Spin

I try to drown out the noise, but the more our friends start getting up, the louder the room becomes. Showers start running, bags start getting zipped and unzipped in a seemingly endless cycle, and no one knows how to use their library voice. All I want to do is fall back asleep. I'm so comfortable. I think Gus and I ended up cuddling in the middle of the night because I woke up practically spooning him with barely an inch of space between us.

When it's evident that no one is going to be respectful and let us sleep in, I stretch my limbs and sit up, slightly peering over Gus's shoulder to check if he's awake yet.

Liv interrupts, though. "Aww, did you enjoy cuddling last night?" she teases.

I look over at her as she pins her hair up. "Hell yeah," I say, which makes her laugh. "He's the perfect spooning size for me, y'know?"

I hear Gus chuckle slightly, so now I know that he's awake. "Why don't you cuddle *me* like that?" Liv asks, readjusting her ponytail and giving me a playfully pouty look.

"You're the one who decided to sleep with Kyle," I point out, pointing towards her bed. Kyle's not there, so I'm guessing he's in the bathroom or something. "And to think, you missed out on all this," I add, gesturing towards my body with a grin.

She just rolls her eyes. "How unfortunate for me," she says sarcastically, quickly changing shirts.

"No need to be rude," I say before sliding out of bed, yawning. I stretch again and adjust myself in my underwear before starting to get dressed. As I'm putting my pants on, I glance at the bed and see that Gus has shifted onto his back and is watching me. "Morning," I say with a little smile.

He looks up at my eyes and blushes but says "Good morning" back to me.

"You gonna get up, or...?"

He bites his lip. "I, uh... need a minute," he says vaguely. I arch my brow, my eyes flickering towards his lower half, which is still hidden under the blanket. Morning wood, perhaps? I wonder if he's thinking about what happened under the covers last night. I sure as hell am.

It takes us all about a half-hour to get everyone up, dressed, and motivated to clean up around the suite in time for checkout. The clean-up itself takes a while since there are an excessive amount of shopping bags that the girls all mixed up when we got back to the hotel. But finally, just before it hits 11 AM, we all trudge our belongings down the hall to the elevator, quickly check out, and then part ways outside the hotel.

Bruce handles taking half of us home, so Gus, Liv, myself, and Bruce's girlfriend all pile into one car on the way back to the city. I do my best to try to engage in conversation with Bruce's new squeeze (I keep forgetting her name), but still, she seems hell-bent on not being familiar with any of us, scrolling aimlessly on her phone while she sits in the passenger seat. I even give Liv a look and she just shrugs in a "Just give up, Jackie" kind of way. At least I'm getting along with *one* of the newbies.

Since Liv is much smaller than either of us, she's sitting in the middle of Gus and myself, talking animatedly -- mostly to herself. Bruce is more focused on his music, his girlfriend isn't listening altogether. Gus is kind enough to respond with the occasional "Uh huh" and "Yeah, totally." Me, though? I'm too busy thinking about last night: Gus and I fooling around a bit, laughing when we realized kissing would be too loud, how his cock felt in my hand, how mine felt in his... It was fun, and it was hot, and I want to do it again -- and I have a sneaking suspicion that he might be thinking along the same lines.

We end up dropping Gus off first. After Bruce parks at the curb, Gus hops out of the car and heads to the trunk. Unsurprisingly, he struggles to open it. We can all hear it. Bruce just sighs, glancing at Gus in the rearview mirror before saying, "Jackie, go help him."

I don't really hesitate. I unbuckle my seatbelt and step outside, coming out to help Gus open the trunk. It always gets stuck, so it's not his fault. It's a matter of finesse, really. I have to jiggle the handle and then drive my knee into a particular spot for the trunk to pop open. "There."

He laughs. "Thanks," he says, reaching in to grab his one overnight bag.

I hold the trunk open while he gathers his stuff, biting my lip. "Hey, so... When am I seeing you again?"

He swings his bag over his shoulder, smiling slightly. "Um. Well I have no plans. You free right now?"

Fuck, that's so tempting. But I shouldn't. I'm already behind on research because I decided to go to the Outlets with everyone. "I really should get some work done," I say, shutting the trunk. "But... Maybe later?"

"Yeah," he says, looking at me. "Wanna come to the gym with me?"

"The gym?" I say, looking at him warily before laughing. "I mean, I guess."

