Being gay is a curse when the homophobia you grew up with was so bad that you're homophobic yourself. Especially when you're into unavailable guys like your roommate, whose girlfriend is everything you're not (though appearances can be deceiving). S...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Any New Year's resolutions?"
Jamie hummed thoughtfully and scratched his chin, before he said, "Yeah, I wanted to be more active. You know, I do my squats and my sit-ups every now and then, but I really feel like a potato hanging around campus all day."
"You should try swimming," I told him.
"It's just a New Year's resolution," he scoffed. "That doesn't mean I'm actually gonna do it. Besides, that's your thing."
"What? Why can't it be our thing?"
Phyllis coughed.
I gave her a look and then turned to look at Jamie again, but he was just staring at the ceiling of the diner we'd chosen to eat in because the food hall hadn't opened yet. Considering the fact that being home with family (in my case) and without family (in Jamie's case) was pretty boring, Jamie and I had decided to come back to campus a few days early, and Phyllis had apparently come to that same decision.
I'd thought it was fun to have her here at first, but I was really starting to dislike her presence because every time Jamie and I made jokes that were even a little bit flirty, she had to make these obnoxious noises as if to say I told you so. She just couldn't seem to understand that we were just friends. Why the fuck were she and Joan so convinced that there was something going on between Jamie and me?
As far as I knew, there really wasn't. And if there was, I would like to be notified.
"You know why I started swimming?" I asked.
"I don't know," Jamie muttered, closing his eyes. "Felt like getting wet?"
"Oh, yes, that too, but what I was going to say is hot guys. So many wet abs and bare bottoms in the changing rooms, Jamie—you wouldn't believe your eyes."
"Why am I not surprised?" Phyllis muttered.
I poked Jamie's cheek, making his eyes flutter open again. "Hey."
"Huh?" He pushed my hand away and lifted his head from the backrest of the booth.
"Are you tired or something?"
"Oh, I've just been taking advantage of my free time a little too much," he chuckled. "I never knew the human body is actually capable of staying up until seven in the morning and sleeping in until three, but it's going in my thesis paper. Anyway, swimming. I guess I could try it, yeah. You're insanely good, though. We're not gonna be able to swim together. Like, on your team, I mean."
"Don't worry, I'll suck a few dicks to get you to the top. I'll suck yours too, if you want."
Phyllis took a slow sip from her drink and peered at me over the edge of her cup, but Jamie was completely unaware of this as he threw his head back again and laughed at the ceiling.
I felt very tempted to give her the middle finger for making this into a thing it wasn't, and for making me feel uncomfortable in the process. I couldn't even joke around with my friend anymore because everyone was going to think I wanted to be more than friends? How stupid was that? People made flirty jokes all the time. That didn't mean they were actually into them.
