“God.” He refused to look at Ed. “I’m so sorry. Wonderful first impression I’m giving your family. Tell them your friend has issues.”
Feet shuffled behind him. Great, they heard even that.
“It’s okay,” Ed said quietly. “They think you’re great.”
“We should go in.” Jack stood up, wiping his face with his hands. “Dinner’s gonna get cold.”
Bad enough he lost it in front of everyone. He didn’t want to add ruining their dinner to the list of stupid things he did today.
Ed pushed to his feet, concern pinched between his brow. He rocked on his feet like he wanted to embrace Jack again. He stuffed his thumbs into his belt loops instead. “You sure you’re okay?”
His vigorous nod was as much for himself as Ed. “One part of me wants to leave, but the rest of me needs to stay. If you still want me to?”
Ed rocked on the balls of his feet again, this time tugging Jack against his chest. Warm hands held his waist and the back of his neck. Ed’s thumb moved in circles at the edge of his hair.
They were alone at the front door, but this time no creaky step would keep them from being discovered.
Breath shuddering, Ed leaned in and lightly kissed Jack. “I want you to stay.”
Chapter Twelve
“Marcus didn’t come home till two in the morning?” Brittany pulled an onion out of her sandwich and set the thin white strand on the paper wrapping.
“Yeah, and when I asked him where he’d been, he said he’d been studying,”
“Studying? That late on a Saturday?”
Jack finished chewing and put his hoagie down. “Right? Even he isn’t that bad.”
“Do you think he’s jealous?” She covered her mouth after spraying bits of bread and turkey onto Jack’s lunch. “Sorry.”
He rolled his eyes and flicked off the crumbs. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Do you think he’s jealous?”
“Of what? Me? Please. Marcus isn’t into guys. He’s so not jealous.”
Brittany smacked his arm. “No, doofus. Not jealous you have Ed, but that you’re dating someone. Let’s face it, he’s been your wingman for years. Now you have a new one—even if it’s a guy you’re dating.”
Taking a bite, he used the few seconds to think about what she’d said. Marcus was protective, but he encouraged Jack. “This wasn’t him being jealous, more like he was hiding something.”
“Okay, enough about Mr. Uptight. Tell me about your night.”
“My night.” Without meaning to, he let out a sigh. “It was amazing, fucked-up, wonderful, and frustrating. How about you? You and Seth have fun?”
“Yes, we did.” From the way she glared at him, he knew his attempt to divert her didn’t work. “But we’re talking you and Ed first. How’d your night turn into all those at once?”
“Which part do you want first?”
“All of it.” She put her chin in her palms and rested her elbows on the table. “So what happened?”
“Let’s see, his parents are really nice, he and his dad have a man cave in the basement, the top three stairs creak, which let us kiss, but not much more, I had a total meltdown before dinner, his mom’s a good cook, and his sister is a typical sixteen-year-old.”
“Man cave, check. Mom cooks good, kid sister, good kisser. Got it.” She pretend to be interested in her food, then looked up, feigning shock. “Oh wait, did you try to slip total meltdown in there?”
“Ha ha.” He avoided her stare. “It was so like that last night with my parents. Mom cooking, Dad cutting the meat, me putting stuff on the table. It….” He took a deep breath and let it out loud and slow. “Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to break down in tears in front of the parents of the guy you like? Oh yeah, and the first time meeting them too.” Not that they knew who I was to Ed.
Brittany rubbed his back. “I don’t, Jackson, but if they don’t understand, then they’re assholes and who cares about them?”
He shook his head. “They were cool about it. They went out of their way to tell me it was no big deal.”
“Because it’s not.” Scooting closer, she put her arm around him. “Look, I know it’s easy for me to say you’ve nothing to be embarrassed about, but that’s because I’m on the outside. I get it. But what happened is rough. The rest of us? We may not know what it feels like, but we know we never want to find out firsthand. Like I said, only a worthless, don’t need ’em, don’t wanna know ’em asshole would think less of you. From what you’ve said, I can’t see Ed being one of those people.”
“He’s not, and neither are his parents. But I just wish….”
“Wish what, Jack?” Her tone shifted, and she got in front of him. “Wish you didn’t remember them? That you’d move on so it doesn’t hurt anymore? Really?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Then what? You act like there’s something wrong with you, but there isn’t. Not a damn thing.”
“I know, but it’s still embarrassing.”
“Only because you cavemen are taught it’s a sign of weakness to show your grief in public.” She sat and picked up her sandwich. “Have you told Marcus yet?”
Jack shook his head and finished chewing. “No. Because of the whole 2:00 a.m. thing. We’ll talk later.”
“So, how’s kissing Ed?” Her smirk told Jack she’d been dying to ask this since they met for lunch.
“Insanely good.”
“Like give you a woody you could hurt people with good?”
“You mean like you gave to Seth?”
Brittany took a bite and nodded. “Mm-hmm.”
So much for turning the conversation back onto her. “Tell me about him.”
“He’s a nice guy.” She made him wait while she took a drink. “We went to dinner, and he insisted he pay—not many gentlemen like that around. We went and walked around the campus. It was so cute—you could tell he wanted to hold my hand, but it took him forever to reach over.”
“You could have helped him out, you know.”
A braid fell across her face when she shook her head and stared down her nose at him. “Aren’t you the one who said be gentle with him?”
“I never said gentle, I said don’t use him.”
“It was better this way. He got more confident after that.”
“Sounds right.”
“After a bit we found a place to sit.”
Suppressing a snicker, he screwed on a serious face. “An out of the way, secluded place?”
She looked at him over her drink. “You mean like the airport Ed took you to, secluded?”
He picked up his sandwich, shaking his head.
“No, nothing like that,” she continued, “but out of the way enough that we could kiss.” If not for her dark complexion, Jack would have sworn she blushed. “He’s a good kisser for a novice, and let me tell you, he’s got nothing to be ashamed of, if you know what I mean.”