"Or we could go to your rock climbing place," he suggests when he sees I'm not too keen on his idea. "They have machines, right?"

"Bunch of stuff with weights, yeah," I tell him.

"Perfect, because today's lifting day," he says.

I grin, looking him up and down for a brief second. "Guess I'll see ya later then?"

"Yeah," he says. Now it's awkward since both of us are clearly indecisive as to what we should do: shake hands, hug, or just part ways? I step forward a little, and he responds with a quick but close hug, and we smile at each other before he makes his way up to his apartment.

"You two seem to be getting along," Liv says quietly to me once I hop back into the car. She has that knowing smile on her lips.

"Yeah, he's cool," I say casually. One of her least favorite things about me is how "unreadable" I am, so I know she's trying hard to see if what she suspects is correct. But I don't give her anything. I don't need her being all "I didn't know you were into guys!" or trying to constantly check up on my relationship status. I prefer this to go at my own pace, without her knowing. If something happens, something happens. Then and only then will I let her in on it.

And honestly, something might happen. I realize this after getting back to my apartment and attempting to do research, but I can barely focus on it. All I'm thinking about is the prospect of seeing Gus later -- at the climbing gym, no less, with minimal clothing, working up a sweat... But soon, I manage to get into the proper headspace and make decent headway on a big presentation I have coming up tomorrow. I'm only interrupted a number of hours later by a text from none other than Gus himself:

he asks with a smiley face at the end.

I consider it. I've been working almost non-stop for about five hours, so I'm due for a break -- and no better way to relax than with a new friend.

~ ~ ~

When I arrive at Gus' place, sporting my athletic shorts and a tank, his little brother answers the door. He looks up at me wide-eyed before he recognizes me. "Hi Jackie," he says with a toothy smile. Seems one of his front teeth is missing.

"Hey Gabe," I say, squatting down and holding my fist out. He smiles slightly before bumping his fist against mine and giggling. "What happened to your tooth?"

"I lost it!" he says excitedly. "But listen--" He blows air out of his mouth and, with the force of it, it almost sounds like he's whistling. I can't help but laugh. "Isn't that cool?"

"Super cool," I say, smiling at him. He's a cute kid. He's shy, but he's opened up to me a bit the last few times I've been here. Gus has considered that a miracle considering Gabe can be debilitatingly shy at times. "Where's your brother?" I ask him.

"Right here," I hear Gus say, and he comes out of the kitchen smiling, looking me up and down. "Ready to go, I see."

I chuckle. "I take climbing very seriously," I say, holding up my bag. Inside is my water bottle, climbing shoes, and chalk. I take a brief moment to discreetly look him over. He's dressed similarly to me: short shorts that show off his incredibly thick thighs, a breezy short-sleeved shirt, and high-socks.

"Can't wait to see what you got," he says with a grin, grabbing his shoes and pulling them on quickly. Then, he turns to his little brother. "Tell Mom I'll be back before she has to go to work."

"Okay," he says, peering up at his big brother expectantly. "And then we'll watch Spiderman?"

Gus laughs. "Promise," he says, leaning down to kiss the top of the boy's head. "Behave yourself."

I fist-bump Gabe again before Gus grabs his gym bag and we take our leave. "He a fan of Spiderman?" I ask as we head down to the street.

"'Fan' doesn't cut it," he says with a chuckle. "He's obsessed."

"He has good taste," I say with a slight grin. As a kid, I wasn't a huge fan of superheroes, but Spiderman was always my exception.

"Takes after me," Gus says, smirking back at me before patting my back in an affectionate way. "Alright, big guy. Lead the way."

The rock climbing gym is not too far away, so the two of us walk the mile to the establishment. He asks me how my research is going, and when I get tired of talking about science, I ask him how the newspaper gig is holding up. It's sort of basic small-talk, but I think it's because neither of us are sure how to bring up last night's events. Realistically, I could just blurt it out without feeling awkward about it, but my blunt, no-nonsense attitude often gets me into trouble with people who don't vibe with that, and I want to be respectful of Gus and his process. I don't want to put him on the spot -- at least, not yet. If he doesn't say anything soon, though, I might just have to take charge.

The gym isn't as crowded as it usually is at this time of day, for which I'm grateful. Once we get Gus' paperwork signed and secure him a pair of climbing shoes, I show him around the gym. I'm pretty excited to bring him here. I have a few friends I climb with occasionally, but a lot of those friends are not super fit. They like to do it casually, but they don't go for the challenges. Gus will take risks, though. I'm sure of that.

