side job

5

Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion. It felt like an hour ago he had walked in on Ezra cheating on him, but it had only been a few minutes.

Jonathan was already in his car and speeding out of the parking lot. His phone was in the passenger seat, endlessly buzzing from calls.

Finally Jonathan declined the call, which seemed to silence Ezra. Jonathan couldn't tell if that made him feel worse or not. He pretended that it made him feel better, not having any sound disturb him.

Charlie's house was closer, but Jonathan found himself driving towards Ted's. He picked up his phone and dialed the mans number. He hoped Ted was home, otherwise he had no where to go, and he desperately needed to be consoled.

"Hey, man. I just got home!" Ted answers, slightly confused at the sudden call. They had just filmed the podcast, so he really wasn't expecting anything yet.

Jonathan tried to hold himself together as he spoke. "I'm sorry to bother, but can I stop by your place? I just walked in on Ezra cheating on me and I don't fucking know what to do."

Ted stumbled on his words as he assured Jonathan that his place was open for him to come over. It was only a moment after the call ended and Jonathan was already pulling into the parking lot. He let himself weep for a moment before trying to clean himself up to go inside.

The door was cracked open like Ted had explained it would be. Jonathan tapped on the door a couple times before walking in. The shorter man was at his dining room table, a beer in his hand. He had his lips pursed as he waited for Jonathan to fully walk into the room.

All you could hear was the screeching of the chair as Jonathan pulled it out and plopped himself down. He could feel his phone vibrate with a spam of messages from Ezra. Jonathan whipped out his phone, unlocked it, and tossed it to Ted.

Cringing, Ted read through the paragraphs of messages. He fish-mouthed as he scrolled through the texts, unsure of what to say. After he was done, he locked the phone and slid it towards Jonathan, who swiped it off the table after it vibrated again.

"I have no words as to what Ezra was talking about. Something about his ex?" Ted questioned. His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.

Jonathan sighed. "Last I knew, he was reporting his ex to the police for harassment. I didn't see any reports or anything but I believed him. He did seem to go home pretty quickly, though."

"Did he tell you he was home?" Ted asked, trying to understand the situation better.

Jonathan shook his head and explained the Life360 situation. Ted's eyes lit up with something as Jonathan explained the whole situation. That he didn't have time to check his location during filming, and that by the time he checked, Ezra was already home.

"I'm pretty sure you can check a persons previous locations on that app. You should check it!" Ted explained, a little excited at the idea.

On the complete opposite of the spectrum, Jonathan felt like he had a boulder crushing his shoulders. Finding out if Ezra had even left or had gone to the police station might define the rest of their relationship, and Jonathan wasn't sure if he was ready for that.

Ted seemed to understand, so he grabbed the phone off the floor. He tapped away and his eyebrows raised. "It seems like he was at the police station."

A sigh of relief escaped his mouth. "Good, he told me he was going to report his ex. But I'm not sure how that ends with them having sex in my own home."

"Do you think he was forced?" Ted asks. Jonathan sighs, shaking his head in uncertainty.

Everything hadn't processed yet. Walking in on Ezra riding his literal ex that he had reported was sending him mixed signals. First off, Ezra doesn't let anyone force him to do anything sexual.

The last time a potential co-worker tried to force him to have sex, Ezra beat the shit out of him. Jonathan had to call the police and an ambulance because Ezra refused to do anything for the man.

Fortunately for Ezra, he walked free due to him protecting himself. In the eyes of the judge, it was self defense. Ezra had cameras in the bedroom, where they were first meeting and going over each others limits. That's when the man tried to push Ezra into the bed.

Ezra had struggled to roll himself off the bed while the man was trying to unclothe himself. He darted out of the room, screaming at the man to leave or he'd be force to defend himself.

You can tell what ensued.

"Jonathan?" Ted questioned. Jonathan had spaced off as he thought. He hadn't realized that his mind had wandered.

"I don't know, man. You didn't see what I saw." Jonathan rested his forehead on the edge of the table. He didn't want to think or breathe at the moment. "This shit is so fucked up, man."