Page 31 of Out of My Mind

Mac went over everything from last night. His talk with Henry. Gideon asking Mac about his family. Mac telling him the whole sordid, painful story of West Virginia. Mac n’ cheese. Gideon’s mouth coming at his.

Gideon kissed him. That was an incontrovertible fact.

He pictured Gideon naked in front of him. The light dusting of chest hair.

And then coming. They both came. Right next to each other.

Mac stuck a hand down his boxers. He was sticky.

Yep, happened.

Mac pushed himself out of bed, one hand rubbing his temples. He dragged his hunched body to the kitchen for a glass of water. The sun poured in and reflected off the appliances. Mac didn’t realize how dehydrated he was until he drank the water, and then another glass.

He stumbled over to Gideon’s bedroom. He held his fist at the door, but didn’t knock. He didn’t know what to say. The last guy he hooked up with before last night was Davis. That was a different kind of awkwardness, a normal and routine awkwardness that was accompanied with blushing and feelings. Mac was unsure how to broach last night’s events.

He’d have to start thinking because Gideon swung the door open.

“Hey,” he said. “I gotta take the piss of my life.”

Mac moved out of the way so Gideon could shuffle to the bathroom. He put on his shirt, which sat on the floor beside the couch (happened!), and waited there for Gideon to finish. He tapped his fingers together, anxious as hell.

Gideon went from the bathroom straight to the kitchen for some water. Mac hung in the doorway.

“So…”

Gideon chugged his water.

“Yeah….”

And kept chugging. He was downing it all in one drink. He refilled his glass and kept drinking.

“Did you sleep okay? I’m mega hungover.”

Gideon pointed at his now-half-empty glass of water.

“You’ve got to rehydrate,” he said.

“Yeah. I had a glass this morning.”

“I think it was also all that crap at the party, and the mac n’ cheese. I should probably put less salt in and trust that the cheese and pasta are tasty enough.” Gideon poured himself a third glass of water. Mac turned off the tap.

“Gideon.”

It both hit them what happened last night. It was in their historical record.

Done. Never to be erased.

Fucking happened.

“Yeah,” Mac said. He wanted to tell Gideon that it was strange, but a good strange. A strange he wouldn’t mind repeating more than once. But he didn’t want to be the first one to speak. There was some unspoken agreement that Gideon would have to break the silence.

“Look, last night…” Gideon said. He looked at the couch. The scene of the crime. “I was super drunk. Like beyond wasted.”

“Drunk?” Mac asked, incredulous. Not too drunk to cook mac n’ cheese, though.

“So drunk. And I haven’t gotten laid in a few weeks. So I think it was just really drunk and really horny and it…” Gideon clapped his hands together to signify the combination. “It was….a night. But we were both just super drunk.”

“Beyond wasted.”