Being gay is a curse when the homophobia you grew up with was so bad that you're homophobic yourself. Especially when you're into unavailable guys like your roommate, whose girlfriend is everything you're not (though appearances can be deceiving). S...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I was observing Nate.
Ever since Jackson told me about his roommate and that he had a crush on him, I had been dying to meet him. The whole situation was kind of funny to me, though I'm sure neither of them would agree.
Perhaps I should have felt jealous. Nate was a handsome guy. Smooth, dark skin, full lips and very expressive eyebrows, which were quite amusing to look at.
Or perhaps I should have been annoyed. Nate was not as good at hiding his feelings for Jackson as he thought he was, and Jackson clearly didn't mind putting time and effort into making the guy happy either—or trying to, at least—while he could have put all that time and effort into making his girlfriend happy.
Perhaps I should have straight-up disliked Nate for how he treated Jackson.
But none of that mattered, because I knew that Jackson would never reciprocate Nate's feelings, and I knew that Nate hated everything about this. Neither of them wanted to be in this situation. There was no need for me to be jealous or annoyed.
I could forgive him for being rude. I wasn't much better.
Nate intrigued me. From Jackson's stories, I had expected him to be much more outgoing, but he'd barely said a word since his arrival. And the look on his face when Emmett started talking to him was priceless. The volume of the music and the chatter around us was low enough that I could follow their conversation, so I silently sat across from them and listened.
I almost jumped in surprise when Jackson suddenly spoke right next to my ear. "You good?"
"What?"
"You're quiet."
"Oh, I'm just observing," I replied, smiling.
He rolled his eyes. "Who's the victim this time?"
"Your roomie."
"Poor guy."
"You know he doesn't actually want to be here, right?"
"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "I'm just trying to help."
"By putting him in an uncomfortable situation?"
"By putting him out of his comfort zone."
"I'm sure he appreciates it," I muttered, looking at the way he was hunched over in his seat. "How do we know Emmett?"
"Jamie."
"Ah."
I had never met Jamie or Emmett before tonight, but I knew of them. I knew of many people. And I knew a lot of things about them, because it was easy to pick up on whatever drama they tried and failed to hide. They were not as good at keeping secrets as they thought they were. People talk. And I listen. I grab my little box of popcorn and watch it all happen right in front of my eyes. Like a movie. It's like watching a character in a fictional world attempt to fix their problems because you just want to escape the real world and your own unfixable problems.
