Mulligans

10. Northern Lights

Chase stared at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand beside his bed in the guest cottage. It read 9:59 p.m. Blinking, it turned to 10:00 p.m. He'd been lying on his bed watching the minutes click by since coming down off the roof with Nathan. He just couldn't make his mind up. He'd wanted to call Jarod all day but had repeatedly chickened out since swiping his number from Tyler's phone when Tyler was in the shower this morning. How would he even begin the conversation?

"Hey Jarod, it's Chase... yeah, the guy you made out with in the bushes last night.... I was just wondering if you wanted to... what?"

What if he denied it even happened? It wasn't like Jarod had handed Chase his number. Christie had been all over that. And then there had been the issue of how to explain to Tyler that he wanted to hang out with Jarod, and at this point, preferably alone. Tyler had headed to the movies with Bre, but then not quite so conveniently his dad had taken Chase at his word that he was too tired to go out and invited him for male bonding time. Which had turned out to be surprisingly... enjoyable. Mr. Davidson was so much like Tyler: funny, charismatic, and definitely handsome. It had been so comfortable talking with him, he almost felt like Mr. Davidson might understand if he brought up Jarod even more than Tyler might.

For a second Chase let his mind wander to his own father, whom he had barely known. He had to conjure up images of the man, memories he'd tried desperately to hold on to over the years and that were dangerously close to slipping away for good. He wouldn't have even remembered his father's voice if it weren't for the few family videos he had played repeatedly, especially in the early years following his death. Grainy camcorder footage of the two of them at the fire hall where his father had worked, decked out in matching firefighter gear. A four-year-old boy helping his daddy wash the fire truck. It was so surreal, as if that hadn't been him or his life at all but had belonged to someone else. It had been taken from him, and so all he had left were a few fleeting images of the man to cling to.

Chase pushed the memories of his father out of his head. He spent so much of his life reconstructing and analyzing the past, and he felt exhausted by it. He wanted to live the way he had last night—spontaneously. He wanted to feel again what it was like when all the thoughts stopped and he was left with only the sanctity of the moment. He wanted to see Jarod.

He picked up his phone for the umpteenth time that day and finally pressed the Call button where it had sat blinking on Jarod's name all day. And then he waited as it rang, his heart beating a staccato rhythm.

"Yup, it's Jarod."

"It's Chase. How's it going?"

"How'd you get this number?" The voice was a little gruff on the other end of the line.

"I uh, I swiped it from Tyler's phone," Chase admitted, already regretting all of this.

"Good work, super sleuth. I was just about to drive over there and get yours myself." Jarod was laughing now, and Chase couldn't help but join in, a sense of relief washing over him.

"Well, maybe you should drive over here anyway. I've not really seen much of the area, you know. You could be my tour guide." Chase was surprised at his coy response. Had he actually been smooth just now? Don't get ahead of yourself, Romeo. You've only been at this a day.

"Ten minutes. I've got a blue truck."

"Okay." Chase hung up and a terrifying excitement crept over him. Ten minutes? He walked to the floor-length mirror and decided that nothing reflected in it was working. He quickly stripped down and ran to the shower. Last night he was sure he had smelled like campfire, and he wanted to be sure he gave the best impression possible tonight. Chase smiled as the water splashed against his body. He imagined Jarod's lustrous brown eyes staring back at him and began to feel a warm sensation gathering in his stomach and spreading out through his body. Chase wasn't thinking anymore. He was simply swimming in this new emotion, and it felt great.