Page 27 of Jacob Michaels is Not Crazy

“Oma!” I gasped around the mouthful of food.

Lucas just chuckled.

“Well, he’s an asshole.” Oma waved me off with her fork before popping the last bite of her food in her mouth. “If he ain’t tellin’ me what to do one way he’s tellin’ me another. Hope he falls in the shower with them rickety ole legs of his.”

Lucas guffawed as he slid the ladle back into the gravy skillet and headed over to the table. Oma raised from her seat, her plate suddenly empty.

“You boys finish your breakfast.” She said suddenly. “I’m gonna go in here and get a fire going and get my feet toasted up.”

Lucas sat down in the chair next to me at the table, giving me a wink as Oma rinsed her plate off and deposited it in the sink. A few seconds later, Lucas and I were alone at the table and I didn’t have the first clue what to say to him. Which was odd, all things considered. We’d had meals together. Done…other things together. Surely, I could figure out something normal to say?

“Did you sleep well?”

That wasn’t it.

“Did I sleep well?” Lucas grinned goofily at me as he stuffed a bite of food into his mouth. “Is that what you wanted to say?”

“No.”

“Did you want to ask me if I slept well without you in bed next to me?”

I couldn’t help but blush slightly and grin as I looked down at my plate.

“I think that’s what you wanted to ask me.”

Crossing my arms, I placed them on the table in front of my plate, ignoring my food as I swallowed the last bite I had taken.

“What if I did?”

“Then the answer is that I slept okay, but I would have slept better if you had stayed over and slept with me.” He shrugged. “But that’s moot now.”

“Who would be the big spoon if we slept together?” I leaned in conspiratorially. “You or me?”

“We could take turns.”

“I want first watch.”

“I’d let you have anything you wanted.”

“Anything?” I leaned in closer.

Who was this person I was becoming? I was mooning over some guy at Oma’s table, acting like a lovesick teenager who was experiencing their first sexual relationship.

Who really gives a shit?

“Yes.” Lucas looked me in the eyes as he shoved another bite into his mouth. “Anything, Rob.”

I considered this.

“Why?”

“Because something inside of me tells me that I want to do it.”

“What if that thing inside of you told you to burn down an orphanage?” I was only partly teasing. “Would you follow that instinct, too?”

“Apples to oranges.” He shook his head with a smile. “Wanting to do anything to make someone happy and burning orphans alive are not even on the same spectrum, Rob.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “What if I wanted you to burn down the orphanage?”