Something Like Spring (43 page)

“I should go,” William said, standing outside the front door. “I’m sure Kelly is getting more nervous by the hour.”

“He knows we’re together?” Jason asked, not hiding his surprise.

“Of course. Nothing like an early morning argument to start the day.”

“Sorry.”

“Nah.” William waved a hand dismissively. “It was worth it.”

“Hey!” Jason said. “Before you go, there’s something I wanted to show you. Come up to my room real quick.”

William raised a skeptical eyebrow but then smiled. “Yeah, okay.”

Jason felt a little silly grabbing his guitar and sitting on the edge of the bed. Nothing had naturally led to this moment, but he wanted to share this part of himself, no matter how random it seemed. William sat next to him, expectantly looking at him and the guitar. Jason had planned to play something romantic, a song that somehow expressed how he felt, but he changed his mind at the last moment and went with a song by Paul Simon.
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
, a playful tune about trying to talk someone into leaving the person they were with. Jason wasn’t much of a singer, but luckily it wasn’t a very demanding song. He plucked at the guitar, trying to put a funky twist on it, and felt relieved when William laughed during the chorus.

“Very interesting song,” he said when Jason was done.

“Yeah, it’s fun.” Jason put the guitar back on its stand and leaned back.

“You’re really good,” William said.

“Thanks. Honestly, that’s not the best song for me, but—”

“I thought it awesome,” William said. “And it gives me something to think about on the long ride home.”

“Yeah.”

William was staring at him. Jason couldn’t think of anything else to say. What he really wanted to do was lean over and kiss him, but that wasn’t going to happen.

“I should go,” William said, but he didn’t stand. Instead he looked over at Jason’s hand, which was splayed out on the mattress. Then William put his hand over it. He didn’t grab hold of it, or intertwine their fingers. He simply rested his palm on top of Jason’s hand, and as simple as this gesture was, it sent tingles racing over his skin. William left his hand there for the briefest of moments, eyes searching Jason’s, before he squeezed once and stood.

“Fifty ways, huh?” he said.

“At least,” Jason said. “I can make you a list if you want.”

William smiled, shook his head, and sighed. “Thank you for a wonderful day.”

“My pleasure,” Jason said. “Want me to see you out?”

“That’s about the last thing I want right now,” William said. “Although, if that Marcello guy is still around, maybe you should.”

Jason laughed. “I’m pretty sure he’s harmless, but better safe than sorry.”

* * * * *

Once William was gone, and Jason had deflected a million questions from Ben… Once the house had finally settled down, he found he couldn’t sleep. Jason lay in bed, the sheets increasingly tangled as he tossed and turned. Then he rose, went to the bathroom, and took the manila envelope from the vanity drawer. He carried it back to his room, pulling out each piece of information, one by one.

The newspaper was first, and Jason was glad he hadn’t looked at it earlier since it had a medium-sized photo of the car wreck, the passenger-side door completely caved in. Jason stared at the twisted metal, trying to imagine Kelly inside that mess before the paramedics had freed him. Then his eyes drifted up to the headline.
Star Athletes in Auto Collision!
The article itself was confusing, making it sound as if they were driving separate cars before crashing into each other. It also insinuated that drugs or alcohol might have been involved by stating it was uncertain if they had been. Another newspaper clipping had a shorter piece on the accident, getting the facts right and reporting that Kelly Phillips was in critical condition. Two small headshots were included, one of Kelly, one of William. Red ink surrounded Kelly’s headshot, and next to it in handwriting, Marcello had scribbled:
Does he always look this good? Model material!

The thing was, the photo didn’t do Kelly justice. He was way hotter in real life. Jason spent some time studying William’s grinning face, wishing the picture was larger. He got his wish when he moved on to the next piece. This article was from the sports section. William stood with two other men in swimsuits, each of them holding up a medal won in a local competition. The grinning face matched the one from the previous article, meaning they must have cropped it. Jason carefully tore William free from this page, crumpling up and throwing away the two other guys. After a moment’s thought, he trashed the rest of the information in the envelope. A quick glance revealed more articles from local papers or screenshots of online profiles and such. Marcello was quite the detective, but Jason had all he needed. If there was anything important he needed to know, he trusted William to tell him.

