The Christmas Surprise

After talking things through with Bec, I’m still none the wiser on why Jack and Corey are still so close and what their connection actually is because I just get the sense that it is a lot more than being mates with your brother's best mate.

I head to bed and let it go because it is probably nothing to bother myself with given that thinking about it obsessively is just going to stress me out and not enjoy the break that I’m trying to give myself.

The next few days are just pretty relaxed with the heat at its searing worst meaning that nobody is really in the mood to do anything at all. Mum finally does organise the family dinner and to her credit for a change, it is a pretty relaxed situation though I think that it’s too hot for any fights to start although the tension with Jack is especially noticeable.

Heading back to Bec’s, Jase has hit the bed as soon as we get home seeing he has an early start in the morning so I’m left up with Bec.  “Hey, I was thinking that I head down to the city probably on Wednesday, I’ve been having so much fun here but I think Jack’s really at the point of snapping and I wanna help him,” I say not sure how Bec is going to feel.

Bec sits there nodding “Yep that’s cool, we can still do everything we want for sure,” she says as I nod in agreement knowing that deep down she probably would have wanted me to stay here a bit longer. As I sit there with Bec, I look across at her and smirk “You know what we haven’t done yet?” I say as she thinks for a moment before she just shakes her head.

“Not a chance in hell, I specifically do not own or even play that game ever these days especially after World Wars 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 to say the least” Bec just rolls her eyes as I go to my room and get the game out of my bag.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me, Blake… you are such a big nerd” Bec can’t control herself laughing as I put travel Scrabble onto the table. “Did you bring that solely just for me?” she asks as I shake my head because I always take it with me.

“Nah, I always have it in my bag when I have to travel away to meet regional affiliates, I don’t want to stick my nose in a screen again” Bec nods and reluctantly agrees to play with me and warns me not to use made up words in her opinion which are actually all totally legit words.

Playing with Bec is fun and I miss these opportunities we have even though she accuses me of cheating at least three times even after proving the words are legitimate.

The next day Bec, Ava and I head out to go Christmas shopping “Do you need to buy Christmas presents now that you are here or what are you just going to give the one person you drew and only give them the gift”. I know that Bec is only asking because I send her the same thing across every year from America and she absolutely loves it.

“I know exactly why you brought up that question and you don’t need to worry, Sophie has it all handled, it’s wrapped and sent” she smiles and hugs me in the middle of the electronics shop.

Looking around, Bec notices me looking at a lot of the homewares stuff and starts to ask the question before I shut her down. “The answer is we’ll see and will be until I make my mind up” listening to my answer Bec just nods and even to me that sounded like a way of saying yes without actually giving the answer that I think she wants to hear and that I want to say.

The last few days have actually seen me thinking a lot about moving back and thinking about Corey and how we felt together and feeling how alone Jack is right now and then the proximity to the family especially with Ava growing up and everything like that. I know that Bec is wanting to keep pressing me on the issue but she leaves it because she knows that pushing me isn’t the way to go about things.

Finishing shopping, I’ve managed to buy myself some new clothes and some extra things to store with Corey for a while which could give anyone the assumption that I plan on moving back to Australia. Realising that I need to let Corey know that Jack’s gonna stay I ring him to tell him or more to just hear his voice at the moment.

“Yo Blakey boy, what’s happening?” he says in his cheerful way that always puts a smile on my face.

“Not a lot bro, I’m gonna head to the apartment tomorrow but I was wondering if it would be cool if I have someone stay with me for a while if not the whole time I’m staying there,” I say as hear some initial hesitation in Corey’s voice.

“Well depends, I mean I would love to stay with you that whole time but do….” I laugh and stop him midway through the sentence “You really have some tickets on yourself don’t you, thinking I want to live with you already so soon” I say as we both laugh as I tease him.

“Oh wow, pushing me away already for a new guy… that’s fine I guess” I just shake my head as he is teasing me back thinking that he’s funny when really he’s far from it.

“Will you shut up for two minutes, it’s Jack, he just needs some space from my parents and apparently you might know something about that” Corey goes silent on the other end of the line which confirms that there might be more than just the casual run-in’s that I’ve been told about.

“Ah yeah, no problems man, I can get that organised and get an extra card and code done for him which is easy enough,” he says as I toss up whether to bring up what is going on between them but decide that it might be better to leave it for now.

That night is pretty chilled as I know Bec wanted extra time staying with me but as I keep reminding her it’s not like I’m back halfway around the world and instead just closer to the city which in itself could be easier to get to America at times with Sydney’s transport and roads.

The next morning, Bec insists that we go out for breakfast which we do and I get that this breakfast outing is a way of buttering me up so that she can get some more information about Jack.

“How did it all go down with Mum about Jack coming to stay with you in the city? I just shrug as Bec asks because Jack told me to leave it up to him to tell her everything about what is going on and him coming to stay with me.

“Don’t know, I asked Jack if he wanted me to talk to her but he said he had it all control” I look at Bec and very quickly know that she like me thinks that wasn’t the smartest idea ever. “I know what you are thinking but we can’t solve this battle between them, I know we both love Jack and Mum and really don’t want this friction, but this has to be figured out by them”.

