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“What the actual hell, man,” Cosmo said when Tobey got out of the shower.
“What the actual hell indeed, Cosmo,” Tobey replied, rubbing his hair with the towel. He had gotten dressed in the small motel bathroom while still wet and he felt very sticky and almost as though that shower had not been beneficial at all. He could still feel the imprint of Emmett’s lips against his. “Why are you mad at me this time?”
Cosmo held up his cell phone. “Benny says she saw you kissing her dad downstairs.”
“Oh, that.”
“’Oh, that’? Seriously? Emmett isn’t gay! You’re going to freak him out and then he’s going to tell everybody that we’re rando city pervs and I’ll never get to hang out with Benny again! And we’ll have to stay in Chicago forever with the rest of the pervs!”
“You’re the one freaking out,” Tobey snapped. He should just remain calm and explain everything to Cosmo, but he hated it when Cosmo took the apocalyptic approach. Couldn’t Cosmo just let him have a couple minutes of happiness?
“You’re the one who said twenty times that we’re only staying for the summer. So what happens if Emmett thinks this is a real thing and then you leave him again?”
“First you say he’s not gay, now you think he’s going to get serious on me? Make up your mind, Cosmo,” Tobey replied, flinging himself on a bed.
“Either way it’s going to end badly,” Cosmo said.
“Shut up and go to bed.”
“It’s only nine o’clock,” Cosmo replied.
Tobey flipped on the television. “Then shut up and watch some TV. Or take a swim in the pool. Or walk to the end of town and back. Just leave me and my personal life alone.”
“You seem to have forgotten that your personal life is my personal life. You’ve always said that no matter what, we were in this together, that you would always include me. Remember?”
Tobey turned up the volume of NCIS. God, he hated this show. And Cosmo knew it too, which meant he knew how much Tobey didn’t want to talk right now.
Cosmo grabbed the remote and turned it down. “Tobey.”
“Cos. Please. Stop assuming that I’m Timmy and going to screw everything up,” Tobey said.
Cosmo opened his mouth to argue, but Tobey got up and stomped out the door.
“Tobey!” Cosmo called.
Tobey walked down the stairs to where he had kissed Emmett less than an hour before. He took some deep breaths. Cosmo was just looking out for him, and as much as Tobey didn’t want to admit it, he had made a few bad choices in the dating department over the years. He didn’t know what he was doing now. Maybe he would screw this up too.
His truck was gone. Still back up at the house. He wandered toward the ice maker and soda machines, pulled out his phone. He thought about texting, but then his thumb hit the call button, and he let it ring.
“Tobey?” Emmett picked up on the third ring. “Is something...wrong?”
“No. Kind of. I don’t know. Benny told Cosmo what happened and he’s not happy about it.”
“Oh.”
“How’s Benny?”
“She was surprised, but I think she’s okay. She thinks all relationships are gross. She’s eleven.”
Emmett had said relationships, like that’s what this was. “Em, you know we’re just staying for the summer, right?”
“I know,” Emmett said, his voice quieter than before. “Can I be happy that you’re here while you’re here? I’ve had enough of being sad that someone’s gone.”
“Sure,” Tobey said. “I like that plan.”
“Okay. Look, uh, I want to talk to you, but I have some overtime to get to.”
“Right, you should do that,” Tobey said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He hung up before the conversation could linger. He walked back and forth the ground floor for a few minutes before going back up to the room.
Cosmo had put on his earbuds and was playing a game on his phone.
Tobey pulled a bud out of his right ear.
“Tobey!”
“Look, son. You have every right to be upset about me kissing Emmett, but he kissed me first. And I like him, so I’m probably going to kiss him again. And I think you’re old enough to hear that sometimes I’m going to do things that make me happy for now even if they might not work out. So can you try to understand and let this go?”
Cosmo stared at his dad for a minute. Then he put his earbud back in. “Whatever.”
Tobey counted this as a win and went back to watching TV. NCIS was over and now Golden Girls was showing. He wasn’t sure that was better, but he didn’t have the energy to channel surf. He fell asleep to canned laughter.