hackthis_archive (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hackthis_archive) wrote2003-10-09 09:22 am
hackthis_archive) wrote2003-10-09 09:22 am
Entry tags:
Part Two
Telegraph Avenue I: Come Pick Me Up
The O.C.
Telegraph Avenue II: The Boy with the Thorn in his Side
The Grim Adventures of Bill and Mandy was on the television when Seth woke up, otherwise, it was dark in the apartment. He wiped the drool away from the corner of his mouth and scrambled around for the Hula Girl light on the end table. He blinked several times against the intrusion of the 40-watt light bulb and stared at the flashing light on the answering machine. There was something he was forgetting to do, but he couldn’t quite remember what the hell it was. He’d had a lot of moments like that since he’d come to college; it was probably all the drinking.
He glanced out the window, but the darkness of the evening couldn’t provide him with any answers either. Ryan still wasn’t home, which was becoming more expected in light of his crazy course load, but that didn’t mean that Seth missed him any less. Just because they lived together didn’t mean they actually saw each other that much.
From the beginning Ryan had been hell bent on doing well at Berkeley. He’d gotten himself an academic scholarship even though he didn't actually need it. Seth’s money was Ryan’s money; not that either of them had any money, but still. No matter what Seth’s mom and dad had said, Ryan could be really stubborn when he wanted to be. He’d also gotten himself a part time job at UC Electronics over on Telegraph. It was pretty much just getting paid to play on the Internet, but a job was a job, and it wasn’t like Seth had one. Between the job and the studying though, Ryan was hardly ever home and when he was, he was nose-deep in enormous architecture textbooks.
Since the Marissa fiasco, getting Ryan to do anything social was like trying to extricate Seth from new issues of Superman/Batman. Only harder.
He knew that things had ended badly between Ryan and Marissa. Anybody could’ve seen that considering that she’d transferred all the way to Massachusetts, but that was no reason for Ryan not to enjoy college. It was supposed to be the best time of his life, or something. Seth was certainly enjoying himself; and that was all he wanted for Ryan, too. For him to be happy.
Except that Seth couldn’t imagine anybody being happy when they spent half their lives at Wurster Hall.
Shaking his head, Seth grabbed the empty pizza carton, clambered off the sofa and went into the kitchen. He tossed the carton onto the stove, along with the other empty cartons, and looked around the kitchen trying to think about what else he could eat. He wasn’t necessarily hungry, he just wasn’t *not* hungry either.
He eyed the clock as he tried to figure out where the hell Ryan was, and then blinked several times. It was 8:42pm. Grim Adventures was on. 8:42 pm. Eight pm. Jamie. The Freight.
Seth nearly poked his eye out as he slapped himself in the forehead. Jamie’s gig, he’d slept straight through it. Even if the gig started late, which it probably had, Seth was missing it.
He looked down at the frayed Atari shirt, which covered his favorite button down with the massive Ryan-induced coffee stain on the left arm, and brushed the errant pizza crumbs off his chest. He’d meant to take a shower. He’d meant to be on time.
Seth ran his fingers through his hair only to have them get caught in a mess of tangles. He pulled a bit too hard, but eventually his fingers were freed. He could skip the performance completely and pretend like he’d forgotten, which he had, sort of. He could clean himself up and then go, and totally miss everything. Or he could stop being a girl about it and get the hell out of there. Jamie was a nice guy, and Seth had given his word. Seth wasn’t popular enough to start pulling a Summer. At least not yet.
Nodding his head decisively, Seth grabbed his skateboard from its hook over the kitchen table and made to leave. He put his hand on the door, realized he’d forgotten his keys and spent another five minutes digging in the sofa cushions for them. After finding the keys, Seth left, tearing out the front door and nearly taking out Tara from 1C. He found a new empathy for Erika as he caught the dirty look Tara shot his way. Clearly using the front door was a health hazard.
The East Bay night was vaguely chilly around him as Seth boarded down Dwight to Shattuck. There was a slight breeze coming in from somewhere, and he couldn’t believe that it was only October. It never got cold like this in Newport, but that was the south and this was the north. Except Seth hadn’t spent a winter up north since before he could remember. He only had vague recollections of his childhood in Berkeley, even though every time his parents came up to visit they were full of ‘do you remember’ and ‘you used to love this’ stuff.
Seth decided to take Dwight to the coffee house because he knew he’d never be able to pass by Comic Relief on University without at least *trying* to look in the window.
The next 25 minutes passed relatively peacefully for Seth despite the traffic, the speed bumps, and the fact that most of Berkeley was not conducive to boarding. The trek up San Pablo was full of treacherous cracks, and by the time Seth made it to the Freight he was sweating and his hair was plastered to his forehead. The things he did for people who weren’t even his friends, but definitely had potential, astounded even him.
The bald biker at the door grunted at Seth and waved him through, which had never happened before. Seth balked, blinked, and then grabbed his board and went in anyway.
The last time there’d been a cover charge, but who was he to argue with freeness? Free was good, and Seth never turned down anything that was free.
He opened the door, found himself face to back with a whole lot of people, and sighed in resignation. It had been like this the last time he’d been there, too, and why the hell had he fallen asleep and been late? He was such a dumbass, plus Rusty had probably eaten all the free food.
Seth could hear the strains of a familiar song, and Jamie’s voice grew stronger as Seth attempted to crowbar his way through the crowd. He stepped on several toes, butted a few people with his board, and blushed at more than a few disgruntled noises before giving up his cause for lost and stopping where he was. His final spot turned out to be a lot closer than he’d thought, and Seth rested his board on the ground against his right leg.
He could make out Jamie fairly well, in all his plaid flannel glory, and Seth couldn’t help but be impressed by Jamie’s stage presence. Most performers tended to sing to their knees or the rafters, but Jamie sat on a folding chair very close to the microphone. His guitar was firmly placed on his knee, and his eyes were wide open and watching the crowd as he sang. Every now and then he smiled or nodded at someone, and not once did he glance down at his fingers. Seth had always wanted to be able to play the guitar like that. Of course the closest Seth had come to musical glory was the eight excruciating months he’d spent learning the clarinet in seventh grade. After his first and only recital, both he and his parents had agreed that his talents, whatever the hell they were, lay elsewhere.
Jamie, though, seemed made for this sort of stuff, and when the dark-haired woman next to Seth whispered something to someone else about hot farmers in flannel, Seth bit his lip to keep from laughing. Or agreeing.
