Chapter 12

Twelve

Will

Will arrived back at the hotel room about three hours later, and silently tried to open the door. He successfully got into the dark room without making noise, but as soon as he walked three feet into the room, he stumbled and tripped on some object in the pathway.

" Ooof! " he said, trying to be quiet but failing slightly. He hoped he hadn't woken Jacob with the noise. He had ordered a few beers earlier in the night, but certainly wasn't drunk; it was just dark in the room, and he hadn't known anything was in his path.

He put his hands down to see what was in his way – Jacob's suitcase. He pushed it to the side and went further into the room. Once he got in further, he noticed that Jacob's laptop was on his bed next to him, the screen very dim. Jacob was sound asleep next to it. Will quietly went over and shut the screen.

He went to the bathroom and then ambled over to the other bed, getting in. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he let out a sigh.

Man, that guy was an asshole , thinking of Mark, who he'd gone to the bar with. They had met up with some of Mark's artist friends at a pub, and it hadn't amounted to much. They were snobby, which Will had been shocked to find in Cleveland, of all places. He had thought that snobby artists were pretty much relegated to Los Angeles and New York.

But the worst part had come near the end of the night, after Mark and his friends had ordered rounds of shots for themselves. Will refused to take any shots, so Mark grabbed all of the shots they ordered for Will, and got incoherently drunk. When Will had gotten up to leave, Mark followed him out of the bar and had tried to make a pass at him.

Mark had smelled of alcohol and stale cigarettes, and he had attempted to grab Will's ass and pull him in for a kiss. Will had pushed him away and walked quickly back down the street, shouting, " Not interested!" as he walked away.

In bed now, Will winced at the memory. As if I would go for someone like that , he thought, grossed out. He lay in bed for a while, trying to get his mind off of what had happened. Soon after, he drifted to sleep.

The next morning Will woke up to the sound of the shower. Jacob was in the bathroom, getting ready for another day of driving. Will stretched his arms above his head, yawning as he woke up.

He got up and went to look out the window. The view was nothing special. It looked out onto a small side road, and some people were outside walking their dogs and running.

He heard the shower turn off, and a few minutes later Jacob came out, with his towel around his waist. Control yourself , Will said to himself, vowing not to stare.

"Hey! G'morning. I didn't wake you when I came in last night, right?" Will said.

Jacob didn't look up at him.

"Nope, slept through the night," he grunted, going over to his suitcase and getting clothes. "Got up this morning around 6 and went to the gym."

"Wow, that's dedication. I think I got back around 2:00 am or something. Those guys I met wanted to stay out doing shots but I wasn't feeling that, especially since we'll be driving today," Will said.

There was silence afterward, and Will looked out the window for a few more seconds.

"Ok, well I'm gonna go shower and then I guess we'll head out, yeah?"

Jacob gave a small mmhmm .

Guess he must still be tired , Will thought, shrugging it off.

He went to the bathroom, which was still warm and fogged up from Jacob's shower. He turned it on, and while waiting for the water to heat up, he got naked and looked down at his body, examining it. He compared his own chest to Jacob's, which he had just glimpsed. It definitely had far less bulk, but it had some definition, at least. He flexed his biceps, but they certainly looked nowhere near as impressive as Jacob's.

He got into the shower, thinking about today's drive. It wouldn't be too far, and they were headed for Chicago today. Will had never been there, but had always heard it was like New York City's little brother. And he knew a lot of people who thought it was even better than New York. He was excited. Maybe if they got there early enough, they could explore the city some.

He showered and then got out, toweling himself dry. Shit, I should have brought my clothes in here , he thought. But he was gonna have to walk out there in front of Jacob in his towel after all. Hope he doesn't think I look like some weakling. Here goes nothing , he thought.

He went out into the room and found Jacob on his bed, looking at his laptop. He stole a glance in his direction but didn't make eye contact. It seemed as if he wasn't looking up at him at all. Will grabbed some clothes and made his way to the bathroom to put them on, then headed back out into the room.

"Okay, I'm ready. Wanna go down and see if they have free food here? Or head out and see if we can find a diner?" Will asked.

"I think they have some bagels and muffins downstairs, we can just grab some and go," Jacob said. Will thought he really did seem like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe some food will cheer him up , Will hoped.

