Easter James

A/N: Sorry this has taken a while, but in the grand scheme of me updating things it's pretty soon. I wanted to finish this whole story by Easter. But well, I'm not so sure about that since I've barely written anything in the past couple of weeks. We'll see how that goes.

Chapter 3: Holy Tuesday

At breakfast the next morning I get the chance to quiz James about his date.

"So what's his name?"

James looks up from his toast curiously. "Whose name?"

I huff. "Your date."

"Oh," he responds in comprehension. "Why are you asking?"

"You're my friend. Aren't I allowed to be interested?"

"You didn't seem particularly interested yesterday."

He seems to be accusing me of something. "Well, I'm over it. I guess I'm just jealous? I haven't had a date since we've been here."

I see his eyes flash as he processes that statement. "That's true," he nods. "Weird. You used to go out all the time."

What's the point in dating if you already know who you want to spend the rest of your life with? I make a non-committal noise in response.

"Are you going to tell me his name or not?" I finally ask.

"Oh," James smiles. I wish it was me putting that smile on his face. "Russell."

"Russell?" I repeat.

"Don't make fun of his name, Stets," he reprimands. "He'd probably make fun of yours."

I frown. "Can't you see I'm trying?"

"Sorry," James says.

"I mean, you always used to listen whenever I had dates. I'm trying to do the same thing."

He smiles at me. "That's nice of you."

Nice. Sure. We'll go with that. "So?" I probe. "I need details, man."

Laughing, James launches into a description of his date. Where it is (a bar on George St), when it is (8pm), what they'd be doing(after dinner drinks and trivia). Who, why and how, I thought I already had a pretty good grasp of.

We head off to uni together that day, since our first lecture was the only class that we shared: first year maths.

x X X x

After my second class of the day, and just after I was about to get lunch, an idea hit me. Like, a serious light bulb moment. Quickly, I grab my book and chase after Sarah Parker, my lab partner, and the only girl I knew in the class.

"Sarah!" I call after her.

"Hey Stetson, what's up?" she asks, as she stops and turns to face me.

Here goes nothing. "Not much at the moment. Which is why I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight."

"Me? I might start on that history essay."

"The one for HIST1001? That's not due 'til after break."

"Well," she said. "Some of us need the time to check all the good books out of the library."

"Some of us will make do with the ones in special reserve."

"Are you asking me out?" she asks bluntly, with a sweet grin.

"Well, yes," I state. Sort of.

"Strange. I thought I'd mentioned to you that I have a boyfriend."

I think I would have remembered something like that, but agree with her anyway. "That's right." I nervously try to get her to go along with my plan anyway… which of course means explaining it. "That's okay. I don't need a proper date. It's probably better that you know it's not."

"What? Do you want to make a girl jealous or something?" she teases.

"No," I shake my head. Though I should have thought of that… not that the two girls I'd been with on Sunday night seem to have made him jealous.

"So what's up? Need to lie to your parents?"

"My parents couldn't care less what I do. I haven't even spoken to them in like two months." But before she could get any pity in the way, I continued. "You know James, right?"

"Yeah," she nods. "Well, we haven't met, but he's like the only person you've ever mentioned to me."

Seriously? How embarrassing… even though it's true that I don't really have any friends besides him. "Well, he has this date tonight, and I'm not sure the guy he's with is right for him."

Sarah gives me a sceptical look. "James is a big boy. I'm sure he can look after himself."

"Physically, yeah," I agree. "James could take down anyone. But emotionally…" I trail off. "I don't want him to go in there without backup."

"So it's a double date?"

"Sort of." God I'm such a liar. "James' date doesn't know it. So we'll casually bump into them there."

"Hang on Stetson, I haven't agreed to this yet."

"Please?" I beg her, hitting her with my best set of puppy dog eyes.

She sighs. "I'll just clear it with the boyfriend first. He gets really jealous and he'll be annoyed if I don't tell him beforehand. Can I get back to you?"

