I Wonder What It Would Be Like (Boy Love Novel)

Waiting for Finn

Chapter Five

"I thought they might be here by now." Joseph sat restless in the courtyard wiping the screen on his phone.

Jacob watched him curiously, he had known this boy since he was eight, this level of fidgety was extra suspicious. "What's wrong with you, you're making me nervous?"

Joseph held his phone against his sleeve as he wiped the screen again. "I texted Timothy before our free period, he has one too. I asked if he wanted to hang out with us and have lunch."

"So, I take it he said yes, why are you being weird?"

"I'm not being weird it's just...I've never been able to introduce him to anyone and I've always felt bad like I'm telling him I'm ashamed to be around him. I know that he knows that's not what it is but still I feel bad."

"Who says I'm your friend?" Jacob laughed mockingly as he took his phone from him. "I'm sure he didn't think that. This probably made him really happy. So, I will allow you the honor of introducing him to me."

"Shut up." He grabbed his phone back and motioned towards Jacob's phone. "Hey, let me see, are you still playing that game? If you add me, we can play together again. I play with Timothy and his friends all the time."

"As long as they keep updating this thing, I will never stop playing it." Jacob realized how much he had missed having Joseph as part of his daily life. After Joseph's father died his mother quickly remarried and the new husband was for lack of a better term insanely religious. That coupled with the fact that Joseph was never allowed to truly mourn his father's death affected his behavior and soon the unhappiness he felt at home was reflected in his personality at school.

Jacob now saw that the religious factor must have been a way to keep everyone at a distance. Who wants to befriend the strict religious zealot? While the teachers loved his self-discipline and politeness, he seemed to push classmates away with that same self-discipline. His reprimands on their behavior and profanity kept everyone away. Maybe if Jacob had tried to push through that wall Joseph put between himself and everyone else, he could have helped him. Then again, if that had been the case Joseph might never have met Timothy and it seemed like Timothy had saved his friend's life.

"Have you met his friends?"

"Yeah, we hang out a lot mostly with his best friend, Michael." He was excited now; the more time passed the closer he was to showing Timothy that he wasn't ashamed of him. "His friends are cool. I met his sister too. She's funny, she's also a hardcore gamer and has an insane Manga collection. We're going to a Comic-Con, she's trying to come up with cosplay ideas for us. There's probably still tickets, we can all go."

"We should all go, we always said we would go to one but never did. If I wasn't dating Rebecca I'd probably be dying to meet his sister, she sounds cool."

"Are you two that serious?"

"I think I'm practically engaged at this point." He laughed loudly, it sounded forced almost.

"You're seventeen, how are you practically engaged?"

"Eighteen next month, remember?" He handed his phone to Joseph with a picture of a cute girl on the screen. "We make a good couple. I mean we don't bicker or fight, it's nice. That's what it's supposed to be like right? I'm not saying I want to get married right away but Rebecca kind of makes it seem like that's what she's expecting."

"What do you want?" Joseph had just noticed the turmoil trapped behind Jacob's smiling face. A sort of emptiness that resonated deeply with him. Joseph recognized that emptiness.

"I don't know, I made it sound really deep right? Sorry, I just don't get to talk to anyone normal about my relationship."

"Well since we both have someone, maybe we have each other to talk to."