Jared’s liking. He plastered a serene, slightly confused expression on his face, and looked to Ryder like she might know what Clare was talking about.

  “What, Dylan my tutor? What does he have to do with anything?”

  Jared added a little laugh to the end of the sentence and knew instinctively this was a conversation he’d have to have with Adam at some point. Full disclosure. No more secrets.

  “Oh,” Clare said with a little shrug. “I thought you two were all cozy close, that’s all.”

  “Sure. We’re friends. Adam’s my boyfriend. Sort of how like you’re friends with Chris, right?”

  There was a silence, broken by a snort of laughter, then Adam hit Jared on the arm and asked him something about chipping a soccer ball to get some power behind it.

  That night, Adam ordered dinner from a Thai restaurant across the bridge, and they sat in his living room, eating on the floor with the food spread on the coffee table in front of them. Jared had a moment of seeing what their lives could be like in this relationship, what possibilities were laid out ahead.

  At school, or outside this little suite of rooms, their relationship was visible but understated. No one apart from the two of them needed to know what things were like when they were alone. It was evenings like these when Adam let his guard down and laughed. Jared didn’t see him smile like that except when it was just the two of them, and it filled his stomach with something other than chili heat.

  After dinner they crashed on the sofa, snuggled together watching something mindless on TV, then decidedly not watching it.

  “Okay, however much I’d like to stay here and make out with you all night, I’ve got a study session with Dylan.”

  Adam pouted and tugged on Jared’s wrist when he rolled to his feet. “Stay here. I’ll tutor you.”

  “You need to study yourself,” Jared told him.

  “Don’t turn into my mother, for God’s sake.”

  Jared smiled, leaned in, and kissed Adam’s nose. “I’ll see you in the morning. You can even pick me up, if you like.”

  “Jared.”

  “Hmm?”

  Sitting up suddenly, Adam twisted around and braced his feet on the floor.

  “I don’t know if I like you seeing Dylan.”

  Jared laughed. “Why? He’s been tutoring me for months.”

  “I know. I just….”

  “And he’s your friend.”

  “Ryder said she thought you two were dating,” Adam said in a rush, then looked guilty about it.

  With a big exhalation, Jared sat down on the coffee table. “Did she,” he said grimly.

  “Yeah. Look, I don’t want to be a jealous boyfriend because I know we’re good. But… was there something between you?”

  Jared thought about the night with the curry and the kiss, the sweetness and possibility that neither of them had spoken about since. Their tutoring arrangement and friendship had survived that one night when things had looked like they were on the brink of change. Whether Jared’s relationship would, was another question.

  “We went on one date,” Jared said, unable to lie. The foundation of this relationship was too rocky for him to add lie onto lies. “It was great, we didn’t have sex, and he’s still helping me with my classes.”

  “I don’t want you to see him anymore,” Adam said stubbornly. Jared reached forward and took Adam’s hands in his, bringing them to his lips for a soft, careful kiss.

  “Dylan is one of the few friends I have outside of school. No, he’s the only friend I have outside of school. I’m not going to give him up, baby. And he’s your friend too.”

  Adam sniffed.

  Heart aching, Jared leaned in and kissed him, taking the plump bottom lip between both of his and cupping Adam’s cheek in his hand. This was a kiss of solid reassurance, a silent, physical “I love you.”

  “I’m going to go to my study session now,” Jared said when they broke apart. “I’m going to call you before I go to bed, and you’re going to come pick me up in the morning and give me a ride to school. I really need you to trust me.”

  For a moment, Adam squirmed, then all the air left him in a whoosh, and he nodded.

  “Yeah. Okay.”

  “Thank you.”

  As he drove to Seattle, Jared wondered if “thank you” was a weird thing to say. Strange things were happening between them now; the intense emotions were starting to mellow and mature, leaving the passion intact and something a little more worldly holding it all together.

  Chapter 19

  As promised, when he got back from his study session with Dylan, he called Adam. If nothing else it was to prove he could be trusted.

  “Did you know Dylan had a boyfriend?”

  Adam laughed. They had connected via Skype so they could see each other. Adam was already in bed. Jared would recognize those sheets anywhere.

  “Why, Mr. Rawell. You’re turning into a gossip hag.”

  “His name is Eli, and he’s part of the LGBTQ society on campus. Did you know Dylan was gay?”

  “Only because Ryder told everyone. I think she was trying to set me up with him at one point.”

  “Straight people logic?”

  What Jared meant was the assumption two gay people would be instantly compatible on the basis of their sexuality alone. Adam’s responsive grin told him he was right.

  “Yeah. Exactly.”

  “Adam?”

  “Yeah?

  “I’m really glad you didn’t decide to date Dylan.”

  “Jared?”

  “Yeah?” he answered with a laugh.

  “I’m glad you didn’t date Dylan too.”

  Being apart like this, even for one night, seemed weird now they were used to spending so much time with each other. It wasn’t that Jared couldn’t sleep alone; he didn’t want to.

  “Hang on,” Adam said. “I just got a message.”

  He was using his iPad rather than his phone for this conver
sation, leaving the latter free for text conversations. When his face reappeared, Jared couldn’t quite read his expression. It was happy, sort of, and… excited?

  “What?” Jared asked, then smiled unconsciously as a slow, broad smile spread across Adam’s face. “What’s going on?”

  Adam turned back, full of childlike enthusiasm. “My mom’s coming home.”

  Since Adam already knew Hadley, or knew her in the way everyone in this town seemed to know each other, they hadn’t yet dealt with the meeting-the-parent/guardian situation. Jared was fine with that. They both lived pretty independently anyway, so it wasn’t like he felt he needed Adam’s mom’s approval.

  She had been home for a short visit over Thanksgiving, Jared knew that much, but it was a long trip from Paris, and she didn’t make it often. They were too close to finals for Adam to be able to go to France, too.

  Apparently Ms. Hemlock had sent her son a text just before leaving Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, letting Adam know she’d get a taxi to the house. It would be late at night when she got home, and Jared assumed there would be some emotional reunion.

  “I’ll go home,” he said, wriggling out from under Adam’s legs.

  “Don’t.” Adam’s hand shot out and wrapped around his wrist. “Please stay.”

  “You’re going to want to spend time with your mom,” he said gently. “Neither of you are going to want me in the way.”

  “I want her to meet you,” Adam said stubbornly. His face softened, and he leaned in to kiss Jared carefully on the lips. “I talk to her about you all the time. She really wants to get to know you.”

  “You told her about me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Oh.”

  “Come on,” Adam said, turning the TV off and pulling Jared to his feet. “She’ll be here for a week at least, so if you want to have noisy sex, tonight’s the last night we can do it.”

  Jared laughed and blushed. “Oh, god.”

  “Remember that phrase,” Adam said with a cocky grin. “I’ll have you screaming it later.”

  Since they’d become an “official” couple, sex had definitely become a regular activity. It seemed like more of an extension of what they’d been doing before—making out every night once they crawled into bed, touching each other shamelessly, and finding their pleasure in each other’s touch.