Curious Desire Pt. 05

There are people you meet along your journey through life that change the trajectory of where you are headed. Jacob Andrews was one of those people for Alex Yates.

Jacob had only just broken up with his girlfriend of several months, Kelly, the day before. She absolutely lost her mind, taking leave of her senses. After breaking up with her, Jacob had asked Alex to be his boyfriend.

Though the boys' relationship was only just made official, they had been spending time together for the better part of three weeks. For Alex, there was hope for the future for the first time since he'd lost his mother. Alex felt like he was a brand new person.

It was a slow and gradual process but Alex was coming into his own as a young man after spending the entirety of high school rejecting himself before he could be rejected by his peers. Alex was bullied heavily in middle school after having many friends in elementary school. This made Alex believe something had to be wrong with him. That was until Jacob, the star quarterback and popular boy with model-looks, took an interest in him. Beyond the attention, Alex was receiving consistent affection for the first time since his mother died.

Last night, he'd met Jacob's own mom for the first time and had been relieved to find she was a delightful person. She was gorgeous, funny, smart and sweet, much like her son and she appeared to be genuine. If Jacob by himself was a scene-stealer then he and his mother together were absolute show-stoppers.

She'd picked up almost immediately that her son had a different kind of feelings for the much smaller boy. Of course, it did help that she'd stumbled upon their first make out session as an official couple. She didn't say a word at first, just welcomed Alex graciously to her home. She chatted with the boys while cooking before they had dinner with Jacob's father as well.

It wasn't until Jacob was taking Alex home after they'd had a steamy hook-up in Jacob's bedroom after dinner that she spoke to the boys about her suspicions. She spotted the hickey that Jacob had carelessly given Alex and, far from being angry, she wanted to make sure the boys didn't get themselves outed before they were ready. She showed Alex how to cover the hickey with a little makeup and gave him one of Jacob's old hoodies that could hide it completely out of sight.

She had also told him he could call her mom instead of Mrs. Andrews if Alex was uncomfortable calling her Fran. There was a part of him that was hesitant to do so, worried it could be disrespectful to his own mother's memory. But the gesture was no less meaningful. There was something about this night that had been truly healing for him.

Jacob also felt some of the stess he had been under lifted off of his chest. At least he knew now his mother wouldn't abandon him. And if his mother wouldn't, he knew his father couldn't because she wouldn't allow it.

If both boys had felt like the most difficult part of their relationship was behind them, it became painfully clear the next day at school that the struggle was only beginning.

Jacob's ex-girlfriend was on a rampage, spreading rumors about Jacob. No, none of the rumors were about Jacob being gay. But there were a couple rather nasty rumors about him.

She had told her circle of cheerleaders that Jacob had been abusive in private, which was blatantly a lie. She also told people he'd cheated on her and contracted gonorrhea and that was ultimately what ended their relationship.

In all honesty, the second rumor didn't really bother Jacob but the first one really upset him. He would never put his hands on a girl (or Alex for that matter). Despite how he portrayed himself, he really was a softie at heart. It was an attack on Jacob's character that threatened his reputation as a kind person and that was upsetting to him.

It was her way of getting revenge, but also an attempt to ensure Jacob remained single until graduation. She figured she could kill two birds with one stone. However, if she thought girls would be turned off, she was sadly mistaken. That much was clear at lunch.

Alex assumed his usual spot alone in a far corner. He looked over to the popular table where Jacob was always surrounded by his friends but today, their table included several new faces. Several girls had joined the table in place of Kelly and her friends.

As Alex watched, he couldn't help but notice Jacob was laughing and, if Alex didn't know any better, flirting with the girls. It didn't matter to Alex if he wasn't, it was the principle. He felt Jacob should respect his feelings enough to at least keep them at arms length.

Most of Jacob's exes loved the fact he was so desired by others but Alex wasn't like that. While there was something to be said about having a boy that everybody wanted, Alex preferred for people to leave his man alone.

Jacob might be the obviously jealous and possessive one but Alex was just as much so as well. He was just more passive but, as he sat there, he felt his blood pressure rise as one girl who seemed to be the most aggressive put her grubby little hands on Jacob. To Jacob's credit, he shrugged her off and pulled away but in Alex's mind, she shouldn't have felt comfortable enough to do that.

