He wondered, “It’s just you and I really don’t know one another, and yet we do if that makes any sense.”
The tall and skinny boy took Noah’s hand. He was a bit confused, but the two went into the foyer because, of course, this house had one of those. They went up the stairs, which had dark wood floors against light blue walls. This house belonged in a magazine or something. It didn’t belong in Kansas. They went down a hallway that had perfectly hung artwork. Artwork! Not just family photos, but he did spot a photo that was most definitely a young Timothy, and he looked adorable. They finally reached a room at the end of the hall, “Son of a bitch…, this room is twice the size of mine.”
“I just realized that we didn’t go into your room earlier today,” Timothy said with a little smirk on his face. Noah found this sexy.
“Well, yeah, it was kind of messy, unlike yours.” Noah noticed that it looked like the bed had recently been moved from one side to another. Even so, this room was weirdly clean. “Why did you take me up here?” Noah asked. While the idea of sex sounded fun right now, he wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to do it while Timothy’s mom was home.
The Jewish boy sat on his bed and gestured for him to do the same, “I just wanted to be able to talk a little bit more freely.”
While he hadn’t planned on having sex, he was a little let down that they really weren’t going to fuck. Noah had to admit that he was getting a little horny over the prospect. Oh well, he thought, “Perfect.” He sat down next to him on the bed. It was weird to be on a guy’s bed, and that guy had feelings of some sort for him.
“Yeah, I’d like for you to come with us if you can for Thanksgiving break, which reminds me, why is that a thing here? Who gets an entire week off for Thanksgiving?” Timothy asked him.
Noah had no idea, and honestly, if he really were to look into why it probably would just be a bigger clusterfuck of false patriotism than this town and state already had. “Who knows…”
So much had changed in such a short period of time. Noah felt like things were going to remain looking up for the rest of the year, he hoped at least.
PART TWO
CHAPTER TEN
TIMOTHY
“Don’t forget that we are totally going to go into the city for the parade this year!” Phillip said from the group chat.
Timothy rolled his eyes. “We have been threatening to do that for years,» he joked. «I have to get going!» he said as he looked down at a text message. It was from Noah. He was in the driveway. They were going to go to the local store to pick him up some new luggage. Timothy had no idea why on earth he needed it, but the curly-haired boy wasn›t going to argue. They were two days away from descending on Connecticut.
He was about to run downstairs when there was a knock on his door. It was his father. Leo Powell was around the same height as his son. A decent build for a man in his middle age. A slight tan, something that he did not have back in Connecticut, that the family was sure to notice the moment that they got back. “Just wanted to make sure that you were all packed up for Sunday?” his dad asked.
“Yup. I’m just going out for a little bit with Noah,” he explained, or, well, reminded his father.
Leo nodded, “That’s fine. I have to say I like Noah a little better than those kids you used to hang around back home.” He crossed his arms.
Those kids? Collin and Phillip? The two friends that he had since before pre-school? Timothy loved his father, but it always felt like he could never please him. “Well, I’m glad you like him,” Timothy said.
His father reached into his pocket and grabbed his wallet. He took out a twenty. “Here. Just so you have some spending money. When we come back from Thanksgiving, it might be time for you to start looking for a job,” his father suggested.
“I swear I’ve applied to every store at the mall,” Timothy said. Noah’s mom said she could probably get him a job working with her. He just felt like it would have been awkward working for his boyfriend’s mom, especially since Cheryl knew they were dating. This was one of the main reasons that Noah’s family had seldom interacted with his own, which the Peters family clearly didn’t like. “Thanks,” Timothy reluctantly told his father, who was clearly looking for thanks.
* * *
It honestly shocked him how cold it was starting to get in Kansas. He had always assumed that Kansas was the south and that it seldom snowed. Yet, it had already snowed twice in a two-week period. Timothy had to break out his winter coat a little before Halloween. He and Noah had gone to some weird barn party with a few friends that they had both made. It had been cold, and there was more drug use than either boy had ever thought they would see in a lifetime.
Timothy got into Noah’s car. “Hey!” he said. Timothy put his hand on Noah’s knee. That was their way of hugging or kissing while still in front of his house.
“Ok… So, you aren’t going to say anything?” Noah asked, a little annoyed in tone.
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” the Jewish boy said.
Noah pointed to his head, “I got a haircut!”
He couldn’t help but laugh, “You get a haircut every other week… It’s ok to let it grow a little bit.”
“I just want to make a good impression on your friends,” Noah explained.
Timothy had promised Noah that when he introduced his friends to him, it would be as his boyfriend. The only thing is that considering Timothy was still in the closet, he wished he could have come out to them alone first then introduce Noah. It just wasn’t something that he felt like he could do over video chat. The other issue was that Timothy was still sort of kind of questioning what he was and wasn’t. There were days when he felt like men were all he was attracted to, and then he would see a girl and start getting feelings. It was obvious that he was into guys. There was no question of it, but he was still trying to figure out if he was into girls. He also had to admit a sense of jealousy whenever he would text with Tara or Collin when Collin had Tara with him in their video chats. He had no sexual attraction to Collin. At least he never thought he did. So, the jealousy had to have lied because Collin was now with the girl he had been with for so long. It had never gone to the next level, though with her.
He turned to Noah, “Look, all you have to do is be yourself, and you should be fine. I know you think that I came from money and lived this extravagant life before you. I didn’t. Even if I did, I like you for you.” They had avoided saying love towards one another. Noah had nonchalantly sprinkled the word into a conversation, but Timothy would just smile. Neither had said it truly out loud as of yet.
“Sasha gave me a bit of an advance so I could have a little bit of spending money. I told her I didn’t need it, but she insisted, which I think is code for, here is some money I don’t expect it back,” Timothy explained. Noah shrugged as he continued to drive. They were just going to go to his moms’ work. He had her employee discount.