A Good Enough Reason (9 page)

“I’m not.”

Dale smirked. “Oooh, now I know you’re hiding something you don’t want me to find out. You do know that’s only going to make me look harder, right?”

“It’s nothing, just, you know, something I do when I’m bored.”

Dale leaned toward Ellis even more. “Writing isn’t nothing for you. Even I know that.”

Ellis crossed his arms over his notebook, not that it would be enough to stop Dale. Ellis hadn’t known Dale long, but he already knew how stubborn he was. If he wanted something, he would do whatever it took to get it.

Dale poked Ellis in the side, beaming when Ellis giggled—giggled!—and tried to move away. Dale attacked, poking and wiggling his fingers until Ellis was breathless with laughter. Dale took advantage of it and snatched the notebook with one hand while the other one was still against Ellis’s side.

Ellis reached for it, but to no avail. Dale kept him away, and his arms were longer than Ellis’s. Ellis gave up and slumped in his seat. “Fine, take a look at it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when you end up traumatized.”

Dale arched a brow. “What should you warn me about?”

Now it was Ellis’s turn to smirk. “You’ll see.” He’d tried to stop Dale, so it wouldn’t be his fault if the guy ended up reading gay sex.

Ellis watched as Dale’s eyes followed the words he’d written in his notebook. He waited for a cringe, a grimace of disgust or at least unease, but they never came.

Dale laughed. “You thought you needed to warn me about this?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Oh, Ellis.” Dale reached over and patted Ellis’s cheek like he was five years old. “You’re going to have to try a lot harder than this if you want to scandalize me.”

“But… you’re not even queasy?”

“Why should I be?”

Dale handed Ellis the notebook, and Ellis took it gratefully. “Well, you know. You’re straight. You just read about gay sex. Seems obvious to me.”

Dale looked away. “I’m not a bigot.”

“I never said you were, but you have to admit not a lot of straight guys would have read this without being grossed out.”

Dale looked at him again, and this time he was smiling. “Oh yeah? So what about you? Does straight sex make you—how was it? Queasy?”

“It’s not like I’ve ever had or seen straight sex, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

Ellis was surprised he was comfortable enough with Dale to be able to admit it. He didn’t hide his sexuality, not exactly, but he certainly didn’t flaunt it. He wasn’t sure what made everyone think he was gay, but he wasn’t going to deny it. Even so, he’d never been comfortable enough with anyone other than Matt to talk about it, and Matt was a special case.

Matt was the one Ellis had started experimenting with. He was the one Ellis had given his first kiss to, the one the first stumbles in sex had happened with, at least until they’d both realized they were uncomfortable and awkward doing that together because they felt like brothers. Now they only talked about sex, and not only because Matt lived hundreds of miles away.

“I might have to expand your knowledge.”

Ellis spluttered. “What? No way!”

“Awww, is itsy-bitsy Ellis scared of seeing women’s parts?”

“I’m not scared, just not interested.”

Dale poked Ellis in the side again. “Come on.”

“Why do you want me to see that anyway?”

“Because it’ll be fun to see you blush and look anywhere but at the screen. View it as research for the books you’ll write one day.”

“They won’t be straight romance books.”

“Who knows? Besides, everyone should know how girls work down there.”

Ellis firmly pushed away the image of Dale and Stephanie that appeared in his mind. “Why? It’s not like I’m ever going to do anything like that.”

“What about if one day you want a surrogate mother to have your kids? Are you going to run away when she gives birth?”

“What? You can’t use that as a good reason! One, I don’t know if I’ll ever want kids, two, maybe if I do, I’ll adopt, and three, even if I do want a surrogate mother, I’m sure she won’t want a gay guy looking between her legs while she gives birth.” Ellis shivered at the thought.

“Please?”

Ellis didn’t know why Dale was insisting so much, so he resorted to his last option. “Only if you come over and watch gay porn with me.”

He was so sure Dale would back out, but he should’ve expected he wouldn’t. Dale stuck his hand out, and Ellis did the only thing he could do—he grasped it and shook.

“Deal. When do you want to do it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You have anything to do this afternoon?”

“No, but—”

“Great! I’ll see you after practice, then.” Dale got up without waiting for Ellis to answer—or protest and find a way out of it.