Alex cut his lunch even shorter than usual and spent the majority of the period in the library before classes resumed.

**********

Alex hadn't been to another football game since the first one he went to, being weary about going again. He'd had an extremely unpleasant encounter with a former bully that he refused to think about too much. Jacob had convinced him to go to this game though. He promised Savanna and Dustin, his cousin and her boyfriend, wouldn't leave him alone again and so Alex reluctantly agreed.

Alex dressed up as he had the previous time, in a pair of nice jeans and the hoodie he'd gotten Jacob's mom. He knew he'd wear the hoodie even after the hickey had disappeared. He waited on the front porch until Savanna pulled up to pick him up.

"Hey hon, how have you been?" she asked him as he clambered into the car. It was obvious to Alex she felt incredibly guilty over what had happened to him.

"I've been good, how are you?" he replied.

"I've been great! I'm so sorry what happened last time, it's going to be different this time I promise."

Before long, she and Alex were chatting like a couple of old friends. They got along great and they had each other cracking up. This Alex was so much different than even the Alex from just a couple weeks before. His confidence had obviously improved as had his comfortability talking with (some of) his peers.

He'd started to chat more in class with other students, though he hadn't pursued any friendships yet. He was just pushing himself to put himself out there more. The way Jacob was going out of his comfort zone with Alex, Alex was going out of his comfort zone (thanks to Jacob) in his social life and both boys were seeing some positive results from doing so.

This time, Dustin had arrived first instead of coming just before the game started. Dustin was waiting in the parking lot to walk them both to the stands. It wouldn't be as rowdy a crowd and game except for the stakes for Washington High tonight. Even still, Savanna and Dustin knew that if something happened to Alex, Jacob would go postal.

Even though they said nothing, Savanna could tell there was something different about Jacob's relationship with Alex. And now that Jacob was randomly "single" just a couple weeks after she started hearing about Alex, she knew where there was smoke there was fire.

"Hey bud, you doing alright?" Dustin asked after kissing Savanna.

They got to their seats and began looking around in the crowd, talking about different people they saw.

"Yep, there's Aunt Fran up there in the parents section with the fancy "country club" parents," she said.

Alex looked up and sure enough, there was Mrs. Andrews talking to 3 other women and their husband's. They were about 4 rows up and to the right. They all looked captivated by her, paying close attention to whatever she was saying which was apparently really funny.

"Why don't we go sit with her?" Alex asked.

"Because for one, my mother and father are one of those couples up there and two, it's social suicide to sit in the parents section! Better to sit in the rival section," she said as if that was a given.

"Oh, right...but she's really cool!"

"Yeah, shes awesome but other kids don't know that. She's just another parent. And my parents are as insufferable as they come. They are so judgemental. My mom is the sister of Jake's dad," she told Alex, answering his next question. Neither of them looked anything like Mrs. Andrews from a distance so he figured as much.

When the teams came onto the field, Jacob was out front with the other captains and already searching the stands for people he knew. Alex couldn't help but feel his heart flutter. Jacob looked so cute with the eye black under his eyes, holding his helmet by the facemask. Jacob's hair was done perfectly which Alex thought was funny considering it would be ruined by the end of the first quarter.

His eyes found Alex's first and he waved over to them. Then he found his mother and kissed his hand before raising it to her.

This made Alex think about Kelly. He'd waved to her the last time. It wasn't hard to find her, she was with the cheerleaders in the front of the bleachers. She was staring daggers at Jacob. Alex laughed.

"You see that too? She's so salty, I'm so glad he dumped her. If it wasn't for the fact I want to be able to come to the playoff games, I'd go drag that bitch by the hair all through these stands for what she said about Jake," she said, looking dead serious.

"Babe chill, you're 18 now...you don't need those charges," Dustin said but he joined Alex in laughing.

"So what, I got a family of attorneys on retainer and every judge in the county goes to the same social events they go to!" She said defiantly.

"Yeah but I don't think even OJs lawyers could get you out of an aggravated assault that was witnessed by, what, a couple thousand people?" Alex said, making both Dustin and Savanna laugh.

