Chapter 9

“In that case, can we have another date soon?”

Jesse nudged his pinkie against Jack’s in return. “Yeah, we can.”

There wasn’t much sun shining through the windows, but Jack’s smile was bright enough to warm Jesse’s heart all the same. 4

Rain beat a steady gray cadence against the window as Jesse stared out gloomily into the dark sky. He wondered if there was any chance of the storm clearing up by noon, but a sudden clap of thunder silenced those hopes.

He pulled his phone from his back pocket and opened his texts. He and Jack had exchanged numbers before they’d left the coffee shop, and had switched to texting rather that Twitter messages. In the two days since their previous date, an endless stream of jokes, pictures, memes, and emojis had shuffled between the two. And both evenings they’d wound up on the phone together into the early hours of the morning.