“Everything okay?”
CJ didn't jump exactly, but he yanked his hands down so quickly Jace heard his knuckles crack on the table before he spun around in the chair to face him. “Yes. Totally fine. Mostly.” Jace raised his eyebrows, and CJ sighed heavily. “Their flight got delayed. They won't be here till tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
“So, it's just–just you and me.”
“Okay.” Jace couldn't see what C.J’s problem was. He held out the bag he was almost done with. “Chip?”
CJ shook his head. “How about I find us some actual food?”
“Are you saying chips aren’t real food?”
CJ groaned as he got up and headed for the kitchen, saying, “It doesn't count.”
“Are you saying a potato is not a vegetable…?”
“It doesn't count!”
Jace grinned to himself and popped the last chip in his mouth. That argument was never going to get old. And he was winning. Well, maybe not winning but definitely wearing CJ down. Feeling good, Jace glanced around, trying to decide on the best seat to take, only to find something missing. Then glanced in the opposite direction. Then did a complete three-sixty, feeling slightly panicked.
“CJ!”
“What?” CJ pounced into the room, looking wildly about for danger.
“I think you've been robbed.”
“Shit. Really?”
“Your TV is gone.”
“…ah.”
That was definitely not the response Jace was expecting. He turned slowly to fine CJ looking rather sheepish. “What do you mean, 'ah'?”
“I mean, ah, there was no TV to begin with.”
Jace had to take a deep breath. “No TV.”
“Nope.”
He nodded with understanding and managed to make his muttered, “Romantic,” sound like a curse word through his gritted teeth.
Consternation came over CJ's face and he refuted that with a quiet, “Basic.”
“A likely story.” Huffing loudly, he balled up the empty bag in his hand and dropped down to sit on the couch.
“Don't pout.” CJ was grinning at him from where he was leaning on the doorframe. “They've got one at the main house. It'll be on all day, so you won't be deprived.”
“Yeah, but what the hell are we supposed to do all night?”
CJ opened his mouth and then clearly thought better of it as he closed it again, blushing slightly before trying again. “Pasta? Then…. Well, Isaac said we should go ahead and decorate the tree?”
“I can tell you're bitterly disappointed about getting to do that,” Jace said with a smile, getting a lopsided one in return that set his heart pounding. “Is there garlic bread?”
CJ scoffed, turning away. “Of course. We're not that kind of basic.”
The garlic bread was frozen and the sauce from a jar, but Jace was pretty sure it was the best thing he'd ever eaten. Then that was surpassed when, even as he was patting his bloated belly, CJ pulled a cheesecake from the refrigerator and started cutting a slice.
“It never fails to amaze me how much food you can pack away, and yet never put on a pound of fat.”
CJ just shrugged. “I work out.”
“No, I work out. You brush up against the weight rack, then spend an hour at the juice bar hitting on the guy with the weird nipples.”
“His name is Mattius and you know it. And they're not weird.”
“They're so far apart his muscle vest doesn't cover them.”
CJ rolled his eyes and flopped a doorstop of cheesecake onto a side plate. “For the last time, the shirt is narrow. Narrow.” He drew out the vowels for emphasis, then sighed. “You want cheesecake or not?”
“Pfft, yes.” Jace pushed his plate away and tried not to give away how much his jealousy was eating at him from hearing the man's name come out of CJ's mouth.
Jace actually knew Matt pretty well. They had economics together, and although he would never admit it, there wasn't anything weird about his nipples. Unfortunately, Matt was a sweetheart. He was kind and funny and smart, exactly the sort of guy he would happily see his best friend in a relationship with. If his best friend was someone other than CJ, that is. The idea of the man he was in love with being with anybody else made Jace feel a little as if he was dying inside. The nipple thing was the only defect he could find in the man, so he clung to his assertion and hoped it was enough to condition CJ to get repulsed by the sight of them.
It didn't help, either, that what Jace said about the juice bar was entirely accurate. Jace and CJ would hit the gym together about four times a week, although in reality it was more like Jace would hit the gym, and CJ would come along just to keep him company. Eventually. though, CJ would end up spending quite a lot of time sipping a Kale Surprise! and laughing with Matt, while Jace fumed and added more weight than was strictly safe to his equipment, like he was punishing himself for not being able to let go of his feelings and simply leave CJ to be happy.
He tried his hardest to deal with his attraction in several ways. At first, he put his obsession down to simple animal lust. CJ was undeniably handsome, tall and muscular, and had hair that flopped across his brow with that sweet lopsided smile. He also had a way of looking at a person as if they were the only one in the room. When he had shown up at his dorm room that first semester, looking at Jace sitting cross-legged among his messy possessions as he was unpacking, like all his Christmases had come at once, he had taken Jace's breath away. The guy was hot and it would have been rude not to feel something for him.
Later, when Jace started to feel as if he was going out of his mind every time CJ a walked in the room, he told himself it was just a crush—nothing more. He'd had them before and would again and it would pass. Except it didn't. He tried cold showers, porn, and dating other people, but nothing and no one seemed to make him feel as content and whole as he did when he was with CJ.
It took two years, three months, eight days, and four hours before Jace had to concede that he was in love with his best friend. And even then it took someone else pointing it out to him to make him admit it to himself.
He'd only been dating Peter three weeks and there he was, getting dumped again. And not really being that cut up about it. Again. He'd balked when the guy had hit him with, “You should have really told me you were in love with your roommate, Jace. I'm not into the friends with benefits thing.” But he hadn't been able to deny the accusation. It should have been the most natural thing to say, don't be ridiculous. I'm not in love with CJ He just couldn't bring himself to utter the words.
He'd gone home, gotten drunk, and come the closest he'd ever come to accidentally outing himself. He'd even drunkenly slurred, “I love you, CJ,” as his friend had helped his inebriated ass to bed. CJ had only smiled sadly and patted his chest, saying “I love you, too, bro.” He had probably heard him when Jace had cried himself to sleep, but they never talked about it. It wasn't as if CJ hadn't done the same thing over people he'd dated in the past.
After they stuffed the cheesecake down like the pigs they were, they spent some time cleaning up the kitchen. Jace washed and CJ dried as they chatted about nothing of any importance, the same as any night back home. Once the place was looking respectable, CJ slid his cell over to Jace and directed him to the drawer where they kept the Bluetooth speakers, instructing him to get some music going while he grabbed the decorations for the tree from the storeroom upstairs.