Jase tossed his shoes on top of a pile of dirty clothes and shrugged. “You don't have to ask. There should be clean towels in there somewhere. Just go use it and do whatever you need to do.”
Luis glanced at the pile of unwashed clothes and frowned. It must have been a week's worth of worn sweat socks and underwear. He wasn't sure whether to gag or fall down and bury his face in Jase's used jock straps. Luis had always been the extreme perfectionist when it came to keeping a clean house, but he also liked sweaty jock straps, too. “I opened that new tooth brush in the bathroom. I hope it's okay. I'll buy another one.”
Jase must have seen him looking at the dirty clothes strewn all over the floor. He took on a defensive tone and ignored the tooth brush. “I get to the laundry about once every two weeks. My mom and gram are trying to teach me how to do my own laundry and I figure it's best to let it all pile up and do it at one time.”
Luis smiled. The entire room smelled like a college locker room, but it didn't offend Luis. Jase never liked to do laundry. In their future, if Luis didn't do the laundry Jase would just as soon throw out his underwear and socks and buy new ones. “I'll help you out if you want,” he said. “I don't mind doing laundry. Actually, I kind of like doing it.”
Jase yawned and stretched his arms up above his head. “Have a blast. The washer and dryer are in the basement. Do you mind if I watch a little TV before we turn in.”
Luis turned back toward the bathroom. “No problem. I like to watch TV at night myself.” He had a feeling the viewing choices were limited. He wasn't even sure if they had cable in Alaska in 1986.
After Luis took a quick shower, he dried off and styled his hair. He knew what he was about to do was bold. But he'd already warned Jase he liked to sleep in the nude. He wiped up the shower and sink, and then he placed the wet towel neatly over the towel bar. He made sure the bathroom was in perfect order; he even rearranged the soap dish and toothbrush holder. Before he ventured into the bedroom in the nude, he looked into the full length mirror and took a deep breath. He'd eaten a lot more than he usually ate and he was hoping Jase wouldn't think he looked fat. But Luis always felt this way, even though he was about ten pounds underweight.
When he went back to the bedroom, Jase was already stretched out in bed. He was on his back, on top of the covers, wearing gray sweat pants and no shirt. He still had on his sweat socks and his feet were crossed. Luis glanced quickly at Jase's lean young torso. His chest muscles were naturally defined and his stomach muscles trailed down to his groin. Though Jase's hot body wouldn't change too much in the future, it was tighter and slightly leaner now. But Luis didn't look at Jase for longer than a second or two. He was afraid if he did his true feelings would be too obvious.
The sun had finally gone down. Luis loved the long sunny days in Alaska, but he embraced the darkness that night. There was only a dim lamp shaped like a wagon wheel on a table next to the bed. The rest of the light came from the bluish gray glare of television screen. It was the right amount of light for Jase to see every inch of Luis's naked body. But it was still subtle enough for Luis to feel comfortable. If Jase was surprised to see him naked, he didn't let on about it. He acted as if Luis were just another guy walking around the men's locker room.
So Luis carried his clothes to a chair near the end of the bed and set them down carefully so they wouldn't wrinkle. When he did this, he turned his back to Jase and bent over slightly. He knew Jase would get the best view of his ass this way. He even spread his legs a little and arched his back in a way that wasn't too obvious. And he lingered in this position far longer than he should have, arranging his clothes in just the right way. The hardest part of all this for Luis was to concentrate on not getting an erection. He knew if he did it might freak Jase out.
When his clothes were neatly arranged and he knew Jase had seen plenty, he stood up and slowly walked back to the bathroom.
“Where you going?” Jase asked.
Luis stopped and sent Jase a glance over his shoulder. “I wanted to get a glass of water. Would you like something?” He wanted Jase to watch him walk around naked. He couldn't have cared less about the glass of water.
Jase pretended he was watching a late night talk show on TV. He didn't look up once while Luis spoke to him. All he said was, “Nope, I'm good.”
By the time Luis returned, Jase was under the covers. So was his right arm. He was holding a small, uncomplicated TV remote in his left hand. It sounded like David Letterman was on TV, but Luis didn't look. Luis wondered if Jase had an erection. He tried to see if he was stroking anything under the covers, but it was too hard to see in the dim light. He walked to the left side of the bed and pulled back the covers just enough to crawl under them without disturbing Jase's side of the bed. But when he turned to set down the glass of water and realized there wasn't a night stand on his side of the bed he wasn't sure what to do.
He glanced down at Jase. He was either watching TV or pretending to watch. He heard David Letterman introduce Larry Bud Mellman and then a round of canned laughter. When Larry Bud walked onto the stage, Jase started to laugh. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to Luis at all. Luis couldn't put a full glass of water down on the floor. The only viable place to set the glass of water down was on the night stand on Jase's side of the bed. So he climbed up on the bed without asking Jase first. Then he leaned over Jase's waist, arched his back, and said, “I want to put this on the table.”
Jase stopped laughing and went dead still. He didn't say a word. He pulled his arms back as if he were terrified of touching any part of Luis's body. Luis took his time setting the glass of water down, too. His ass was only a few inches from Jase's face. He thought about faking a fall and winding up on Jase's lap but decided it would be too aggressive and Jase might kick him out of bed. It was hard to tell how a so-called straight guy who was fighting strong gay tendencies would react in situations like this.
When Luis crawled back to his side of the bed, he decided not to get under the covers. He turned around and went down on his stomach. He positioned his hips a little to the side so his ass would face Jase. Then he rested his head against the pillow and faced the wall. When he did this, the room became dead silent. If Larry Bud Mellman hadn't been speaking on TV, the only sounds in the room would have been Jase and Luis breathing.
A few minutes later, Jase yawned and stretched out his legs. He cleared his throat a few times, and then said, “You ever jack with other dudes?”
Luis opened his eyes. Of all the things he could have predicted, this was the least of them. “What do you mean?” He reached back, without looking over at Jase, and ran his hand up and down his thigh very slowly. He did this in an innocent way, as if he were scratching an itch. But he made sure he ran his hand across his ass a few times.