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Chapter 35: The Place Downtown Where the Freaks All Come Around

Mark sat at the edge of Mason's bed, glancing up from his phone every once in a while to see Mason tear through his closet.

"I want something that's chill but also a little sexy." Mason told Mark as he came back out of his closet, his clothes a terrible mess behind him. "Like, 'I don't want to pull any of you guys but if I wanted to, I could.' You know?"

Mark did understand the explanation, but still laughed at the ridiculous way in which Mason chose to phrase it.

"Why don't you want to pull anyone else?" Mark asked him, seeming to not particularly care about the answer. Mason opened his mouth to speak but quickly snapped it shut when he realized what he'd been about to say.

Because I'm taken.

But the problem was that he wasn't.

"I don't know. I just don't feel like it today." Mason chose to say instead. He sent a curious look Mark's way from the corner of his eye.

Mason hoped that Mark would let him know if he was sleeping with a third party. Apart from the emotional toll it would take on him to find out Mark was seeing someone else, Mason also wanted to be aware of STD possibilities and such. But, Mark's question made Mason realize that they hadn't established if that was mandatory in their relationship or not. So, to Mason's horror, there was a chance that even if Mark already was, he hadn't told him.

Was Mark actively getting into relationships with other people while they were still sleeping together? Did he entertain the thought when others flirted with him? Did he flirt back? Somehow, the thought had never crossed Mason's mind before. Now, it was going to be hard to not obsess over the possibility.

Mason went for a pair of loose ripped jeans. The style of it was more common in women's fashion and heightened Mason's femininity. He decided to base his outfit around it and go for a more woman's street look.

When Mason finished Adams's nursing intensive, he expected to quickly drift away from nearly everyone he'd met there. But to his pleasant surprise, many stayed in touch. In the weeks following their graduation, Mason had actually become closer to some people that did the course as well.

Today, he and Mark were going out with some friends from the nursing intensive again. In a group chat originally made to give everyone the address to the club the first time they went out, people had talked about how they had to do it again. And voila, another date had been set.

For Mason, it couldn't have come at a better time. It hadn't been a week since Jasmine went off on him for not hanging out with her enough and Mason wanted to forget the situation. It made him uncomfortable to think about all the things Jasmine had screamed in his face so he found it easier to pretend like it had never happened.

But, after being friends for so long, Mason was especially annoyed that Jasmine waited so long to say that she had an issue with him. He thought everything was fine between them so her sudden anger came as a shock.

That made Mason look back at the man sitting on his bed. This guy wasn't just her brother, he was her literal twin. He should know her better than anyone else in the world. But he hadn't said a peep about Jasmine being upset, getting dumped, or knowing about their relationship.

"Hey Mark?" He called out, continuing on after Mark let out a 'hmm?' "Why didn't you tell me that Jasmine knows we're sleeping together?"

"What?!" Mark exclaimed, his mouth dropping open in shock. "She knows?"

Mason didn't know whether to find Mark's ignorance frustrating or cute.

"She was telling me how she told you to pull me away at A&A's anniversary because she knew." He said, reciting Jasmine's words from earlier. "She's known for a while now."

"Oh! I thought she was just teasing me like usual. I didn't realize that all those looks came from proof this time."

Thinking back on it, Jasmine has been subtly and obviously pushing for them to date for years. It made sense that her teasing before and after it actually happened would look fairly similar.

"Okay, I understand that." Mason accepted with a hum, looking at the front of a band t-shirt with interest. "Then, why didn't you tell me she broke up with her boyfriend?"

Instead of the shock Mark displayed after Mason's first question, he now sat very still, blank eyes staring down at the carpet. He stayed quiet for a brief moment. When Mason looked at his expression, it was as if he was replaying the entire experience of comforting his heartbroken sister in his head and seeing it all again.

"It wasn't my place."  Was his final answer. He said the words softly, as if Jasmine could hear them if he said it too loud.

The topic of the breakup obviously made Mark uncomfortable as well, so Mason debated asking the question that suddenly came to mind. Yet, he didn't think there would be another chance.

"Did she tell you not to tell me?"

Mark didn't respond but his silence was enough.

"She wanted to tell you herself." Mark explained. His natural instinct to protect his sister made him speak before he reconsidered the words.

"In person."

Mason muttered the words to himself so Mark couldn't hear them. For some reason, hearing Mark confirm that Jasmine really planned to tell him made some guilt begin to trinkle its way into Mason's mind. Then, he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be forgetting about all of this, not bringing it up.

