Jared Abitol is ugly, past his prime, and desperate for love.
Years of being hyper-aware of his own looks have made Jared develop social anxiety. When you look like Jared, love isn't easy to find. Jared might not have the looks or confidence, but h...
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Austin was going on about something as he typed on his phone. Jared wasn't really listening. His mind was on the fact that he would have to drive a little above the speed limit if he wanted to pick Darnell on time after this. Sure, he had called the younger man and told him he was going to be a little late, but he still felt bad about making him hang around the car park for a whole extra hour. Jared was driving Austin to his home on the other side of town because his friend's car didn't start up, and he needed a ride.
"You can't just tell me to take public transport," the older man had said when Jared had suggested that, horror clear in his body language and facial expression. Jared had felt bad, so he offered his friend a ride even though he had been in a rush to meet up with Darnell.
"Look at the road. When I asked you for a ride I didn't ask to die," Austin said, making Jared blink before tightening his grip on the steering wheel. He had spaced out and had, if only for a few seconds, not paid attention to the road. "Did something happen? You've been looking like a shell of yourself all week," Austin said, lighting a cigarette in the car. Jared didn't have the energy to tell him not to smoke, so he just let him. The physics professor sighed, looking away from his friend as he tried to arrange the thoughts in his head.
"You said you think you're in love with Yves, right?" Jared asked, and he watched his friend nod from the corner of his eyes. "Does he know you feel that way about him?" he asked, watching as his friend blew a puff of smoke into the car.
"Yes," Austin answered, making Jared raise a brow in surprise. "I told him less than a week ago."
He doesn't feel the same way," Austin muttered in a low tone, but Jared picked his words up, licking his lips at the awkwardness reigned over them. Austin had been really excited about asking Yves to marry him. Jared wondered if he just told him he loved him or proposed to him. He kept wondering because he knew he couldn't ask. Austin might be touchy about it, and besides, they were talking about something else.
"He didn't leave you?" Jared asked in a small voice, not sure how his friend would react. The older bubbly man had gone a little quiet, so he wasn't sure what was going on in his mind.
"We have a contract," Austin simply countered. "There's nowhere in it that says I can't have feelings for him," Austin added, making Jared bite down on his bottom lip as he thought about that.
"I love Darnell," he said plainly, finding an odd sense of comfort from saying it out loud for the first time. He had never even said it out loud to himself and admitting it to Austin felt like a load was lifted off his shoulders. "I love him so much, that I don't even know what to do with myself when I'm around him. I don't know if it's wise to tell him about it. Or maybe I'm worrying over nothing and he already knows and is being polite about it," Jared went on, stepping on the break as they came to a red light.
"Oh, so you're lovesick. That's why you haven't been functioning properly," Austin laughed, folding his hands over his stomach. "I've been there. I'm over it," he said, humming as he looked out the window.
