Chapter 13
Seth was sulking. He sat back in his chair in the students’ lounge and scowled blackly at Jordan, who was laughing at him. Frankie shook his head. But before he could say anything to try to diffuse the situation, Jordan threw gasoline on the fire. “Never mind, Seth,” he said cheerfully. “You lost. We can all accept that fact. You don’t have to actually go for a month without sex, because we all know you’d never make it. I’m letting you out of it. Isn’t that nice of me?” his eyes gleamed as he teased Seth for his own amusement.
Seth’s scowl deepened. “You’re letting me out of it because you think that I can’t do it,” he growled.
Jordan nodded, propping his chin in his hand. “That’s right,” he agreed.
Frankie looked from one to the other as Seth snarled: “Fuck you, Jordan. I lost the bet fair and square. I’m gonna do it and show you,” he pointed a finger at the actor, rage flashing in his amber eyes.
Jordan tilted his head to the side. “Are you? This I have to see,” he said.
Seth glowered at him, sitting forward and resting his hands flat on the table in front of him. “I’ll do it,” he said in a low, furious voice. “And when I do, I’m gonna make you eat your words.”
“Will you?” Jordan lifted a brow, looking interested. “I’m looking forward to that. I’ll tell you what, Seth - if you can actually do it, if you can go without sex for a whole month - I’ll hold up my end of the bet.”
Seth stared at him suspiciously. “You’ll have sex with me?” he demanded.
Jordan nodded easily. “Sure, why not? For one thing, I don’t for a moment think that I’ll have to pay up,” he said, his eyes alight.
Seth looked like he was going to lunge across the tabletop and go after Jordan. Frankie said hurriedly: “How are you going to know whether he manages to make it or not?” he asked, diverting their attention to him. They both looked at him questioningly and he shrugged. “What if Seth has sex on the sly? How are you going to know that he broke his word?”
Jordan grinned. “I can take care of that,” he pulled out his cell phone and held it out to Seth across the table. “This has a camera in it with a date and time stamp. You’ll have to take a picture of yourself every hour on the hour while you’re awake, to prove that you’re not with anyone about to have sex. I’ll want that back once the month’s up, and in good condition. If you break it you buy it. Frankie will show you how to use it properly,” he added.
Seth snatched the phone from him, scowling blackly. “I can figure it out myself,” he muttered.
Jordan nodded, but his lips twitched. “If even one of the pictures doesn’t turn out, or the phone loses its charge so you can’t take a picture, that’s an automatic forfeit,” he told Seth calmly. “So I think that you’d better have Frankie how to do it right and how to take care of the phone properly. But it’s up to you, of course.”
Seth snarled, but said nothing in return as he shoved the phone into a pocket. Jordan turned to Frankie. “I was thinking of going to a play this weekend, Frankie,” he told his friend. “Did you want to come with me?” he was ignoring Seth deliberately again, to further enrage him.
“Sure,” Frankie said cautiously, flashing his steaming cousin a wary sideways glance.
“Jordan?” he asked later as they made their way across campus toward their various classes.
“Yes?”
Frankie looked at him. “Why did you do that? Tell Seth that you’d still sleep with him if he can go a month without sex?”
Jordan smiled lazily. “I enjoy torturing your cousin, Frankie,” he replied. “But I had other reasons as well.”
“What reasons?” he asked curiously.
Jordan was silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “I know this is going to sound a bit strange to you, Frankie, seeing as I’ve treated him like dirt ever since we first met,” Jordan began slowly, “But I sort of…like him. What I don’t like, however, is the fact that he’s a raging man-slut. I’ve never shared a boyfriend with anyone else before this, and I’m not going to start now.”
Startled, Frankie stopped in his tracks and gaped at his friend. “Are you saying…that you want Seth to be your BOYFRIEND?!” he squalled in disbelief.
Jordan shrugged. “Why not? And this whole thing will tell me one way or the other whether I should bother. If he can’t make it through the month, if he’s really, truly, unable to go without sex for any length of time…that will tell me that he’s not for me. If he can’t discipline himself enough to pay his dues - and get sex from me - then I won’t go after him at all. But on the off chance that he actually CAN…well, that’s a different story altogether.”
Frankie started walking again, mostly because it was too damn cold out to have this conversation outside. “I can’t believe this,” he said numbly(and only partly because his lips felt frozen).
Jordan chuckled. “And neither will he,” he said in satisfaction. “Which will make it easy for me if he can’t make it through the month. All I’ll have to do is…nothing. And if he does make it through, the sex should be fantastic. A man-slut who hasn’t had sex with anyone for a month? He’ll be like a rabbit on steroids.”