It was only at the end of the song that Seth finally recognized Gram Parson’s ‘A Song for You.’ When Jamie’s voice faded out, Seth clapped along with the rest of the crowd and laughed when there were several wolf whistles from the back. He watched Jamie attentively, a sense of pride and curiosity coming from somewhere he couldn’t name.
He listened as Jamie babbled for several seconds about a Boondocks comic strip he’d read that morning, and was slightly taken aback when he realized that Jamie was looking right at him. Nobody ever looked right at Seth, except for Ryan and his parents, unless he was in trouble or being called on in class.
Obviously it was Seth’s imagination. Nevertheless, he smiled back broadly because that’s what friends did. Right.
Seth caught the woman next to him glancing at him curiously, but he didn’t look back at her. She had to be at least thirty and way out of his range.
He didn’t catch everything Jamie said because his stomach began to complain about the lack of dinner in Seth’s life, but the entire room made an ‘awww’ sound, and Seth shook his head to bring himself back to the present. Jamie was still looking at him, but this time he had an almost shy smile on his face, and Seth’s stomach began flopping for a reason that had nothing to do with hunger.
He blinked when Jamie began to sing softly. He couldn’t remember hearing Rufus Wainwright without the piano, but Seth began to suspect that Jamie could sing the Yellow Pages and make it sound good.
The woman next to Seth elbowed him in the ribs. When he winced and glanced down at her, she grinned at him.
“He’s good, isn’t he?” she whispered, motioning to Jamie.
Seth nodded silently, keeping both of his eyes on the stage.
“Pretty hot, too,” the woman added.
Seth’s head turned of its own accord, and he gaped when the woman winked at him lasciviously. There was no way she was coming on to him. Seriously.
Seth shook his head and looked back towards the front of the coffee bar. Jamie wasn’t looking at him anymore, but he wasn’t looking at anybody else either. His eyes were cast downward, and he seemed very intent on what he was playing.
When the song ended, the entire room erupted in applause, and Jamie smiled and applauded them back. “I’d be nothing without you guys,” he said into the microphone. “Thanks for all your support.”
The applause grew louder for a moment and then began to die out. As the people around him began to disperse, Seth reached down and picked up his skateboard, hefting it underneath his arm. He was just about to head to the front of the cafe, when he felt a hand on his arm. It was the dark-haired woman again, and Seth began to feel nervous even though he had no idea why.
The woman didn’t actually look more than twenty-something when Seth got a better glance at her. She wore a tight turquoise shirt and dark green cargo pants. She had an Indian-print sash in place of a belt, and the most electric green eyes Seth had ever seen. If her nails hadn’t been digging into his arm, Seth might’ve found her really attractive.
“Uh, do I know you?” he said attempting to pull away with some stealth, but the woman held his arm fast. She stared at him for several seconds while Seth began to wonder how bad it would look for him to scream for help like a ten year-old girl.
“You’ll do,” she said with a sharp nod of her head before letting go and walking off.
Seth stood there for several seconds, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. He’d just chalked the whole thing up to a Twilight Zone experience when he felt another hand on his arm. What the hell was up with all the touchy-feely people tonight?
“Okay, I am so not a hippie; no more with the free love action!” Seth announced, spinning around and nearly knocking Jamie over with his skateboard.
Jamie *just* dodged the blow, and Seth’s face could not begin to display all the horror he felt.
“Oh, dude. Dude,” he said, as Jamie held his arms and his guitar out of Seth’s radius.
Seth began waving his left arm, the one not currently doing skateboard duty, trying to gesture out how sorry he was. It was like Charades on crack, and he knew it.
Jamie’s laugh started out as a chuckle and grew until Seth was sure the entire cafe was staring at them. “Seth. Relax,” he burst out between laughs. “Woodstock is over.”
Seth had seen the humor in the situation, but now he was growing annoyed. Not necessarily at Jamie, but at his own serious lack of coolness, and the fact that he was still hungry and there was no free food in sight.
“Haha, everybody’s a comedian,” he muttered.
Jamie finally stopped laughing and stepped back into what Seth realized was quite clearly *his* personal space. Jamie was flushed, Seth assumed, from his performance, and his eyes were extremely bright.
“Dude, I am so sorry about being late,” Seth began. “I was watching TV and then I was sleeping, and this place is not close to where I live. Did Rusty eat all the free food, because I am seriously hungry? I would eat crumbs if I saw them.”
The longer he babbled the more Jamie smiled at him. Eventually Seth trailed off, realizing that he was not only monopolizing the conversation, but consuming the whole thing. “So, um, yeah. You were really good though.”
“Thanks.”
Seth snorted. “I should be thanking you. I am blessed; you have a gift; do not forget me when you’re rich and there are millions of cast-off groupies that you don’t want.”
Jamie cocked an eyebrow, and his smile stretched into a wry grin. “I don’t quite think that’s how it’s going to go, but I’ll keep you in mind.”
Seth nodded.
“So, you’re hungry?”
“'Hungry' does not begin to describe how I feel right now. Famished. Dying. Starvation. These are words that accurately describe how I’m feeling.”
“There’s this Chinese food place on University,” Jamie began.
“Long Life Vegi.”
“Ah, you know it.”
“Dude, I live it.”
“So, you’d want to go? With me?”
“Unless you’re talking to the person behind me,” Seth paused to glance over his shoulder. There was nobody there. “Then hell yes.”
Jamie’s eyes crinkled around the corners, and Seth took a deep breath because he began to feel dizzy. It was just a meal; obviously he was way hungry.
He needed to get a grip.
“Just let me pack up my guitar and we can go.”
Seth waved Jamie on. “Don’t let me hold you up. Run, go, fly, like the wind.”
Jamie tilted his head thoughtfully. “You are truly unique, Seth.”
Seth snorted. “You have no idea.”
“That’s why you’re here,” Jamie mocked, before going in search of his case.
Seth just stared.
*
The walk down University should have taken them fifteen minutes. However, since Seth had been at school for a year and two months and had yet to pass by Comic Relief without needing to stare at their window display, it wound up taking thirty. To Seth it felt like five minutes.
While Seth pressed his nose against the storefront, Jamie pointed out several issues of Johnny: The Homicidal Maniac and JLA that he had first editions of. Seth stared at him in shock and declared Jamie a fellow geek. He then made Jamie promise to share them with him. Jamie had given him another one of those shy smiles, which had caused Seth’s head to whirr about something else besides being hungry.
The smell of McDonald’s assailed their noses the moment they hit Shattuck, and there was a very intense debate, albeit with very few words, as to the merits of the golden arches versus Long Life.
