Wednesday, October 10th

     There were three things in life Jesse hated more than his father; soccer, Calix’ sexuality and shopping. Though, yet again, Jesse’s girlfriend Yoni had persuaded him to go shopping, like she did at least once a month.

Jesse rather kept his money safe on his bank account—unless it was to defy his father’s wishes and take, for instance, a huge tattoo—while Yoni loved to spend all her money on clothes and make-up. And sometimes a new book because she loved to read, and the smell of a new book was her favourite scent.

As if she was Hermione from Harry Potter, who preferred the scents of freshly mowed grass, toothpaste and parchment. Jesse knew that by heart since Yoni had already forced him to binge-watch the entire series of movies multiple times during their relationship.

Yoni was completely different from Jesse in every way possible. For starters, she loved soccer, her father was her role model, and she was a goody two-shoes. Yoni had never done anything that was considered even remotely illegal. The worst she had ever done to anyone was cutting off the hair of her older sister’s barbie doll out of revenge for losing hers during a vacation.

If they had anything in common, it was their shared hatred towards their own siblings. And while Jesse liked Yoni’s siblings, Yoni liked his brothers. Even though, according to Jesse, there was hardly anything likeable about them.

If he had to be nice and point out something he liked about his brothers, he’d say Ivy had a decent sense of humour, Hayden liked the same games as Jesse, and Gregory didn’t blindly follow their father’s wishes.

Though for some reason their father admired Gregory’s independent mind, it was always looked down upon when Jesse didn’t instantly listen. In Gregory’s case, it had resulted in him not doing the study their father had wanted him to do, and since he was doing a decent job at his current studies, their father turned around 180 degrees and stood behind his decisions.

When Jesse had recently told his parents he wanted to sign up for Media-Entertainment Management, his father had simply told him ‘no’, and acted as if the discussion was closed.

Jesse still signed up for three schools that offered the program he was looking for and ignored his father’s wish to become something like an attorney, or a doctor, or whichever profession would land him big bucks if he succeeded.

Jesse wanted to stand behind the cameras and maybe even one day shoot his own movie or series. He wondered what his father’s response would be when he found out Jesse was following his own path, even if he had said ‘no’.

In Yoni’s case, she was following in the footsteps of her father, wanting to become a nurse and help people. It was fitting for sweet, innocent Yoni, who could handle blood better than he did.

And he knew, because she had patched him up on several occasions after he had done something stupid.

“Jesse!” Yoni shook him by his shoulders, waking him up from his train of thoughts. “I asked, what do you think?” She stepped back and twirled in a pirouette to show the dress she was wearing. Any other guy would have thought she looked hot, and while he knew she did, he just didn’t feel it.

“Looks great, babe,” he answered, more because he knew it was morally right to tell her she looked great, no matter what she was wearing, than because he actually agreed on it. In his opinion, Yoni looked best when she wore an oversized sweater that belonged to him, and a pair of sweatpants.

Because that’s how he liked Calix the most; in comfortable clothes, in his room, playing games and having fun. Well, apart from Calix without any shirt at all.

“Think I can wear this to your mother’s birthday next week?”

“Babe, you can wear anything and still be loved by my parents. For all they care you wear regular jeans and a shirt.” And it was true. If Jesse had done something right in the eyes of his parents, it was dating Yoni Dumas, daughter of the Herbert and Gina Dumas. Heir to half of their fortune. Jesse didn’t care, he just liked Yoni’s never-ending happy moods.

“But she’s turning 50!”

“So?”

“Jesse, it’s a big celebration with a formal dress-code. I can’t wear jeans.”

“Oh, I was going to wear jeans.”

“No, you’re not,” she giggled. “You’re going to wear suit and tie, just like your parents asked.” She grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards a wall full of suits. “We should match your tie with the colour of my dress. So, let’s wait with picking one until I find the perfect dress.” She simply told him, not wanting him to decline.

“Sure, babe.” Jesse replied with a small smile. He wasn’t inhumane. He liked Yoni for the most part. She just didn’t have the right body parts. Having sex with her was something that asked a lot of effort from him, and a lot of imagination too.

But he wasn’t heartless. He loved Yoni a lot. Just in a purely platonic way. And the thought of breaking up because he found out he was gay in the meantime just felt weird. They’d been together for three years now—well, a little over three years—and he had no idea what he would do with his free time if Yoni wasn’t demanding his attention at least a few times a week.

He liked hanging out with her. Just not when she wanted to go shopping. In a drunk mood, Jesse would always look for her if he wasn’t in a gay bar. He loved kissing when he was drunk, and kissing his girlfriend was a safe way to go when surrounded by people that knew him.

Still, he felt like he should tell Yoni about his sexuality and leave it up to her to break up with him. Yet, he never found the courage to reveal his biggest secret. Not even to her.