Frankie made a choked, gargling sound. “Please don’t talk about Seth and sex in the same sentence,” he said in horror.
Jordan laughed and patted his arm. “Sorry, Frankie. Anyway, I’ll see you later.”
“Okay,” he waved at Jordan and took off for his classroom, needing to get into the warmth before he froze into an ice statue.
“So this is how you take the picture,” Frankie said, demonstrating it to Seth on the phone. “And it will come up on the screen. And here’s how you save the picture. Every night I’ll transfer the pictures into a file folder on my laptop so that the memory card will be free again.”
Seth looked rather baffled at his words, but leaned over the phone intently and tried what Frankie had showed him. He’d come back to the university to eat lunch with Frankie(translated - sponge a meal off of him) and learn how to use the cell phone that Jordan had given him. “Like that?” he asked, turning the screen toward Frankie.
He tried not to burst out laughing when he saw that Seth had taken a picture of his left eye. “Umm, almost,” he choked. “Here, let’s try it again.”
He showed his cousin how to hold the camera out enough that he’d get not only a picture of himself but also a bit of his surroundings as well. Jordan would want visual proof that he wasn’t with another guy, not just pictures of Seth himself. Finally, he managed to get the hang of it. Frankie sighed silently in relief. “Okay, that’s good,” he said. “I’ll loan you a cord to charge the phone’s battery and show you how to plug it in every night when we get home. Well, when I get home later - Caleb’s coming to pick me up and take me out to dinner.”
Seth grimaced. “It’s not fair,” he grumbled, taking the phone back from Frankie and stowing it in his pocket again. “I get a month without sex, and you get a hot guy who not only fucks you, he takes you out to eat all the time too! At this point, I think I’d take a guy who just took me out to eat all the time. I hate eating at home.”
Frankie could understand that completely. He hated eating at the farm, too. It wasn’t the food per se; not when Meredith cooked it. It was the fact that only Seth and Elena were good company at the table. Aaron glowered at all of them and muttered about what sinners they were; Meredith was morose and withdrawn; Rena snuffled in her food and stared at him blankly, which creeped him out; Eric continued to glare at him as though he suspected that Frankie were an axe murderer; and Roger was silent and phlegmatic, which didn’t make for good dinner conversation. Altogether, they were a little much to take when you were trying to digest.
“I’m sorry, Seth,” he remarked, meaning it. “But I’ll try to bring you home a doggy bag. All right?”
Seth snorted, jumping to his feet. “Ooo, lucky me. I guess I’ll get going, and try to find something else to do than cruising for guys. Can’t really think what that might be,” he said glumly. “But still…” his chin rose and his eyes flashed. “I’ll do this. I’ll show HIM,” he hissed, and Frankie knew that he was talking about Jordan.
Thinking about what his friend had told him earlier, Frankie said: “I know you can do it, Seth.” Although he wasn’t really sure on that point, he was going to be as encouraging as possible. Then maybe someday soon Seth might just have a man to take him out to eat and help him escape his family for at least part of the day every day. He was crossing his fingers that it would happen, although given Seth’s track record the outlook wasn’t that great…
“So Seth’s trying to go without for a month because he’s pissed at Jordan, and Jordan wants him to go without for a month so he can start dating Seth,” Frankie said.
Caleb chuckled. “Sounds like a sort of soap opera,” he mused. “A Minnesota soap opera. As The Iceberg Turns. Should be fun to watch.”
“Yeah. I just feel sorry for Seth, that’s all,” Frankie said. “I’m not sure that he can go for a month without sex. I think his head might explode. Or one of them, anyway,” he went on, making Caleb laugh outright.
“Yes, what’s a man-whore to do without his daily fix? I’ve got to say, Frankie, that I’m really glad that I met you. Not just because of you, yourself, but because of the entertainment you’ve provided me. You’re family is a hoot.”
He grimaced. “Aren’t they? I never imagined that I’d be moving in with the Clampetts when I came to Minnesota. Which is why I’m really glad that I met you, too, Caleb. Not just because you’re a freakin’ hunk who’s great in bed, but because you’re the only thing besides Jordan keeping me sane.”
“I’m glad to oblige, Master,” Caleb said, shooting him a laughing glance. “Although sometimes…” he mused wickedly, “I like to drive you insane as well as keep you sane.”
Frankie smiled. “I don’t mind if you do it, Caleb,” he told his boyfriend. “That kind of insanity I can handle.”