In the end, the light had changed and Jamie had dragged Seth across the street by his sleeve rather than letting him go to McDonald’s. After all, Seth could have McDonald's at any time in his life.
There was no wait for a table as they just managed to slip in before the doors were locked, and it was clear that the waiters were less than happy to see them. After ordering his usual fried rice and egg rolls, Seth turned back to Jamie and waited as he ordered spicy green beans and some wonton soup. For a split second Seth wondered if he should order something to take home to Ryan, but forgot about that when Jamie tossed his balled-up straw wrapper at Seth’s head.
“Heavy on the maturity, I see,” Seth mocked.
Jamie shrugged. “Everybody needs a night off.”
“Some of us are taking their life off.”
Jamie laughed and Seth smiled. He discovered he enjoyed making Jamie laugh.
There’d been something on Jamie's face when he shrugged that had bothered Seth. It reminded Seth of the way Ryan acted when he was beating himself up over something that hadn’t even been his fault to begin with.
“So,” Jamie began, scooting forward in his chair to rest his arms on the table.
“So.”
“I didn’t know you knew Carrie.”
“Carrie?”
“Black hair. Blue shirt. Standing next to you during the gig.”
“You mean psycho chick?” Seth retorted.
Jamie slapped his hand over his mouth, but that didn’t muffle his laughing. “She’s not a psycho, Seth.”
“Dude, she spent the entire time elbowing me and then announced that ‘I would do’ before stalking off. That, I call psycho.”
Jamie’s laughter died off, and he looked away from Seth.
“She’s not psycho,” he repeated.
Alarm bells went off in Seth’s head. “Dude, is she your ex? Oh, shit. My bad. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to talk badly about –“
Jamie cut Seth off. “She’s not my ex, relax. She’s friends with my ex, though. They still play in that band together. The one I’m no longer in.”
Seth wasn’t necessarily the most attentive person when it came to human feelings, but even he could see that this was not a good subject for conversation.
Bitterness was not a particular hard emotion to sniff out.
“Man, I didn’t mean to salt –“ his voice dropped off when Jamie held up his hand.
“Break-ups are a part of life; and Ian and I just weren’t working out. There are some people you just can't make happy, you know?”
Seth opened and shut his mouth perfunctorily. Ian. Ian was not a girl’s name, ergo Jamie’s ex was not a girl. Ian was a boy. Jamie’s ex was a boy. Huh.
Seth wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but thankfully the soup arrived and he didn’t have to try and fake it. He greedily lifted the bowl to his mouth and swallowed down several mouthfuls of soup, while considering Jamie over the ceramic rim.
Jamie’s eyes were clearly on his food, but he wasn’t drinking his soup. Eventually, Seth lowered his bowl and wiped his mouth with his napkin.
Jamie looked up at him slowly, his face strangely blank.
“Do you skateboard?” Seth asked.
He had no idea where the question had come from, but he felt it had a lot more tact to it than, ‘Dude, are you picking up gay vibes from me? Because, you know, that doesn’t mean I’m gay; it just means that I think you’re hot.’
Jamie’s lips twitched, and again, Seth thought of Ryan. “No. Not really into the boarding thing. Not a lot of call for it in Albany; too much snow.”
Seth nodded judiciously and pushed his soup away. He glanced at Jamie before looking out the window. Bodies were passing by, but none of them meant anything to Seth. He didn’t know any of those people, but he was here with somebody who was trying to get to know *him*; did it matter if Jamie was gay? No, not really. Did it matter that he was hot? Oh, hell yes.
“What happened to Rusty?” Seth asked. “I didn’t see him tonight. Did the men in white coats finally come and get him?”
He hadn’t actually *looked* for Rusty, but there were only two of them at the table now, and if somebody had snatched all the free food at least it should’ve been somebody Seth knew.
“Band practice.”
Seth nodded absently as his eyes kept darting from the window and to Jamie. The white long sleeve shirt from that afternoon was now covered by a brown flannel shirt, which by all rights should have looking fucking awful. Except it didn’t. And when Jamie shifted to lean back in his chair, Seth’s eyes very clearly saw the outline of defined muscles.
Internally, Seth kicked himself several times. He couldn’t even pretend not to know what was going on because he did. He *knew* he did. Apparently Seth’s brain thought that finding out Jamie was gay, or bi, or whatever, gave Seth leave to stare and covet and just have really bad thoughts.
He needed help.
He was losing his straightness at an alarming rate.
“Seven minute conversation lag,” Jamie said, just as the food clattered down on the table between them. Seth jumped slightly as the plate of fried rice skittered to a stop just shy of falling off the table and on to his lap. Obviously being the last people in the restaurant was not conducive to good service.
After the waiter had vanished, Seth leaned across the table and whispered to Jamie who was busy shifting around his green beans. “Next time we go to McDonalds.”
Jamie looked at him from underneath his eyelashes, and Seth’s stomach made a loud commotion.
“*Next* time?” Jamie said as Seth settled back into his chair
“Yes, next time, unless you want to leave now.” Seth made a show of picking up his chopsticks and unwrapping them, only to put them back down.
Jamie reached over and separated Seth’s chopsticks for him and then handed them back. “Next time,” he agreed.
*
University Avenue was strangely pedestrian-free when Seth and Jamie emerged from the restaurant. It wasn’t particularly late, perhaps around eleven, so Seth couldn’t really figure out where everyone was. He followed Jamie as he jaywalked across the street, and shifted his leftovers and his skateboard as they loitered outside Mod Lang.
“Concert at the Greek,” Jamie said as though reading his mind. “Ani DiFranco.”
“Ah, so that explains the vast wasteland that is our politically correct campus.”
Jamie smirked as Seth shook his head. “Not really into the chick rock,” he said by way of explanation.
“It’s not all chick rock,” Jamie protested. “Look at Bonnie Raitt.”
“She’s more blues though. Liz Phair is chick rock.”
“Yes, but she’s hot,” Jamie acquiesced as he glanced at the window display of the record shop. Seth stood beside him and looked, even though he’d just been in the store that afternoon.
“I know,” Seth said after several seconds.
“I like chicks, too, Seth,” Jamie said as though reading Seth’s mind for the second time in only a few minutes.
“You have to stop doing that,” Seth retorted.
“Doing *what*?” Jamie’s voice was sharp as he turned to Seth.
“Reading my mind. It’s really scary and I keep thinking you’re going to suddenly announce to the world that when I was five I used to run around the house with my Underoos on my head.”
Jamie blinked. “Okay, that’s so not what I thought you were going to say.”
“What’d you think I was talking about?”