With a strengthened resolve, Mason tried to throw himself into having a good time tonight. He knew that he deserved it and would make sure that he enjoyed it. Mason grabbed the band T he saw earlier and realized it would go perfectly over his long-sleeved, black, fishnet shirt. Mason tucks the shirt into his jeans and steps back into his bedroom to admire his work. His hips are far narrower than his shoulders, but having these jeans be loose and high-waisted helped create more of an hourglass shape.

Off to the side of his own reflection, Mason caught Mark staring at him.

"Like what you see?" Mason teased him, leaning into his right hip as he did so. Instead of getting embarrassed like Mason expected, Mark kept a fully straight face as he said.

"Yes."

Mark's phone fell onto the bed with a quiet thump as he made his way over to Mason. Even though he'd just put them on, Mason didn't protest when Mark started to untuck his shirt or undo his belt. Because of that, it took another half hour for them to leave Mason's house for the club.

—————

Mason, Tobias, and Aubrey were sweating when they took a break. They were seated at a small table pushed near the wall of the club. As Mason fanned himself with his hand, trying to cool himself down, he looked out at the familiar club. He'd been here countless times before and was now very familiar with the old chairs, upper terrace, and see of bodies out in front of him.

"God, I'm sweating bullets." Tobias complained loudly. He wiped his forehead with his arm then grimaced when he saw the sheen left behind.

"You think that's bad?" Aubrey said, the light challenge in her voice perking Tobias's interest. "I was the idiot who thought long sleeves made sense when jumping for five hours straight."

Mason saw why she felt the need to complain. Her dress was well suited for a club like this, dark and sexy. But where most girls had dresses which showed off more skin at the chest and thighs, Aubrey's dress was tight and black with long sleeves and a high neck. It showed off her figure beautifully but left her with little ventilation.

Mason and Tobias just nodded their heads in agreement. They couldn't do much else to help her. Aubrey pulled at the collar of her dress while she fanned at herself, desperately trying to get the air under her dress. After doing this for a few seconds, she gave up. Ignoring how hot she felt, Aubrey turned her attention to the two men sitting in front of her.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" She asked them casually. She leant her cheek on her pal with a smile, tired eyes moving back and forth between the boys.

Tobias looked to Mason expectantly as if waiting for him to speak. However, removing the Mark situation, Mason would bet his left kidney that Tobias's life was far more interesting than his. When Mason gestured towards Tobias, pushing him to go instead, Tobias relented and talked first.

"Uh, I recently got a job at a VR place." Tobias told them somewhat shyly. Mason and Aubrey perked up at that.

"That's so cool." Mason gasped while Aubrey nodded along in agreement. Tobias was untouched by their enthusiasm though and just shrugged his shoulders.

"It's fine I guess. There aren't tons of opportunities to play with the headsets when you're working and some days can be really slow."

The two others seated at the table made sympathetic noises, muffling their excitement to be understanding.

"I guess that happens with any job." Aubrey commented, thinking of her own experiences.

"Yeah. But, it's one of the better jobs to have. I know I'm lucky to have it." Tobias told them, scratching his scalp which was covered by his quickly growing curly hair. Quickly, he began to backtrack a bit on his complaints when he realized how ungrateful he sounded. "It also pays pretty well and I'm trying to save up some pocket money before I start school this fall. My parents aren't going to have a ton of extra money after they pay for school."

Mason mentally thanked his own monetary situation. He didn't consider himself rich like the Tyler's but he never worried that college at any level would be too much for them. The money had just always been there. That was why he could go a whole year without working because his parents could provide for their family and some.

"So what about you, Mason?" Tobias asked. He wore a pleased smile on his face. Mason suspected he was happy to be the one to put the attention on Mason now.

"I'm doing research on the different ways one can do nothing." He explained to them, leaning forward and pushing an imaginary pair of glasses up his nose. "I discovered that using your phone on your bed and using your phone on the couch both get you sideway glances from your judgemental mom. It's riveting work."

Tobias shook his head while Aubrey chuckled into her hand.

"That's really great for you then." She grinned politely, getting a nod from Mason in return. "I'm kind of in the same boat as Tobias. Since we stopped with the intensive, I went back to my normal hours at the restaurant I work at."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you work at a restaurant." Tobias interjected, a look of recognition on his face. "I hear those are the worst jobs."