"Fair point, it'd still almost be worth it though."

The game was extremely physical and the offensive line couldn't keep the pocket clean for Jacob. He took some big hits in the first half that made Alex flinch. It was one of those games that you realize how dangerous a sport football could be.

"Sweetie, Jake is a big kid! He loves these kinds of games," Savanna said in an attempt to relax Alex who couldn't hide his stress level.

It seemed by halftime that Savanna was right. He was playing great despite taking a couple sacks and being hit a couple additional times. He definitely seemed to be having a lot of fun out there, jumping around and clapping enthusiastically at the opponent and headbutting teammates. Alex couldn't suppress a smile, his boyfriend was a total psycho. He was physically dominant in a physical game. He understood in that moment how Jacob could be so confident.

Jacob was running around a lot more this game as a result of the opposing teams ferocious rush. He'd run for a couple touchdowns and he threw for one as the first half was winding down, leading Washington to a 21-17 halftime lead.

The third quarter didn't go as well. Their opponent scored a quick touchdown to take the lead back 24-21. Jacob was still running for his life on offense and Washington couldn't get the chains moving.

On what turned out to be their last offensive drive of the third quarter, Jacob ran a play-action fake handoff to the running back but by the time he'd turned his eyes back up-field to find his receiver, a blitzing safety came barreling at him from his blindside.

Alex heard the collision over the crowd as their pads crashed into eachother.

"OOOOHHH," the crowd collectively gasped.

Jacob's head snapped back as he got drilled in his lower back by the smaller but speeding player. The ball popped out of his hands and the defense fell on it.

Alex was on his feet, Jacob was laying on the ground. He normally popped right up but he was clearly feeling that hit worse than the others. Alex knew how dangerous whiplash was and that's exactly what looked like happened.

Alex looked back to where Mrs. Andrews sat. She too was on her feet and they caught eachothers eye. She gave Alex a small smile but Alex could tell she was worried as well.

Jacob's entire line was standing over him. When he was helped up to his feet, he jogged off the field under his own power with his helmet off wincing.

Once they got to the sideline, he looked up to the stands and found Alex once again. He gave Alex a cocky smile and winked at him. Alex smiled back weakly at him then looked up to his mom as Jacob shifted his focus to her. She started pointing to the opposing sideline and hollered out "GET THEIR ASS JACOB!"

They scored again, going up 31-21 on the last play of the quarter. Alex felt extremely nervous, Jacob hadn't lost a game this season and he obviously wanted his boyfriend to always win. This was gonna be tough though.

As Jacob took the field again, he looked to the student section as if to say "watch this." On the very first play, Jacob lined up in the gun and took a quarterback draw to the left. He found a hole and got about ten yards downfield before the safety that hit him on their last drive came up to meet Jacob.

Alex cringed as Jacob lowered his shoulder but he need not have worried. He absolutely bulldozed over the smaller player and stepped over him. The crowd popped like Stone Cold Steve Austin's music played in a WWE stadium and his teammates on the sideline all jumped at the same time, fist pumping and screaming loudly.

Jacob made it another 10 yards before being dragged down. You could almost see the momentum shift, the whole team seemed to catch a second wind: it was game on.

He methodically moved the ball up the field and after 4 straight completions, he'd found his tight end in the end zone. They were now down 31-28.

There was 12 minutes left in the game when the defense went out, needing to get a stop. There was plenty of time and Alex felt confident his boyfriend was going to be the hero.

But over the next 7 minutes, the opposition ran the ball to keep the clock moving and got all the way to the red zone before finally the defense was able to force a field goal. They were down 34-28 and Jacob had 4:48 to get a touchdown and win the game.

Jacob was pumping the crowd up, like a maestro to a symphony and the student section was rocking.

It wasn't as pretty a drive as the one before but they gradually moved the ball up the field. A few completions mixed in with a couple incompletions and another sack led them to the opponents 40 yard line at the two minute warning.

Jacob's coach was talking to his offense animatedly. When they clapped and took the field again, coach grabbed Jacob by the face mask and yelled something at him before slapping his helmet hard enough Alex was sure would have knocked him out if it was him.