“Ian. Me. You. The whole ‘me liking you’ thing”
“Huh.”
Jamie was quiet, and Seth cleared his throat. “So you like me?”
Jamie’s laugh was dry. “I thought that was pretty obvious.”
“Only to everybody else,” Seth began. “I am notoriously slow about things like this, plus you know, not really used to anybody liking me, well except for my parents and Ryan and the ex, but you know she’s my ex for a reason.”
“So, your ex is a girl?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah.”
“But that doesn’t mean,” Seth’s voice trailed off. It didn’t *mean* what exactly? Was he trying to make a move on Jamie? What the hell? Wasn’t he straight? What about Summer and Anna? What about *Ryan*?
Whatever.
Ryan was straight, and Seth needed to go home and have a long conversation with his mouth and his brain. And also his libido. And also his heterosexuality, which was apparently MIA.
“Doesn’t mean what, Seth?”
Seth cleared his throat, again. The ability to speak suddenly didn’t feel as natural as it usually did. “Um, would you believe me if I said I have no idea?”
“No. Try again.”
Jamie licked his lips, and Seth blinked. Jamie’s tongue was very pink, and despite all that time Jamie had spent in his personal space that evening, Seth hadn’t really noticed before how good he smelled.
Seth’s mouth opened and closed several times as Jamie stood in front of him, expectantly. Seth’s heartbeat began to speed up exponentially, and the bag of leftovers slipped in his grasp. Jamie bit his bottom lip, and Seth closed his eyes. He could not keep looking at Jamie without doing something that... well, it wasn’t as though there was anybody to stop him. And he was in college. And Jamie was really hot. And Jamie liked *him*.
“Do you like me, Seth?”
Seth’s eyes popped open. The whole mind-reading thing was really freaking him out. “What? Yeah, yes, I mean well, yeah. You seem very cool.”
“*Cool*,” Jamie parroted.
He bit his bottom lip again, and Seth’s dick twitched. Of course, his body would pick a fine time to voice its vote. The skateboard slipped fractionally in Seth’s right hand, and Jamie smiled. Except, instead of the shy or excited smile Seth had come to expect, this one seemed very predatory.
Seth’s cock did more than twitch when Jamie stepped forward again and pressed himself again Seth. Their difference in height was marginal, and Seth could feel every part of Jamie pressed against him. *Every* part. Jamie quite clearly worked out.
More importantly, Jamie really did like him.
“I like you, Seth. I’m not going to pretend that I don’t. If you’re not interested, that’s cool, and we can totally forget this ever happened. But if you *are* interested...”
Jamie’s eyes drifted down to Seth’s mouth and back up deliberately, and he licked his lips, again.
For the first time in a long while, Seth was speechless. Not only was a boy hitting on him, but Seth was *letting* him, presumably because he liked it.
A lot.
When it became clear that fighting this attraction was not on his evening agenda, Seth closed his eyes and waited. Jamie didn’t keep him waiting long. However, Seth had been expecting a press of lips, so when Jamie’s tongue darted along Seth’s bottom lip, Seth made a rather unimpressive moan. He felt rather saw Jamie’s smile against his mouth, and he parted his mouth expectantly when Jamie’s tongue nudged his lips apart.
Jamie kissed like he played the guitar, pouring all his attention into what he was doing, and presumably only paying attention to Seth. Seth couldn’t remember ever feeling so totally consumed by anyone. When he heard the sound of something hitting the pavement, he could only assume it was Jamie’s Chinese food, since his guitar was strapped to his back and Seth himself was making every effort not to pass out.
Seconds later, Jamie’s hands were cupping Seth’s face and drawing him forward. His thumbs rubbed Seth’s cheekbones, and Seth’s hands began to itch uncontrollably. He really really needed to touch Jamie or do something to participate, but it was hard for Seth to have a coherent thought with Jamie’s tongue brushing against his own.
Jamie pulled away with a sharp nip to Seth’s lower lip, and Seth licked his lips as he opened his eyes reluctantly. He was going to have to get those spicy green beans the next time they went to Long Life Vegi. More importantly though, Jamie was still right *there*, and he dragged his thumb over Seth’s lower lip with a smirk.
Seth shook his head and dropped his board and the paper bag on the sidewalk with a little ceremony.
Whether or not he liked “boys” was still up for debate. He definitely liked kissing *this* boy, and that was enough for him.
Flexing his newly freed hands once, Seth tentatively wrapped his arms around Jamie’s waist. This earned him a sly smile, and whatever Jamie was going to say Seth cut off with a sharp kiss. This time Seth took charge, he splayed his hands against Jamie’s lower back to hold him close and kissed him as though it was something he might never get to try again.
Kissing a boy was very different from kissing Summer, and Seth found he really couldn’t compare the two. Jamie was all hard angles and deep thrusts where Summer had been softer and far more gentle than her sharp tongue ever suggested.
One of Seth’s hands strayed, seemingly of its own accord, under the hem of Jamie’s shirt, and when Jamie finally pulled away, Seth’s fingers were still busy rubbing little circles in the small of Jamie’s back.
Jamie grinned and tilted Seth’s head forward until their foreheads were pressed together. It was a very strange way to look at someone, but Seth’s brain was too muddled for him to complain.
“So,” Jamie began.
Seth just exhaled deeply. Jamie chuckled.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“I’m not feeling very straight right now,” Seth announced, only to have Jamie begin laughing, again, as though it were the funniest thing he’d ever heard. Which it might have been.
“Are you saying I made you gay?”
“No,” Seth said. “No, but you definitely didn’t help matters.”
Jamie considered Seth for several seconds before pulling away slowly. “Does that bother you?” he asked, bending down and picking up the bag he had dropped.
“No, not really. At least I don’t think so,” Seth offered. “I like you. Beyond that I can’t really say much else.”
Jamie looked at Seth for several seconds before nodding his head as though deciding something.
“I should go to the library and get some studying in,” he said eventually.
Seth stared. So it was like *that*. Okay, he could play it cool, too. After all he was from Newport and his roommate was from Chino. He had to know something about cool by now.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Seth nodded absently and watched for several seconds as Jamie turned around and walked off towards the green.
Shaking his head as though coming out of a fog, Seth bent down rather stiffly to gather up his dropped board and Chinese food, but instead he found himself touching his mouth in wonder.
He’d kissed a boy. And he’d liked it. A lot.
Huh.
-On to part III-
Notes: The title song ‘The Boy with the Thorn in His Side’ is by The Smiths, but I prefer the Jeff Buckley version. As I tend to do with pretty much everything.
