The ride is silent. I don't speak because I don't want to bother Tweek further and Tweek just doesn't ever say anything. I feel bad about what happened because I get where he's coming from. I couldn't imagine if someone had caught onto me before I was ready to tell them. Lying even though you both know the truth. I guess Tweek isn't lying by not telling his parents but, that's why I have to tell the guys. I wouldn't know what to say if it was just brought to me by one of them.
Instead of talking, Tweek messes with the radio, stares out the window, fights to not fall asleep, and I even catch him staring at me a few times. I don't know if he even realized he was doing it but I thought it was cute.
It's a while before we make it to the next town over. I ask Tweek where he wants to eat and he makes me choose. I pick a small diner. The least crowded one in the area, which is difficult on a Saturday morning. And as we're being seated, Tweek requests a table outside. I don't object. There's no one else out here and it's a nice day. Tweek orders orange juice, I get water, and the waitress heads back inside.
"You have to tell me what happened last night," I say. "Especially since you said it was so horrible."
Tweek doesn't look up from the menu. "I pretty much told you everything."
Huh? "You haven't told me anything!"
"You got drunk, told Kenny about us, started kissing me and wouldn't stop-"
Wait, wait- "I told Kenny about us?"
"Something like that." When I make a face, he says, "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Then, I drove us back to my place," he says and then his eyes narrow. The menu covers the majority of his face now.
"What? Then I pushed you down?" Even if it's hard to hear, I need to know what I did at least. I'll apologize and promise-
"It wasn't bad," he admits. "Honestly, minus you being belligerent, it was probably the best sex we've had," he says, bluntly. The menu covers his entire face now. "But what if I really wanted to stop, is what I was thinking…"
"That's why I wanted a safe word."
"We never picked one though." The menu comes down.
"Let's pick it now then," I say. He averts his eyes. He doesn't say anything so I offer, "Stethoscope."
This makes him perk up. "Ew, what?"
I laugh. "Exactly. Can't be sexy saying stethoscope. It'd kill the mood."
"I don't know. Sounds stupid," he says. "What about salt?"
I shrug. I won't argue that salt sounds stupid because I'm mature. "Pterodactyl."
He glares, "Be serious."
I was. Imagine someone saying Pterodactyl right in the middle of boning. "Why are we going back and forth? I don't care what the word is. Just pick one."
"We have to pick it together, asshole."
"Then let's just pick salt."
"You're such a douchebag."
"It's not like it's supposed to be good," I say. "What about red? I saw that in a movie."
Tweek starts laughing instead. "I can't believe you watched that shit!"
He's talking about 50 Shades. "Yeah, well you watched it too or you wouldn't know what I was talking about!" I shoot back.
"I don't know," he says. "I would think about the movie so it would definitely kill my vibe but I don't wanna just steal it from a book."
"It shouldn't be this hard. Something to take me out of the mood." Something that means stop… Tweek gasps. "What?"
"Time out," he says.
This time I burst with laughter. I'm so caught off guard. "Is that supposed to be some kind of pun?!" It's funny because it's so perfect. It's so perfect that it's lame. And Tweek never does anything lame ever! Was he thinking about this? "There's no way you came up with that just now." He blushes and I can't stop laughing. Tweek looking cute and embarrassed isn't helping either. When I do manage to stop, and wipe the tears from my eyes I say, "It's good. We should keep that one." Somehow this just embarrasses him more and he hides his face with his menu again.
The waitress comes with our drinks and takes our order. I get something with ham, bacon, and sausage and Tweek gets the left half of the menu. Not really but as he went one, that's what it felt like. I doubt he'll actually be able to finish everything but if this is how he wants to be even, he can get whatever he wants.
When she's gone and it's quiet again I say, "I thought you liked it rough, but you don't want me to manhandle you?"
"Augh," Tweek sips his orange juice. "What are we fucking talking about?"
"What? Shouldn't we talk about it?"
Tweek looks contemplative. "We shouldn't," he decides.
"That's bullshit, Tweek. I can't ever tell what you're thinking. And then, the things you say, are always opposite of what you do," I tell him. "If you act like that how am I supposed to know what you really want?" He looks apprehensive. "You know I'm right."
"Fine," he says, begrudgingly.
"It's not embarrassing," I say. "We already do stuff anyways. Why is this different?"
"Saying it to your face," he says. "What we're doing is fine so why do we have to talk about it?"
"You just said you liked last night, but I don't even remember what happened," I tell him. "If I was rougher, well, you tell me to not be rough. How do I work with that?"
With no menu to hide behind anymore, Tweek's pretty red. "I already said yeah, so ask your stupid questions."
