Jacob ignored him. He tucked his hand cream back into his pocket, then brought out a plastic baggie of vitamins he’d obviously taken from several different containers. Felix wasn’t a vitamin guy, but he’d spent enough time around Jacob to recognize a vitamin C and a zinc tablet and, for some reason, fish oil.
“Here,” Jacob said. “They’re good for hangovers.”
“Even the fish oil?” Felix held up the baggie, poking curiously at the golden tablet. “Man, you know I’m twenty, right? I can take care of myself.”
“Iknow,” Jacob snapped. Then, just when Felix thought they were going back to normal, Jacob wilted. “I know,” he repeated, softer. “I just…” He trailed off.
This was the part where Felix cracked a joke, changed the subject, anything to lighten the mood. But he was tired and hungover and, okay, still a little bitter from last night. And from the lifetime he’d spent hopelessly in love with his best friend whoonly saw him as more than a friend when he got upgraded to a Friend He Could Temporarily Fuck.
So Felix stayed silent for once. He just waited.
Jacob was trying to say something. He kept breathing strangely, like the words were coming up his throat but turned into air at the last second.
Felix’s phone rang on his nightstand.
“You should get that,” Jacob said. “Probably one of your guys.”
“I just said I wouldn’t?—”
But Jacob was already walking off. Felix glared at him, then at the vitamins in his hand. He threw the baggie on his bed and picked up his phone to see a name blinking at him:JACK HOT TA.
Half an hour later, Felix was at Jack’s house making Tex-Mex nachos.
“Thanks for coming at short notice,” Jack said as he handed him a packet of spices to put in the pan. “Thought I had a couple of hours this afternoon, but I got called in.”
“To which job?” Felix asked, emptying the spices into the ground beef.
“The garage.”
Felix threw the spice package away—clean as you go,as David instructed during his cleaning lessons—and paused. “Since when do you work at a garage? Dude, how many jobs do youhave?”
Jack didn’t respond. He was loading last night’s dishes into their small dishwasher, swearing under his breath when the utensils didn’t fit as instructed. Jack was very muchnota ‘clean as you go’ type of guy.
Felix stirred the ground beef, waiting to see if Jack would bring up last night. So far, he hadn’t even given him a significant look, which was a relief. Felix had hazy memories of hitting on Jack, and he was thankful Jack said no. That would be awkward as hell.
Jack shoved the dishwasher door closed and straightened. “How’s the beef?”
“Fine,” Felix said.
“Is it reduced enough yet?”
“Uhhh.” Felix peered into the bubbling pan. “That sounds like a you question, my guy.”
Jack leaned on the counter, glancing into the pan for barely a second before shrugging. “Few more minutes. You put in all the spices?”
“Whole packet.”
Jack sniffed the steam rising from the pan. “Doesn’t smell like it.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, dude. Smells good to me.” Felix leaned over the pan, breathing in the salty scent. His parents’ version of ‘nachos’ was a handful of Doritos and spray cheese. Not this meaty, beany, tomatoey goodness they were making. Apparently, he could also use this recipe for tortillas, which was exciting. Jack was teaching him recipes he could change easily or use in something else. In a few days they would make curry, which had about a million versions. Felix was surprised to find he was genuinely excited. Cooking was kind of fun when he got the hang of it.
If only he could get rid of the weird, twisty dread in his gut. Something wasupwith Jacob. Did he want to back out of the list? Did he tell his parents about it and now he was freaking out? God, Felix hoped not. He might hate Jacob getting new friends, but he didn’t want Jacob to fold himself into whateverhis parents wanted. For all Jacob insisted he’d stayed the same since high school, there were little changes.
He didn’t answer every one of his parents’ phone calls. His day wasn’t totally ruined if his pen leaked through his pocket protector. He was more open. If he wasn’t, he never would have considered the list in the first place.
“Surprised you said yes,” Jack said as he pulled more spices from their cluttered shelf. “Checked that timetable you sent me. Said you had a class.”
“I can watch the lecture online,” Felix said dismissively. “This is more important.”