Not really. "Well, it is tonight. I'm going to have to know in the next hour at the latest. So that I can find someone else." I throw in a little bribe to sweeten the deal. "I promise I'll help you with the history assignment later if you say yes right now."

"I've seen your notes," she accuses. "Or lack of them, rather. What makes you think I need your help?"

"Photographic memory," I state, tapping my head with a finger. "I might not know what it means, but I can regurgitate it back at you."

"Then how come you don't remember I'd told you about my boyfriend?" Good point.

"Maybe subconsciously I knew. Since it doesn’t matter anyway. Or maybe you didn't tell me."

Her face pales. "Rick is going to kill me. I always do that. It's his biggest gripe."

"What is?"

"Whenever I meet a guy I'll neglect to mention that I have a boyfriend. He thinks it's me flirting with them."

"Well, I won't tell him if you come with me."

She smiles. "Well if it means so much to you, I'll ring him now."

"Thanks. Tell him I'm gay," for now. "If that helps."

"It might," she says. "But I don't want to lie."

"It's not a lie." Or perhaps it is. I'm still undecided.

She fixes me with a look. "Seriously? You're gay? As in, are sexually attracted to men? Not happy?"

"Yes," I nod.

Then she laughs. "It all makes sense now."

"What? What makes sense?"

But she'd already walked a couple of steps away with her phone to her ear, and I didn't want to eavesdrop.

It takes a while for her to explain it to him. Longer than it did for me to explain it to her, I think. But maybe they're just having a conversation. In the meantime, the vending machine next to the lecture theatre entrance is just making me thirst for a Coke. Damn advertising.

Sarah returns with a grin on her face as I retrieve a can from the machine. "He says it's okay, but he wants to drop me off and pick me up and meet you. 'Cause guys have used the gay line on me before."

"No worries," I state. "Thanks. I will not forget this."

"Help me with history and we're even."

I hug her spontaneously. "Thanks."

x X X x

I meet Rick that night. I can tell he's one of those guys who's uncomfortable around gay guys. He was nice enough once he'd gauged that I had absolutely no interest in his girlfriend. By the time we'd gotten that all over with, I knew that James and his date would already be at the pub.

Sarah and I held hands as we entered, and by virtue of that bright purple hair, I spotted James immediately. Usually he's difficult to spot in a crowd since James is an ordinary looking fellow. But something about that on him is an incredible turn on. Just the edge of his jaw and the crease of his wrists are enough for me to feel that warmth curl through my groin. I wondered if Russell thought James' ordinary hair was as hot as I did. If he was undecided about whether that little bit of extraordinary colour made James more or less sexy looking.

"There he is," I say to my companion, and lead her to toward him. It's trivia night, and I’ve timed it perfectly so that it's already started. Giving us the perfect opportunity to join their team.

While everyone listens as the guy with the microphone reads the next question ("What is the last word in the bible?"), I study James and his date. It pains me to think that they do look good together. Russell is redheaded with a smattering of fading freckles that James probably thinks are adorable. And he's looking at James as though he's the only person in the room as they begin discussing the answer.

"They look good together," Sarah voices my thoughts.

"Yeah," I have to agree with a sigh. I can't ruin a perfect picture. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

But that's the point where James looks up and sees me. He's pissed off at me, I can tell. But for the sake of our dates his next exclamation comes with surprise: "Stetson?"

"Hey," I say, stepping forward. "Sorry. We were just passing by. Thought we'd see if trivia had started yet."

"Yeah, it has," Russell says. I think he's being friendly.

"Russell, this is Stetson," James introduces reluctantly. "My best friend," he adds. Probably trying to stop Russell from feeling at all threatened.

"And this is Sarah," I introduce. "My date," I add to reinforce that non-threatening environment people are so fond of. Then I introduce them to Sarah. "Purple is James, and it seems that red is Russell."

The man in question laughs, and I feel really bad about intruding. Who knew I'd ever feel like that for intruding on one of James' dates.

"Well, you guys look like you're having fun, so we'll just go. Nice meeting you, Russell."

