Page 25 of Hidden Plays

JJ

Perfect, see you then.

“There, now I have a second date.” I held the screen to Cooper. “Next time, I’ll let him choose the location.” Would this satisfy him?

“Okay. Guess the guy is easygoing.” He gulped more of his drink and patted my shoulder. “It’s good to see you moving on from Myles.”

“I’m definitely moving on. Don’t worry about that.” I turned my phone over and drank my protein drink.

SIX

HOLDEN

Was JJ keen on this date or not? How the hell had I gotten myself into this situation? I was fucking dedicated to my work, that’s how. I sat at my dinette, my laptop open to an assignment for my biomechanics class, staring at the text message conversation.

“What’s up?” Arden arched a brow while sitting across from me, also with an open laptop.

I rolled my lips. “So, you know the football player I had to go to the gay bar with so he’d listen to me?” This sounded more and more ridiculous.

“Yeah?” His mouth spread into a crooked smile. “This will be good, I can tell.” Planting his elbows on the table, he leaned in.

“He needed me to text him as a boyfriend to keep his roommates off his back.” I huffed a snicker. “But now he’s texting me back, and we’ve made plans for a second fake date. I don’t know if it’s real or not.”

“Dude, I’m sure it’s not real. You’re not gay, right?” He chewed his lower lip. “He knows you're straight, doesn’t he?”

But was I straight, though? Googling revealed the gay bar incident may not have been solely a reaction to external stimuli.And then the Reddit boards hadn’t helped. According to them, I was bi-curious for sure.

“Hello, Holden? Are you there?” He rapped on the table.

With a blink, I focused on him. “Yeah, I’m straight, and he knows it.” But did he though? If he knew I’d gotten hard on the dancefloor, he might very well think I’m bisexual. And the way our dicks were pressed together, he’d sure as hell felt it.

“So, if he wants the fake date, let him buy.” Arden gave me a sly grin.

“Yeah.” I offered a quick laugh. Except my conscience wouldn’t let me do that.

Arden lowered his brow. “Don’t let this guy mistake what you’re doing to be interest. He might use this to get close to you. Maybe hedoeslike you?”

“What? Hell no. He hates me outside of this bullshit.” I sighed, rubbing my finger along the edge of my laptop. “He still thinks I sabotaged his junior year stats to get the MVP award.” Where was the fucking thing, anyway? Mom would have saved it somewhere.

“I don’t know, man. Just be careful.” He focused on his laptop screen and typed.

“I will.” I’d finish this damn assignment and then maybe call JJ. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be mad at me for calling.

A few hours later,I sat on our couch, watching the sports channel. Arden had gone out for the evening. It was a good time to check in with JJ. Plucking my phone and the remote from the coffee table, I paused the television and called JJ.

The phone rang once and picked up. “Hey, babe.”

Oh shit, he must be around his friends. “Hi, JJ.” I stared at the phone. Would he be able to talk? “What’s up with Postino’s on Thursday? I’m not really meeting you there, right?”

“Uh, hang on.” Footsteps clomped through the connection.

Another male voice said, “Where are you going? Do you need some sexy time with your new boyfriend?” Laughter came through the line.

“Very funny,” JJ said. “Okay, I can talk.”

“What’s up with Postino’s?” It couldn’t be another fake date. This thing had to end at some point. I inhaled deeply.

“No matter what, I have to go there and take photos of myself, so yes, meet me there.” He huffed.