Nick quickly came to the conclusion that Jeff was avoiding him the next day. Every time Nick tried to approach him, he found some excuse to run off.
It was almost like a game of cat and mouse, in a pretty literal sense. And Nick was getting tired of it. There was no hope of understanding any of this if Jeff refused to talk about it.
He formulated a little plan. Jeff refused to sit down and talk about it, so Nick would just have to make him. He knew the perfect place, too, where Jeff had no choice but to attend.
Detention. Even if he didn't talk to Nick, it was worth a shot. He had to be there today after school, whether he wanted to or not. So all Nick had to do was get a detention.
Easy enough. Nick just decided to ditch his next class, which was calculus. That would surely get him in some trouble. He made sure that he was caught wandering the corridors by a teacher, who very promptly wrote him up a detention slip.
"I can serve that today, actually," he told the professor, peering over at the slip at he wrote it. "I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow after school."
"The sooner the better," he mumbled. "What were you thinking, skipping class? I thought you were supposed to be one of the good kids!"
"Sorry," Nick said. "I didn't study for my calculus test today, so I decided to ditch…" That wasn't really a lie. There had been a test in calc today, and he would have definitely bombed it. That was mostly because he really sucked at math, though, not through lack of studying.
"That's no excuse to skip a class! And it's your own fault for not preparing yourself. I have half a mind to go to your calculus teacher and tell him to give you a zero on that test!"
Nick winced. He didn't need a killer blow to his already slipping calculus grade. He was barely maintaining a C+ in there. "N-no, it won't happen again, sir. I promise," Nick protested.
He narrowed his eyes at Nick before tearing out the detention slip and handing it to him. "Report to room 207 today after school. Your detention is an hour long. If you don't show up, then you'll be suspended."
Yikes! "I'll be there," he assured. I just hope Jeff shows up like he's supposed to, as well…
…
Jeff walked into room 207, handing his detention slip to Professor Wright, the teacher who was in charge of most after school detentions. He took a seat in the empty room and looked at the wall clock. He had forty minutes to serve today, and it would most likely be all by his lonesome. No one at Dalton ever seemed to get in trouble, and it was on very few occasions that a detention slip was even issued.
Well, he was wrong. The second—and probably last—attendee entered the room, handing his detention slip to Professor Wright as Jeff had. Prof. Wright blinked in surprise. "Nick? Well, this is a first…"
Nick smiled innocently. "Hello, Professor Wright…" he greeted sheepishly.
Prof. Wright shook his head as he read Nick's detention slip. "Alright, well…take a seat. I think you're the last."
Nick nodded politely and took a seat at the opposite end of the room as Jeff, carefully strapping his bag to the back of the chair.
"I expect you two will sit here quietly and behave…I'll be back in forty minutes to release you, Jeff." With that, Professor Wright left the room, locking the door from the outside.
That was how detention worked at Dalton. You show up, and you get locked in a room for however long you need to serve. He didn't assume that Nick had ever gotten a detention before, but Jeff had been here a few times now. You could say he wasn't exactly a model Dalton student…
Why was Nick here, anyway? He was a goody two-shoes and the teacher's pet. Everyone loved him because he was quiet and obedient, never stepping out of line and never giving trouble to any of the professors. How in the world did he get a detention?
"You only got forty minutes?" Nick commented casually. "Lucky you. I've got an hour. But I guess skipping a class is quite a bit worse than coming into school late…"
"You ditched class?" Jeff said incredulously.
"Calculus," Nick informed him. He stood from his seat and moved across the room to take a seat by Jeff. "I figured this would be the only place where you couldn't avoid me." He sent an accusing glare at his friend.
Jeff frowned and sunk down in his chair. And he'd been doing such a great job avoiding him, too. Although he wasn't too surprised that he'd been outsmarted. Nick was sharp and clever when it came to just about anything. If he'd wanted to force Jeff to talk, it was only a matter of time before he got what he wanted.
"You can't just hide from me now," Nick went on. "What's done is done, but I think I deserve an explanation."
But I don't know if I can give you one, Jeff thought. He wasn't ready to tell the truth.
"And I'm not angry or upset. I'm just really confused," Nick assured. "Say something, please."
Jeff was silent for another moment. "…What do you want me to say?" he asked. This is beyond awkward and uncomfortable for me!
"Well, I'm pretty sure you kissed me at Breadstix…" Nick reminded him. "Can you explain that?"
Jeff stared at the desktop, blinking slowly.
After a long minute of silence, Nick spoke again. "You can't just pretend it didn't happen, whether you want to or not," he said. "…It happened, Jeff, and I won't be able to focus on anything until you talk with me about it. Please." He leaned over to make eye contact with Jeff. "I won't judge you. You know that."
Jeff flinched at the sincerity in Nick's green eyes. "I know that. That's…not what I'm afraid of…"
"Afraid of?" Nick echoed. "Then what is it you're afraid of?"