Bec reluctantly nods at me and I know that she wants to deal with this as much as I do but thinking about it, there isn’t much that we can do other than just giving them the space to figure things out if they can do that.

Heading home, I pack up most of my stuff and put it in the hire car before deciding to head to my parent's place early because even though Jack doesn’t finish work until 3 pm, I just want to see and talk to Mum about things for a little bit.

“Blake, how good to see you, I thought you wouldn’t be around until later when Jack finished” Mum is excited to see me as she hugs me tightly and tries to get me to eat something which I don’t really need having just eaten before leaving Bec’s.

I know that behind Mum’s excitement she is going to try and get information out of me or get me to try to convince Jack to change his mind which I’m not going to do at all because Jack is an adult that can make his own decisions.

“So what are you boys planning on doing?” Mum asks as I know that she is trying to bait me into what she wants to know. “No idea, we are just going to chill out, give Jack a break from the stress of uni and work plus just hang out like old times” I don’t l know if Mum necessarily likes my answer at all but she knows not to change my mind, though she still thinks that she can control Jack’s.

I’m there for about an hour before Jack gets home and I truly see how frosty things have become with Jack barely acknowledging my mother as he hugs me before he heads upstairs to have a shower and get changed to go.

“Maybe you can find out what is going on? He’s just so different to what he used to be, throwing away everything” Mum is again trying to guilt trip me into giving her what she wants as I just shrug my shoulders.

“Jack is an adult and you’ve just got to respect that if he is going to make mistakes then he has to learn from them and honestly sometimes you just need a break” Mum just nods as Jack has already changed and got his bags packed and is ready to go.

“I’m good to go, bro, talk to you soon Mum,” he says rather coldly but at least they hug and sort of depart on good terms which is a positive sign that they can fix things up.

The drive down to the city is pretty chilled, we just sit there listening to the radio because the last thing that I want to do is push him too hard on everything and he knows that he can tell me whatever he wants at his own time. We get to the place and Jack is absolutely amazed by it all “Holy shit, you cannot be serious that this is the place?” he says as I nod and wander around putting my stuff in my room.

“Corey’s coming around tonight to give you another keycard to get in or out,” I say as there isn’t too much reaction to his name which doesn’t tell me at all about what happened between those two.

“How much do you want from me for all this?” he asks as I shake my head to tell him nothing which Jack tries to argue but as I explain to him with Corey not charging me, I’m certainly not going to take Jack’s money.

Jack is unpacking his stuff because he is the most organised person in the world and even on overnight stops he struggles to live out of a bag or suitcase and needs to put stuff away. While he is unpacking, I text Corey to see what time he is coming around if he is tonight and does he want me to order food for him.

“Yeah I’m coming, it’s all good because I’ll grab dinner for all of us,” he says as I go in and tells Jack the situation as he finishes unpacking the bags. “Yeah sweet, can I use the shower bro?” I nod and give him some space to have the shower but notice how intricate and detailed his tatts actually are and how much effort he went into planning them out.

Jack’s in the shower for only a few minutes before coming out with a towel barely covering anything as I look him up and down and wondering where my skinny little bro went especially as we work out that he is taller than me these days.

Jack doesn’t bother getting dressed as he stands on the balcony as even though it’s wrong, I can’t help but imagine what’s behind the towel and how physical it could get with those muscles he has now as well.

I’m trying hard to not focus on looking at Jack so that I don’t hear Corey come in “Damn that’s a view and a half” he says as he startles me as he laughs hard when I jump.

“Fuck man, I didn’t hear you come in,” I say as Corey puts the food on the bench as I decide to ask him about Jack while he is still outside. “I want you to be honest with me and there’s no judgment at all but what went on with you two and don’t say you are just mates because I’ve worked out that it’s a lot more than that,” I say putting Corey on the spot but before he can answer Jack walks in and would create an awkward atmosphere if he answered me right now.

“Sup bro, long-time no see,” Jack says as I sit there trying to work out if that’s accurate or not but without evidence otherwise it’s hard to say.

Jack goes into his room and puts on a pair of shorts that probably cover less than what the towel does but it’s better than eating dinner with the towel on although the level of cover would probably be less. The three of us enjoy the food and any awkwardness that was there has long gone so I probably make the dumb decision of trying to bring up the topic again.

“So what’s the real story between you two?” I ask as they look at me with confused looks on their faces “Don’t sit there looking confused, I dated and slept with you” I say pointing to Corey alluding to the fact that I know when he is lying to me.

“And you, I’m your brother and I can read you like a book especially when you are hiding something or lying to me,” I say as they both nod and have a strange smiles on their faces as they look at each other.

Neither of them knows what to say and I know that I probably shouldn’t have brought it up but the last thing I want is there to be any more awkwardness between Corey and Jack because they will be around each other quite often and then if I do decide to get back with Corey, I don’t want their pasts ruining things.