If he told one person a secret about himself, it wouldn’t be a secret any longer. And that person would become a liability to him and keeping his secrets safely locked away in his own mind. Hence the reason he was still with Yoni, and he would probably never tell her about his sexuality. High school sweethearts hardly ever stayed together to marry and have kids. It was only a matter of time for them to fall apart and break up for regular reasons.

The ‘it’s not you it’s me’ trope. Or the simple ‘I don’t like you that much anymore’ excuse. Whatever it was going to be, Jesse was patiently waiting for it to happen to either of them. If he could look himself in the eye and believe himself when he said he no longer liked Yoni enough to be with, he would break up himself.

If she didn’t reach that point herself first.

For the time being, however, it seemed like they were going to attend his mother’s 50th birthday as a proud couple.

     Later, when Yoni had actually found the perfect dress and picked out a suit and tie she thought made Jesse look ‘very hot’, they were joined by Calix and Francesca to go to the movies. Usually, Axel and Donna would’ve been there too, if Donna hadn’t broken up with Axel about a week ago, and Axel hated being the fifth wheel.

By the time they had bought themselves drinks and tons of salted popcorn, chocolates and a bag full of sweets, Jesse had turned his phone off due to the excessive amount of phone calls coming from his parents.

By the time they had taken their seats, Jesse had already nearly tripped over his own feet twice because Calix had touched him in any way. And he had made an awkward fool out of himself while taking seats, and he had actually sat down right beside Calix instead of sitting next to Yoni automatically, while the girls insisted on sitting next to each other and next to their respective boyfriends at the same time. Which meant Jesse was supposed to move over two seats, but by then he had started a conversation with Calix about Axel’s worsening obsession to get back with Donna while girls were lining up to be with him, so he refused to move.

“He’s been talking about writing her a love letter,” Calix sputtered during a laugh, taking a handful of popcorn in the meantime. “He’s lost his mind.”

“I heard him say that if he had as much guts as I did, he would get her name tattooed as an ultimate token of his love for her. Suddenly I’m glad he’s the biggest pussy we know.” Jesse smirked, while keeping his eyes on the big screen showing them pre-movie-commercials.

“Thank God he’s afraid of needles and wouldn’t last long during the process of getting a tattoo, no matter what kind of tattoo he would get.” Calix tapped Jesse’s arm right after throwing a few bits of popcorn in his mouth. “I gotta say, I’m still jealous that you actually got a tattoo. My parents would end me.”

“Oh please, your parents would still praise you and worship the ground you walk on,” Jesse joked with a laugh following right after his words. “Besides, my parents do want to kill me for it.”

“And in the meantime, Axel’s parents wanted us to take him out for today since he’s been a bore and a nuisance at home ever since Donna broke his heart.”

“Can I just say, I never really understood what there was to like about Donna?” Jesse shrugged, and allowed Yoni to take his hand in hers, leaning in to kiss him on his cheek.

“Don’t eat all the popcorn before the movie starts,” she chuckled, and then released his hand again to turn towards Francesca.

Eventually the girls had decided on sitting next to each other anyway, and while they started gossiping about Donna and her new love interest, Calix and Jesse had started their own share of shading the guy who stole Donna away from their best friend.

Whoever the poor guy named Arnold was, he wasn’t going to be popular once news got out that Calix had now turned him into somewhat of an enemy for hurting their friend.

Nobody dared to hurt a friend of Calix, no matter who you were.

It was sad, really, because initially, Jesse and Calix had been glad Donna was gone. She was a real Debbie Downer and never actually wanted to do anything the others wanted to do. She always wanted to see a different movie, she always wanted to eat somewhere else and she never came over to watch their soccer match, even though Yoni and Francesca had been their personal cheerleaders for years.

But Axel was hurt, and that meant they were hurt—in some way. Jesse had actually felt a bit jealous Donna had broken up with Axel, instead of Yoni breaking up with him, but he, again, would never voice that thought out loud.

“We should try to set up a date for Axel with any of the girls standing in line for him,” Calix casually said, sliding down in his seat a bit more; just about enough to put his feet against the seat in front of him. “Show him there’s plenty of fish in the sea, and they’re all a better match with him.”

“Or, we don’t meddle in his love life and just cheer him up without any girls. A game night, his place, this Friday.”

“Friday?” Calix snorted. “We have an important match on Saturday.”

“Yeah, at two in the afternoon. We can easily play a few games first. Besides, Axel wants it.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be like… grounded? For the rest of your life?”

“Sure, but what’s new about that? I’ve been grounded ever since I first dared to poop in my diaper as a baby. I’ll get out anyway. So, you in?”

“Yeah, but only because I’d love to see you escape again and because Axel needs a guy’s night to take his mind off of that chick.” Calix shook Jesse’s hand with a smile. “But if you’re not at your best on Saturday, I will kick your ass.”