Zeke playfully narrows his eyes. “Did you ask Jamie and Chris permission to ask me out? I’m not fifteen.”
“No. I just didn’t want to piss Jamie off with more surprises. I was hoping you’d say yes. And that it’d go well enough that I’d get to take you on a real date, outside this house. I wanted her to know I planned to be seen out with a man. And I’ll admit, I wanted to see what they thought about you and the attention this’ll bring. I know you don’t like being in the spotlight,” Brenton says.
Brenton worrying about how Zeke would handle the spotlight of being in a relationship with him is kind of sweet. And it sounds as if Brenton hadn’t been asking Jamie’s permission to date him, more for advice. Not that Brenton needs anyone’s permission to ask Zeke out—Zeke makes his own decisions.