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Seth was sulking. He sat back in his chair in the students’ lounge and scowled blackly at Jordan, who was laughing at him. Frankie shook his head. But before he could say anything to try to diffuse the situation, Jordan threw gasoline on the fire. “Never mind, Seth,” he said cheerfully. “You lost. We can all accept that fact. You don’t have to actually go for a month without sex, because we all know you’d never make it. I’m letting you out of it. Isn’t that nice of me?” his eyes gleamed as he teased Seth for his own amusement.
Seth’s scowl deepened. “You’re letting me out of it because you think that I can’t do it,” he growled.
Jordan nodded, propping his chin in his hand. “That’s right,” he agreed.
Frankie looked from one to the other as Seth snarled: “Fuck you, Jordan. I lost the bet fair and square. I’m gonna do it and show you,” he pointed a finger at the actor, rage flashing in his amber eyes.
Jordan tilted his head to the side. “Are you? This I have to see,” he said.
Seth glowered at him, sitting forward and resting his hands flat on the table in front of him. “I’ll do it,” he said in a low, furious voice. “And when I do, I’m gonna make you eat your words.”
“Will you?” Jordan lifted a brow, looking interested. “I’m looking forward to that. I’ll tell you what, Seth - if you can actually do it, if you can go without sex for a whole month - I’ll hold up my end of the bet.”
Seth stared at him suspiciously. “You’ll have sex with me?” he demanded.
Jordan nodded easily. “Sure, why not? For one thing, I don’t for a moment think that I’ll have to pay up,” he said, his eyes alight.
Seth looked like he was going to lunge across the tabletop and go after Jordan. Frankie said hurriedly: “How are you going to know whether he manages to make it or not?” he asked, diverting their attention to him. They both looked at him questioningly and he shrugged. “What if Seth has sex on the sly? How are you going to know that he broke his word?”
Jordan grinned. “I can take care of that,” he pulled out his cell phone and held it out to Seth across the table. “This has a camera in it with a date and time stamp. You’ll have to take a picture of yourself every hour on the hour while you’re awake, to prove that you’re not with anyone about to have sex. I’ll want that back once the month’s up, and in good condition. If you break it you buy it. Frankie will show you how to use it properly,” he added.
Seth snatched the phone from him, scowling blackly. “I can figure it out myself,” he muttered.
Jordan nodded, but his lips twitched. “If even one of the pictures doesn’t turn out, or the phone loses its charge so you can’t take a picture, that’s an automatic forfeit,” he told Seth calmly. “So I think that you’d better have Frankie how to do it right and how to take care of the phone properly. But it’s up to you, of course.”
Seth snarled, but said nothing in return as he shoved the phone into a pocket. Jordan turned to Frankie. “I was thinking of going to a play this weekend, Frankie,” he told his friend. “Did you want to come with me?” he was ignoring Seth deliberately again, to further enrage him.
“Sure,” Frankie said cautiously, flashing his steaming cousin a wary sideways glance.
“Jordan?” he asked later as they made their way across campus toward their various classes.
“Yes?”
Frankie looked at him. “Why did you do that? Tell Seth that you’d still sleep with him if he can go a month without sex?”
Jordan smiled lazily. “I enjoy torturing your cousin, Frankie,” he replied. “But I had other reasons as well.”
“What reasons?” he asked curiously.
Jordan was silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “I know this is going to sound a bit strange to you, Frankie, seeing as I’ve treated him like dirt ever since we first met,” Jordan began slowly, “But I sort of…like him. What I don’t like, however, is the fact that he’s a raging man-slut. I’ve never shared a boyfriend with anyone else before this, and I’m not going to start now.”
Startled, Frankie stopped in his tracks and gaped at his friend. “Are you saying…that you want Seth to be your BOYFRIEND?!” he squalled in disbelief.
Jordan shrugged. “Why not? And this whole thing will tell me one way or the other whether I should bother. If he can’t make it through the month, if he’s really, truly, unable to go without sex for any length of time…that will tell me that he’s not for me. If he can’t discipline himself enough to pay his dues - and get sex from me - then I won’t go after him at all. But on the off chance that he actually CAN…well, that’s a different story altogether.”
Frankie started walking again, mostly because it was too damn cold out to have this conversation outside. “I can’t believe this,” he said numbly(and only partly because his lips felt frozen).
Jordan chuckled. “And neither will he,” he said in satisfaction. “Which will make it easy for me if he can’t make it through the month. All I’ll have to do is…nothing. And if he does make it through, the sex should be fantastic. A man-slut who hasn’t had sex with anyone for a month? He’ll be like a rabbit on steroids.”