Ellis groaned, watching Dale’s tight ass move under his jeans as he walked away. He was so fucked.

“WHY DO
I have to do this again?”

“Because you said you would, and you’re not one to go back on promises.”

Ellis snorted. “I don’t remember making any promises.”

“Maybe you didn’t, but we shook hands after you said yes. That means there’s a contract between us, and you can’t break it.”

Ellis shook his head and followed Dale to the front door of the small house they’d driven to. Ellis didn’t have a car, and Dale had sworn he would give him a lift when they were done, even though they didn’t live far away from each other. “You make it sound like it’s official. Will I melt or burst into a puff of smoke if I go back on my word?”

“Yup, rainbow-colored smoke.” Dale slid his key into the lock and opened the door.

“Whatever.”

“What, you’re chickening out?”

The smirk on Dale’s lips was absolutely devious and so sexy it made Ellis want to reach out and touch him. He resisted the urge and stuck his tongue out instead. “You wish.”

Dale was looking at Ellis’s mouth with a weird expression on his face, so Ellis cleared his throat. Dale shook himself and pushed the door open. He led Ellis inside and pointed as they went. “That’s the living room, then there’s the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen. Do you want something to drink?”

“Ah, no, thanks.” Ellis looked around while Dale opened the fridge. The house wasn’t big, but it was cozy and comfortable looking. He’d seen an afghan bundled on the couch and a stack of magazines on the coffee table next to a mug when they’d passed the living room. There was a pink butterfly-shaped hair clip on the table in the kitchen and two open envelopes on the counter. A few dirty glasses were in the sink, and the dishwasher was slightly open, revealing clean dishes. “Where is everyone?”

“Mom’s at work, and Alicia goes to a friend’s house a few afternoons every week, so I can focus on homework.”

The fridge door closed, and Ellis looked at Dale again.

“Sure you don’t want anything?”

Ellis shook his head and followed Dale toward the stairs. He would never admit it, but he was nervous. Not about the porn part, although he wasn’t exactly looking forward to that. He knew how heterosexual sex worked, of course, and he didn’t need a didactic porn viewing about it.

No, he was afraid of how he—or more specifically, his body—would react to the situation. It was potentially explosive, and not in the good sense. The last thing Ellis needed or wanted was to pop wood while he was in the same room as Dale, possibly sitting on the same bed. It’s not like he had to do anything about it if it happened, of course. He’d just watch the movie. Then he’d go home.
Yeah, right.

If the kisses Ellis had shared with Matt had been awkward and uncomfortable, they would be nothing next to what would happen if Dale noticed Ellis was hard—and he knew he would be. That’s what porn was for after all, even though not all the participants had the right equipment for him. Ellis hoped it would be because of the movie, at least, and not because of something Dale might do. The man was straight, so he obviously would like what they were about to watch. It made Ellis wonder how Dale looked under his clothes and if he was going to be able to peek, but he shoved the thought as deep in his mind as he could as soon as it came up.

He groaned. He wanted to turn around and run, but they were already at the top of the stairs. There were four doors on the landing, and Dale pointed to them like he’d done downstairs. “That’s my mom’s room, my sister’s, and mine. That one is the bathroom, in case, you know.” Dale gestured toward Ellis’s groin, and Ellis blushed and nodded.

“Uh, sure.”

Dale opened the one leading to his room. Ellis followed him inside and looked around. He’d wanted to know what Dale’s room looked like for a while, and it was exactly what he’d expected.

The requisite dirty clothes were thrown around, the sheets on the queen-size bed were bundled at its foot, the desk held a computer and scattered books and notebooks. There was a TV and a DVD player on the dresser facing the bed, which had a few drawers slightly open and stuff peeking from their depths.

Dale started moving things around, straightened the sheets and the comforter, and mumbled an apology. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

Ellis nodded and put his backpack down next to the desk. His eyes went to the books on the shelves above it, and they widened in surprise at the titles.
The Lord of the Rings
,
Harry Potter
,
Game of Thrones
—all of Ellis’s favorites were there and looked well read. The spines of the books were cracked and worn, and some even had colored notes peeking from between the pages, some of them filled with writing Ellis recognized as Dale’s.

