When The Rain Stops (BXB)

Chapter 19

"Fuckface, watch the game with me," was Rory's way of asking me to watch a football game, I guess. Except it's out of the blue, he interrupted my rockin' out to Lonely Island's Dick in a Box (which isn't gay), and I don't know what's happening.

"New phone, who dis?" I ask.

"Ha ha. Fuck you. It's on 570."

"Dude, I have cable."

"What century are you in?" Rory groans. "One second." He drops the phone and comes back a minute later. "It's, like, 30-something. Colts're playing the Bears, and they're totally gonna wipe the floor with them."

I sit down and turn on the TV. "Never really pegged you as a sports guy."

"I didn't peg you to be a little bitch, but here we are." Then he starts breathing heavy. "Are you alone?"

Mom and Dad decided to go out for dinner. They left me $20 for pizza and that's it. "Yep. Why, you gonna ask what I'm wearing?"

"Why would I do that?"

"You're a moron, and a pervert. Natural progression, dumb shit."

He snorts. "I'm surprised you even know what 'progression' means, Princess." Rory pauses. "You're probably wearing one of your gross t-shirts with the pit stains."

I lift up my arm to check them. At least I don't smell.

"No pants."

...I mean, he's not wrong. Who'm I impressing right now? No one. Pantsless.

But I say, "Nope. Shorts."

"Classy."

I find the channel. I just missed a good tackle because they're carrying a player off the field. "Okay, what just happened? I know shit about football."

"Buff guys tackling each other to get football to either end," he spits too fast. "It's boring as fuck, but it's my kinda game."

"You could just watch porno and be happy." I don't wanna watch football with him. Watching Owen try to weightlift would be more fun.

"I'm diversifying," he says, enunciating the second word. "Besides, I hate football."

"So why're you watching it?"

"There wasn't soccer on. I was bored."

"Why were you looking for soccer?"

He doesn't answer.

I swallow. "What, you don't have anything better to do? Where're Caleb 'n Evan?"

"Busy."

I sigh. "I gotta order dinner first but...sure."

"...okay."

And it's the way he says "okay" that just fucking pisses me off because it's not like a "great, finally you agree with me" or a "haha, yes, good, I'm right". It's an "oh, I didn't expect this to happen"-type shit. And what makes it even worse is that Rory goes super quiet for the rest of the time we're watching, like even he isn't sure of how to do this. Watch TV with people. So when the commercials come, he asks questions like "So how's being grounded?" and "Can you shut up for a little?"

The twisting in my stomach doesn't help that much, either.

~ ~ ~

Technically, my suspension ends when I lie through my goddamn teeth to Mom about why I joined the Gay/Straight Alliance. Some cockamamie bullshit about how I wanted to "strengthen my extracurriculars" and "meet new people".