Page 26 of Oblivious Roommate

And then we did shopping cart racing, which nearly got us arrested, and then slept under a bush after talking through most of the night while watching stars.

Best birthday ever.

“No, it was great,” Cass says, echoing my thoughts.

“Did you… So you already knew back then? That you’re gay, or were you still unsure?”

“I found out pretty early on, but it was this secret I didn’t dare tell anyone. I didn’t even know how much it was stifling me before I finally came out, first to my friends at university, then to family.”

Not to me.

“But how were you sure? Did you look at boobs and go, ‘nope!’?”

He shrugs. “They’re the same to me as a leg, you know. I just never had any interest, but when I thought of a guy touching me... yeah, that had me going all hot.”

I don’t find lady parts revolting either, but it’s true that for me they’re just… there. Touching and penetrating them ultimately contributed to my pleasure, but I’d always been more into the feeling itself than being with my girlfriend. I like how girls look at me when they’re into me, but that’s more about my ego. Because yeah, it feels good to be considered attractive.

“Did you have a high school crush?”

“Yeah, but I’m not telling you because you know him too, and it would be weird as hell,” Cass says with a grin.

Damn, he’s so handsome with those black locks tickling the skin of his neck.

I go through the list of guys we thought were hot shit back in high school.

“I bet it was Ben Reid. Cause he did the sword LARP thing, like your beloved Aragorn!” I tease.

“I’m not telling you shit. You’re too much of a gossip.” He joins me on the boulder. I’m about to answer when he sneaks his wet, ice-cold hand under the back of my T-shirt.

I jump up with a squeal but laugh. “You asshole! This is war!” I grab a bunch of fallen leaves and throw them at him.

He chuckles and leaps away to grab his own handful. “You watch out, I might just have a big bad troll watching over me!”

“You wish!” I manage to dodge some of his leaves, and throw more at him, but my eyes are on the prize now. With a fistful of leaves, I run at him, and he knows exactly what I intend because I’ve stuffed leaves down his shirt too many times to count.

Cass laughs and runs off, taking advantage of his legs being longer than mine, but I’m not far behind him. Gathering a fallen branch with a swoop of his arm, he turns toward me with the piece of wood raised above his head as if it were a massive sword. But as he moves, ready to fight me off, my gaze settles on a pale shape on the other shore of the creek, and my stomach drops.

This can’t fucking be, but a mountain lion the size of a large, crouching man emerges from behind a rock, staring at my best friend.

“Cass, look to your left very, very slowly,” I say, freezing in place with my stomach so tight I'm getting nauseated. Within seconds, we are in the kind of danger that makes my mind razor-sharp. I want to jump in front of Cass and run all at once.

I have no idea what to do, but I now wish I also had a branch to hit the wild cat with if need be instead of a bunch of leaves. Even a rock would have been better.

He does as told and turns to face me again as soon as he spots the animal. “Oh fuck. Stay calm,” he says but raises both arms now. I follow his example, dropping the leaves as my stomach retracts, pressing to my spine.

"How the fuck am I supposed to stay calm?" It comes out as a whimper. Do whimpers attract mountain lions? I have no fucking clue.

“It’s okay, there’s two of us, so it’s not likely to attack. Make yourself look bigge—don’t bend or crouch,” he adds sharply when I look down in search for a branch of my own. “Don’t turn your back at him either. We’ll slowly retrace our steps facing it. It’s gonna be fine,” he says, calming me with that velvety voice, even though I’m sure he’s never encountered a mountain lion either.

The wild cat is massive, at least a hundred and sixty pounds, and if it chose to attack us, things might turn out very badly.

“What the hell is he doing here?” I whisper as Cass takes a step back to join me.

“They’re rare in Indiana, but there are sightings. As majestic as this one is, I can’t wait to be back in the car.”

I wish I could just admire this beast, but I’m losing my shit, and only Cass’s presence is helping me stay sane. It follows us with attentive eyes and I pray to God there’s no cubs around. I don’t even know when they breed.

“Fuck… Fuck… Cass, I need you to be honest,” my voice trembles. “How likely is it that it attacks? Only true facts, please.”