Tales from Kansas 02 - Stuck in Oz by Andrew Grey

Author:Andrew Grey [Grey, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-05-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

JEREMY COULDN’T sleep. Or, more correctly, he’d dozed off and dreamed of Nate. He woke, unsure if he’d actually been asleep, and listened to the quiet in the house. Once he heard the floor squeak outside his room and thought—hoped—it was Nate. He’d even sat up and listened, but when he heard no more, he lay back down.

Eventually he got up and went across the hall to the bathroom before telling himself he was thirsty and needed a glass of juice. Of course, water would have been just as good, but there was juice in the kitchen, and to get it he needed to pass near the living room. He knew exactly what he was doing, but he didn’t let himself dwell on it. After leaving the bathroom, he tiptoed through the house and out to the kitchen. He paused at the end of the hall. Nate was curled up under the blankets, eyes closed, not moving. Jeremy continued through and into the kitchen where he got his juice, drank it, then slowly walked back the way he came.

“Are you okay?” Nate asked as Jeremy was about to walk down the hall.

“I was just thirsty,” Jeremy said but didn’t take another step.

“Couldn’t you sleep?”

“No,” he whispered, shifting from foot to foot in his pajamas.

“Me neither.”

“Why?” Jeremy asked, his heart pounding so loud he was surprised it didn’t wake Milt and Petey. He wondered if he should step forward or go back to his room, but ended up riveted to the spot.

“I was thinking about stuff… about you,” Nate told him.

Jeremy saw Nate sit up, the blanket sliding down his bare chest. He looked at Nate and then down at himself—his scrawny, thin self. That realization alone almost made him turn around and run like a scared rabbit back to his room. But then Nate did something Jeremy didn’t expect: he held out his hand. Jeremy stepped forward and soon he was standing next to the sofa. Nate took his hand and Jeremy joined him on the sofa. Nate encircled him in his arms.

Jeremy would like to have been able to say that as soon as Nate held him, everything came into focus and he relaxed as they lay down together and fell into a happy sleep. Instead, he stared at the ceiling, too excited to close his eyes. Nate was holding him, and he could feel Nate’s heat through the thin fabric of his cotton pajamas. A few times, he thought he might have felt something hard pressing against him, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to think about that, even if his own pajamas were a little tight down there.

“Jeremy, are you okay?” Nate breathed into his ear.

“Yes,” he answered and stilled for a few seconds before slowly rolling over. “I….”

“It’s okay,” Nate told him, hugging him close. Jeremy felt Nate kiss his hair. “We can’t do anything here but sleep. So close your eyes and rest.”

“The only person I’ve ever slept with is Petey.”

“I bet he left you more room than we have here,” Nate said with a smile in his voice.

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