Behind The Mask (Jinxxley)

Chapter Thirteen

I jumped and spun around to face the intruder. A dark figure was laying on the couch, legs hanging over the armrest and, from what I could tell, arms crossed under his head.

"Who are you and what the fuck are you doing in my house?" I exclaimed. The figure sat up.

"Don't you recognize me, Ash?" I had to admit that the voicedid sound familiar.

"I'm just gonna turn on the lamp." I turned heel an moved towards the lamp.

"No! Okay, it's me, Jake." I heard him chuckle.

"Jake you ass! You scared me half to death, what are you doing here anyway?"

"Can't a guy visit his friend?" Jake said innocently.

"Not at like four in the morning he can't." I switched on the lamp, Jake squinted at the sudden brightness.

"So where's Jinxx?" He asked, casually changing the subject.

"He's up-- wait, why are you asking me?" I said nervously, feeling my legs start to shake.

"Oh you know, just because," He shrugged. "you guys have been pretty close lately huh."

I narrowed my eyes. "What are you implying Jake." Though my voice sounded menacing, my heart was beginning to speed up. Did he know!

Jake stood up and walked over to me so we were toe-to-toe. "I saw you, Ash. I saw you and Jinxx." He poked my chest.

"I, I don't know what you're talking about." I stammered. My heart was in my throat and it was a wonder I could stand with my legs shaking so bad.

"Oh come on!" Jake shouted. "You thought I wouldn't notice how Jinxx was always at your house? The fact that you called him instead of an ambulance practically gave it away. How about when you made pancakes, I saw you and him in the kitchen, and when we sat down to eat you thought I wouldn't notice your legs touching!"

"Shush!" I hissed, afraid that the commotion would wake Jinxx.

"Why? Because Jinxx is upstairs sleeping in your bed!"

I could see there was no hiding this from Jake, sighing, I motioned for him to follow me into the kitchen. I flicked on the lights and put some water for coffee.

"You want some coffee?" I asked, suddenly exhausted.

"Only if you're gonna tell me what's going on between you two, not that I don't know, but I want to hear your side of the story."

"Yeah, yeah" I waved an arm dismissively.

Once we both had steaming mugs of coffee in front of us, I sat myself down next to him and held my head in my left hand. "So what do you wanna know?"

Two hours and several cups of coffee later I was winding towards the end of my story. Jake had sat patiently, allowing me to explain what had happened between us. I told him about my depression, falling in love with Jinxx, my accident. Basically everything except what had happened to Jinxx, that wasn't for me to tell. When I had said everything I could, I leaned back and took a huge breath.

After remaining silent for several minutes, Jake finally spoke up.
"Jesus Ash, I don't know why you thought you couldn't tell us!"

I looked down at my lap. "I didn't think you'd accept me"

"Ash, we're all a family. I know we say shit about gays, but if we'd known you were gay, we wouldn't have." Jake stood up and placed a brotherly arm around my shoulders.

"Thanks Jake." I smiled, but still had one last question for him. "So how did you find out, like, for sure, for sure. All those other things you mentioned could have just been a coincidence."