Mr. Lone Boy /BoyxBoy/

||Six||

"And he just up and left?"

"Yes, I'm telling you, it was the weirdest thing ever," I said.

I was sitting by my usual seat at the coffee shop, a warm mug of mint tea in my hands as I relayed Tom, who sat facing me, the story of what happened happened the night before with Jake.

"Do you think he's in trouble?" Tom asked.

I'd thought about it before, right after he bolted out of my apartment door faster than any Olympics runner. But I was unsure of why Jake would suddenly act so strangely.

There I was, trying to take some advice from a friend, and it completely back fired.

I shook my head. "The weird thing is," I explained to Tom, "that for a few seconds there I thought he was going to...you know."

Tom frowned, "Going to what?"

I gave him a blank stare, which then must have triggered something in his head because he his eyes turned as big as the planet itself.

"No way," he said in disbelief . "Are you sure he...?"

I shrugged, "It looked like it."

"Shit."

"I know. Anyway, I think I might go over to his dorm, just to make sure he's okay. Maybe I'm just being delusional and he was just feeling down last night," I said, slowly getting up.

"Yeah, you do seem to make a big deal out of some stuff. Do you want me to come with? Just incase he tries anything?" Tom offered.

I gave him a weird look,"I think I can handle it."

He shrugged,"Okay."

"Plus, I wouldn't want to keep you away from your boyfriend ."

I watched as his cheeks turned pink.

Is that what I look like whenever anyone mentions Devin around me?

I shook the thought away, slipping on my jacket before waving Tom a quick goodbye as Jess began making his way to our table.

It was safe to say I was avoiding Tom's crush, not really in the mood for a confrontation and a judging look from him. I would apologize later if I felt like it.

I drove over to the college Jake studied at, calling him on the way.

"Nate?"

I would like to pretend that he sounded flustered, or shy. But all I could sense in his voice was irritation, like I just woke him up from a nap.

"I'm on my way to your dorm," I stated.

"What?" I heard movement in the background, like he was moving some material around. I assumed it was his bed sheet or maybe he was putting his clothes on. That would be helpful, I didn't think confronting Jake while he was half naked was a good idea.

"I thought it would be a good idea if we changed the scenery, you know, it's been a while since we studied at your dorm," I explain, half lying. It had been quite a while since I saw Jake's tiny dorm room.

"Okay," he grumbled, "I'll see you when you get here."

I hung up.

A few minutes later, I was sitting on Jake's bed, silently scanning his room. It looked just as I remembered it. Small and neat. He used to share it with some other student, but he graduated and Jake got to keep the room to himself.

It was slightly messier now, shirts stuffed in corners of his room as if he was too lazy to put them back in his drawers. His bed was made, but it was all crinkled as if he hadn't ironed it in a while, and his books were everywhere. His small desk, his bed, the floor, on his nightstand.