"Kind of. The worst part isn't the basic job requirements, but the customers. You'd be surprised how dumb these people are on a regular basis." She explained to them.  "But I'm going to be getting a job on campus when classes start up again. I can't wait until I don't have to say 'Yes ma'am, of course I'll get the manager' knowing full well the woman still won't get her side for free."

Even as Aubrey remains scowling at the memory of her annoying customer, Mason and Tobias laugh at her story.

Their conversation moved away from work, naturally breezing through a few different topics. Finally, they talked about their plans for the rest of the night. They'd been here for two hours already and were still far from drunk. Luckily, they had plenty of time left to fix that and create goals for the night.

"I'm just trying to chill with my friends tonight," Tobias stated as his goal. "I'm not really one for hooking up with people without a connection anyway, so . . ."

"Oh come on, Tobias." Mason groaned, annoyed. "You and Aubrey both went off with people to get laid and will probably get lucky again tonight."

"Why are you bringing me into this?" Aubrey moaned in joking annoyance. She looked at Mason incredulously who just raised his hands in surrender. "Between the two of us, Tobias is the only one who got any action. I tried to get lucky last time but he wasn't actually looking for sex. Just some heavy petting and a blowjob--which I did not give him by the way. I mean, you really expect me to suck you off while you give me nothing?"

Aubrey actually waited for the boys to give her a response and they both nodded yes, making her release a self-righteous 'humph.'

"So, yeah, hopefully things go better for me tonight."

Mason and Tobias both wished her good luck, which she accepted with gracious nods. Mason, however, was now thinking about the black man sitting across from him, trying to avoid his eye.

"So, Tobias, did you actually sleep with Aliyah?" Mason questioned, an excited grin on his lips. Tobias stared at Mason's expectant expression for a beat before sighing.

"Yeah, we did. We had a good time too but in the morning I woke up to a note about how she didn't want any commitment and was sorry if she led me on, bla bla bla." Tobias began, his voice rising the more he spoke. Mason realized he'd unknowingly stepped on a rant landmine and Tobias wasn't going to finish anytime soon. "I mean, I'm not gonna say I wasn't planning on asking her out before we parted ways, but I just find it rude how instead of telling me before we had sex, she just scribbled it on a note and ran away. And today, when we all met up, she was avoiding me like the plague. How does she know I'm not overjoyed that she did my work for me, establishing that we shouldn't make this into a thing?"

While Aubrey tried to figure out how to react to the sudden onslaught of words coming out of Tobias's mouth, Mason spurred him on. He agreed with everything Tobias said to get him to keep talking. He was really enjoying this story. When Tobias finally finished getting out his frustrations, his shoulders felt a little lighter. He'd really been holding on to that for too long.

"Well," Aubrey chuckled softly, crossing her fingers in front of her. "I can definitely say I'm not like her. I tell you straight up what I want to do and how little I expect from you once we finish."

"That's good." Tobias smiled. He clearly found that trait to be important. Mason was about to agree but stopped when his eyes noticed a tall man with long black hair staring intently at the woman in front of him. Mason smiled.

"Speaking of. I think that guy over there is staring at you, Aubrey." He told her, his eyes squinting from the strength of his closed-mouth smile.

"Really?"

Aubrey's head snapped back as she turned, noticing the man maybe ten steps away. Mason found it hard to pinpoint his race, but after a bit more thought assumed his family came from an island in the pacific. Aubrey obviously wasn't concerned about any of that. Her eyes trailed down his body then back up to his eyes with a devilish smile.

"Okay guys. I'm gonna go and try to handle that. I'll see you later!" She called out happily, waving to her friends before strutting over to the attractive man.

With Aubrey leaving, the remaining two boys thought it was a good idea to return to the dance floor. Where last time they'd all gone their separate ways early into the night, this time they promised they would try to stay together, at least on the dance floor. Most of the people they came with were dancing where Mason, Tobias, and Aubrey had left them. The group cheered at the sight of Tobias and Mason before going back to whatever they'd been doing.

Mason was deciding who he'd dance with when felt a familiar presence draping itself along his back.

"Hey Mason." Gabe smiled, speaking into his ear. Even though he was incredibly close, Gabe still had to yell the words to make sure Mason could hear him. The music was just that loud.

"Hey Gabe!" Mason called back. He turned around in Gabe's arms, grabbing Gabe's shoulders. "Having fun?"

