Milo & Judah

Chapter 3 - Getting Close

Curious to know more about Judah, Milo decided to take initiative. He pulled out his phone and went to Instagram to search for him. But he realized he didn't know Judah's last name. Or even if his handle would be his name.

It occurred to him that he might find Judah in Mercer's list of followers.

Sure enough, he found only one listed: Judah Sofer.

Milo scrolled through Judah's posts. There were more photos of places than people. Judah didn't have many selfies, which was what Milo was really searching for if he were being honest. Most of the photos in which Judah was present always had at least one other person. He even had a few with Mercer.

About thirty posts down, Milo found the first photo where Judah wasn't wearing a shirt, although he was in a pool up to his neck with a swim cap and goggles on. He had his arm raised, punching the air with a huge grin. The caption said, "First place!!!"

Apparently, he was on Northwestern's swim team. It made sense that he was an athlete. Even fully dressed, Milo could tell Judah was in good shape by the way his clothes fit.

There was another photo on the same post. Judah was out of the pool, posing with three other very well-built guys, but Judah had a towel around his neck that blocked almost his entire torso.

As Milo was about to scroll down further he noticed the bright red heart under the photo. He accidentally liked the post. Milos heart pounded as a heaviness weighed on his chest, as if someone had filled his lungs with stones. He shot up in bed and clicked the screen to unlike it.

He immediately clicked off of Judah's profile before he did that again.

Milo noticed that he had a notification. With a lump in his throat, he clicked to check, hoping it was just someone liking his most recent post.

Judah had followed him.

What should he do? What could he do? He unliked the photo. If he went back and liked it again, Judah would know it was a mistake the first time. Judah had to know Milo had been lurking on his profile because it wasn't a new picture.

Finally, Milo decided the best course was probably to follow him back. It was the polite thing to do. Milo was just overthinking this way too much.

So, that's what he did.

Milo spent the next few hours shut away in his room, afraid to run into Judah. He didn't dare venture out until Mrs. McBride called everyone to dinner.

The potent aroma of garlic and oregano filled the house. He knew that scent well. His mouth watered just thinking about his mother's spaghetti. He hadn't eaten it since he left for school.

Everyone else was already seated when Milo entered the kitchen, so he fixed his plate from the dishes set up on the island counter. He sat beside his sister and grabbed a piece of garlic bread from the basket in the center of the table.

"This is delicious," Judah said.

Milo could barely look at him without feeling an embarrassed flush rising to his face.

"I'm glad you like it," Mrs. McBride said. "It's my great-grandfather's recipe. He was actually born and raised in Italy."

"That's so cool. Mercer never mentioned that."

Mercer grumbled something unintelligible with his mouth so full he could barely keep it closed while he chewed.

Mrs. McBride was always happy to trot out her ancestry. If Judah gushed too much he'd be in store for a night flipping through photo albums full of black and white images of people at least fifty years dead. "I forgot to ask if there's anything you don't eat."