Rejection, maybe? Or ruining our friendship? Or having to come out as bi? And not being accepted for it? There's too many to name. And I'd rather not talk about it. Call it my 'foolish male pride' or whatever you want, but I just can't share my fears out loud. Not even with you.
He shook his head. "Nothing."
Nick sighed in exasperation. "This is going nowhere, Jeff. Talk to me, please. I can't rest at all until you do."
Jeff bit his lip and hesitated. He really didn't want to, but he knew he had to…better now than later, right…? He sighed uneasily and kept his eyes fixed on the desk, averting eye contact with Nick.
"Um…I've, er…I've been really confused these past few weeks…" he began quietly. "When you and Lewis got together, I realized I was jealous…Of him… …It's why I always acted like such a jerk when it came to him or your relationship with him." His palms were getting sweaty and his heart was pounding. Still, he didn't look at Nick and he drew in a deep breath. "I talked with Blaine about it and he helped me realize…that I'm…I mean, I think… that I might be…bi." He barely whispered the last word.
"You 'might be'?" Nick echoed quietly. "You mean you're not sure…?"
Jeff looked at Nick finally. His eyes were filled with nothing but compassion and understanding, and maybe even a shred of empathy. "I wasn't sure. Not at first," Jeff said. "After I kissed you, though…All my doubts went away. I know that I'm bi."
"So…is that why you kissed me?" Nick asked.
"No," Jeff admitted. "After you told me about your, erm, your scars…All I could think about was how you could have died and I would have never gotten the chance to…to do that. To kiss you…"
Nick exhaled one long breath. "Oh."
Jeff glanced at him through the tops of his eyes. "It was just a stupid impulse. I shouldn't have done it. I wasn't thinking."
"What did it mean to you?" Nick asked. "The kiss."
What did it mean…? "I don't know," Jeff mumbled. "All I know is that I…I want to be with you. I've never felt this way about anyone before, and when I'm with you, I can't focus on anything else…I want nothing more than to hear you laugh and see you smile because when you do, it's like your whole face lights up and…and I can't stand to see your beautiful green eyes cry. It sounds clichéd, but it's like…when you hurt, so do I." He rambled on without any train of thought whatsoever. Once he started talking, there was no stopping him. "I've been so distracted lately by everything with Lewis…I hated seeing you two together because I wanted nothing more to just take his place. And when he broke your heart, I wanted to punch him. He had everything that I could possibly want and he didn't even care…But I was too afraid to tell you. I didn't want to ruin our friendship, if you didn't feel the same. I guess I threw the secret out the window when I kissed you, though…I wanted to do that for so long, to taste your lips…and they tasted sweet, like that sparkling grape juice you love so much mixed with citrus…" He trailed away for a moment. "I-I'm sorry for that, by the way…I shouldn't have kissed you. It was out of line and inappropriate and you probably didn't—" He was cut off abruptly when Nick leaned over, meeting his lips to Jeff's in yet another unexpected kiss.
Jeff widened his eyes in surprise but didn't hesitate kissing Nick back passionately, raising a hand to caress the back of his neck, fingers tangling slightly in his somewhat messy dark brown hair. He tasted the newly familiar sweet taste of Nick's mouth against his own and he closed his eyes to savor it.
This kiss lasted longer than the one before, but it still felt like it ended too soon. When they broke apart, Nick lingered close to Jeff's mouth, smiling faintly. "You taste like…a mixture of coffee and mint," he whispered before drawing back.
Jeff blinked with dumb confusion. Nick had just kissed him…right? He looked at Nick questioningly. "Wait. Does that mean that you…you feel the same…?"
Nick smiled. "Yeah…I wasn't really certain until you started talking, though," he confirmed. His smile widened into a teasing grin. "But then you wouldn't stop! I figured I should do something to shut you up." His green eyes were shining.
Jeff laughed quietly. "Well…it worked."
"Seriously, though. I never imagined you felt that way about me…No one has ever said things like that about me," he murmured more seriously. "And to hear it from you…it's such a wonderfully unexpected surprise."
Jeff chuckled. "I probably made myself sound like the biggest idiot ever just then…"
Nick smiled a little shyly. "No…it was…cute," he murmured. "I never thought one of your notorious little rambles would make me blush like that, though…"
"No way. I missed it," Jeff complained. "But, of course, I was a little preoccupied with mindlessly pouring my heart out…"
He'd never imagined that this could happen. He never once pictured a happy ending. He'd been prepared for rejection, heartbreak, a broken relationship, a destroyed friendship…And he'd been so terrified of those things that he'd actually gone into hiding, avoiding Nick and completely blowing off their meeting at the library. This unexpected twist was so incredibly relieving that his heart actually felt lighter. Every doubt and fear seemed to have vanished.
He looked at Nick. "Can I kiss you again?"
Nick smiled slightly. "Do you even have to ask?"
Jeff grinned as he leaned over to kiss Nick again, fighting the smile as their lips touched. He closed his eyes and melted into it. He knew that this was everything he had ever wanted. He finally had Nick. Nothing could compare to that.