Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
How in the fuck was it him?
“You don’t look so good. I think you need to go lie down. Here, let me help you.” Shaw came toward me, and I shook my head and held up my hand, so he stopped. The consent was awesome, but I couldn’t even let myself think about that in the moment.
My annoying neighbor was S. I was going to die.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” I said before I ran away, tail between my legs, planning to never speak to S or see Shaw ever again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Shaw
ILWMBF had dropped off the face of the earth.
The other option was that he’d decided he didn’t want to speak to me anymore, but I refused to entertain that idea. There was no reason why he would stop messaging. We had fun together, liked teasing each other. He seemed to trust my advice. So yeah, that meant the earth thing, because no other possibilities were coming to me.
What I didn’t like was the fact that I missed joking with him. Hell, that I’d even noticed he hadn’t replied to the two messages I sent in the last week to check in on him. Maybe he got D and they rode off into the sunset together. I wondered if he’d message again down the line when it all went up in smoke—love usually did. If he was even in love with D, but again, I had my doubts about that.
It was Friday, and I’d spent most of my day with an acquaintance who was in real estate and had recently gotten me involved with it too. I had my hands in many things between my column, my photography, and trying this house-selling gig. The last one was my least favorite. The first was top on my list but didn’t pay jack shit, so yeah, enter real estate.
Now it was six, and I was watching the credits roll for How to Train Your Dragon. I was a closet animated-film guy, so shoot me.
And I was bored.
I checked my Charades email, and again, nothing from ILWMBF, making a sharp stab of disappointment prick me in the chest.
There was a message from a nineteen-year-old gay man from rural America, who was a virgin and really wanted to lose his virginity, but also wasn’t real fond of finding some random guy on a hookup app. He was painfully shy and had an unaccepting family. He longed for community and friends who would understand him. The ache in my chest was different this time, because damn, that was rough and had to be lonely.
I ran through my thoughts a thousand times, trying to figure out how to reply to him. Part of me wanted to do it in private, but I also felt like it was good to have information like this on the site because it might help others to feel less alone. He wasn’t the only guy out there dealing with shit like this, and the thought broke my heart.
It took me close to two hours to type out a message that felt right, and then I posted it along with his original question on my page, shot him an email to let him know it was posted, along with a note that if he ever needed to chat more, he was welcome to contact me.
When my phone rang and I saw Will’s name on the screen, I smiled. “What’s up, man?”
“Not much. We going out tonight?”
“Is that really a question?”
He chuckled. “See? That’s why you’re my boy. We can always depend on each other. I’ll head over in a bit, and we can go from your place in a few hours.”
“Sounds good.” I ended the call, and my smile grew. I was sure ILWMBF was staying in tonight, because he seemed boring that way. I didn’t know why I’d sat around caring about his emails all week. I sure as shit didn’t need to be messaging him to have a good time.
I showered, shaved, and had a towel around my waist as I tried to figure out what to wear, when my buzzer rang. I went to the door, saw Will through the peephole, and opened it just as the door slammed across the hall.
“Your neighbor is weird,” Will said as he came inside. “He ran into his apartment with his head down like something was chasing him.”
Elijah had been avoiding me ever since the party last week. Not that he and I ever hung out or anything, but he’d definitely been like a ghost after he ran out on me, leaving me scratching my head and wondering what I’d done to piss him off that time. He’d said he wasn’t feeling well but something about that didn’t ring true. “Yeah, he’s different…and kind of stuffy…but hot.”
“So fucking hot,” Will confirmed. “And bendy. I saw him working out at the gym a few times. He can twist his body in ways I didn’t think were possible.”