Isabelle winked at Luis, as if she already knew the truth and she was just having fun with Jase. “I had a feeling Luis helped. But it looks great. You two boys did a wonderful job.”
Jase grunted something, scratched his nuts, gave Luis a guilty look, and went back to his math.
After the soap, they watched the first fifteen minutes of the local news again. When the weather report was over, Isabelle and Judah went up to bed. They asked Jase to let Millie and Mollie out one last time for the night. Luis said he'd do it; he didn't mind. But Jase gathered his books and said, “I'm finished. I've been studying for this test for two weeks. If I don't know it by now, I never will.”
Isabelle kissed him goodnight and said, “I'm sure you do, sweetheart.” She looked at Luis and nodded. “Jase was always good at math. I don't know where he gets it either, because I suck. When I add two and two, I come up with six.”
When Isabelle and Judah were upstairs, Luis said, “Are you sure you don't want me to let the dogs out? I don't mind.”
Jase stretched and yawned. He scratched his nuts again and belched. “I've got it,” he said. “You go up and do what you have to do in the bathroom. I'll be up in a few minutes. I want to get something from the car.”
“Okay.”
As Luis turned to leave, Jase laughed and said, “Make yourself smell nice like last night. I like that.”
Luis glared at him. But not in a mean way. He knew Jase was teasing. “You're an idiot and an asshole.”
“I know.” Then he smiled and belched even louder.
By the time Luis came out of the shower, Jase was already sitting up in bed and Johnny Carson had finished his monologue. Jase wore the same gray sweat pants, but no socks and no shirt.
Luis came out of the bathroom naked, the same way he'd come out the night before. Though he wasn't certain anything would happen again, he was hoping there would be another jack off session before they went to bed. But that's all he was hoping for. He had no intention of seducing Jase or making any moves: one, because he didn't want to suffer the rejection if Jase freaked out on him, and two, because he didn't think Jase was ready for it.
When Jase noticed him, he said, “Thanks for cleaning up. I would have helped.”
“I don't mind. After all, you're helping me out. I wanted to do it.”
“It looks good. I'm not the neatest guy around. I'm a freaking slob.”
Luis shrugged. “It wasn't too bad. You're not a slob. You're just a normal guy.”
Jase laughed. “You're too nice sometimes. I'm a slob.”
Jase was busy doing something with his hands on the bed; he wasn't really paying attention. Luis walked to the light switch and asked, “Can I turn this off now?” The large overheard light on the ceiling was on and the room was bright ... too bright to walk around naked. Being a model, there was nothing Luis detested more than being lit from above.
Jase didn't look up. He continued to fumble with what he was doing. “Sure, I'll put on the small light.” Then he reached over and turned on the wagon wheel lamp on the nightstand.
When the room was darker, Luis crossed to the bed and pulled back the covers. But when he climbed into bed and saw what Jase was doing, he pressed his palm to his chest and gaped. “Is that what I think it is? I can't believe you're doing that with your grandparents in the house.”
Jase smiled, without looking up. “I got it from a buddy at school today. He said it's really good stuff. Don't worry about my grandparents. I know they do it sometimes, too.”
Luis was no expert, but he knew Jase was rolling a joint. “Are you going to smoke that right now?” Luis had never been into drugs of any kind. He was a social drinker. But he could go for weeks without alcohol and never even miss it. He didn't even feel comfortable taking aspirin.
Jase looked at him with a devious, naughty smile. “I figured we'd both try it out. I hardly ever do it.”
“Ah well,” Luis said. “Tomorrow is a school day and you have a test. Maybe we should wait.”
Jase flung him a glance. “You've never done it before, have you?”
Luis rolled his eyes. He'd done everything Jase was still dreaming about at least three times. But he didn't want to sound smug about it. “I've done it a few times. It's just not my thing.”
Jase smoothed out the joint, put a small plastic bag on top of the nightstand, and picked up a book of matches. “That's okay. I don't mind smoking alone. There will be more for me. You can sit and watch me have all the fun.”
A minute or two later, Luis inhaled the familiar aroma and sighed. He had to admit the joint smelled good. And though smoking pot wasn't something he would miss if it wasn't around, he hated ignoring it when it was around.
Jase must have seen him inhale and hold his breath, because when Jase exhaled a long stream of smoke, he passed the joint over to Luis and said, “You sure you don't want to at least try it. It's good stuff.”
Luis thought for a moment. A few drags couldn't hurt. So he took the joint and inhaled as deeply as he could.
Jase watched him and smiled. The full effects hadn't kicked in yet. But about twenty minutes later, they were laughing about something ridiculous Johnny Carson had just said and Luis wasn't even sure what it was. Jase punched him playfully a few times and made fun of his smooth legs. Luis gave Jase a shove and told him he had knobby knees. When Jase started punching Luis again, Luis turned over and begged him to stop. But he didn't stop laughing; he really wanted Jase to continue and Jase seemed to know it.
When they stopped horsing around, Jase stamped out the joint in a small disposable tin ash tray and set it on the nightstand. Luis sat back, propped-up against pillows, and watched TV without speaking. He hadn't been this relaxed in ages. Everything around him moved slower and easier. His body tingled from the tips of his toes to the tops of his ears and all he wanted to do was enjoy the moment. Luis would have been perfectly content to remain there in the dark silence until they both drifted off to sleep.
But Jase rested back against his pillows and said, “We should jack again.”
Luis turned his head slowly. He'd been daydreaming about the way Jase had been manhandling him and punching him. “You're horny because of the pot, aren't you?”
Jase nodded yes. He pulled his sweat pants down to his knees and grabbed his semi-erect dick. “That's what happens when I smoke. I can't help it. It's like magic.” He slapped his dick against his thigh and laughed.
Luis knew this was true. Luis didn't always get horny when he smoked pot. He preferred to sit back and stare into space and dream. But the few times he and Jase had smoked pot in the future Luis noticed the only thing on Jase's mind was sex. They even joked around about how pot was like Viagra for Jase. So Luis reached down and grabbed his own dick. He was surprised to see he was almost fully erect, too. Luis started stroking and said, “You were right. That was good stuff. I haven't felt this good in a long time.”