“After Uni when I didn’t feel like going home, I would bump into Corey at the Goldmark after he got back from America and we would just chill together watching footy and just chatting because even though we did work together we never got to hang out because he was always off somewhere” Jack is pretty open about their friendship but still won’t go into details as I don’t know whether I want more now or not because I assumed something happened between them.

“Look there’s nothing going on between us,” Corey says as I realise how much of a jealous bitch that I must have sounded like when I was all the questions that I did. “Let’s forget I asked, it’s none of my business,” I say as we go back to the chilled dinner and hang out for a while before Corey shows us a surprise that is a Playstation 5.

We all play for a while before Corey heads home and I go have a shower before going to crash on the bed for a little while. I’m sitting on my bed just in my sleep shorts, scrolling through on Instagram when Jack walks in knocking on the door ‘Hey bro, can we talk for a few minutes?” he asks as I nod.

“Yeah bro, always,” I say as he sits next to me and glances at my Instagram feed which admittedly is not very exciting at all.

Jack looks at me up and down “About Corey and me” he says as I put my hand up to tell him not to worry about it. “Don’t worry, it’s none of my business and I shouldn’t have asked anything, I’m just sounding like a jealous bitch”

Shaking his head, Jack looks at me “Nah, I bought it up initially when I said had he told you and all that” I sit there nodding knowing that talking about your sexuality doesn’t come easy for anyone but especially for Jack it’s something that doesn’t come easy.

“After you guys had the situation, we stayed in touch because we were working together still for my work experience hours for my degree but as I said we would see each other at the Goldmark and just chill together,” he says as I realise that maybe these feelings of Corey’s engagement were there long before we saw each other.

“We would talk nothing more just like mates venting shit to each other but then after he got back from America, we would catch up more and that’s where stuff began to happen because I opened up and after a few drinks we went back to his place and things just went from there” I nod not really worried about how it happened but now just more curious about Jack’s sex life even if it’s a little weird knowing about your little brother’s sex life.

“So was Corey… you know?” I ask as Jack punches me hard knowing what I meant by the question. “Fuck no, I’ve been with guys way before Corey came in different parts of me,” he says as we both laugh and I prompt him for more information.

“I’ll tell you everything if you tell me,” Jack says as I shrug and laugh in total agreement that we are going to share everything with each other, no matter how weird it got.

Sitting there, Jack starts to tell the story “Remember when Mum and Dad went up to Coffs Harbour for Aunt Claire’s 50th and I was staying with you guys?” I sit there nodding remembering that I had used having uni and working as an excuse not to go and the fact that Corey and I had concert tickets.

“So remember when we went to the Goldmark and had fun together watching the footy before you guys went to the concert?” I nod my head remembering everything about that night. “So remember I was talking to that dude with the blonde hair and the nose ring?” I think about it and nod my head not exactly remembering the guy at all but just remembering that Jack was talking to the guy.

“So after you guys left and sent me back home, I had his number and so he came over and…” I laugh for a minute because I had told Corey that I thought there was someone else in Jack’s room that night and he never believed me because in the morning the guy was gone.

Jack continues with his story “Well we were having a good time chatting and when you guys went to the concert I didn’t really want to end the night, so he came around”. Jack has a smirk on his face and I think talking about his first time is getting him more excited.

“It wasn’t necessarily to have sex or anything but just chill out together and play video games which we did but then we started to watch a movie, cuddled up and went from there” Jack sits there and closes his eyes as he starts to remember what happened.

My eyes are wide open as Jack tells me and I mean everything as hell tells me about the first time that he had sex and I can’t believe how much detail he went into and even then that the was such a dominant force in the bedroom first time round especially given how nervous I was the first few times.

“He did know how old you were right?” I say Jack just shrugs his shoulders at me. “I told him I was 18, he believed me and that’s all that he needed to know,” I say as I roll my eyes knowing that Jack was not 18 at all at that point and trying to remember when it happened, he probably wasn’t even 17 at that point with the other guy being at least 20 or 21.

Turning towards me, Jack nudges me “Alright your turn” I try my best to get out of it especially given that Jack gave me so many details that I wasn’t expecting and that I’m not even sure if I’m comfortable talking in that much detail.

“After what you told me, that’s surely enough for tonight” I look at Jack almost pleading for information as I roll my eyes and relent because I did promise him that I would tell him something.

“Fine, you’re not getting the overshare that you were willing to give,” I say as Jack pouts and as I look at him I’ve got to put out of my mind how hot and good-looking he is these days. Talking about my love life and sex life is weird enough with my friends as it is and then with Bec it’s weirder again and although Jack has known about me and Corey together for quite a while, it’s still so weird talking to him about it.

Jack stops for a minute “Alright how about a compromise, tell me what happened between you and Corey because I’ve never actually known what you two had going on

“Well you know about me and Corey and what I guess you can call it dating, but it was nothing serious because we wanted different things in the relationship because we were exclusive but he didn’t see a long-term romantic future together but saw it more as a sex thing and that at the end of the day he wanted to get married to a girl,” Jack sits there nodding his head as he didn’t realise how serious things were on my end of what happened.