Chapter 20: Undeclared (Part 1)

Jacky

Ryan was doing a very good job of reminding Jacky what a good blow job felt like. Everything so far tonight had brought back a year and a half of memories of when they were together: the way Ryan kissed his throat, how fun it was to peel Ryan out of his tight t-shirt, all the tricks Jacky had learned from reading Cosmo in his therapist's waiting room. It was like a greatest hits album that Jacky would never get sick of listening to.

And now Jacky was seeing stars, and not just because Interstellar was still somehow playing on the television, lending a haunting orchestral soundtrack to what Ryan was doing under the covers. He arched off the mattress, gripping the blankets in his fist.

When Ryan resurfaced, Jacky curled into his arms, and the two of them fell into a comfortable, deeply satisfied sleep.

That sleep was broken when Jacky heard a key in the door.

His body snapped awake. Beside him, Ryan stirred and asked, "Wassat?"

A slice of light became visible beyond the opening of the blanket fort. Two seconds later, Billy muttered, "What the fuck?"

Jacky struggled to sit up, but Billy had already nearly clotheslined himself on the blanket fort.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

"What are you doing here?" Jacky asked as he hunted through the blankets for his underwear.

"This is my room!" Billy fumbled through the blankets, paused when he saw Jacky and Ryan there on the floor, then turned and hit the room lights. Glaring fluorescents blinded them all.

"You said you would stay away all night!"

Billy ripped down one of the blanket walls. He gaped at his empty bed frame. "You stole my mattress?"

"You said you weren't planning on sleeping here!"

"That doesn't mean you get to steal my whole bed for your little—" Billy gestured wildly, "love shack!"

Jacky finally located his boxers. "We'll put it back."

"Gross! It needs to be disinfected now." Billy huffed and crossed the room to grab something out of one of his dresser drawers. "Don't bother getting dressed on my account. Just go ahead and fuck all night – I'll find someplace else to sleep."

And just as quickly as Billy had arrived, he left, slamming the door behind him.

Jacky and Ryan sat there in stunned silence for a moment. Jacky half-expected Billy to come right back in and offer himself up for a threesome, because the idea of Billy actually being mad felt absurd. Instead, they both heard a knock on the door across the hall.

On instinct Jacky grabbed for the remote and turned down the TV, which was now playing some weird-looking movie with Nicolas Cage. He could make out Braedyn's voice, and Billy's, but couldn't hear what they were saying. Though he was dying to hear what they were saying, the lights were on, he had no clothes on, and there was the possibility that Billy would storm back into the room, possibly with Braedyn in tow.

When they heard the door close and the voices stop, Jacky got up and twisted the lock on the door, then shut off the light.

"Awww," said Ryan in the darkness.

Jacky couldn't help laughing as he knelt down on the mattress, though he couldn't bring himself to lie down again. "I feel like an asshole."

"Yeah."

Ryan didn't add anything to that, and Jacky punched him. Ryan grinned. "I feel bad, but I also don't have to live with him."

"Are you still high on sex endorphins or something?"

"Maybe." Ryan's hand circled Jacky's wrist and tugged him down. "Maybe I just like that you're naked."

"So are you!"

It was hard to feel upset, plus they were kissing again.

Ryan

They both woke up fairly early. Ryan's stomach was growling loudly, and Jacky was also hungry. Without having to say a word to each other, they returned each mattress to the bed frames. Jacky even pulled out the Clorox wipes and cleaning spray his mother had packed him and attempted to clean Billy's mattress before putting the sheets back on.

"Do you want to take a shower?" Jacky asked.

"Too hungry," Ryan replied, so they threw on clothes – pajama pants and a hoodie for Jacky, jeans and a sweatshirt for Ryan – and went to the bathroom to brush their teeth before heading over to the dining hall.

When they stepped into the bathroom, they were hit with a wall of steam. Ryan wasn't too surprised by that; the smoke alarm outside the bathroom in his apartment had gone off more than once because of someone forgetting to turn on the vent. It was the moaning that made him stop in the doorway.

Jacky gave him a look and dragged him over to the sink, where they brushed their teeth in record time. The whole time Ryan wondered how the two people having sex in the shower hadn't felt the rush of cold air from the hallway, and how often this sort of thing happened. The bathrooms were gendered, so he also briefly wondered if a girl had sneaked into the boys' bathroom, until he heard both people moaning and realized it was two guys.

Ryan and Jacky locked eyes. Jacky mouthed, Billy. It had to be. And now that Jacky had given him the clue, he could recognize Billy in some of the moaning.

They hustled out of there when the water abruptly shut off.

Hurrying down in the hallway, Jacky clung to Ryan's arm, wheezing. "Holy shit, holy shit!"

"Is that kind of thing... normal?" Ryan asked, then added quickly, "In the dorms, I mean. People just having sex in the showers?"

"Uh..." The way Jacky's voice lifted at the end indicated that yes, this had happened before. "It's never been Billy though."

"Kinda reminds me of that one time," Ryan said, smirking at Jacky.

Jacky grinned as he, too, remembered that one time during senior year. "Shower sex is overrated."

"It might be different in a shower stall like that." In the bathroom at Jacky's house, the bathtub had proven to make things quite slippery.

"If you want the possibility of anyone walking in at any time."

"They seemed to be having a good time," Ryan said, nudging Jacky with an elbow. "So, that was Billy. Who do you think he was with?"

Jacky covered his mouth.

"You can tell me. It's not like I go here."

After a glance, Jacky said, "I think it was Braedyn."

"Braedyn?" The conversation last night was fresh in his mind. "I thought you said Braedyn was still in the closet."

"Didn't stop him from—" Jacky didn't say it out loud, which Ryan didn't mind at all. "After Billy stormed out last night, he knocked on the door across the hall. Where Braedyn lives."

"Oh," Ryan said. Somehow he hadn't realized, even though Jacky had mentioned that Braedyn lived on his floor, that they were so close.

"Yeah. Those two are pretty primed to hook up. I just hope it won't be like when..." Jacky trailed off. "I don't know. Billy seems to be afraid of commitment, and Braedyn seems like he's still not sure of his sexuality, so maybe they're perfect for each other."

"Good," Ryan said, and grabbed Jacky's hand. "Because now that we're boyfriends again, he's not allowed to treat you like a test subject."

"Oh, really?" Jacky asked.

"Really."

"And what are you gonna do about it if he tries?"

Even though Ryan had only empty threats to offer, it got him thinking that he might have to have a talk with Braedyn before he left.