A Slice of Life

Something Seems Fishy

Sam already disliked his sister most of the time, but that evening, she was worse than ever. His parents had left her in charge of the money, meaning that she and her stupid friends had ordered sushi instead of pizza.

Not that Sam hated sushi—quite the contrary.

But she completely ruined his chance to see Aleksei, even if it was only for a little while. He had even told Aleksei he was probably ordering tonight, and now he wasn't. He doubted if Aleksei would care whether or not he ordered pizza, but that wasn't the point.

Annoyed, Sam decided to go upstairs and play video games. He didn't really feel like eating with Lacy and her friends. Not while they had just completely ignored his wish to order pizza. He would've gone upstairs, if it wasn't for Lacy to say the only thing that stopped him from doing so.

"Aleksei, isn't that an east European name?" She wondered, and Sam came to a stop halfway up the stairs.

"His name sounds familiar." Jenna answered while Sam turned around and walked back down. "I think he's in my school."

"Sounds sexy..."

Sam zoned out, not caring about their opinion on Aleksei's name. He was delivering their sushi, and that was all that mattered to him. Aleksei was coming over anyway, despite the absence of a pizza order, and he needed to come up with an excuse to be the one that would open the door.

An excuse that wouldn't scream 'hey, I'm gay for Aleksei so let me handle the delivery'. And since Jenna was too smart for her own good, this was going to be tricky. She was, after all, his twin sister, and she had a habit of catching onto the things Sam left unspoken.

He knew there was little time to come up with the perfect excuse, and his brain left him hanging with the knowledge Aleksei would soon be at the door. He felt giddy, and he couldn't help but think about their meeting at the gym that day.

Shaking his head to put aside that memory, he walked back into the living room, flopped down on the couch and faced Jenna and her two friends. "Why don't you guys go watch your movie. I'll wait for the delivery and call when the food is here."

Jenna's look said everything; she was distrusting him, and probably questioning the reason why he suddenly offered to wait for the food. Whatever it was that she thought, she shook it off and shrugged. "No, it's okay. You just go back to your cave and play your stupid games..."

And of course, the doorbell had to ring in that exact moment. Sam rushed to get to the door first, no longer caring if his behaviour was suspicious. They pulled the door open together, Jenna sending him a confused look.

"Hi," Sam breathed out, trying to ignore Jenna.

"Hey?" Aleksei replied, forgetting to offer either Sam or the girl in the door opening the bag of sushi as he glanced at both, confused. They both looked like they'd ran there. What was going on?

Jenna rolled her eyes, and Sam still tried to ignore her. He was having trouble not to start smiling like a fool. Jenna would definitely catch onto that, and the last thing he wanted was for Jenna to know about any of this—whatever this was.

Aleksei cleared his throat. "Sam, madam, here's your sushi." He jutted the bag in Sam's direction, before suddenly remembering the name on the order had read 'Jenna' and awkwardly changing direction mid-move.

While Jenna grabbed the bag from Aleksei's hold, she stuffed money in Sam's hand. After looking back and forth between him and Aleksei once more, she left without another comment, and Sam felt like he could breathe again.

"I already wondered why I got a sushi order from this house," Aleksei said. "You didn't strike me as a sushi guy."

"I tried to get them to order pizza. But you know... girls." Sam rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Girls. Girls indeed. Sam sounded like Dad, when he jokingly complained about Mom... What if Jenna was Sam's girlfriend? Aleksei's stomach suddenly felt hollow at the thought. Shit. She was pretty enough to be. But Aleksei was just the pizza guy, he couldn't exactly ask personal questions like that.

"I mean, I'm biased because she's my sister and don't we all think they're the most annoying kind?" Sam commented with a shrug of the shoulder when Aleksei stayed silent.

"Oh, your sister." Aleksei breathed out, relieved. It would've been hard to compete with her especially because of his lack of boobs and other female parts, if that was what Sam was into.

"I mean, I get along with my sisters," Aleksei said, realising he should reply. "It's my brothers who give me headaches. Mostly."

"Well, I'd rather have a brother, honestly." Sam admits, shifting his weight to his other leg, leaning against the doorpost. "It would probably get my dad off my back every now and then. Plus, girls..." He joked, wanting to see a smile for once.

Aleksei hesitated. It really wasn't his place to ask personal questions, but was it honestly bad? He was really curious now. He had to ask.

"So, no girlfriend, huh?" Aleksei pressed out, trying so hard to sound casual it couldn't have possibly come across as such. If Sam said no, that didn't mean he had a chance, but at least his hopes and dreams wouldn't be crushed today.

Sam cleared his throat. He really wanted to shout from the rooftops that he was gay, but since he had no idea how Aleksei thought about that topic, he decided to play it safe. "Nah, I'm actually not really looking for one, you know?"

"Me neither."

"Oh, eh..." Sam muttered. He wanted to know if Aleksei was into girls, or guys—or both, which would work too. But his brain was too fried to come up with decent words, and he eventually slipped out, "From what I've heard though, there are girls interested in you." He tried to play it cool, but still felt his face heat up because it was probably too obvious.

Aleksei felt himself turn red, too. He opened his mouth, closed it, and swallowed thickly. How did one talk around not being interested at all without basically lighting up a neon sign reading 'I'M GAY.' How did he even hear? No, Aleksei wasn't going to ask. He didn't want to seem like he wanted to know in the slightest.

"Really?" Aleksei finally stammered. "That's... " He paused. "That's... flattering."

"Mierda," Sam cursed under his breath. What kind of answer was that? That didn't give him any information about Aleksei's sexuality at all. How was he ever going to figure out if he stood a chance? His brain was definitely confused at that moment. He never had any trouble pretending to pick up girls in a nightclub. But when it came to a guy, his brain went on temporary strike, great.

"Well... I should go eat..." He eventually muttered, feeling a bit defeated because he was out of ways to try and figure out what Aleksei thought about him.

Aleksei cursed himself for giving the coward answer. If he'd just told Sam, then he would've known either way. At least he'd be moving forward in a way, if he'd just been honest.

"Of course, enjoy your dinner." With a nod, Aleksei turned and walked back to his bike, taking out his phone to check where he was supposed to go next.

Sam watched him walk towards his bike and sighed deeply. "Not just girls are interested..." He whispered sadly.