They went downstairs and found the bagels. They had cheap coffee as well, and when Will took a sip it was so sour he had to stop himself from spitting it back out. He chugged it just for the caffeine and tossed the cup. Jacob grabbed a bagel, and Will grabbed a jumbo muffin, and they ate quickly at a tiny table downstairs.

"Hey, you ok Jacob? You seem, I dunno, tired or something," Will said, trying not to pry too much.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine, just wanna get on the road," Jacob replied. Will thought he only must have looked up once during the whole morning.

Will decided to leave Jacob alone. Maybe the guy was just being moody. As long as he could drive the car, it was fine with Will.

They headed back upstairs, grabbed their bags, and went back down to check out of the hotel. They climbed into the car, again starting with Jacob driving first.

About two hours passed with total silence from Jacob. He didn't sing along like he had yesterday, didn't request any particular music, didn't comment on anything. Most of the road was the same the whole way, just swaths of green grass on either side of the car, and no real landmarks to speak of as they drove through northern Ohio.

Will decided to try to break the silence, because he was starting to get annoyed and a little worried.

"So, did you find any cheap hotels for tonight yet or do you want me to check out the app now?" Will said.

"I actually found one this morning. Seems similar to last night's, nothin' fancy." Jacob replied, staring out at the road ahead of him.

"Cool! That sounds great. When we get there I'll send you half of the money," Will offered.

Jacob said okay, then once again silence filled the car.

"So, what did you do last night after you got back? You get anything good for dinner?" Will asked. He was on a mission now, either to get Jacob in a better mood or find out what was up with him.

"Got a burger at a place nearby, came home and fell asleep. Nothin' special." Jacob paused for a few seconds. "What about you and… whats-his-name," he added, stealing a slight glance over at Will.

"Mark. Well, we went to a pretty cool bar, like an old pub, and met with his friends. They were alright, all artists. That guy who was waving that baton with fire that we saw was actually there," Will said. "But overall the night kinda sucked. They kept wanting to do more and more shots, and I just wasn't into it."

"Oh, gotcha," Jacob said. "So you just stayed at the bar the whole time?"

"Yup. Probably was a waste of time, but at least it was cool to see that pub," Will said.

There was another pause, and Jacob glanced over at Will again.

"So… you didn't hook up with that Mark guy?"

"What? Hook up with? God no. Although it certainly seemed like he wanted to," Will said, disgusted.

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, his voice low.

"Well he basically was all over me at the end of the night, but he was gross. I left right after."

"Oh, ok. Yeah, I definitely thought you went and hung out with him because you were… y'know, into him," Jacob said, hesitantly.

"Into him? Ugh, noooo, no, no. I mean, you met him, right? He was the most pretentious ‘I'm-an- arteest' type imaginable! I don't care how good your art is, no one can get away with acting like that. I wanted to go hang out with him because he said he had gallery representation, and I really need to figure out how to do that. Get my art shown in galleries, and stuff. I'm finally attempting to network, or whatever," Will said.

"Well, that's definitely a good thing. And… yeah, I didn't like him either," Jacob finally admitted.

Will laughed. "Yeah, who would?"

A tiny smile appeared on Jacob's face, the first one of the day.

"I just figured… you, coming back at 2am, stumbling over my suitcase… I thought you had come back from a hook-up. I'm sorry," Jacob said, sounding bashful.

"Not in the slightest. I'm not looking for hook-ups, anyway. I'm not really that kind of guy, despite what Maya thinks," Will said, shaking his head. "And hey! How'd you know I stumbled over your suitcase?"

"I… might have been pretending to be asleep," Jacob said, smiling.

"You asshole," Will said, smiling and giving him a playful slap on the shoulder. "You didn't have to do that."

Will was surprised that this was all it took to get Jacob in a good mood. Was that really all that had been bothering him? he thought, curious. Why would he care if I had a hook-up anyway?

He looked over at Jacob. He looked like he'd had a weight lifted from him. Will smiled to himself, looking out the window. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob. I am still figuring you out , he thought. But inside, he felt a tiny flutter. He didn't fully trust his own feelings when it came to Jacob, but it seemed like he hadn't wanted Will to be with another guy. And even if Will thought he was probably just imagining that, he was happy to think that maybe it could be true.