Match

54: Turning Over A New Leaf

Cole lays on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as if studying every mark on it. It's unbelievable to him with everything that transpired. They kissed, they hugged, they listened to each other's music, then went out to eat before heading home. It feels like a dream to him he's doomed to wake up from. But instead, he checked his phone to confirm, the heart beside Jonah's name tells him they're together now.

Now what? What comes next? He remembers being introduced to his exes parents, their siblings, then friends. He finds it interesting to him how different each introduction was based on the gender of the person. Sometimes if it was a girl, he had to act more assertive, less emotional, according to one of his ex's fathers. He feels saddened at the fact that for his exes who identified as a guy or non-binary, their relationship had to be more secretive. Grateful is an understatement, since the most he got from his mother finding out was a scream, her support, and a long talk about safety.

For Jonah, he wants to try breaking out of his shell more. He wants to be more open, but it's a new thing in his book. How will Jonah's parents react? How will our soccer teammates react? Should we keep it low-key, or make it obvious and ignore the judgement? Part of him wants to stay retreated in his comfortable shell, but the other part is still in that metaphorical water, trudging through to make it to the other side.

Without conscious thought he scrolls on his phone through a feed on social media. His eyes stop at a quote from a philosophy account.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."

He stares at the quote for a good long while, before making up his mind and reposting it. That fits us, right? Suddenly, he hears the front door squeak open.

"Just your ol pal!" Hayden says while entering.

Cole sighs. He feels his heart pound. Well, he's going to find out one way or another. The first person he is going to tell, is the one that walked in.

———————————

It's been one hour since Jonah has been home. His parents are out for dinner again, leaving just him and his feline friends in the house murmuring from the air conditioner. He wears a wide smile on his face, full of satisfaction. To him, Cole's kisses are adorable. He has the experience not to smush mouths together and wrap it up. But at the same time, it felt tentative, like the upside-down kiss. He realizes after pondering so much on the kiss his fingers landed on his lips. He drums them gently along his bottom lip while his mind shifts to a different focus: this is the first guy he's ever gone out with. To him, he doesn't count that curious night he had with a friend of his. They never asked each other out. It was experimental. This is confirmation. God, this is the first relationship I've had in a while. Mom and dad are going to have a lot of questions.

Filling his room with enough thoughts, he decides to get up and head to the sports room. He flicks on the light, then turns on the console. As he moves his hand to a button on the T.V., he realizes his father left it on the news channel. His eyes drop to the caption reading: "SUSPECTS INVOLVED WITH ARSON IN CUSTODY", making him step further back in disbelief. There they were, in all their mugshot glory. One of the suspects looked familiar to Jonah, but he can't quite figure out why. And then it hits him.

He dashes out of the room to grab his phone. The cats scramble out of their hiding spot, making Jonah apologize. He searches through his message box until he comes across a group chat with him, Ben, Ryder and Liam. His thumbs go wild.

Jonah:

I RECOGNIZE ONE OF THE SUSPECTS. RMMBR THE GROUP THAT WERE SUSPICIOUSLY WALKING AROUND THE FACULTY BUILDING WHERE I FOUND THE MATCHBOX?
ONE OF THEM HAD LONG BROWN HAIR EXACTLY LIKE THE GIRL ON THE MUGSHOT.

It doesn't take long for an ellipses bubble to appear.

Liam:

YOO I told you guys it wasn't a soccer player!

Ben:

Yeah that's my bro's friend's ex.

Him and his friend actually went to the police station this morning.

Jonah blinks. Stunned. Did I read that right? Another bubble pops up.

Ben:

Lets just say, my bro might've turned over a new leaf.

———————————

"I knew it!"

Cole stops mid-talking. All the nerves built-up freeze. Hayden shoots him some finger-guns.

"You had some sparkle in your eyes, I could tell!"

He blinks, then drops to a disappointed frown. "Hayden, how much anime have you been watching?"

"I'm only watching one right now," he says, "and it updates every Saturday. I'm being for real though, man!"

He bounces up to Cole and hugs him tight while giving him a noogie. Cole tries to push him off, but his bear hug is surprisingly outmatched.

"Fuck, man! Let go! How did you get so strong suddenly?!"

Hayden unhooks himself, landing on Cole's bed with a laugh. He flexes his biceps, smacking the left one.

"Being a farmer works its wonders."

"All you're doing is picking fruit though."

"It's tough business, man!"

Cole rolls his eyes. "Okay, Old MacDonald."

"Okay but anyway," he pretends to brush off dust, "who is it?"

"Hm?"

Hayden stops, turning to him. "You didn't give a name."

Now the nerves have come back. "Oh, uhh..."

All of a sudden, his phone goes off. The spaceship noise blares from it. He swivels around to grab it and check the screen. Without thinking, it slips out of his mouth.

"Oh, it's him."