In the middle of Des Plaines Illinois three boys find themselves in a tangled knot of angsty lust and amateur love.
Evan Webster has an average American life. When he isn't at swim practice or the movie theater, he's trying to make time to study bi...
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The dorm room was dark when Jackson walked through the door. He watched the top bunk cave inward as the door hinges clicked into place, seeing the outline of Evan's body shift slightly. He hadn't fallen asleep yet.
Evan had forgotten his swim cap and goggles, so Jackson had picked them up. He quietly set the items on the closest flat surface, along with a granola bar. He knew Evan hadn't eaten. Then he tiptoed to his own duffel bag, only to find it unzipped with Danny's leather jacket peeking out. His chest sank, as if his guilt was drowning his own heart. He changed out of his soggy clothes and climbed into the bottom bunk.
Evan had showered. The spicy-citrus scent of Bergamot lingered in the small space, whereas Jackson's skin still ponged with a layered of dried chlorine. He had taken the long way back to the dorms, walking slowly along the winding paths. His bright hair had been frozen into wads, looking like flamed icicles. He was shaking the whole bunkbed with his shivers, but Evan pretended not to notice.
The tall boy had taken the shorter route through the quad. His long strides brought him to the dorm bathrooms before Jackson had even left Huff Hall. He stood in the shower until his skin became pruny, losing track of time as he considered sleeping on the bus. He figured it would create too many rumors and instigate too many questions, so he settled on their shared room instead.
The two boys remained in their beds, listening to each other's lungs fill and fall. Jackson's jittery breaths finally became steady again, echoing the exhales that came from Evan's nose. The chorused exchange was only interrupted by the occasional cough or the ruffling of a pillow. They would have drifted to sleep within the hour if Jackson hadn't opened his mouth.
"Why did you kiss me?" The redhead asked.
His words were soft, but powerful enough to penetrate the mattress hovering above him. Evan heard him clearly, but it took him a few moments to respond.
Into the darkness, Evan said, "I wanted to know if you were worth it." If you were worth ruining us.
Jackson could have pried more. He could have asked: Was I worth it? Did you like it as much as I did?Why did you pull away? But he chose silence. Because he was tired, and he figured Evan had no desire to talk to him any further.
"Why did you kiss me back?" Evan questioned. His eyes looked over the rail of his bed, but he couldn't catch a glimpse of Jackson.
The red-haired boy licked his lips, thinking. There were not secrets between them anymore.
"Because I always wondered what it would be like," Jackson answered truthfully. "To kiss you."
It felt so stripped – talking without a face. Without expression. Without judgement. They could say anything under the veil of night.
"I like when you lose," Evan began. "Because you get out of the pool after me. And I get to see the speckles of water on your back before you dry off. They magnify your freckles. I used to dream about it. About you."
Jackson wished he could see his face so he could kiss him again. "You dreamed about me?"
"I used to tell myself I had a crush on Molly Ringwald, but...," he explained. "I knew. I knew I liked you."
Liked. Past tense, Jackson told himself. But that didn't stop him from revealing another secret of his own.
"I like your Spiderman swim cap," Jackson disclosed. "And I like that you don't care what other people say about it."
Evan didn't believe it. "You do?"
"Yeah. I do," the redhead said.
If Evan had asked why, Jackson would have explained that they were the only two boys on the swim team who had worn the same swim cap every year. For Jackson, it was because he couldn't afford a new one every season. But for Evan...
