The Geek and His Artist (15 page)

Jimmy nodded. “Yup. Katie’s in my calc class. I asked her.”

Ronnie groaned. “Shit. She’s going to tell Bailey.”

“No, she promised she wouldn’t,” Jimmy assured him.

Ronnie shook his head. “They’re best friends. Of
course
she’ll tell her.”

Jimmy shrugged a shoulder. “She promised. We’ll see. But she did tell me Bailey’s been waiting for someone in particular to ask her out.”

Ronnie looked up so fast, it was funny. “Who?”

Jimmy grinned. “I don’t know and Katie wouldn’t say, but I think that tells me enough, doesn’t it?”

Ronnie frowned. “I don’t know, maybe. Fuck.”

“Ask her. Seriously, dude. Time’s running out.”

“You don’t have to remind me.” Ronnie sighed.

Jimmy stared at his friend a minute. “So…. We okay, dude?”

Ronnie looked up at him, holding his gaze for a long time. “Yeah. Sorry, I shouldn’t have been an ass.”

Jimmy shrugged a shoulder. “You could have said something, but I get it. So, it’s okay.”

Ronnie nodded. “Good. Okay. ’Cause I was beginning to think you really didn’t want my ass after all.”

“I wouldn’t want a flat ass like yours,” Jimmy replied with a snort.

Ronnie punched him and Jimmy laughed.

J
IMMY
WAS
too early, but he couldn’t stay in the house any longer. Amy and Dirk had taken his room for the weekend and still had been in it when he went to shower. He’d been forced to listen to
way
too much while he’d been in the bathroom, and had bolted as soon as he was dressed. He’d stopped at Starbucks and bought mochas, but even with that, he was still a good twenty minutes early.

The temperature had dropped horribly over the last week, and Jimmy flipped the heater up to high. Simon was forever cold, and though Jimmy knew why—the man didn’t have a single fat cell in his body—there wasn’t much he could do except keep the heat up and wrap himself around Simon as much as possible. Not that that was a chore—far from it. He knew he was being a little silly, but he felt like he could spend the rest of his life with Simon in his arms.

Shaking his head at himself, he wrapped Simon’s mocha in his scarf in the hopes of keeping it hot until Simon came out, then turned up the stereo. Tokio Hotel started singing about monsoons, and Jimmy smiled, thinking it more than a little appropriate. It wasn’t exactly a rainstorm they had to get through, but there were plenty of obstacles in their way. But just like the song, he was determined they would.

He sipped his mocha, eyes fixed on Simon’s building as the song ended, and when he saw the blond hair at the window, he relaxed the tension he hadn’t realize had built up in him. No more than a minute later, Simon emerged from the building in his gray peacoat, good jeans, and Converse. Jimmy wished he’d known Simon before Christmas and might have had an excuse to give Simon some clothes or something. But there was no way for him to do it now, not without possibly hurting Simon’s pride.

He forgot all about that when he stepped out of the car and came around to meet Simon. His boyfriend’s arms flew around him and their lips met. Jimmy thrilled in the kiss, in the taste. He couldn’t seem to get enough of it, of Simon’s taste, of the feel of Simon against him, in his arms.

When they broke apart, Simon smiled up at him shyly. Jimmy grinned. “I like that kind of greeting.”

Simon’s blush had nothing to do with the temperature. “I missed you. I know, it’s st—dumb, it’s been less than a day, but….” He dropped his gaze and shrugged a shoulder.

Jimmy put a finger under Simon’s chin and tilted his face up. “I missed you too.” He nuzzled Simon’s face for a moment, then pulled back. “It’s cold out here, let’s get back in the heat.”

When they were on the way to Jimmy’s house, Simon sighed. “So, I probably shouldn’t have bothered telling you to wait this morning.”

“Oh?” Jimmy asked, glancing over, then focusing on making his turns.

“Yeah. The Bastard wasn’t happy this morning unless I was up with him. I had to cook him breakfast.” Simon made a face and Jimmy realized he could hear Simon’s stomach rumbling. “Anyway,” he said quickly, probably to try to cover it up. “I tried to go back to sleep, but….” He laughed and Jimmy grinned. “Yeah, that wasn’t happening. He was bitching up a storm before he left. Apparently the guy he’s doing work for doesn’t have any beer at his house.” Jimmy snorted. “No kidding, right? He’s getting paid.” Simon shook his head. “So, yeah. He said he’ll be home for dinner at six-thirty. That means I need to be back by five, because I don’t believe for one minute he told me the truth.”

Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, I wouldn’t either.”

Simon fell silent and Jimmy concentrated on driving for a few moments. “I didn’t realize you lived so far away.”

“Eh, it’s not that far. Just feels like it. Traffic on Brownsville is always shitty.”

Simon laughed. “Yeah, that’s true.”

Jimmy smiled when Simon laid a hand on his leg and squeezed. When he’d shifted into third—he wasn’t getting any higher than that in this traffic—he held Simon’s hand.

“How was the movie? What did you see?”

“Oh,
Hobbit
again, like I told you. Not much else out right now.”

“Is Ronnie still pissed?” Simon asked, and Jimmy glanced over at the tentative tone.

He shook his head. “No. In fact, he apologized for being an ass. We’re good again.”

Simon let out a breath. “Good. I don’t want to come between you and your friends.”

Jimmy had to fight hard to keep a straight face. He was sure Simon didn’t hear the innuendo in the phrasing, but he and Ronnie and Sean had been too sophomoric for too long not to laugh at something like that.

But apparently Jimmy’s silence was enough to clue Simon in. “Oh God,” he groaned. “I didn’t just say that.”

Jimmy snickered. “Yup, you did.”

Simon laughed. “Well, as cute as your friends are, I’m not interested in that.”

“That’s good, because I’m not interested in sharing you.”

“I don’t want to be shared,” Simon said softly, and Jimmy, grateful they hit a red light, looked over.

“You’re mine, Simon. I don’t want to come across as some possessive, jealous asshole, okay?” Simon nodded. “But I don’t want to even think about you with anyone else. You are way too important to me. I… care about you a lot and just….” He had to take a breath. He’d almost let the words slip out, but managed to salvage it at the last second. The light turned green, and he focused on shifting. “Sorry, but the thought just… doesn’t sit well with me.”

“I’m glad, actually. I… I like being yours.”

Jimmy reached out, took Simon’s hand again, and brought it up to his lips to kiss. “Well, you are. I hope you’ll stay mine for a… a very long time.”
Yeah, that’s the way to scare the shit out of him, dork. Start talking about for life while you’re in high school.
Jimmy took a breath, placed Simon’s hand on his leg, and focused on driving, trying not to get them killed.

His parents had been high school sweethearts. They’d married the summer after they graduated and had been together ever since. They’d made sure he and Amy both knew it hadn’t been a picnic all the time, but they’d been happy.

Jimmy wanted what his parents had. For a long time, he thought being gay meant it wasn’t going to happen. When the laws started changing to allow same-sex marriage, he had hope. But he also wasn’t a complete idiot. He knew there were a lot of gay men who didn’t want to get married.

He had no idea if Simon would, or if he and Simon would have what his parents had. He already loved Simon. He thought it was possible Simon loved him back, but he’d heard plenty to know it wasn’t just about love. Either way, they’d only been together a couple of weeks. That’s hardly enough time to propose marriage.

He shook his head at himself and sighed.

“That sounded sad,” Simon commented.

Jimmy winced. He hadn’t meant for Simon to hear it.

“What was it about?”

Jimmy frowned, in a quandary. If he told Simon, he risked scaring the shit out of his boyfriend and sending him running. Entirely aside from not wanting to lose Simon, he still wanted to get Simon out of the situation with his father. But he didn’t want to lie. Simon already saw how bad he was at it when he tried to lie to his mom about Simon being hurt. He didn’t consider staying in the closet lying either, since he’d never actually told her he was straight. He just hadn’t said anything.

With another—smaller—sigh, he glanced over. “I was thinking about my parents,” he hedged. “Did I tell you they met in high school?”

“Really?” Simon asked, eyebrows raised.

Jimmy nodded, looking back at the road. “Yeah. Got married not long after graduation, and they’ve been together ever since.”

“Wow, I didn’t think that happened anymore. My mom met The Bastard later on. I don’t know all of it, she never told me. And, well, I wasn’t going to ask
him.
”

“I don’t blame you.”

“Why did you sigh?” Simon asked.

Jimmy swallowed, glanced at Simon, who simply looked curious, and took a chance. “I hope to have what they do. Amy didn’t meet Dirk until senior year in high school. They’re happy, but I don’t know. I see my mom and dad and…. God, they’ve been together….” He paused to think. “I think this year was twenty-seven?” He shook his head. “Something like that. But he still looks at her as if she was a goddess on earth. She looks at him like he’s the best thing since the Internet.” He looked over to see Simon smiling.

