22 – A Hot Day in June (2)

 

Stellaluna and Zailey arrived at a busy Italian restaurant together. They chose a small table, and sat down. Stellaluna picked up an ordering tablet. Normally, she had to rely on pictures. But now?

She still had to rely on pictures. Half of the entrees sounded like gibberish. Though she could read “salad,” “bread,” and “chicken.” Her chest swelled with pride. If only she could share the news with Zailey. But she wasn’t sure how to explain the series of events that led to her literacy. What would Zailey think if she knew Stellaluna was learning to read from a common servant? What if Zailey accidentally let it slip to the wrong person? Stellaluna didn’t want to risk Yannick losing his job.

So Stellaluna simply tapped on a picture of shrimp scampi. Zailey tapped something on her screen as well, then set the tablet aside. “Anything new going on with you?”

Stellaluna thought about how she was learning to read from a servant. How their bond strengthened over a scandalous book they found in Barry’s collection. How that servant clearly had feelings for her. How he had kissed her. How they cuddled up in a bed together. And how… she just might feel something for him.

But Stellaluna kept that bit of drama to herself. “Did I tell you Sebastian started working for us?”

The restaurant fell dark.

Everyone looked around, and the room broke out into murmurs.

“Is this a power outage?” Zailey asked.

“It must be,” Stellaluna said. Even a few of the robotic serving trays had stopped in their path.

“Well I hope it comes back on soon. We already placed our orders!”

A flashlight shone through the dark as a person walked out from the kitchens. The man spoke. “Attention! Everybody!”

The room fell silent.

“The power went out. We don’t know why or for how long, but please give us a few minutes to find out more details. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”

 

A few minutes turned into a half hour. Several customers had left.

“Should we go?” Stellaluna asked Zailey.

“We already ordered,” Zailey said.

“But they probably haven’t started on it yet. And I’m starving.”

“So am I.” Zailey fiddled with a salt shaker. “Where else could we eat?”

The only other restaurant in town was a cafe Stellaluna had never set foot in. “There’s that one cafe on the other side of town.”

Zailey’s hand flew to her mouth. “That place is for lowers!”

Stellaluna wondered if Yannick ever ate there. He probably had. What was a restaurant for lowers like? She’d never thought about it before, but now she was curious. “It’s better than nothing.”

“I’d rather eat at the restaurant at your place.”

“Okay.” Stellaluna would rather her first time at such a place be with Yannick anyway. Not that she’d ever go out in public with him. Someone could recognize her, and that would be disastrous!

The women knocked at the kitchen door, told an employee to cancel their order, then headed back home.

~~~~~

 

After the pool incident, Jake walked to his house with Axel and Sebastian. Sebastian was on Axel’s left, and Jake to his right. Sebastian kept his gaze focused ahead, but he walked closer to Axel than necessary.

Christ, how had Jake not noticed it before? The slight blush whenever Axel addressed him. The stealth glances when Axel wasn’t looking. Jake never thought twice. He assumed it was the effects of spending a summer in a conversion camp. But no. It was a crush all along.

Sebastian fiddled with the hem of his shirt while Axel lectured the two on their behavior at the pool.

“You two can’t learn to keep your heads down and walk away. And since you’re both small-town celebrities, this will probably end up on the evening news. I’m sure your fathers will be proud. Down in the polls and down in the stocks.”

Jake shrugged it off. As far as he was concerned, those assholes deserved what they got. “The company will survive. Besides, the public will side with us once the video of Sebastian getting pantsed goes viral.”

Sebastian groaned loudly. Axel looked at Jake. “And what makes you so confident on that?”

“Because it was sexual harassment. Who’d side with them?”

Axel and Sebastian both stopped in unison, and stared at him. Like there was some obvious detail Jake had overlooked. But he couldn’t figure out what.

“The average person here sees pantsing as a harmless prank,” Axel explained calmly, as they continued walking.

“Harmless!”

“Yes, I know. Things considered funny here are worthy of jail-time there.”

“For good reason!” Or did Axel actually think pantsing was okay?

“Regardless,” Axel raised his voice. “People will not sympathize. They will see Sebastian beating innocent people up, and think he deserved to get pantsed.”

“But Sebastian was only defending me!”

“And no one started filming until Sebastian jumped in. There’s no proof those men did anything wrong.”

“So, what, next time someone’s treated unfairly, you want me to keep my mouth shut and look away?”

“Yes!” Axel shouted. “That’s exactly what I want you to do!”

“But that’s-”

“Can you both stop arguing,” Sebastian interrupted. “Seriously. I just want to forget what happened. Let’s talk about what we want to do instead. Since our pool adventure was cut short.”

The sun had already dried Jake’s hair, and sweat beaded on his forehead. He just wanted to be somewhere cool. “I assumed we’d hang out at my house. Crank up the AC. Play some video games, maybe.”

Sebastian nodded. “Fine with me. It’s this next street, right?”

“Yep.” Jake, Axel, and Sebastian turned down it, and soon arrived at Jake’s house.

Jake unlocked the door, and was greeted by more heat. Why hadn’t his father turned on the AC? Or Chives or Sheba or whoever was in charge of such things now? Where was everyone anyway?

“I’m home,” Jake called out. No answer. He wandered over to the thermostat in the family room to find the AC already switched to on. “That’s weird.”

“What’s weird?” Axel asked. He and Sebastian had followed him.

“The AC is already on.” Frowning, Jake flicked the nearest light switch. Nothing happened. “The power’s out.”

“Now what?” Sebastian ran his fingers through his damp hair. “I’m sweating to death.”

Jake glanced at his phone to see he missed a text from his father. “My dad texted me. He went to Callahan Mansion to cool off.”

“I’m not going there,” Sebastian said quickly.

Jake didn’t particularly want to either.

Axel rubbed his face. “My van has AC. We can drive around and decide.”

The three still wore t-shirts and swim trunks. Although Jake’s had dried off in the sun, he’d rather wear normal shorts. “We’re not doing any more swimming, are we?”

“Where else would we swim?” Sebastian asked.

“I know a place.” Axel scratched his cheek as he studied him. “But we’d have to… walk a bit to get there. Through dirt and trees.”

“Yeah, no.”

Jake wasn’t particularly up for a hike either. “Let me change into normal shorts real quick, and we can go.”

Axel nodded. “I’ll change in my van.”

“Huh?” Sebastian frowned at Axel. “You keep clothes in your van?”

Sebastian didn’t know? Jake raised a questioning eyebrow at Axel.

Axel avoided both their gazes. “You never know when you’ll need clean clothes.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Sebastian rubbed his chin. “What about me?”

As much as Jake didn’t want to offer, he supposed he owed Sebastian for coming to his aid earlier. “I might have something you can borrow. Come on.”

 