Jason took his flimsy black-and-white copy of William’s photo and placed it on the pillow next to him. Then he got up and made sure the door was locked—because this really was embarrassing behavior—and got back into bed. When he lay back down, he adjusted the pillow so he could stare at William, still dripping with water as he held up his medallion with pride. Jason stared until this image was burned into his mind, until his eyes were too tired to stay open. William victorious and happy was the last thing he saw before falling asleep.

Sunday brought an unwelcome surprise. When Jason showed up at the YMCA, still feeling bleary from a night of poor sleep, William wasn’t waiting for him outside like he usually was. Jason waited ten minutes, then twenty, before going inside. Peeking through the door that opened onto the pool, he spotted William doing laps. Farther away, fully clothed and sitting on the edge of the diving board, was Kelly.

Jason retreated to the locker room, trying to decide what to do. Kelly knew they met almost every morning, so not showing up now—the day after their picnic—might seem suspicious. Deciding to pretend everything was normal, Jason changed into his swimsuit and walked out to the pool, acting pleasantly surprised when he saw Kelly there. Jason waved, and although the gesture wasn’t returned, he happily dived into one of the lanes like he was eager to practice.

When William climbed out of the pool for a break, Jason did the same, flashing him a reassuring smile. Everything was okay. No need to panic. Naturally they couldn’t talk freely with the third wheel around, and Kelly didn’t respond to Jason’s attempts to make small talk, so it was hardly a pleasant morning. Jason had to get to work anyway, and found himself eager to leave. That night he got a text message from William, which was rare.

Same weather tomorrow morning.

In other words, chilly. Monday brought a rerun of the previous morning, except this time Jason didn’t pretend to be chipper. He swam a little, despite his muscles hurting too much to do so, but eventually climbed out of the pool and watched William, while Kelly watched Jason watching William. By the end of an hour, Jason’s jaw wouldn’t stop clenching and he had a headache. Part of him was impressed that Kelly had found another way of ruining their time together. Mostly he found himself hating the guy.

Jason stopped by Juicy James that day, but William was swarmed with customers. Buying a smoothie just to get a few seconds with him, Jason heard more news that didn’t make him happy.

“I’m not going swimming tomorrow,” William said. “You shouldn’t either.”

Obviously. What was the point if he wasn’t going to be there? “When’s your next break?”

William shook his head apologetically. “Kelly said something about shopping today. You should go. We’ll figure something out, okay?”

Jason spent the next day trying to decide what that would be. Most of his plans revolved around strangling Kelly, or drowning him in the YMCA pool, or other violent fantasies that left him feeling sick to his stomach. The rest of Jason was filled with newly born love, and it felt wrong that hate was invading his heart as well. He tried to forgive Kelly, to imagine how it would feel to slowly lose the person you loved, but even this was difficult because he never saw Kelly being nice to William. If Kelly was so desperate to keep him, he could at least treat William right.

Jason was on the couch that evening, flipping through channels, when Tim returned from taking Chinchilla for a walk. Once free from her leash, Chinchilla hopped up on the couch with him. For some reason, Tim decided to stand right in front of the television. Jason glared and tried to angle the remote around him.

“There’s someone out front,” Tim said. “At the end of the drive. He’s on a bike, and I can’t be sure, but it might be your Apollo.”

“William?” Jason asked.

“I think so. He didn’t see me, and he’s just standing there, so—”

Jason leaped to his feet and bolted out the front door. He ran all the way down the drive, wishing Ben and Tim had a short driveway like most people. Despite all the training he’d done with William the last few weeks, he was winded by the time he spotted a figure in the fading light—both feet on the ground and a bike between his legs.

“What are you doing here?” Jason panted, a wild grin on his face.

