Obsession

Caleb

“You’ve been doing this for two years?” Thomas sighed as he popped the top off the bottle of beer. “Long distance relationship for two years? How the fuck have you and Jenson managed it?”

He sighed once more and leaned against the kitchen counter, hugging the bottle to his chest. His mouth was pulled down in a sad smile and his eyes seemed a little glossy … like he was fighting back tears. 

Yeah. 

I knew how that felt. 

“Sucks, doesn’t it?” I propped against the counter next to him, taking a sip from my own beer. “Being thousands of miles away from your man.”

Thomas hummed, his eyes focused on a blank spot across the kitchen, but I was sure his mind was back in the summer, the times he’d spoken to Adam on the phone, the messages, the video calls. Or even thinking about the time they’d spent together over spring break, although that was a few months ago now.

I knew Thomas had already invested his heart in this relationship with Adam and it had really bothered him that Adam had spent his summer at home, and the two of them hadn’t seen each other since spring break. 

“Will you see Adam over Thanksgiving?” I watched as Thomas sighed again, his shoulders slumping a little. 

Jenson had told me that Adam spent some of the holidays at college, and didn't go back home unlike most students. Maybe Thanksgiving was one of those holidays where he stayed away from his hometown. 

“I’m not sure. I’ll ask him,” Thomas mumbled, then his wide dark eyes were on me. “Do you think he feels the same way about me that I do about him?” He shrugged. “Or do you think it's all one-sided?”

Wrapping an arm around his shoulder, I knocked my head against his. “What makes you think that he isn’t into you? Is it because you didn’t see him over the summer?”

Thomas looked off to the side, shrugging again, his ears red. 

“You know that Adam has a complicated home life. Maybe he couldn’t get out of going home for the summer break.” I squeezed his shoulder. “But we all saw the two of you over spring break. And how mushy you were.” I grinned. “There’s no way he doesn’t feel something for you.”

Thomas managed a small smile. “Thanks.”

It was true, though. Not only did the two of them rarely leave Thomas’s room the whole week of spring break, whenever they did venture out, they could hardly keep their eyes, and hands, off of each other. I was sure I saw little hearts swimming around their heads. 

I nudged Thomas’s arm. “Why not call him?” I glanced at the clock on the opposite wall of the kitchen. “Both Jenson and Adam should be back in California by now. In fact …” I reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone. “I was just about to call Jenson myself.” I wriggled my eyebrows as I scrolled through the contacts on my phone, my heart leaping happily in my chest at the thought of hearing Jenson’s voice. 

Pushing off the counter, Thomas took a sip of his beer. “How’s Jenson’s dad doing?” 

I stopped at Jenson’s name and sighed. After his collapse at home, Neil had been rushed into hospital, where the doctors had carried out test after test on him. The heart monitors that they’d hooked him up to hadn’t detected anything, while it seemed his blood samples gave no indication of what else it could be. So they put it down to stress. 

Tearing my gaze from my phone, I looked at Thomas. “He’s doing better. Still off work, though. The doctors wanted him to stay at home for a couple more weeks. He’s got to go for a couple more checks and, if they come back clear, they’ll look at signing a fit for work certificate or whatever the hell it’s called.” I shrugged. “The main thing is that he’s okay. Heat, stress … it was all too much for him.”