Again, thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
serialkarma and ethrosdemon for encouragement and beta action.
The O.C.
The Grim Adventures of Bill and Mandy was on the television when Seth woke up, otherwise, it was dark in the apartment. He wiped the drool away from the corner of his mouth and scrambled around for the Hula Girl light on the end table. He blinked several times against the intrusion of the 40-watt light bulb and stared at the flashing light on the answering machine. There was something he was forgetting to do, but he couldn’t quite remember what the hell it was. He’d had a lot of moments like that since he’d come to college; it was probably all the drinking.
He glanced out the window, but the darkness of the evening couldn’t provide him with any answers either. Ryan still wasn’t home, which was becoming more expected in light of his crazy course load, but that didn’t mean that Seth missed him any less. Just because they lived together didn’t mean they actually saw each other that much.
From the beginning Ryan had been hell bent on doing well at Berkeley. He’d gotten himself an academic scholarship even though he didn't actually need it. Seth’s money was Ryan’s money; not that either of them had any money, but still. No matter what Seth’s mom and dad had said, Ryan could be really stubborn when he wanted to be. He’d also gotten himself a part time job at UC Electronics over on Telegraph. It was pretty much just getting paid to play on the Internet, but a job was a job, and it wasn’t like Seth had one. Between the job and the studying though, Ryan was hardly ever home and when he was, he was nose-deep in enormous architecture textbooks.
Since the Marissa fiasco, getting Ryan to do anything social was like trying to extricate Seth from new issues of Superman/Batman. Only harder.
He knew that things had ended badly between Ryan and Marissa. Anybody could’ve seen that considering that she’d transferred all the way to Massachusetts, but that was no reason for Ryan not to enjoy college. It was supposed to be the best time of his life, or something. Seth was certainly enjoying himself; and that was all he wanted for Ryan, too. For him to be happy.
Except that Seth couldn’t imagine anybody being happy when they spent half their lives at Wurster Hall.
Shaking his head, Seth grabbed the empty pizza carton, clambered off the sofa and went into the kitchen. He tossed the carton onto the stove, along with the other empty cartons, and looked around the kitchen trying to think about what else he could eat. He wasn’t necessarily hungry, he just wasn’t *not* hungry either.
He eyed the clock as he tried to figure out where the hell Ryan was, and then blinked several times. It was 8:42pm. Grim Adventures was on. 8:42 pm. Eight pm. Jamie. The Freight.
Seth nearly poked his eye out as he slapped himself in the forehead. Jamie’s gig, he’d slept straight through it. Even if the gig started late, which it probably had, Seth was missing it.
He looked down at the frayed Atari shirt, which covered his favorite button down with the massive Ryan-induced coffee stain on the left arm, and brushed the errant pizza crumbs off his chest. He’d meant to take a shower. He’d meant to be on time.
Seth ran his fingers through his hair only to have them get caught in a mess of tangles. He pulled a bit too hard, but eventually his fingers were freed. He could skip the performance completely and pretend like he’d forgotten, which he had, sort of. He could clean himself up and then go, and totally miss everything. Or he could stop being a girl about it and get the hell out of there. Jamie was a nice guy, and Seth had given his word. Seth wasn’t popular enough to start pulling a Summer. At least not yet.
Nodding his head decisively, Seth grabbed his skateboard from its hook over the kitchen table and made to leave. He put his hand on the door, realized he’d forgotten his keys and spent another five minutes digging in the sofa cushions for them. After finding the keys, Seth left, tearing out the front door and nearly taking out Tara from 1C. He found a new empathy for Erika as he caught the dirty look Tara shot his way. Clearly using the front door was a health hazard.
The East Bay night was vaguely chilly around him as Seth boarded down Dwight to Shattuck. There was a slight breeze coming in from somewhere, and he couldn’t believe that it was only October. It never got cold like this in Newport, but that was the south and this was the north. Except Seth hadn’t spent a winter up north since before he could remember. He only had vague recollections of his childhood in Berkeley, even though every time his parents came up to visit they were full of ‘do you remember’ and ‘you used to love this’ stuff.
Seth decided to take Dwight to the coffee house because he knew he’d never be able to pass by Comic Relief on University without at least *trying* to look in the window.
The next 25 minutes passed relatively peacefully for Seth despite the traffic, the speed bumps, and the fact that most of Berkeley was not conducive to boarding. The trek up San Pablo was full of treacherous cracks, and by the time Seth made it to the Freight he was sweating and his hair was plastered to his forehead. The things he did for people who weren’t even his friends, but definitely had potential, astounded even him.
The bald biker at the door grunted at Seth and waved him through, which had never happened before. Seth balked, blinked, and then grabbed his board and went in anyway.
The last time there’d been a cover charge, but who was he to argue with freeness? Free was good, and Seth never turned down anything that was free.
He opened the door, found himself face to back with a whole lot of people, and sighed in resignation. It had been like this the last time he’d been there, too, and why the hell had he fallen asleep and been late? He was such a dumbass, plus Rusty had probably eaten all the free food.
Seth could hear the strains of a familiar song, and Jamie’s voice grew stronger as Seth attempted to crowbar his way through the crowd. He stepped on several toes, butted a few people with his board, and blushed at more than a few disgruntled noises before giving up his cause for lost and stopping where he was. His final spot turned out to be a lot closer than he’d thought, and Seth rested his board on the ground against his right leg.
He could make out Jamie fairly well, in all his plaid flannel glory, and Seth couldn’t help but be impressed by Jamie’s stage presence. Most performers tended to sing to their knees or the rafters, but Jamie sat on a folding chair very close to the microphone. His guitar was firmly placed on his knee, and his eyes were wide open and watching the crowd as he sang. Every now and then he smiled or nodded at someone, and not once did he glance down at his fingers. Seth had always wanted to be able to play the guitar like that. Of course the closest Seth had come to musical glory was the eight excruciating months he’d spent learning the clarinet in seventh grade. After his first and only recital, both he and his parents had agreed that his talents, whatever the hell they were, lay elsewhere.
Jamie, though, seemed made for this sort of stuff, and when the dark-haired woman next to Seth whispered something to someone else about hot farmers in flannel, Seth bit his lip to keep from laughing. Or agreeing.
It was only at the end of the song that Seth finally recognized Gram Parson’s ‘A Song for You.’ When Jamie’s voice faded out, Seth clapped along with the rest of the crowd and laughed when there were several wolf whistles from the back. He watched Jamie attentively, a sense of pride and curiosity coming from somewhere he couldn’t name.
