Jerk

“Quit calling me that!”

“Hey, Prisha likes it better,” I remind him, “so you should probably get used to it.” Then I consider the more casual t-shirt again, holding it up to me with a frown.

Jonathan sits on the bed with a huff. Then he flops onto his back and stares at the ceiling in misery. “Maybe I want a one-of-a-kind lady in my life. Someone special, smart, and driven. Someone …” He grabs his head. “What the hell am I talking about? I’m losing my mind here!”

“Actually, yes, I will do a shirt and tie. Danny will appreciate the effort.” I smile, then whip off my towel and toss it at the bed.

The towel lands on Jonathan’s face. He doesn’t even budge. “I can’t stop thinking about her!” he moans from underneath the towel, muffled.

“I should feel a protective instinct when it comes to Prisha,” I say as I button up my shirt, “but she’s a woman who can take care of herself. So if you want to try it, be my guest, but don’t be surprised when she turns you down hard and breaks your heart.”

He sits up at once, the towel flinging right off of him. “Breaks my heart?”

I pull on my pants, tuck in my shirt, then walk up to Jonathan as I do my belt. “If you want to prove you’re worthy of Prisha, you have to be willing to put yourself second for once.”

“Second …?”

“Yeah. Y’know.” I turn to face the mirror as I adjust my tie. “The exact opposite of what we’ve been doing this past year.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What I mean is …” I finish with my tie, do my cuffs, then smirk at myself in the mirror. “… Rome is making a comeback. Maybe it’s time Jonty does the same.”

Jonathan is still staring at me, baffled, when I go into the bathroom to do my hair and finish getting pretty. He doesn’t say anything else. When I emerge to get his approval, he only looks up at me with this strange, faraway look in his eyes.

For a moment, I see Jonty in them. Lost. Confused. Vulnerable. Curious. Quiet.

“Do I look good?” I ask him.

And it’s with that same “Jonty” glint in his eyes that he peers at me thoughtfully and says, “I think I need to make amends with my big brother. I’m going to call him. Tonight, actually, right when I get home.” He smiles. “And yes, you look good. You look ready.”

I smile, proud of my friend. And I sure as fuck hope I’m as ready as you think, buddy.

Jonty and I head out together. When we pop out of the door to my apartment building, we stop short on the stoop.

Danny is standing there, leaning against a nearby streetlamp. He’s dressed in a sexy, fitted button-down shirt over a pair of slim jeans, with a pop of color for his shoes. His hair is styled adorably, and his eyes sparkle as he gazes up at the sky. When he sees me, his eyes light up and a smile spills over his face.

Jonty gives me a knowing look, says, “Good luck, buddy,” then heads off, hands in his pockets, with a pensive expression, likely thinking over his own troubling dilemma.

But that’s the last thing on my mind, now that Danny is in front of me. “I thought we were—?”

“Wow,” says Danny, taking me in from head to toe. “You sure know how to clean up.”

I come up to him. “Weren’t we meeting at the restaurant?”

“We were,” he says to my chest. “But I thought you could maybe use some company.” He meets my eyes. “Maybe we should’ve gotten a reservation at a fancy restaurant, considering—”

“Oh, you think I’m overdressed?” I come closer to him. “This isn’t a reflection of where we’re going. This is a reflection of how I feel about you. The effort I think a person like you deserves.”

Danny lifts an eyebrow. “That so?”

“You’ve seen me at my worst. You’ve seen me at my weakest. You deserve to see me at my best. I want to be the man of your dreams, Danny, and … and I’m ready to do whatever it takes to become that. Whatever it takes.”

He gazes into my eyes, taking all of that in.

Then he squints at me. “Well, maybe we should just start with dinner first …?”

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit overdramatic. “Dinner first,” I agree, laughing self-consciously.

As we make the walk, I can’t help but feel giddy, like a high school teenager walking with his prom date to the dance. Now and then, our hands graze, or our shoulders bump on the busier streets. My heart races with every step. It is amazing how much power Danny has over me. He has a way of peeling down my walls with such expertise and compassion, it makes me question why I had any walls up at all. He makes me feel the most “me”, no matter what version of that he happens to encounter.