He looked around the room again and ignored Dale. This time he noticed small details he’d failed to see at first—the
Great Gatsby
poster on the closet door, the
Game of Thrones
mug on the desk—everything spoke Dale’s secret passions, and Ellis was surprised to see they shared so many.

“Now I know why you got my T-shirt.”

Dale looked up from where he was picking up clothes, and blushed when he saw Ellis standing next to his desk. “Yeah, well.”

“How come you never told me?”

“It’s not something I tell a lot of people.”

“Why not?”

Dale pushed the clothes into the hamper standing in a corner. “People see what they want to see. I’m a jock, so they don’t expect me to like those things.”

“Have I ever treated you like a stupid jock?”

Dale’s eyes were penetrating when he stared at Ellis. “To be honest, you did, even if only in the beginning. I guess you thought that since I play sports, that means I’m stupid too.”

Ellis bit his lower lip. He knew it was true. He had treated Dale pretty roughly in the beginning, and he probably still did sometimes. “I’m sorry. I just… I didn’t know you, and I thought you were like the rest of them. I’m not saying they’re stupid, but not one of them ever tried to talk to me or was even nice to me. Not all of them are as bad as Mark or Cole, but… you know.”

Dale sat on his bed and patted the space next to him. Ellis hesitated, but in the end, he sat next to him. He didn’t move, not even when Dale leaned back on his elbows. “I’m sorry I never noticed how hard school life is for you.”

“Why should you have? It’s not like we were ever friends.”

“But we are now, right?”

Ellis smiled, even though he knew Dale couldn’t see him. “I’d like to think so.”

“Great.” Dale sat up and punched Ellis on the shoulder lightly enough not to hurt him—not too badly anyway.

Ellis yelped and pressed his hand on his shoulder, exaggerating a bit, and Dale shot him a glance of dismay. “God, we have to work on your muscles.”

“Uh, no, I don’t think so. I’m fine the way I am, thank you very much.”

Dale stood up and went to the DVD player. He looked at Ellis and muttered something Ellis didn’t hear, before turning to the dresser and crouching. He opened the bottom drawer. Ellis saw it was full of DVDs, and he blushed again at the thought of what they were about to do. Dale looked through the DVDs as if looking for a specific one, and Ellis shuddered, wondering what the guy had in store for him.

“You still use DVDs?”

“Yup. The TV screen is bigger than my laptop’s.”

“And aren’t you afraid your mother will find those?”

“Nope. She doesn’t look in my drawers, doesn’t even come in my room, in fact.”

“Oh.” Ellis’s mother had no problem getting in his room, although he didn’t think she looked around. Or at least he hoped not.

“Ah-ha!”

Dale had found what he’d been looking for. He stood up and put the DVD in before grabbing the remote. He returned to the bed and toed off his shoes, then sat against the headboard. He patted the space next to himself again and turned to the nightstand when Ellis moved toward him.

Ellis took his shoes off too and settled as far from Dale as he could in the space the bed offered. It was enough that they weren’t touching, but he knew he’d still wish he could be a lot farther away in a few minutes.

Ellis looked everywhere but at the screen in front of him but regretted it when Dale turned toward him again and placed tissues and a bottle of lube between them.

Ellis couldn’t help it. He blushed fiercely and looked down at his hands, wondering if he could teleport home if he wished hard enough.

“Looks like we have everything we need,” Dale said.

Ellis gave him a tiny nod and kept his eyes down, even when the TV was turned on.

What had he gotten himself into?

DALE STARTED
the movie and tried to keep his eyes on the screen rather than on Ellis. It was hard, though. Ellis blushed so prettily, and he’d been doing it almost nonstop since they’d entered the room. It made Dale want to do things, things like turn Ellis on and make him come just to see if the blush extended to his chest or not.

The man and woman on the screen were spouting cheesy lines. Dale had chosen the movie with particular care. The woman had short wavy brown hair and a nearly flat chest, and it wouldn’t be hard to pretend she was a man. Dale himself had done it more than once. He’d bought the DVD when he was still hesitant about his sexuality. He’d been too scared of buying a downright gay porn DVD, and this was the best compromise he’d found. It had made him feel less guilty too.