He listened as Jamie babbled for several seconds about a Boondocks comic strip he’d read that morning, and was slightly taken aback when he realized that Jamie was looking right at him. Nobody ever looked right at Seth, except for Ryan and his parents, unless he was in trouble or being called on in class.
Obviously it was Seth’s imagination. Nevertheless, he smiled back broadly because that’s what friends did. Right.
Seth caught the woman next to him glancing at him curiously, but he didn’t look back at her. She had to be at least thirty and way out of his range.
He didn’t catch everything Jamie said because his stomach began to complain about the lack of dinner in Seth’s life, but the entire room made an ‘awww’ sound, and Seth shook his head to bring himself back to the present. Jamie was still looking at him, but this time he had an almost shy smile on his face, and Seth’s stomach began flopping for a reason that had nothing to do with hunger.
He blinked when Jamie began to sing softly. He couldn’t remember hearing Rufus Wainwright without the piano, but Seth began to suspect that Jamie could sing the Yellow Pages and make it sound good.
The woman next to Seth elbowed him in the ribs. When he winced and glanced down at her, she grinned at him.
“He’s good, isn’t he?” she whispered, motioning to Jamie.
Seth nodded silently, keeping both of his eyes on the stage.
“Pretty hot, too,” the woman added.
Seth’s head turned of its own accord, and he gaped when the woman winked at him lasciviously. There was no way she was coming on to him. Seriously.
Seth shook his head and looked back towards the front of the coffee bar. Jamie wasn’t looking at him anymore, but he wasn’t looking at anybody else either. His eyes were cast downward, and he seemed very intent on what he was playing.
When the song ended, the entire room erupted in applause, and Jamie smiled and applauded them back. “I’d be nothing without you guys,” he said into the microphone. “Thanks for all your support.”
The applause grew louder for a moment and then began to die out. As the people around him began to disperse, Seth reached down and picked up his skateboard, hefting it underneath his arm. He was just about to head to the front of the cafe, when he felt a hand on his arm. It was the dark-haired woman again, and Seth began to feel nervous even though he had no idea why.
The woman didn’t actually look more than twenty-something when Seth got a better glance at her. She wore a tight turquoise shirt and dark green cargo pants. She had an Indian-print sash in place of a belt, and the most electric green eyes Seth had ever seen. If her nails hadn’t been digging into his arm, Seth might’ve found her really attractive.
“Uh, do I know you?” he said attempting to pull away with some stealth, but the woman held his arm fast. She stared at him for several seconds while Seth began to wonder how bad it would look for him to scream for help like a ten year-old girl.
“You’ll do,” she said with a sharp nod of her head before letting go and walking off.
Seth stood there for several seconds, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. He’d just chalked the whole thing up to a Twilight Zone experience when he felt another hand on his arm. What the hell was up with all the touchy-feely people tonight?
“Okay, I am so not a hippie; no more with the free love action!” Seth announced, spinning around and nearly knocking Jamie over with his skateboard.
Jamie *just* dodged the blow, and Seth’s face could not begin to display all the horror he felt.
“Oh, dude. Dude,” he said, as Jamie held his arms and his guitar out of Seth’s radius.
Seth began waving his left arm, the one not currently doing skateboard duty, trying to gesture out how sorry he was. It was like Charades on crack, and he knew it.
Jamie’s laugh started out as a chuckle and grew until Seth was sure the entire cafe was staring at them. “Seth. Relax,” he burst out between laughs. “Woodstock is over.”
Seth had seen the humor in the situation, but now he was growing annoyed. Not necessarily at Jamie, but at his own serious lack of coolness, and the fact that he was still hungry and there was no free food in sight.
“Haha, everybody’s a comedian,” he muttered.
Jamie finally stopped laughing and stepped back into what Seth realized was quite clearly *his* personal space. Jamie was flushed, Seth assumed, from his performance, and his eyes were extremely bright.
“Dude, I am so sorry about being late,” Seth began. “I was watching TV and then I was sleeping, and this place is not close to where I live. Did Rusty eat all the free food, because I am seriously hungry? I would eat crumbs if I saw them.”
The longer he babbled the more Jamie smiled at him. Eventually Seth trailed off, realizing that he was not only monopolizing the conversation, but consuming the whole thing. “So, um, yeah. You were really good though.”
“Thanks.”
Seth snorted. “I should be thanking you. I am blessed; you have a gift; do not forget me when you’re rich and there are millions of cast-off groupies that you don’t want.”
Jamie cocked an eyebrow, and his smile stretched into a wry grin. “I don’t quite think that’s how it’s going to go, but I’ll keep you in mind.”
Seth nodded.
“So, you’re hungry?”
“'Hungry' does not begin to describe how I feel right now. Famished. Dying. Starvation. These are words that accurately describe how I’m feeling.”
“There’s this Chinese food place on University,” Jamie began.
“Long Life Vegi.”
“Ah, you know it.”
“Dude, I live it.”
“So, you’d want to go? With me?”
“Unless you’re talking to the person behind me,” Seth paused to glance over his shoulder. There was nobody there. “Then hell yes.”
Jamie’s eyes crinkled around the corners, and Seth took a deep breath because he began to feel dizzy. It was just a meal; obviously he was way hungry.
He needed to get a grip.
“Just let me pack up my guitar and we can go.”
Seth waved Jamie on. “Don’t let me hold you up. Run, go, fly, like the wind.”
Jamie tilted his head thoughtfully. “You are truly unique, Seth.”
Seth snorted. “You have no idea.”
“That’s why you’re here,” Jamie mocked, before going in search of his case.
Seth just stared.
The walk down University should have taken them fifteen minutes. However, since Seth had been at school for a year and two months and had yet to pass by Comic Relief without needing to stare at their window display, it wound up taking thirty. To Seth it felt like five minutes.
While Seth pressed his nose against the storefront, Jamie pointed out several issues of Johnny: The Homicidal Maniac and JLA that he had first editions of. Seth stared at him in shock and declared Jamie a fellow geek. He then made Jamie promise to share them with him. Jamie had given him another one of those shy smiles, which had caused Seth’s head to whirr about something else besides being hungry.
The smell of McDonald’s assailed their noses the moment they hit Shattuck, and there was a very intense debate, albeit with very few words, as to the merits of the golden arches versus Long Life.
In the end, the light had changed and Jamie had dragged Seth across the street by his sleeve rather than letting him go to McDonald’s. After all, Seth could have McDonald's at any time in his life.
