College senior Jake Mallory cares more about his reputation as a former high school jock turned party animal than his grade point average. His time in class is spent counting down to the weekend, when he'll hit the gay club scene with his roommate Holly, who doubles as his designated driver. To celebrate being back at school after summer break, Jake parties so hard, he wakes up Sunday morning with blurred memories of the past two days. Worse than his hangover, though, is the fact that he can’t find his iPhone. Holly's best friend Evan Williams is a grade A nerd, complete with slicked-back hair and thick, dorky glasses. Jake can't stand Evan on principle, though it's obvious to anyone with half a brain that Evan has a major crush on Jake. No matter how mean Jake is to him, Evan just won't take a hint. He might even know something about the missing phone, but Jake won't give him the time of day to hear what he has to say. When Jake logs into the cloud online to access his homework, he finds photos uploaded from his phone that he doesn’t remember taking over the weekend. In them is a hot, sexy guy he hooked up with in the back seat of Holly’s car. Soon he realizes the guy must have his phone, and has begun taking explicit photos with it as if to tease Jake. Holly knows who the guy is but she isn't telling, so Jake begs her to arrange a meeting. He wants his phone back, but more than that, he wants a chance to take things further with the hot stranger. She agrees to throw a house party and invite the guy over. At first, Jake is pissed when he doesn’t show up. Jake doesn't even know who he is. But as the night progresses, he gets his phone back ... and so much more.

Head in the Cloud

Jake mumbled something unintelligible into his cup. Yeah, joking. Let’s go with that.


For a moment longer, the guy glared at him. Then he scowled, as if deciding Jake wasn’t worth the time. As his friends dispersed, he tapped the bottom of Jake’s raised cup a little too hard, splashing the beer into Jake’s face.


Jake sputtered, wiping foam from his nose and mouth. “Hey! I live here! Who the fuck invited you?”


“Lame party anyway,” the guy jeered. To the girl who had diffused the fight, he said, “Come on, babe. He isn’t interested in what you have to offer a real man anyway.”


If that was an attempt to make Jake madder by calling him queer, it failed miserably. “Oh, wait, are there any real men around here?” he called out, raising his voice. “Because all I see are pussies and little boys.”


Chapter 15