We grab a cubby to put our belongings in before taking a seat on the nearby bench and putting our climbing shoes on. "Alright," he says once his climbing shoes are laced and tight. "Show me the ropes."

I laugh a bit, finishing up with my own shoes before grabbing the chalk from my bag. "We're gonna need this," I say, gesturing for him to follow through the maze of climbs. There are dozens of walls to choose from, each with different inclines and an assortment of colored handles. You're supposed to choose one color on the wall, and you can only use those handles to reach the top. Colors represent a climb's level of difficulty, so when I bring him to a flat wall that has green, yellow, black, and blue handles, I show him that the yellow route represents the easiest climb and the black route poses a more serious challenge.

"Can you do the harder route?" Gus asks me.

"I can do almost all of them," I tell him. "A few elude me, though."

"Like?"

"Here," I say, gesturing for him to follow. I lead him towards the back, where the wall goes up at a ninety-degree angle before jutting out even more, becoming almost parallel to the floor. To make matters worse, the route has handles that are very far apart -- and at one point, when I'm practically hanging upside down, I have to jump to make it to the next handle. I've never been successful.

"That looks... impossible," Gus says.

"It's wild," I say with a laugh. When I look back at Gus, he's smiling at me. "What?"

"Try it," he says.

I arch my eyebrow. "You want to see me embarrass myself?"

"Kinda," he says with a chuckle. "C'mon. Try it. Lemme see what you're made of."

I sigh through my nose before shrugging. Why not? Then I can show him just how impossible this climb is. I get some chalk on my hands, clap them together, take a deep breath, and then begin the ascent. Aside from a bit of tricky footing at the beginning, the initial half of the climb is a cinch. Even the first few handles on the incline can be done without thinking -- but once I get to the spot where I always get stuck, I hold position for a bit, fighting my tired muscles and the urge to make a precise calculation. I'm also aware that I probably look crazy with my legs splayed the way they are. Honestly, my dick would be hanging out if I wasn't wearing a jockstrap right now. A jock is kind of essential for the crazy climbs that I do. Regular underwear is too restrictive, but no underwear would risk me getting on the sex offender registry.

"You got this, Jackie," I hear Gus say.

Every muscle in my body is alert right now, and I look at the handle I have to leap to with narrowed eyes. It's now or never. I can't hold on like this for much longer. Taking a deep breath, I press my foot into one of the holdings and vault myself across, reaching hard for the next hold. My fingertips grab the flat part of the handle -- but it's not enough to secure my weight. I slip, falling to the padded floor. I land partially on my feet but fall back on my ass, grunting.

"Goddamn!" Gus says, laughing a bit. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I say, catching my breath and looking up at him with a slight laugh. "Told you it was hard."

"That was really fucking impressive, though," he says, offering his hand. I grab it, and he pulls me to my feet. "I definitely wouldn't have been able to do that."

"You've got the muscles for it," I say, patting his bicep.

He just laughs. "Yeah, but you're way more limber than I am," he says, looking me up and down. "You looked really good up there, man. Seriously, super impressed."

I grin, resisting the urge to tease him about saying I looked good. "Wanna try one?" I ask.

"Make it an easy one," he says with a laugh, looking warily at the walls.

We spend upwards of an hour trying out different climbs. I walk Gus through the simpler ones, and once he gets the hang of things, he's eager to try out some of the more difficult climbs -- and I'm quite happy to watch. Gus has an annoyingly impressive ass, and it looks more pronounced when he climbs. Those little shorts hug each cheek like a second skin when he stretches his legs to reach a foothold.

But what impresses me most is his strength. There's a climb in the corner of the gym that's less of a climb and more a test of power. It's just a wall of wooden slats a few inches apart. Here, you can only use your four fingers to climb to the top -- no feet and no thumbs. Even though I have pretty solid upper body strength, I can't do this climb for shit. It takes a ton of effort, but Gus manages to make it to the top.

"Jesus Christ, dude," I say when he hops down and catches his breath. "You're fucking strong."

"Thanks," he says, out of breath but smiling.

"*That* was impressive," I say before eyeing him up and down and grinning. "Nice jockstrap, by the way," I add. I didn't even know he was wearing one, but the waistband is now completely visible. I reach down and give it a playful snap.