There was no wait for a table as they just managed to slip in before the doors were locked, and it was clear that the waiters were less than happy to see them. After ordering his usual fried rice and egg rolls, Seth turned back to Jamie and waited as he ordered spicy green beans and some wonton soup. For a split second Seth wondered if he should order something to take home to Ryan, but forgot about that when Jamie tossed his balled-up straw wrapper at Seth’s head.
“Heavy on the maturity, I see,” Seth mocked.
Jamie shrugged. “Everybody needs a night off.”
“Some of us are taking their life off.”
Jamie laughed and Seth smiled. He discovered he enjoyed making Jamie laugh.
There’d been something on Jamie's face when he shrugged that had bothered Seth. It reminded Seth of the way Ryan acted when he was beating himself up over something that hadn’t even been his fault to begin with.
“So,” Jamie began, scooting forward in his chair to rest his arms on the table.
“So.”
“I didn’t know you knew Carrie.”
“Carrie?”
“Black hair. Blue shirt. Standing next to you during the gig.”
“You mean psycho chick?” Seth retorted.
Jamie slapped his hand over his mouth, but that didn’t muffle his laughing. “She’s not a psycho, Seth.”
“Dude, she spent the entire time elbowing me and then announced that ‘I would do’ before stalking off. That, I call psycho.”
Jamie’s laughter died off, and he looked away from Seth.
“She’s not psycho,” he repeated.
Alarm bells went off in Seth’s head. “Dude, is she your ex? Oh, shit. My bad. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to talk badly about –“
Jamie cut Seth off. “She’s not my ex, relax. She’s friends with my ex, though. They still play in that band together. The one I’m no longer in.”
Seth wasn’t necessarily the most attentive person when it came to human feelings, but even he could see that this was not a good subject for conversation.
Bitterness was not a particular hard emotion to sniff out.
“Man, I didn’t mean to salt –“ his voice dropped off when Jamie held up his hand.
“Break-ups are a part of life; and Ian and I just weren’t working out. There are some people you just can't make happy, you know?”
Seth opened and shut his mouth perfunctorily. Ian. Ian was not a girl’s name, ergo Jamie’s ex was not a girl. Ian was a boy. Jamie’s ex was a boy. Huh.
Seth wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but thankfully the soup arrived and he didn’t have to try and fake it. He greedily lifted the bowl to his mouth and swallowed down several mouthfuls of soup, while considering Jamie over the ceramic rim.
Jamie’s eyes were clearly on his food, but he wasn’t drinking his soup. Eventually, Seth lowered his bowl and wiped his mouth with his napkin.
Jamie looked up at him slowly, his face strangely blank.
“Do you skateboard?” Seth asked.
He had no idea where the question had come from, but he felt it had a lot more tact to it than, ‘Dude, are you picking up gay vibes from me? Because, you know, that doesn’t mean I’m gay; it just means that I think you’re hot.’
Jamie’s lips twitched, and again, Seth thought of Ryan. “No. Not really into the boarding thing. Not a lot of call for it in Albany; too much snow.”
Seth nodded judiciously and pushed his soup away. He glanced at Jamie before looking out the window. Bodies were passing by, but none of them meant anything to Seth. He didn’t know any of those people, but he was here with somebody who was trying to get to know *him*; did it matter if Jamie was gay? No, not really. Did it matter that he was hot? Oh, hell yes.
“What happened to Rusty?” Seth asked. “I didn’t see him tonight. Did the men in white coats finally come and get him?”
He hadn’t actually *looked* for Rusty, but there were only two of them at the table now, and if somebody had snatched all the free food at least it should’ve been somebody Seth knew.
“Band practice.”
Seth nodded absently as his eyes kept darting from the window and to Jamie. The white long sleeve shirt from that afternoon was now covered by a brown flannel shirt, which by all rights should have looking fucking awful. Except it didn’t. And when Jamie shifted to lean back in his chair, Seth’s eyes very clearly saw the outline of defined muscles.
Internally, Seth kicked himself several times. He couldn’t even pretend not to know what was going on because he did. He *knew* he did. Apparently Seth’s brain thought that finding out Jamie was gay, or bi, or whatever, gave Seth leave to stare and covet and just have really bad thoughts.
He needed help.
He was losing his straightness at an alarming rate.
“Seven minute conversation lag,” Jamie said, just as the food clattered down on the table between them. Seth jumped slightly as the plate of fried rice skittered to a stop just shy of falling off the table and on to his lap. Obviously being the last people in the restaurant was not conducive to good service.
After the waiter had vanished, Seth leaned across the table and whispered to Jamie who was busy shifting around his green beans. “Next time we go to McDonalds.”
Jamie looked at him from underneath his eyelashes, and Seth’s stomach made a loud commotion.
“*Next* time?” Jamie said as Seth settled back into his chair
“Yes, next time, unless you want to leave now.” Seth made a show of picking up his chopsticks and unwrapping them, only to put them back down.
Jamie reached over and separated Seth’s chopsticks for him and then handed them back. “Next time,” he agreed.
University Avenue was strangely pedestrian-free when Seth and Jamie emerged from the restaurant. It wasn’t particularly late, perhaps around eleven, so Seth couldn’t really figure out where everyone was. He followed Jamie as he jaywalked across the street, and shifted his leftovers and his skateboard as they loitered outside Mod Lang.
“Concert at the Greek,” Jamie said as though reading his mind. “Ani DiFranco.”
“Ah, so that explains the vast wasteland that is our politically correct campus.”
Jamie smirked as Seth shook his head. “Not really into the chick rock,” he said by way of explanation.
“It’s not all chick rock,” Jamie protested. “Look at Bonnie Raitt.”
“She’s more blues though. Liz Phair is chick rock.”
“Yes, but she’s hot,” Jamie acquiesced as he glanced at the window display of the record shop. Seth stood beside him and looked, even though he’d just been in the store that afternoon.
“I know,” Seth said after several seconds.
“I like chicks, too, Seth,” Jamie said as though reading Seth’s mind for the second time in only a few minutes.
“You have to stop doing that,” Seth retorted.
“Doing *what*?” Jamie’s voice was sharp as he turned to Seth.
“Reading my mind. It’s really scary and I keep thinking you’re going to suddenly announce to the world that when I was five I used to run around the house with my Underoos on my head.”
Jamie blinked. “Okay, that’s so not what I thought you were going to say.”
“What’d you think I was talking about?”
“Ian. Me. You. The whole ‘me liking you’ thing”
“Huh.”
Jamie was quiet, and Seth cleared his throat. “So you like me?”
Jamie’s laugh was dry. “I thought that was pretty obvious.”