Jacob made a couple completions and they were on the 25 yard line with a 1:12 left. Time was running out.

Jacob lined up and went down his list. Nickel blitz which in this formation meant single coverage on Sam Taylor, his best receiver.

"MONOCLE! MONOCLE!" He called out to the team. It only meant something to Sam, the signal for him to run a go route to the back corner of the end zone.

He called hike from the gun and his center David Grady snapped him the ball. His eye went to his tight end on the opposite side of Sam, who was running a deep come back route in the middle of the field. He was never going to throw it to him, he was looking the cover 2 safety off to ensure Sam got a chance to go up for the ball one on one.

His eyes snapped around to his real target just before letting the ball rip. It was a beautiful high arcing ball. The crowd had gone temporarily silent watching Sam run for it, the cornerback right on his heel. The ball sailed nose down right over Sam's shoulder right into his outstretched hands with the corner all over his back.

Touchdown! The crowd roared louder than they had all night. Alex couldn't suppress his own guttural cheer. He'd never felt so exhilarated, he and Savanna were jumping up and down with arms around eachother. Dustin punched the air and kissed her on the cheek.

Jacob was being mobbed by his teammates and coaches as he made his way back to the sideline. High fives, chest bumps, ass slaps and helmet slaps from everybody. The student section was rocking and even the parents were on their feet cheering.

Jacob gave a pointed up to the crowd and stood anxiously on the sideline for the PAT. It was good and within a few plays, time had expired and the game was over. The excitement hadn't died down at all and it was at this point that Alex could make out the chant starting to come from the student section.

"JAKE-THE-GREAT! JAKE-THE-GREAT!"

Alex's chest swelled with pride and he felt his eyes burning. He blinked his happy tears away. His boyfriend was the school hero. For the first time, Alex understood how Jacob's exes could get caught up in the hype of being Jacob Andrews' number one.

Once this thought entered into his mind, he couldn't help but think of Kelly. He found her alone, sitting by herself and looking truly miserable. Her fellow cheerleaders had joined their peers and were chanting along with the rest of them. She was probably the lone student from the winning team who looked sad.

Alex felt guilt and pity bubble in his stomach. The sense of pride and importance he felt from being Jacob Andrews' boyfriend so clearly contrasted with Kelly's undoubted feelings of heartbreak and sense of loss. Her anger was just how her pain manifested, clearly.

Normally, the whole team would leave the field together. But this time, after handshakes Jacob, his mom, his head coach and offensive coordinator met with an older gentlemen on the sideline as the rest of the team headed for the locker room.

Jacob was sweaty, his hair had the sexy wet-puppy look that Alex loved. The eye black had streaked down his cheeks. But he looked excited talking to the man. Seeing Jacob look so beautifully natural out there pushed Kelly from Alex's mind completely.

The men all stood together, talking animatedly for about 5 minutes. Finally, Jacob shook the old man's hand and Jacob literally skipped off the field pumping his fist.

"Well Alex, you ready?" Savanna asked after another couple minutes of enjoying the atmosphere. But before Alex could respond, Mrs. Andrews had come up to them.

"What a great game huh! And I think Jacob is gonna have good news when he gets out...Alex, how about you ride with me back home. Jacob's going to be a little later than usual tonight," she said, clearly knowing the original plan Jacob had for the night was that Alex would ride back to their house with him.

Alex listened to her without hesitation and the four of them made their way to the parking lot. It became clear Savanna and Dustin were going to walk them to Mrs. Andrews car. They weren't taking any chances.

"You two know I'm more than capable of protecting me and mine right?" she said to them fiercely, clearly aware of why they were walking with them.

"Hey, we are just doing what Jacob asked. He seems to be as protective over Alex as he is over me," she said with a bit of a knowing smile. Mrs. Andrews gave her a meaningful look and it was clear they were on the same page.

"She's not lying, I haven't forgotten the time he cornered me at her first birthday party after we started dating. Told me if I hurt her, he'd hurt me," Dustin said with a chuckle.

"Did he really? Sorry Dustin, all that aggression...I must have dropped him on his head as a baby," Mrs. Andrews said humorously while shaking her head. Everybody laughed.