He laughs, swatting my hand away. "Could say the same about you."

I raise my eyebrow, smirking. Oh, so he noticed? Was he eyeing me the way I've been eyeing him?

Before I can ask, though, I hear someone behind me calling my name. When I turn, I see two of my fellow grad friends. I've climbed with this pair of brothers before, so it's a pleasant surprise to see them. "Well well well," I say with a grin, hugging them both individually. "Dr. Kavo let you out of the cage?"

"Temporarily," Justin says, and Luther, the spindly version of his jock-nerd older brother, chuckles behind him. "You been here long?"

"Yeah, with my buddy, Gus," I say, gesturing to Gus, who gives the brothers a wave. I go through the quick introductions before adding, "We've been here a while, though. Might head out soon."

"That's cool," Justin says. "We only swung by for a little before the party." Then, he eyes me curiously. "You're coming, right?"

Fuck. I had completely forgotten about that party. "Uhh... Honestly, I totally spaced on that," I say with a laugh. "I'm kinda hanging out with Gus."

"Well, he can come too!" Justin says, smiling in Gus' direction. "You know Isaac's obsessed with you. He'll be upset if you don't go."

"Yeah, I know," I say, scratching the back of my head. Isaac's a funny, extremely intelligent autistic kid in the program who's taken quite a liking to me. He's very sweet, and I would normally attend his party with no problem -- but I'm so desperate to continue spending time with Gus that I'm willing to ditch all my promises.

Justin just shrugs. "Well, hope to see you there, man. Catch you soon?"

"Totally, bro," I say, giving both Justin and Luther another quick hug before letting them do their climbs. Then, I turn back to Gus.

"You didn't seem too keen on this party," he says, sounding amused.

"It's just a fellow grad students' party," I tell him. "Mostly just a bunch of socially awkward scientists, so... I can't exactly guarantee that it'll be fun."

"He seemed pretty cool," Gus said, pointing towards Justin.

"Yeah, but he's an outlier," I say with a laugh. "Chemistry students are super hit-or-miss." I really should make an appearance, though. "If you don't want to go, I understand. But... I should at least show-up."

He shrugs but nods in the affirmative. "Could be fun to tag along."

I smile, happy this night isn't over. "Sweet."

~ ~ ~

It's not as awkward as I expected it to be. The music is a little loud, every single light is on, and the food consists solely of pretzels and vodka; however, everyone has a genuine smile on their faces, and Isaac looks like he couldn't be happier being surrounded by all his friends. After Gus and I walk in, I head straight over to Isaac to wish him a happy birthday, and he couldn't be more grateful -- and of course, that warms my heart to the fullest.

"That was sweet," Gus says, smiling when we step away from Isaac to let him mingle with the rest of the attendees.

"Shut up," I say with a grin.

For a while, I introduce Gus to a few of my peers (at least the ones that I like, plus a few that butt in), but I spare him as much interaction as possible. The thing about hard scientists is that, for all their smarts, some have very little social skills, and most of our conversations end up with uncomfortably dead air. Luckily, Gus is friendly and a good sport so he doesn't complain about those who butt in.

The first half-hour of our arrival is spent standing more or less standing around in the living room. This large apartment houses a handful of grad students who are all doing some sort of chemistry. When someone suggests we all do something, the first proposal is something as simple as chugging beer. They pick the nerdiest looking dude and pit him against an attractive older girl I've met a few times. Simultaneously, they chug tall boys and everyone cheers the guy on, expecting him to win -- and of course, he loses spectacularly, and I smile at the sight of the girl claiming her victory against every male's dismay. Gus and I find this very undergrad, though. Chugging beers is fun when you're in high school, and maybe even at the beginning of college, but who enjoys doing this anymore?

Then, that same girl that I was rooting for offers up another idea after grabbing a bottle. "We should play Spin the Bottle!"

Gus and I look at each other and burst out laughing. "Wow," I say.

"That's ironic," he says, and it is. Our second party together, and someone suggests this dumb game again.

Just when I'm thinking about how it wouldn't be so bad to kiss him again, I hear my name being called. "Jackie! It's you!" I turn my head towards the voice and find myself looking at Elayna, an exceptionally short girl who's studying organic chemistry alongside me. "I thought I recognized that laugh," she says with a giggle of her own, touching my arm.

"How's it going?" I ask with a smile.