Chapter 7

If Drake thinking of him as a little brother wasn’t a sobering thought, Jay didn’t know what was. It wasn’t as though he didn’t guess that Drake didn’t think of him at all sexually, but to have the words flung in his face with such finality, he just wanted to, well, be sick.

“Fuck.” His eyes wide, Jay covered his mouth quickly as he realized that’s exactly what was about to happen. He turned and ran down the hall to the bathroom.

God, could he be any more embarrassing? He dropped to the floor and upchucked into the toilet. When he was done, he struggled to his feet and held onto the bathroom sink. He frowned at his pale reflection.

Great.

“You look fucking fantastic,” he snarled at his own face. His skin white, his eyes red, his hair crazy messed up like some mad scientist. Jay doubted he’d ever looked worse. And over three stupid glasses of wine?

He rinsed his mouth first with water, then grabbed the bottle of Scope. Then after he’d swished that around, Jay ran his fingers through his hair to make it at least look sort of tame. He didn’t think he was too successful.

“Jay? You okay?” Drake asked him from outside the bathroom door.

Jay winced. “Yeah, I’m coming out.”

He went to the door and opened it. “Uh, sorry. I’m not very good with wine. Or any alcohol really.”

Drake smiled. “Hey, it’s okay. Come on and sit on the couch.”

Jay was a little surprised when Drake took his hand and led him to the sofa and gently pushed him down to sit.

“I’ve got your tea made. Be right back.”

Drake came back only a few seconds later holding a steaming mug filled with mint tea. “I thought peppermint would be good for your stomach.”

His eyes watered a little and Jay looked away. He wished he had Drake around for real to worry about him, and the fact that Drake wanted that user Ross made him unbelievably sad.

“Not fair,” he mumbled.

“Hmm?” Drake asked, sitting next to him.

“I just said it wasn’t fair I interrupted the movie.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Seen it before. Jay, if you don’t handle wine well, how come you even have any?”

He blushed. “Well, I get them as gifts. Like at Christmas. One of my aunts gives me wine every year. So I figure when guests come over, I can serve it to them.”

Not that he ever had a ton of guests. He had Drake sometimes. And Geoff and Tammy a few times. The few times he had sex, he usually went to the other guy’s place.

Drake nodded. “Okay. But if you want my advice, I’d stay away from it if I were you, considering everything you’ve told me.”

Jay felt a little tempted to do the losersign over his head, but refrained. He was pretty sure Drake already knew it.

His doorbell rang.

“That’ll be the pizza.” Drake stood, went to the door, and came back holding a large pizza box just a couple minutes later. “Think you can eat some?”

“Yeah, I seem to have barfed up everything else.”

* * * *

It was one in the morning before the last movie they had decided to watch ended. Jay stood, stretched, and yawned. Man, he was beat. And would have gone to bed hours ago, probably, if Drake hadn’t been over. Even now when he was near dead on his feet, he didn’t want Drake to go back to his own apartment.

Drake glanced at his watch. “I didn’t realize how late it was. Sorry to keep you up so late.”

He smiled. “Nah, it’s okay. I can sleep in.”

“No work tomorrow? Or should I say later today?”

“Yeah, but not until late afternoon. And then I’m off Sunday, so it’s good.” Jay walked with him to the door. “What about you?”

“I’ve got a rare weekend off,” Drake said with a big grin. “I’m going over to Ross’s in the morning.”

He’d almost forgotten about Ross. Stupid, of course.

“Hey, I’m sorry about your plans with him.”

“Don’t worry. You and I had plans first.”

Jay nodded. “But he was having some kind of crisis, right?”

“Yeah, he broke up with his boyfriend. Again.” Drake laughed, though Jay thought it sounded a bit forced.

“Think it’s for good this time?”

Drake sighed. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

“It’s still the judge, right?” Jay asked. He remembered Drake telling him that Ross, an assistant district attorney, lived with a judge.

“That’s right. On again, off again.” Drake opened Jay’s door. “Monday I’m right back at work. There’s a homicide that might go cold soon. We’re hoping to prevent that.”

“I hope you can. Have a good weekend, Drake.”

“You, too. You sure you’re feeling better?”

He forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m good. Night.”

“Good night.”

And then Drake was gone, headed next door to his own apartment. He closed and locked his door and turned off the overhead light in the front hallway.