~~~~~

 

Sebastian found himself in the most boring bedroom he’d ever seen. The walls were bare. The furniture was bare. Even his bedspread was a bland solid gray. The most exciting thing was a bookshelf, but that only held one shelf’s-worth of books. He watched Jake shift through his dresser drawer. “Where’s all your stuff?”

“Why does everyone always ask that?” Jake muttered. He pulled out an old pair of gray shorts, and tossed them to Sebastian. “See if those fit.”

Sebastian held them out. They looked like they would, but a thought occurred to him, then and there. A thought he wasn’t sure he should mention, though surely Jake would think it eventually. Especially since Jake had moved on to a drawer full of underwear, digging out a pair of plaid boxers. He tossed them onto his bed, next to a newer pair of gray shorts.

“I don’t have underwear,” Sebastian mumbled.

“So?” Without sparing a glance at Sebastian, Jake whipped off his swim trunks, making no effort to conceal himself. His shirt stopped at his hips, so Sebastian got a good view.

Along with dirty thoughts. Had Axel ever stroked it? Licked it? Sucked it? God, Sebastian would love to see that.

Jake pulled up his boxers, and finally noticed Sebastian watching. He smirked. “Enjoying the show?”

“What would Axel think?”

“Of what? We’re only changing… Oh.” Jake’s shoulders slumped as he reached for his shorts. “Right. You’re all prudes.”

“I’m not a prude.”

“Then get dressed so we can go. I’m roasting up here.” Jake reached for his glasses on his nightstand, and put them on.

Sebastian wanted to change in the bathroom, but he didn’t want to prove Jake right. It was nothing he hadn’t seen earlier anyway, thanks to Berkley. Lack of underwear forgotten, Sebastian slipped off his trunks, and yanked on the shorts. They fit surprisingly well.

“Before we leave, we need to talk,” Jake said.

Please don’t be about Axel… Sebastian feared he’d picked up on his feelings. No, he knew he had. What else would he want to talk about?

“It’s obvious you have a huge crush on Axel,” Jake said. “Don’t bother lying, you’ll never convince me.”

Sebastian hung his head and said nothing.

“I don’t care that you do. In fact, I’d invite you to join in sometime, but I know he’d never agree to it.”

“What?!” As if Sebastian wasn’t red enough. “Like, a threesome?”

“Yeah. I haven’t had one in a long time. I kinda miss those.”

Sebastian gaped at him. Jake had threesomes? Missed having threesomes? Should Sebastian share this with Axel? Or would that cause unnecessary drama? But Axel should know this. Shouldn’t he?

“I know we don’t like each other. Or, we act like we don’t. But don’t act like you don’t find me attractive.”

He picked up on that too? Sebastian put his face in his hand. “You know, as Axel’s best friend, I’m obligated to tell him you came onto me.”

“I didn’t come onto you. I’m just letting you know, I’m okay with you having a crush on Axel. He’s a good-looking, charming man. You don’t have to feel guilty.”

That wasn’t why Sebastian felt “guilty” over loving Axel. And it wasn’t guilt. It was shame. “Whatever. I should still tell him about this.”

“Good luck explaining how this conversation started.” Jake grinned. “You can tell him all about how you’re secretly in love with him.”

No way in hell. “Fine, you’ve made your point. Now let’s go.”