"Oh no," Russell protests. "Stay. We'll make this a double. And you guys can help us with the fifty dollar first prize."

"I really don't want to intrude."

James rolls his eyes at me, thinking it's all an act. "Stetson is useless at this."

I'm offended, but agree with him. "Yeah, I really am."

But Sarah is no longer on my side, it seems. "But you said you had a photographic memory," she says, digging my grave.

Russell lights up. "Photographic memory? That's it," he says, yanking me down onto the couch beside him. "You're staying." It's a good thing he's looking at me or he'd see the scowl his date is sending my way.

"Looks like we're staying," I comment to Sarah.

She smiles at me. "Looks like it."

"So what's the answer?" Russell asks me. As though I must know.

It happens that I do, though. "Bible," I state. "It's a trick question. One I fell for once in year nine."

Russell grins. "I am liking you already."

As the night progresses, I have trouble keeping my eyes off James. The bar has these fancy lights that keep highlighting the purple of his hair, reflecting it onto his skin in random patterns. I laugh at all of James' jokes, and always let him answer first before I pipe in if I know the answer. I'm even trying not to make his date look bad. I honestly think James is enjoying himself when he isn't watching me to make sure that I'm not doing anything to embarrass him.

But just before the last round in the trivia quiz, I get up to get everyone refills. When I return with three beers and an amaretto sour for Sarah, there's a strange tension between the three of them. After that it's harder to stare at James because all he seems to do is stare at me with a calculating gaze. Russell seems quieter and more into the trivia game, and Sarah is looking like a girl who knows something she shouldn't.

We win the fifty dollar grand prize by two points, which we then split four ways with each of us buying a drink for someone else in the group. When the triumph fades, and it becomes apparent that Russell is a philosophical drunk and that Sarah is a giggly one (neither James nor I have had enough to reveal that I'm a horny drunk and that he's a crazy drunk), the four of us decide to call it a night. I call Rick as Sarah's brother to pick her up. It's poor date etiquette, but somehow they'd all agreed that it would be out of my way if James and I didn't go home together… without either of them. Something that reeks of a setup, but I don't know what they're trying to pull.

Once Rick's left with Sarah, the rest of us wait outside for a cab since Russell's had too much to drive. One pulls up pretty soon in the same place that Rick did, and then Russell is gone. As soon as I register that, a hand, familiar in texture, though unfamiliar in intent slips into mine. "Come on," James says as he leads me down the street, presumably to wherever he's parked Uncle AJ's car.

"Sorry about that, James," I say to his back, unable to take a step forward and look him in the eye as that guilt descended upon me. He should be going home with his date. Not me. "I didn't mean to ruin your date."

"Didn't you?" he asks, teasing. He sounds more amused than he really should.

"Maybe I did at first," I admit.

"Russell thinks it's because you're jealous."

Is that what he'd said in that minute they'd been alone? "I guess I've just gotten used to it being just us. No one else. No distractions." Something about the dark and the fact that he really isn't pissed off at me makes me go out on a limb and add "I wouldn't mind if it was just us forever."

James nods. "Luckily for you, I've decided to forgive you for tonight. On one condition."

"Name it," I state. Guilt would make me do even more than the anything I would have done for him on a normal day.

"Well it's obvious that you think you can organise a much better date than Russell. So since you've cost me a second date with him, I think it's only fair that I go on a second date with you."

What? "A date?"

"It's what you want, isn't it?" There's a teasing glint in his eye. I can't hope that there's anything more than teasing.

A date with James. That's not a punishment. That's pure torture. To take him out and pretend that he's mine, but know that it means nothing to him.

"Okay," I agree. I have to. "Since the perfect date takes time to organise, how's Thursday?"

For a second before he laughs it's like he's disappointed. I guess he really is expecting a proper date?

"Joke's on you, James," I add. "This date is going to blow your mind."

"Can't wait," he smiles.

Butterflies dance through my stomach. If only it was real.

x X X x

A/N: I make no promises about when the next chapter is going to be out.