Frankie made a choked, gargling sound. “Please don’t talk about Seth and sex in the same sentence,” he said in horror.
Jordan laughed and patted his arm. “Sorry, Frankie. Anyway, I’ll see you later.”
“Okay,” he waved at Jordan and took off for his classroom, needing to get into the warmth before he froze into an ice statue.
“So this is how you take the picture,” Frankie said, demonstrating it to Seth on the phone. “And it will come up on the screen. And here’s how you save the picture. Every night I’ll transfer the pictures into a file folder on my laptop so that the memory card will be free again.”
Seth looked rather baffled at his words, but leaned over the phone intently and tried what Frankie had showed him. He’d come back to the university to eat lunch with Frankie(translated - sponge a meal off of him) and learn how to use the cell phone that Jordan had given him. “Like that?” he asked, turning the screen toward Frankie.
He tried not to burst out laughing when he saw that Seth had taken a picture of his left eye. “Umm, almost,” he choked. “Here, let’s try it again.”
He showed his cousin how to hold the camera out enough that he’d get not only a picture of himself but also a bit of his surroundings as well. Jordan would want visual proof that he wasn’t with another guy, not just pictures of Seth himself. Finally, he managed to get the hang of it. Frankie sighed silently in relief. “Okay, that’s good,” he said. “I’ll loan you a cord to charge the phone’s battery and show you how to plug it in every night when we get home. Well, when I get home later - Caleb’s coming to pick me up and take me out to dinner.”
Seth grimaced. “It’s not fair,” he grumbled, taking the phone back from Frankie and stowing it in his pocket again. “I get a month without sex, and you get a hot guy who not only fucks you, he takes you out to eat all the time too! At this point, I think I’d take a guy who just took me out to eat all the time. I hate eating at home.”
Frankie could understand that completely. He hated eating at the farm, too. It wasn’t the food per se; not when Meredith cooked it. It was the fact that only Seth and Elena were good company at the table. Aaron glowered at all of them and muttered about what sinners they were; Meredith was morose and withdrawn; Rena snuffled in her food and stared at him blankly, which creeped him out; Eric continued to glare at him as though he suspected that Frankie were an axe murderer; and Roger was silent and phlegmatic, which didn’t make for good dinner conversation. Altogether, they were a little much to take when you were trying to digest.
“I’m sorry, Seth,” he remarked, meaning it. “But I’ll try to bring you home a doggy bag. All right?”
Seth snorted, jumping to his feet. “Ooo, lucky me. I guess I’ll get going, and try to find something else to do than cruising for guys. Can’t really think what that might be,” he said glumly. “But still…” his chin rose and his eyes flashed. “I’ll do this. I’ll show HIM,” he hissed, and Frankie knew that he was talking about Jordan.
Thinking about what his friend had told him earlier, Frankie said: “I know you can do it, Seth.” Although he wasn’t really sure on that point, he was going to be as encouraging as possible. Then maybe someday soon Seth might just have a man to take him out to eat and help him escape his family for at least part of the day every day. He was crossing his fingers that it would happen, although given Seth’s track record the outlook wasn’t that great…
“So Seth’s trying to go without for a month because he’s pissed at Jordan, and Jordan wants him to go without for a month so he can start dating Seth,” Frankie said.
Caleb chuckled. “Sounds like a sort of soap opera,” he mused. “A Minnesota soap opera. As The Iceberg Turns. Should be fun to watch.”
“Yeah. I just feel sorry for Seth, that’s all,” Frankie said. “I’m not sure that he can go for a month without sex. I think his head might explode. Or one of them, anyway,” he went on, making Caleb laugh outright.
“Yes, what’s a man-whore to do without his daily fix? I’ve got to say, Frankie, that I’m really glad that I met you. Not just because of you, yourself, but because of the entertainment you’ve provided me. You’re family is a hoot.”
He grimaced. “Aren’t they? I never imagined that I’d be moving in with the Clampetts when I came to Minnesota. Which is why I’m really glad that I met you, too, Caleb. Not just because you’re a freakin’ hunk who’s great in bed, but because you’re the only thing besides Jordan keeping me sane.”
“I’m glad to oblige, Master,” Caleb said, shooting him a laughing glance. “Although sometimes…” he mused wickedly, “I like to drive you insane as well as keep you sane.”
Frankie smiled. “I don’t mind if you do it, Caleb,” he told his boyfriend. “That kind of insanity I can handle.”
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