Send Me You

Chapter Six: Sebastian

What did I just do? Did I really just agree to call Peter bae? BAE!? Really? Why did I just do that!? Calm down. Cool your jets, Sebastian. Get it together. I wonder how Peter feels about this. Does he think I'm weird? Am I coming on too strong? No. I won't think about that right now.

"Why do you look like you want to curl up in a ball and die?"

I jump and look toward my bedroom door. Justin leans against the doorframe.

"Oh, hey." I say lamely. "When'd you get here? I wasn't expecting you."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Uhm... I..." Shit.

"Just spit it out already."

"I was texting someone and said something that I probably shouldn't have... but I don't know if they care or not."

"You worry about the simplest things. Let's see what you said." Justin reaches for my phone, but I pull it away.

"Sorry. It's private."

"Everything's private with you lately, mate. What's going on?"

"Can we talk about something else, please? I can't talk about this right now."

"Fine. What do you want to talk about instead?"

"How's Lexi? I haven't seen her in a while?"

"Oh. She's great. After school, we went to her house to hang. You know how my house is." I do. Justin's house is a war zone. There's always something exciting going on somewhere in that mess. Whether it be his little brothers, Sam and Gabe, having a nerf war, or his little sister, Sophia, playing Pretty Pretty Princess Dress Up in the living room while his mother tries and fails to get Justin's older sister, Olivia, to get off her phone and do something productive with her life. Patty is the only introvert in Justin's family. She spends half her waking hours hauled up in her room doing God knows what.

"Sounds fun. What'd you guys do?"

"Oh, you know. The usual."

"Making out on the living room couch?" I ask. Lexi's parents are never home.

"Obviously. So what have you been up to?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just the usual." I said, copying Justin's tone.

"Sitting hauled up in your room pretending to do homework?"

"Obviously." We both laugh.

Justin and I decide to go to the town's arcade center to get our weekly dose of arcade magic. NetArcade is busier than usual tonight and we drive around for 15 minutes before we find a place to park. We walk into the building and look around.

"What do you want to do first?" Justin is eyeing the pinball machine.

"I assume the pinball machine is my best bet to get you excited because you're looking at it like it's Lexi in lingerie."

"I mean... she is pretty hot in lingerie..."

"Dude! I don't need that image in my head!" I shudder and head toward the pinball machine. Justin hurries and falls back into step at my side.

"Right, she's my girlfriend. Get your own."

"Right..." I say, a little warry.

"Why'd you say it like that?"

"Say it like what?" Oh shit. How did I say it? I back track to what I last said. Holy shit! I need to cover, fast. "Oh. I just need to find the right girl. You know how it is..." Did that work? By the look on his face, he isn't buying it.

"Ok..."

I swipe the NetArcade card in the pinball machine slot.

"Let's just play, ok?"

Thirty minutes later, after Justin had thoroughly beaten me in pinball seventeen times, I decided we need something else to do.

"Want pizza?" I ask.

"Uh... cha!" Justin's always up for pizza.

We walk over to the concessions area. I find us a table while Justin gets the pizza. Once I've found the perfect booth I sit and stare at my phone screen, typing and retyping, drafting the perfect text to Peter. A few moments later, I notice a figure hovering over me looking over my shoulder at my phone.

"Uhm..." I laugh nervously and look up. "Can I help yo-" But I'm cut off by the sight of the person standing next to me. "Peter?" I say with more than a little confusion and embarrassment.

"Hey, Bash. Whatcha doin' here this fine evening?" Peter smirks at me.

Holy shit he's perfect. Wait. Can he see what I just thought? Oh shit. Play it cool, Bash.

"Hey yourself. And I'm here with Justin. You know Justin, right?"

He thinks for a moment. "I think so.... Isn't he that guy you're always hanging around with? Like at school and stuff?" How long has he been watching me?

Peter has this funny expression on his face. Is that... jealousy? Is he jealous... of Justin?

"Yeah, we've been friends since kindergarten. He has a girlfriend, her name's Lexi." I don't know why I felt the need to say that last part like I was Jimmy Fallon announcing the next insanely famous guest, but it's a good thing I did because his face washes over with relief.

"Cool. I'm here with some of my girlfriends." Uhm... I thought he was gay? I give him a weird look. "They're girls who are my friends," He clarifies. Good. Glad we got that cleared up.

"Yep," I say, a little warry. "Totally.... So..." I don't know if I should bring up the topic or not.

"How are you feeling about the date on Saturday?" It's like he read my mind.

"Great! Yep... totally great!" Shit. Why am I such an idiot? I can't even form sentences around him.

"I'd like to thank you for being willing to try something different with me. I know that everyone thinks you're straight, but I'm glad you're willing to trust me."

"Y-yeah," I stutter. "No problem."