“Only to everybody else,” Seth began. “I am notoriously slow about things like this, plus you know, not really used to anybody liking me, well except for my parents and Ryan and the ex, but you know she’s my ex for a reason.”
“So, your ex is a girl?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah.”
“But that doesn’t mean,” Seth’s voice trailed off. It didn’t *mean* what exactly? Was he trying to make a move on Jamie? What the hell? Wasn’t he straight? What about Summer and Anna? What about *Ryan*?
Whatever.
Ryan was straight, and Seth needed to go home and have a long conversation with his mouth and his brain. And also his libido. And also his heterosexuality, which was apparently MIA.
“Doesn’t mean what, Seth?”
Seth cleared his throat, again. The ability to speak suddenly didn’t feel as natural as it usually did. “Um, would you believe me if I said I have no idea?”
“No. Try again.”
Jamie licked his lips, and Seth blinked. Jamie’s tongue was very pink, and despite all that time Jamie had spent in his personal space that evening, Seth hadn’t really noticed before how good he smelled.
Seth’s mouth opened and closed several times as Jamie stood in front of him, expectantly. Seth’s heartbeat began to speed up exponentially, and the bag of leftovers slipped in his grasp. Jamie bit his bottom lip, and Seth closed his eyes. He could not keep looking at Jamie without doing something that... well, it wasn’t as though there was anybody to stop him. And he was in college. And Jamie was really hot. And Jamie liked *him*.
“Do you like me, Seth?”
Seth’s eyes popped open. The whole mind-reading thing was really freaking him out. “What? Yeah, yes, I mean well, yeah. You seem very cool.”
“*Cool*,” Jamie parroted.
He bit his bottom lip again, and Seth’s dick twitched. Of course, his body would pick a fine time to voice its vote. The skateboard slipped fractionally in Seth’s right hand, and Jamie smiled. Except, instead of the shy or excited smile Seth had come to expect, this one seemed very predatory.
Seth’s cock did more than twitch when Jamie stepped forward again and pressed himself again Seth. Their difference in height was marginal, and Seth could feel every part of Jamie pressed against him. *Every* part. Jamie quite clearly worked out.
More importantly, Jamie really did like him.
“I like you, Seth. I’m not going to pretend that I don’t. If you’re not interested, that’s cool, and we can totally forget this ever happened. But if you *are* interested...”
Jamie’s eyes drifted down to Seth’s mouth and back up deliberately, and he licked his lips, again.
For the first time in a long while, Seth was speechless. Not only was a boy hitting on him, but Seth was *letting* him, presumably because he liked it.
A lot.
When it became clear that fighting this attraction was not on his evening agenda, Seth closed his eyes and waited. Jamie didn’t keep him waiting long. However, Seth had been expecting a press of lips, so when Jamie’s tongue darted along Seth’s bottom lip, Seth made a rather unimpressive moan. He felt rather saw Jamie’s smile against his mouth, and he parted his mouth expectantly when Jamie’s tongue nudged his lips apart.
Jamie kissed like he played the guitar, pouring all his attention into what he was doing, and presumably only paying attention to Seth. Seth couldn’t remember ever feeling so totally consumed by anyone. When he heard the sound of something hitting the pavement, he could only assume it was Jamie’s Chinese food, since his guitar was strapped to his back and Seth himself was making every effort not to pass out.
Seconds later, Jamie’s hands were cupping Seth’s face and drawing him forward. His thumbs rubbed Seth’s cheekbones, and Seth’s hands began to itch uncontrollably. He really really needed to touch Jamie or do something to participate, but it was hard for Seth to have a coherent thought with Jamie’s tongue brushing against his own.
Jamie pulled away with a sharp nip to Seth’s lower lip, and Seth licked his lips as he opened his eyes reluctantly. He was going to have to get those spicy green beans the next time they went to Long Life Vegi. More importantly though, Jamie was still right *there*, and he dragged his thumb over Seth’s lower lip with a smirk.
Seth shook his head and dropped his board and the paper bag on the sidewalk with a little ceremony.
Whether or not he liked “boys” was still up for debate. He definitely liked kissing *this* boy, and that was enough for him.
Flexing his newly freed hands once, Seth tentatively wrapped his arms around Jamie’s waist. This earned him a sly smile, and whatever Jamie was going to say Seth cut off with a sharp kiss. This time Seth took charge, he splayed his hands against Jamie’s lower back to hold him close and kissed him as though it was something he might never get to try again.
Kissing a boy was very different from kissing Summer, and Seth found he really couldn’t compare the two. Jamie was all hard angles and deep thrusts where Summer had been softer and far more gentle than her sharp tongue ever suggested.
One of Seth’s hands strayed, seemingly of its own accord, under the hem of Jamie’s shirt, and when Jamie finally pulled away, Seth’s fingers were still busy rubbing little circles in the small of Jamie’s back.
Jamie grinned and tilted Seth’s head forward until their foreheads were pressed together. It was a very strange way to look at someone, but Seth’s brain was too muddled for him to complain.
“So,” Jamie began.
Seth just exhaled deeply. Jamie chuckled.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“I’m not feeling very straight right now,” Seth announced, only to have Jamie begin laughing, again, as though it were the funniest thing he’d ever heard. Which it might have been.
“Are you saying I made you gay?”
“No,” Seth said. “No, but you definitely didn’t help matters.”
Jamie considered Seth for several seconds before pulling away slowly. “Does that bother you?” he asked, bending down and picking up the bag he had dropped.
“No, not really. At least I don’t think so,” Seth offered. “I like you. Beyond that I can’t really say much else.”
Jamie looked at Seth for several seconds before nodding his head as though deciding something.
“I should go to the library and get some studying in,” he said eventually.
Seth stared. So it was like *that*. Okay, he could play it cool, too. After all he was from Newport and his roommate was from Chino. He had to know something about cool by now.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Seth nodded absently and watched for several seconds as Jamie turned around and walked off towards the green.
Shaking his head as though coming out of a fog, Seth bent down rather stiffly to gather up his dropped board and Chinese food, but instead he found himself touching his mouth in wonder.
He’d kissed a boy. And he’d liked it. A lot.
Huh.
-On to part III-
Notes: The title song ‘The Boy with the Thorn in His Side’ is by The Smiths, but I prefer the Jeff Buckley version. As I tend to do with pretty much everything.
Again, thanks to
serialkarma and ethrosdemon for encouragement and beta action.
no subject
so hot. this is great. you have seth's voice dead on. and i like your ryangosling!jamie. he's an excellent character. can't wait to see how ryan reacts.
guh.
(PS-GO NoCAL!)
no subject