"I am now." He smirked, eyeing Mason darkly.

Mason laughed at Gabe's cheesy line and began to dance to the music. It was super upbeat and most of the people around them were just jumping up and down. Mason started to do that too but stopped when Gabe's hands fell on his hips. Pulling the shorter man closer to his body, Gabe started leading Mason in a two step. It seemed a little weird to do since no one else was, but that made it easier for Gabe to keep Mason close to him.

Mason went along with it easily. It was fun to do something different and Gabe was actually a pretty good dancer. The two of them danced together for three more songs, moving on the dance floor while leaving very little space between them. Mason's hands would move from Gabe's shoulders to arms or neck but Gabe kept his hands firmly on Mason's hips.

After three songs, though, Mason was getting sweaty again. And being so close to someone else was making the situation worse. With an apology, Mason pulled away and moved a few steps away between two of their other friends to continue dancing.

As Mason started dancing by himself again, his eyes found Mark who was dancing alone while staring at him. Mark's expression was dark and glowering as he looked at Mason who now wondered what he'd done wrong. Mark made a motion with his head, nodding towards the bathroom, before he walked in that direction.

He was going to the bathroom and wanted Mason to follow.

After waiting for about thirty seconds, Mason walked away too, heading for the bathroom. Mason found Mark waiting outside of the bathroom door, his arms crossed over his chest while he stared down at the floor. Mason was pulled into the bathroom and into the furthest stall from the door. The men already using the bathroom avoided eye contact with them and within seconds were walking out. They had already come to conclusions about what Mason and Mark planned to do in there.

Mark had the door locked and Mason pressed against it in seconds. Mason's mind struggled to catch up to the sheer speed of it all. Mark then caged Mason in, his hands resting on the door on both sides of Mason's head. Now, with the best privacy they could get in this club, Mark leaned in for a kiss. For all the anger and frustration Mark seemed to demonstrate earlier, this kiss was gentle and slow. He opened Mason's mouth up with a practised ease and took his time coaxing delicious sounds out of the shorter man using only his lips. Mason didn't know what to think and eventually gave up on trying to. Mark's slow but pointed attack was quickly leaving him breathless and waiting for more.

Yet, he never went further. The entire time, his hands stayed where he'd placed them earlier. He hadn't even let his body touch Mason who, ruined skillfully by the kiss, hadn't thought to reach out and pull Mark in.

When Mark pulled back, Mason's hair and clothes looked exactly as they had before he'd kissed him. But his face. His cheeks were flushed a gorgeous pink and his lips were swollen and looked even softer than before. Mason stared up at Mark with half-lidded eyes, completely turned on and stunned.

"What was that for?" He croaked, his voice hoarse. Mark bit his bottom lip, looking away from the man in front of him.

"No reason. Just wanted to kiss you."

Mason wasn't sure if he believed him. The way he'd handled Mason had been unlike anything he'd ever experienced with him or anyone else. It couldn't have come from nothing. But Mark didn't offer up any explanations. He pecked Mason briefly on the lips again then made his way out of the bathroom.

Instead of following him back to the dance floor, Mason sat down on the closest chair to the bathroom's entrance, trying to figure out what had just happened. His brain came up blank for a while, supplying him with no cause for the kiss. It appeared to have come out of nowhere. One second Mark was mad and the next, doing the tonsil tango with Mason.

Then, he remembered how he'd found Mark already staring at him. Could Mark have been watching him when he danced with Gabe for three songs straight? Was that why he was mad? Because he was . . . jealous?

Mason's heart leapt with a sudden feeling of hope. People could get jealous and possessive over people they didn't really care about, Mason knew. But for a little while, he let himself imagine that maybe, just maybe, Mark was jealous because he cared. Cared more than a friend.

Mason couldn't be sure that his theory was correct and thought it best not to bring it up with Mark. But, he stayed by Mark's side for the rest of the night. They jumped and grinded depending on the song but always did so together. And Mason was pleased to notice that Mark never looked angry again.

——————————————————————

Okay, who is this new Miriam and what have you done with the old one?

This is going to be my FOURTH, I repeat, FOURTH WEEK IN A ROW!

The OG's now you used to be lucky if you got once a month.

Honestly, it feels nice to update regularly. The book is steadily going along the path to completion and that's very exciting.

Anywhore,

Vote, Comment, Share, Follow, anything else you can do with this book and I will see you next week (hopefully). Bye!!!

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