Stuck

Chapter 2

There were a couple dozen people in Tom's basement. Other than Tom's room and a bathroom, the entire thing was unfinished, which made it great for a messy game of beer pong. When we came inside and I was dripping on the floor, Tom, Coup, Greg, and everyone else bombarded us, either making sure we were okay or laughing at me for having fallen through the ice. A couple of people introduced themselves to Caleb, while a few others asked how I'd been doing.

"Alright alright." Tom said, his speech a little slurred from one to many drinks. Tom was a big guy. He put Little Rock on the map for hockey and unlike everyone else, he'd left town a while ago for various OHL teams. "Let Jackson get cleaned up before he freezes to death. Caleb, can you grab him some clothes? I don't think mine will fit."

We pulled off our snowsuits, leaving them in a pile near a heat vent, and I trudged after Caleb up the stairs, leaving wet sock prints as I went.

The rest of Tom's house was immaculate. While the basement was unfinished, the main floor was like one of those lake houses you'd see on TV. Mom and I always called them "rustic expensive". I was never best buddies with Tom, so I never quite realized just how extravagant his house was. Tom's parties had been confined to the basement after a mishap with the stove and an oil fire. Right now, the place was over the top decorated for Christmas.

"My bedroom's upstairs." Caleb said, heading off towards the upper floor. As he walked up the stairs, I got my first good look at him, his nonchalant gay comment playing through my head. He was much shorter than me with messy blonde hair that was pushed flat from wearing his hat. The hair was almost recognizable.

"You've been to the diner before, haven't you?" I asked as we walked up the stairs.

"You mean that little fifties looking place in town?" He asked. "Yeah."

"I work there."

"I remember." He replied.

Caleb's room was the exact opposite of Tom's. Where Tom's were clothes strewn across the floor, Caleb's was perfectly clean. Only a small desk with a MacBook and a couple of pictures made the space look lived in. To be fair, a few months ago, it was still a guest room.

"If you want to take a quick shower to warm up, I'll find you some clothes." He said, pointing towards the bathroom. I'd live with Tom if it meant I could have my own bathroom. Hell — if Tom's parents asked me to live with them, I'd probably say yes regardless.

I closed the door, struggling to peel off my still sopping clothes. The hot water felt amazing after being in a freezing lake. The steam filled the room, and I stood there letting it wash over me. It was the first time I was really happy in a long while.

The last four months had been hell. Mom had a new boyfriend. They'd invited me over lots, but it always seemed like I was intruding. Dad was dad. And it felt like Hannah hardly had time to text me back. She started dating someone at school, and instead of coming with me to Tom's party, she stayed an extra few days in the city to spend time with him before Christmas.

But Caleb — Caleb seemed really cool. And really attractive. And he was also stuck in Little Rock, at least for a while. Plus, he was gay. Like full on, didn't give a shit, told me he was gay. And I was naked in his shower and having trouble not getting excited.

A knock at the door interrupted that dangerous thought process.

"You okay in there?" Caleb called.

I shut off the water, grabbing the nearest towel to dry myself off.

"Yup, out in a minute." It took two to prepare myself to go out wrapped in a towel.

As I poked my head in the room, Caleb was on his laptop, which he closed quickly, spinning around in his chair. He had changed, and was wearing a tight white t-shirt with blue trim around the edges that showed off his lean arms, and had on a pair of grey track pants and socks.

"Clothes." He said, pointing to the pile on his bed. I watched his eyes flick up and down my body, and as he met my eyes, his face flushed red. "I didn't know if you'd want underwear, but they're clean. I won't look." His eyes went wide and he spun back around, hiding his face in his hands.

I pulled the outfit on. The pants were short, but otherwise the clothes fit well.

"What do you think?" I asked, holding my arms wide and spinning around for him.

"Very nice. I have great style." He replied.

Caleb's phone buzzed, and he clicked it to silent, which reminded me mine was waterlogged inside my pants pocket.

"Not going to answer that?" I asked, fishing out my own phone.

"My friends at home are at a party. Speaking of, you don't have to hang out here with me. I'm sure Tom and his friends would love to catch up."

"I was hoping you might help me get some rice first?" I said, holding up my wet phone.

"You know I don't think the wet phone in rice thing actually works."

"Oh, the rice isn't for my phone." I replied, "I just get really hungry after I fall in lakes." He gave me another half laugh, leading me back to the main floor.

The music continued pounding up from the basement while Caleb and I took care of my phone and popped a pizza in the oven 'to deal with my post shower hunger'. Caleb flicked on the TV while we ate, and "Property Brothers" was playing.

"My mom and I used to watch this." I said. I got no reply out of Caleb and glanced over. He looked like he was about to cry. "You okay?"

"Yeah, my mom and I used to watch this, too."

He faced away from me, looking out the window and putting his piece of pizza down.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I definitely do not want to talk about it." He replied.

"Do you want to tackle me into a frigid lake again?"

"I may want to tackle you into a lake." He let out a wheezy laugh, grabbing a napkin from beside the pizza and blowing his nose. "Sorry, new topic, okay?"

Before I could reply, the door to the basement swung open, the music now echoing through the main floor. Tom stepped out, glancing over at us.

"HGTV? Hell no! Not at my party." Tom came over and handed us each a solo cup filled with what must have been vodka with a dash of orange juice. He grabbed a slice of pizza and shoved Caleb up off the couch. "You're playing beer pong. If you don't want to drink it's fine just pretend drink. Jackson, you're not allowed to pretend drink. UP!"

We followed Tom back downstairs, and Caleb real drank as the two of us got crushed at beer pong by Tom and Coup. And beaten by Greg and Sarah. And then did moderately okay in several games of flip cup. And finally won a game of beer pong against Coup and Zoey.

Caleb jumped on my back, shouting, "If we can beat the lake, we can beat anyone!"

Each time our drinks got low Tom came by with something new, and each time someone new came into the party, they got introduced to Caleb and responded with a "I hope you're doing okay", or a "So sorry to hear about your parents." I guess I didn't have it so bad. As the party wound down and people got picked up or fell asleep on couches, Caleb and I found ourselves mostly alone, leaning against the wall watching a final beer pong match.

"You know we could have stuck to HGTV." Caleb said, falling against me.

"We could have stuck to skating." I replied.

"No no no." He said, hiccuping. "You aren't very good at that. I need to teach you."

"Are you asking me to hang out again?"

"I am asking —" a hiccup interrupted the thought. "I am asking you to kiss me."

Caleb picked himself up off the wall, facing me. He stumbled a little and nearly fell flat on his back. He steady himself with a hand on my shoulder, looked up in my eyes — his were blue, I only noticed it now — and hiccuped again.

And then he vomited on my clothes.

Well... his clothes. I was only borrowing them.