“The sex was great,” he said.
“No kidding. You were sleeping withme.”
“I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life either.”
“So, youdowant it again.”
I advanced on him, tugging at his shirt, hoping to pull off a quick outdoors romp in the park.
He pulled away from me like the perfect tease.
“If you want sex again,” I said, “why the fuck do you keep pushing me away?”
“I’m not pushing you away. I’m holding you at bay. There’s a difference.”
“There’s a difference, is there? Oh, that makes me feel so much better.”
“I’m holding you at bay, so you don’t fly out of control. I don’t want to lose control either.”
“We wouldn’t have wound up in this pickle if either of us had the first clue about self-control.”
“We’re in a pickle now, huh? Nice Freudian slip. Anyway, at least I’m willing to do something about it.”
Jakob turned out to be a much harder sale than I’d expected. Seriously. I’d would’ve thought I could all but snap my fingers and he would leap into my bed. But he didn’t. And it must’ve been more than just a Larkin Lions thing. Because I no longer knew where he was going with this, I decided to keep quiet and not gum up the works.
“I want to sleep with you, again, I do,” he said, “but it needs to be on my terms.”
“Your terms? That’s just great.”
“I’m sure you’ll live, Zane.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and tell me that those terms are?”
“I don’t just sleep with people. Not the way you want. One-off hookups are one thing, but I’ve really got to draw the line at a friends-with-benefits arrangement.”
“So, what are you suggesting?”
“That we at least go on a real date before diving down each other’s pants again.”
To me, Jakob might as well have said,Let’s jump off a bridge and see it we survive, orWhy don’t we enjoy a nice strychnine cocktail?
“You’re not serious,” I said.
“I’m always serious.”
I sputtered, knowing Jakob Martin could seldom finish a sentence without dropping some kind of dumbass remark.
“A first date,” I said, “that’s what people do if they’re gay, isn’t it?”
“It’s what people do when they’re bi. They also do it when… when they don’t know exactly what they are. Not everyone uses labels, you know.”
Jakob’s suggestion pushed me too close to uncharted territory for comfort, and I tried to resist.
“I don’t know if I can do that, Jakob, and not just because it’s the craziest thing you’ve ever suggested.”
“A date sounds crazier than us making the sheets sing?”
“It does, yeah. Even if that seems weird. I don’t care. I’ve got to think about the team. Like, webothneed to think about our teams. What the hell would they say?”