William swung his legs over his bike, letting it fall to the ground as he walked toward Jason. He caught him by the shoulders, hands gripping him firmly, and Jason found himself short of breath for another reason entirely.

“I told him I wanted to bike today instead of swim.” William said. “I don’t have long.”

“Then why are you down here instead of at the house?”

William’s eyes searched his. “I was trying to decide if I was going to do it or not.”

“Do what?”

“This.”

William’s lips smashed into Jason’s, and they were soft and salty with sweat and absolutely wonderful. Jason kissed him back, wrapping his arms around his back, the wet T-shirt chilly against his skin until replaced by the warmth of William’s body. Jason ran his hand up William’s spine to his neck, letting his fingers sweep through the short hair there. They were both huffing through their noses, breath short, but Jason didn’t care. He could die this way, collapse from lack of oxygen rather than break the kiss he had been so hungry for.

William pulled away first, hands on each side of Jason’s face as he smiled goofily at him. Then he came back for two short pecks, before Jason pulled him in for another real kiss.

“Okay!” William said, laughing as he took a step back. “Holy shit… That felt even better than in my fantasies.”

“You’ve been fantasizing about me?” Jason asked with a sheepish smile.

William shook his head ruefully. “You have no idea!”

Jason hated to mention Kelly, but he had to know. “Did something happen?”

“Nothing has changed,” William said. “I’m sorry. I guess I should have told you first, but I think maybe you’re right. Until we figure something better out, we just… uh…”

“Have a sultry affair,” Jason teased.

William grimaced. “I hate how that sounds.”

“A sweet affair then,” Jason said. “I’m okay with that. I hated the last few days—not being able to be alone with you.”

“It’s only going to get tougher to see each other,” William said. “Like I said, I can’t stay right now.”

“Come back later,” Jason said. “Or I’ll sneak over to your place. You guys don’t spend every night together, do you?”

William frowned.

“You do? Even on school nights?”

William sighed. “I never thought I’d say this, but unfortunately I have very liberal parents. He does too. I took care of him when he was recovering, and that meant us staying together, even at night. Somehow that became the norm.”

“Lucky bastard,” Jason said. “What are we going to do?”

William smiled. “You’re a clever boy. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

Jason’s mind had already begun racing, trying to find a solution. His brain shut down again when William kissed him goodbye, but when he had gone, Jason redirected the sexual frustration he felt into determination. He would find a way! No matter what he had to do.

* * * * *

The next week was a trial of emotional endurance, Jason’s frustration growing with each passing day. Despite his determination, he was no closer to finding a way he and William could be together. Kelly was still showing up at the pool every morning, making it pointless for Jason to go anymore. Sure, swimming allowed him to see William, but Kelly had started making cutting remarks that remained with Jason and soured the rest of his day.

“William could say he has to work,” Tim suggested once, “on a day he doesn’t really have to. Unless Kelly checks up on him, he’ll never know.”

Except Kelly was showing up at William’s workplace with more and more frequency. A few times, Jason had parked on the opposite side of the mall, and William had met him there during his break. This gave them ten minutes of privacy in the car. They would lower the seatbacks and talk or make out, but this felt more desperate than romantic.

“He needs to leave Kelly,” Ben said, still determined to be a good role model. “You won’t be happy until you can have William to yourself and out in the open.”

Jason suspected this was true, and he tried broaching the subject during one parking lot session. William had admitted a breakup was inevitable, but then he started talking again about how he’d ruined Kelly’s life. Before they could get anywhere in the conversation, William had to report back to work. Even phone calls were difficult, thanks to Kelly always being in the room with William, and text messages weren’t at all satisfying.

“I need time!” Jason ranted after a Sunday lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. “I’ll never talk him into doing anything if we’re constantly interrupted, or worse, chaperoned by Kelly.”

Ben leaned back in his chair and studied the kitchen table. After a moment, he glanced sideways at Tim, who shook his head almost imperceptibly.

“What?” Jason said. “If you guys know a way and are holding back… I don’t even know why you would do that to me.”

Again they exchanged glances. “I had an idea—” Ben began.