"Hm…" I think. "What are your turn-on's?"
He groans. "This is st- stupid."
"Fine, I'll go first," I offer. "I think this one's pretty easy. It's what we do the most. Hair pulling, kissing my neck, and when you dig your nails into my back hard when I'm-"
"Shut up," he stops me. "I don't know…" he starts. "Biting. Being bitten... Especially on the chest. A-"
"On the chest or your nipples?" He flushes and struggles to respond at all. "Sorry. Keep going."
"And, I don't know. I like it when you're rough. But, that's obvious. I t- told you, do whatever you want…" He averts his eyes.
"Are you into dom stuff?"
Tweek flushes again and covers his face with his hands. "I don't know. Maybe. Yes? I don't want to talk about this anymore."
"What are you into?"
"I hate you. You're so stupid," he starts berating. "I shouldn't have said anything."
"I'm not making fun of you!" I promise. It probably doesn't help that I'm laughing though. "I'm interested too."
"You can't take anything seriously."
"I'm not joking. I'm pretty open to anything." Tweek keeps his face covered so I continue. "Here, I'll help you. Being tied up is pretty popular," I start. He looks at me like he can't believe what I'm saying. "Blindfolded," I list off. "When your hands were around my throat earlier, that was hot."
"Stop," he says. "Stop. You're being too loud."
"Spanking," I say. His brow twitches. Mine raise. "Is that it? Spanking's your kink?"
"Why are you doing this? You said this was to make it up to me and you're being a dick right now!"
"Don't run away. I can do whatever you want me to."
"Agh! That's the problem! You'll actually do it!"
"You don't want me to?"
"No!" He hides more.
"Okay," I sit back. "Then, I won't."
"…You fucking liar. I'm not stupid," he says. "If you try to do it, Craig, I- I'll fight you." Wouldn't that just turn us both on even more? I chuckle. "You're such an asshole." He's so flustered. How can I not tease him when it's so easy? Has it always been this easy?
The waitress comes back with our food. She sets everything down and refills our drinks before leaving. Tweek starts chowing down and I ask, "Have you ever wanted to top?"
Tweek glares. "Fuck off," he says with a mouthful of food. I'm not sure what that means or how my question offended him. Maybe he thinks I'm not being serious. "Can we please change the subject?"
"Sure," I say. I was but I won't argue with him. I start into my food. ""So what's with that money under your bed?"
"What the fuck?!" Tweek drops his fork. "You're so annoying lately. I told you not to go through my shit," he starts aggressive but ends weakly, rubbing his forehead.
"Are you surprised?" I ask. "What's it from? Why's your room so empty?"
Tweek looks offended again. "It's from working in my parents shop my whole life," he explains. He eats. "And my room's not empty, it's clean. I don't have a lot of stuff because I don't need a lot of stuff and… most of it is packed," he says. "Except what I need to go to school and stuff- But mind your fucking business."
"It makes sense why you don't care about where you're going now," I say. "You could go anywhere."
Tweek looks pissed off. I thought I could play off going through his stuff with humor. I just had to know about that money but I think I made him angrier than when we got here. "I didn't mean to but my foot hit it and I thought it was gonna be something embarrassing."
"Shut up," he says. "I don't want to talk for the rest of the day." Okay, smooth, Craig.
I laugh but Tweek doesn't laugh. He stops talking. We finish eating in silence and he orders a pie to go. He ate it all...
"I know I said it before but I'm sorry," I say after we've been driving for a while. "About everything. Going through your stuff, your parents, Kenny, and staying over last night… It really wasn't okay. I'm sorry if I bothered you."
Tweek sighs, looking out the window. "Whatever," he says, lifting his to go bag as if to say we're even.
"But," I say. "If your parents already know and are telling you it's fine as much as they can without coming out for you… it would be worth telling them, at least. Don't you think?"
"If they want to act like they already know, what's the point?" he says bitterly. I was worried he'd shut me down right away again.
"I think it's important," I tell him. I always thought it was important but that doesn't mean it's not scary. All I'm saying is, Tweek doesn't have that uncertainty. His parents basically already know and I can tell they'd treat him the same whether or not he says it outright. "They can't assume anything, really. They're just waiting for you to be ready."
"Ready for what?" his brow furrows and he turns away. "I don't care. It's not something I need to tell them anyways. It's none of their business. And it's none of your business either," he adds. "Our situations are completely different, Craig. I don't need to do it just because you did."
He's right. We drive back. Tweek falls asleep and I'm not surprised because he stuffed his face and we woke up so early. He's awake again by the time we pull up to his house and hops out of my truck. "Thanks," is all he says before leaving.