“I’d like that. It sounds really nice.” Simon swallowed. “I used to tell myself that if I got out of there alive, I’d never give anyone the chance to hurt me. That if love got you beaten… well, you can figure that out. But I have seen other couples, and I know not everyone is like that. And, well, you kinda shattered the rest of my fears of it.”

Jimmy was stunned. “I did?”

Simon nodded, which Jimmy saw out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah. I… I feel safe with you. I’ve… I’ve never winced even when you raised your hand fast. I’ve even done that a time or two with Deck and Tony.”

“Really?” Jimmy couldn’t breathe all of a sudden.

“Yeah.”

He didn’t know what to say, couldn’t for the life of him form anything even close to intelligent. He did the next best thing. He lifted Simon’s hand and kissed it again, over and over, until he
had
to let go to shift.

He’d thought that Simon felt at least a little safe with him, but to hear it from Simon, that seemed like so much more. He cleared his throat.

“So, I never thought I’d get that, that I could feel safe with someone, safe enough to think about other things—like, boyfriends—and I felt it that first day in tutoring. I don’t know why, I have no idea what it is, I just… you make me feel safe,” Simon said again.

“I’ll never break that trust,” Jimmy vowed.

“I know.”

Those two words, the absolute assurance that he wouldn’t break his promise, wrapped around Jimmy’s heart. He hoped to hell Simon’s trust wasn’t misplaced, and he knew he’d do everything he could and then some to keep it.

W
HEN
THEY
pulled into the driveway, Simon wiped his palms on his jeans and sucked down a bit more of his mocha. He needed to do something with his hands so Jimmy didn’t see them shake. He’d been a bit worried yesterday when he agreed to meet Jimmy’s parents. That morning, after The Bastard left, the worry escalated into nervousness.

He’d nicked himself shaving and spent the better part of fifteen minutes getting it to stop bleeding. Then he’d agonized over his hair—
would they hate the shaved part?—
before sticking with his normal style. He’d brushed his teeth no less than three times and then proceeded to spend the next forty-five minutes trying to decide which of his T-shirts was the nicest. He settled on the same Green Lantern T-shirt he’d worn for his date, and spent the rest of the time waiting for Jimmy by pacing the apartment.

He’d just about convinced himself they’d hate him, if only because of the fact that he was going to be completely crazy when he got there, when he paced to the window to see Jimmy’s car. He ran to the hook by the door and snatched up his coat. He only took time to make sure the door was properly locked, so The Bastard wouldn’t question anything, then took off at a sprint.

He’d still been nervous, but that had calmed quite a bit once Jimmy was there and touching him. Just having Jimmy’s arms wrapped around him was enough to make him feel grounded and safe again. Simon had gotten lost in the kiss, and even the embarrassment over his enthusiasm hadn’t lasted. Jimmy had become so much to him, was so much to him, and that scared Simon more than a little bit. What if something happened? What if Jimmy didn’t want him anymore?

But if Jimmy didn’t
really
care about him, he wouldn’t be about to meet the parents. He wouldn’t be wiping his hands—again—on his jeans in an attempt to not be slimy if he had to shake hands. He wouldn’t be nearly hyperventilating with sheer
terror
that he’d do something to fuck this up.

Because he was, he could only take that to mean Jimmy cared about him, cared a
lot.
As Jimmy came around the car, Simon decided to focus on that as much as possible and try not to let his nerves make him look like more of an idiot than he was already afraid he’d be. He went to open the door, but he’d panicked so long, Jimmy beat him to it. With a deep breath, he stepped out and took Jimmy’s hand.

And realized the hand in his was shaking.

“Baby?” Simon looked up at Jimmy.

Jimmy shook his head and tugged Simon along toward the front door. As was typical in Pittsburgh, there were about a million steps up to the porch, but Simon didn’t mind. It gave him another chance to try to calm down.

As soon as they stepped inside, before Simon could even look around, a woman who could be Jimmy’s female twin stood in front of them. Her hair was long, reaching almost to her waist, and she was much shorter—Simon realized he probably had a good six inches in height on her. Her features were more delicate overall, but otherwise, Simon was dead positive he was looking at what Jimmy would have looked like if he’d been female. His hands itched for a pencil.