Page 6 of Can't Stop Now

“I mean….” Will trailed off, opening his arms to gesture at Jacob’s physique.Fuck! Stop commenting on his body!Will thought.

“Okay, okay, I do go to the gym a lot. But it’s far from the only thing I’m into. I have depth! I’m nuanced,” Jacob said, laughing. Will was surprised that he didn’t notice his comment about his body.

“Yeah? What are you into that would surprise me?” Will asked, playful.

“Well, let’s see… I can pick just about any standard lock in less than three minutes,” Jacob said.

“Lockpicking? Damn, yeah, I guess that does surprise me. Should I be worried…?” Will said, backing away from Jacob and grinning.

“No, no, I don’t use it for anything criminal. The most it’s ever helped me with is getting locked out of my house. It’s more of a logic puzzle than anything,” Jacob said, “you’ve gotta work the locks. Finesse them.”

“Well, you win. You have cool hobbiesandyou go to the gym a lot,” Will smiled.

He realized that it was verging on chilly outside. He pulled the sleeves on his hoodie down to his hands, and popped the hood up, shoving his hands into the pockets on the front. All of the sudden, he heard a rustling sound from around a corner. He stopped, alert.

“What’s up?” Jacob asked, confused.

“What is that?” Will asked, whispering.

“What’s what? Jacob said, continuing to walk forward. He was about to pass the corner when Will grabbed his arm.

“Wait!” Will said, afraid. He heard the rustling become louder and louder. Jacob stopped, listening.

Suddenly, a fluffy white cat emerged from around the corner, playing with an empty cardboard box.

“Shit!” Will said, laughing. “I thought we were about to get robbed or something. It’s just this little guy,” he said, crouching to pet the cat.

“Damn dude, you really were freaked out by that movie! You got me all worried about a cat,” Jacob said, bending to look at the cat.

“He’s cute. Wanna take him back?” Will said, smiling at Jacob.

“I’m sure my landlord would love me leaving behind a cat after I move out, but no,” Jacob laughed.

They walked the rest of the way back to Jacob’s house, and made their way up the stairs and into the apartment. Will attempted not to stare at Jacob’s ass as he walked in front of him on the stairwell, but found himself failing miserably.

“Hey man, I know you don’t have a TV or anything really in that room. I’m gonna watch some shows before I call it a night, you can join if you want. Maybe it’ll get your mind off all those scary cat ghosts,” Jacob said.

Will was surprised. This was the first time Jacob had made any actual attempt at hanging out. He had figured Jacob was just being nice at the movie theater because they happened to run into each other, but this was an actual invitation.

“Umm… yeah! Sure, why not,” Will said, and followed Jacob to his room. When he was inside, he realized that Jacob didn’t have any chairs or couch – just his bed, and a TV on the dresser in front of it.Shit, shit shit, Will thought. He was going to have to sit on the bed next to this tremendously hot guy, and not only refrain from being turned on, but try not to say anything suggestive. Will wasn’t good at that. He had a flirty instinct, no real filter, and was not used to any extensive hanging out with straight guys.Here goes nothing, he thought, and sat down on the bed. They both sat with pillows propped up on the headboard.

Jacob flipped through channels, stopping on the comedy channel.

“Figure you need to watch something funny after all that suuuuper scary ghost stuff, right?” Jacob said, grinning and punched Will on the shoulder.Jesus, he is strong, Will thought,even his play punches hurt!

Will was hyper-aware of how close he was to Jacob on the bed. He couldn’t say he’deverbeen in bed with a guy that he wasn’t about to hook up with. He heard Jacob’s soft breathing, listened to the sound of his laughter as the comedian onscreen told funny jokes. Will was finding it hard to pay attention to the actual TV show because he was too busy eyeing Jacob’s sculpted calves.Soccer will get a guy some great calves, who’d have thunk?Will thought.

After about twenty minutes, Will started to notice Jacob sinking toward him on the bed. He didn’t dare look over at him, or say a word.Am I imagining this or is he getting closer to me?Will thought, feeling his heartbeat race. A few minutes passed, and he noticed that Jacob’s breathing had become heavy.He is about to do something!he thought, feeling his palms get sweaty.

Slowly, Jacob’s head lowered until it was on Will’s shoulder.Holy shit, Will thought, and looked down at Jacob.

Jacob’s eyes were completely closed, and Will realized that he was completely asleep. He’d probably been asleep for the past ten minutes, and Will had no idea. His heartbeat began to calm down, realizing,of course he wasn’t moving closer to me. He’s just sleeping.

Still, the feeling of Jacob’s head on Will’s shoulder was unbearable to him. It felt so, so good: warm, comforting, close. He looked angelic as he slept, and Will couldn’t help but feel tender toward him. He mentally slapped himself, knowing that it was beyond stupid to acknowledge these feelings for a straight guy. But it felt different with Jacob. What kind of straight guy lounges on his bed watching TV with another, openly gay guy? Will had been feeling gradually more comfortable with Jacob after the awkwardness of their initial encounter.

Will sighed slowly, knowing that he wasn’t gonna crack the code of Jacob tonight. He looked down at him one more time, sleeping softly on his shoulder, never wanting to move from this spot. But it wasn’t as if he could stay.

He ever so slowly lowered himself, and Jacob’s head fell until it softly rested on the pillow. Will found the remote and turned off the TV, taking one last look at Jacob’s face before turning off the light and heading back to his room.