Page 67 of The Way We Swing Back

I froze, but Jake didn’t look away after the question, his eyes lingering way longer than they should have. I bit my nails, my left hand down to nubs. Did he know about Tanner and me? Had Gavin told him even after promising not to? Heat rose through my body as my tongue froze, the conflicting temperatures causing a tornado of words to circle my brain.

“Chill, Jacob,” Tanner said. “Not everyone is a little flirt like you.”

“Don’t call me Jacob,” Jake said, turning from me, the interrogation seemingly finished.

The conversation continued for the next half hour, Jake peppering Calvin and Tanner with the same questions Gavin had given them months ago. It was easy to see why Jake and Gavin were such great friends; they’d also have made a perfect match with the Energizer Bunny.

Eventually, Jake got a text and said he needed to head home. He asked me if I’d drive him; I’d gotten my license last week, thanks to Mr. Quinn, and wasn’t turning down the chance.

Before I left, I pulled Tanner aside, having one last gift up my sleeve. No offense to the other Quinns, but Tanner was still secretly my favorite, and he’d gotten me a gift every year we’d known each other.

Calvin eyed us suspiciously as we walked away but didn’t make a move to stop us.

“Here. Open this,” I said, smiling.

Tanner slit open another envelope, similar to the one from the morning. This one, however, contained a fifty-dollar gift card to the best steakhouse in town. I’d spent way too much on gifts, but it was Christmas after all.

“I figured you could take Calvin on a date,” I said, hating the words as I said them, the words tasting like a rosin bag on the way out.

“Dude. I’ve wanted to go to this place. Thank you!” Tanner said. His body flinched toward mine and then pulled back. He made a fist for a bump instead, and our hands met between us.

“Enjoy, dude,” I said. Before we could make this more awkward than needed, I turned to Jake. “I’m ready now.”

We made our way to the car, Jake barely waiting for the doors to shut behind us. “Cal seems cool. Do you like him?”

“Seatbelt on,” I told him, ignoring the question as I put the car in drive.

We sat listening to the music for a couple of minutes, the bass bouncing against the walls of the car.

“Could you pull over? I need to ask you something.”

I squeezed the wheel. Was he going to ask about me and Tanner? That had to be it. I didn’t want to answer this question and probably wouldn’t, but I still found a spot to park a block away from Jake’s house.

“What’s up?” I said, turning to him. He wore a Cardinals hoodie I was pretty sure used to belong to Gavin, the hood tucked between him and the seat.

“Can you promise not to tell anybody?” Jake asked, his eyes locked on something through the windshield I couldn’t see.

“Sure.”

“Even Gavin. Don’t tell him either. Especially not him.”

“I said I wouldn’t tell anyone, and I won’t, man.”

The words had barely hung for a second when Jake twisted, the seat belt not slowing him down. His hands shot to my face, and he kissed me on the lips before I had a second to move, his tongue trying but failing to enter my mouth.

I shoved him away from me, the wetness still on my lips. Jake? Gay?

“Dude, what the hell was that?” I said.

“I’m so sorry,” Jake said, tears already falling down his cheeks.

My mind raced; he was fifteen, and I was nearing nineteen. Could I end up in jail for what he’d done? If someone had seen that... if someone twisted that... I’d be fucked.

What had made him think that was a good idea? Had I ever given him any indication I was interested in him?

I drove the car to his house with no words between us. Half of me wanted to make him get out of the car and walk the rest of the way to his house.

When I pulled in front of his house, he exited the car before I put it in park. I watched to make sure he got inside before heading back to the Quinns’, my mind full of cobwebs.