Chapter 9

"Okay, I met her somewhere. Her name is...she is a woman and uh... We aren't dating yet, but we're cool." A frown was etched in Jeremy's face as his eyes ran over his best-friend making sure he was messing with him and no serious about what he had just said. "Well, now you know."

"No. No, I don't. Because you haven't explained anything. What's her name and where did you meet her?"

"Okay, fine. You want to know the truth?" Jeremy nodded. "There is no one. I'm not seeing anyone. I loved earlier because I know I've been acting weird and when you asked, I didn't want to lie and hurt your feelings because the truth is I don't know why I've been acting weird, but now that I know I've been hurting your feelings, I'll change."

"Oh." Jeremy was taken aback by all Jason had just said. "Thank you?"

Jason gave a small shrug. "You want to forget all about this and go grab some food? I'm starving." He rubbed his tummy to emphasize on his point.

Jeremy pinched his nose. "I was going to make breakfast for you. You're the one that was too stubborn to wait and eat."

"I didn't because we were running late." Jason slapped his hands away, rubbing his nose.

"Says the person that was so determined to not come to work earlier." Jeremy reminded him.

Jason eyed him, getting up from his chair. "Are you hungry or not?" Jeremy shrugged, but he followed him when Jason started to walk away.

"You know I actually thought you were seeing someone."

Jason opened his mouth to tell him to drop it, but then he remembered something. "About that, I wanted to ask. When I said I was seeing someone why were you quick to assume that it was a boy?"

"I wasn't quick to assume. I asked if it was a girl first and you didn't answer, so I moved to the other gender."

"Same thing," he muttered.

"You know, you've brought that up about three times, I'm really starting to think that you might be interested in men." Jeremy laughed at the shock look on Jason's face, he faced him with tomato ears and a speechless face. "Well?"

"Sometimes I do wonder why I'm even friends with you."

Jason quickened his step, avoiding looking his best-friend in the eyes. "I don't have time for this, I'm going to go grab lunch."

"Wait up!" Jeremy hurried to catch up.

~~~

They headed home early that day. Jeremy had succeeded in dragging Jason out of the office. But he had only agreed to leave because he needed to stop at the supermarket to buy some groceries.

When they left the supermarket, they stopped drove straight to Jason's home, which had recently also turned to Jeremy's home. They were greeted with the sound of Matt and Allison fighting again. "Oh Lord, what could it even be this time?"

"Are they like this everytime?" Jeremy inquired.

Jason nodded. "Most of the time. When I moved here, they got along well. Though I found out from Matt that they were just newly married when I moved here, so I guess they were still in the honeymoon phase."

"If they don't love each other anymore, why are they still together? I mean, it's obvious they are both unhappy in their marriage and they don't have a kid yet, right?" Jason nodded. "That's even better. They better get a divorce now before a kid pops up."

"It's not that easy, yunno. Matt says he wants the marriage to work. He tries his best, but Allison is too stubborn. Anyways, let's go." They unbuckled their seatbelt and got out of the car. As they headed to Jason's door, something caught Jeremy's attention.

"Hey, isn't that my picture that usually stayed in your room, what's it doing in the trash."

"Shit," Jason muttered. He knew he should have set it on fire instead. He left it in the trash, hoping that it would be taken out today, but then he remembered that he hadn't paid his bills. The trashman had probably passed, but didn't take his out because he was in debt. How was he supposed to tell Jeremy that he had to take it out because he was tired of masturbating to his picture. "Yeah, something happened the other day, I had to take it out."

"What happened?"

"Huh?" Jason pretended not to hear.

"I asked what happened-"

"Fuck you too!" This came from Matt's home, it was Allison. The door was opened and slammed hard. Matt had stepped out. He didn't see them at first, as he kept staring straight ahead. Jeremy and Jason shared a look, as they looked back at Matt, he was already staring at them. Matt felt a bit embarrassed, knowing they had heard everything that just went on.

"I'll be going inside," Jeremy whispered in Jason's ears. Before Jason could say anything, he had already taken the keys from Jason's hand and continued to his door, not looking back.

Jason waved at Matt. "You okay?" He asked from where he stood.

"Yeah." Matt nodded. "Just Allison with her evening madness."

"You need somewhere to crash for the night again?"

Matt chuckled, shaking his head, walking over to Jason so they didn't have to raise their voice so high while they spoke. "No, I mean, that's my home, I pay for the rent. I can't run away and even if I need somewhere to crash for the night. I'll just go to a friend's place this time. I don't want to disturb you, especially with your friend around."

"Who? Jeremy? Oh, he wouldn't mind." Jason said, although he knew that was a lie. Jeremy would bite his ears off if he invited Matt in. "I mean... maybe he would." Matt nodded understandingly. "You know, I've always been really curious, how did you end up with someone like Allison? Did she use some sort of charm on you?"

"Honestly? I think so."