Learning to Swim

23 | groceries

In a surprising turn of events, the next day, Jay found himself giving Dave a ride back home.

"Thanks for the ride," said Dave, letting out an exhale. "Stupid car. I wasn't expecting it to stop moving in the middle of the school parking lot."

Jay chuckled, letting out a small snort as he did so. "That was hella funny. You were so red when I finally came to help and all the cars behind were glaring at you. Nice to see that people can get mad at you."

"Shut up," Dave's face reddened again as he thought back to the moment. "It was embarrassing."

"I kind of owe it to you, though," Jay told Dave, making him frown questioningly.

"Owe me what?"

"The ride," he elaborated. "You were practically my chauffeur for like three weeks after ... everything happened."

Dave shook his head, giving him a look. "I was just being a friend. You needed my help, and I helped you. You don't owe me shit."

Jay didn't respond to that, concentrating on the road instead. Dave stayed quiet, too, just increasing the volume of the radio. After a moment, Dave looked over at him.

"Did you know that Alex was gay?"

Jay briefly looked over, raising his eyes, "Which Alex? We have like ten Alex's in our school, maybe even more. Livermoore couple's love the name Alex for some reason."

"Alex Yang," Dave clarified, as he reached out and changed the radio station again.

Jay nodded. "Oh, yeah. Isn't he a junior? Justin used to have a major crush on him in middle school."

"He did?" Dace asked, clearly surprised. "How did I not know about that?"

He shrugged in response, turning on the right indicator. "Well, because Justin wasn't out yet. But I realize that now because Justin was always talking about Alex and how smart he was and how pretty his hair was. And then later on after he came out, I asked him. He confirmed."

"Huh," Dave answered, looking out the window.

Jay looked over, frowning slightly. "Why are you suddenly asking me about Alex's sexuality, though?"

"He thought I was bi," Dave answered, after a slight pause, his face becoming red.

It took Jay a minute to register what had happened, and he was still confused. He looked over at Dave briefly, frowning. "What?"

Dave chuckled at his expression, but nodded. "Yeah. He talked to me after my second period today, and then he asked me if I would go on a date with him."

Jay whistled.

"Shit. That was very quick," he commented, before laughing. "What happened? What did you say?"

"I mean, it was weird, because Izzy was right next to me and I think for a second she believed that I was bisexual and just never told her or something," he paused, shaking her head. "You should have seen her face, dude."

Jay laughed again, shaking his head. There was something very amusing about picturing Izzy's expression as Alex asked Dave out. "What did he say?"

Dave chuckled, before shaking his head, his face still red. "Poor guy, I felt bad for him. He was just very embarrassed. I don't think he knew that Izzy and I were dating because he's a junior. The only reason he knows me is because we had Physics together. He apologized and ran away. I think he thought I would make fun of him or something, I don't know."

Jay laughed out again. "That's so random though. It would've made a good movie if you were bi. What a plot twist. Do you think Justin told him you were bi or something?" Jay commented, looking over at his friends' red face, before breaking into laughter again.