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I slipped on my leather jacket and licked my lips in anticipation. We were about to go bar hopping in a bit… all of us except for Chace, of course, because he was a baby and not of drinking age, technically.

“You know, over here, you can drink at eighteen,” Garrett told Chace, but Chace refused to come.

“I’m alright. I think I’ll just take a shower,” Chace sighed, sitting down on the couch by the TV and taking his shoes off. Pat stared at Chace as Chace began to unbutton his plaid shirt, revealing another black shirt underneath.

“Hey, Chace! Come out to the balcony with me really quick; I wanna show you something,” Pat yelled before dragging Chace outside.

“Are you guys coming?” Cameron Hurley of We Are The In Crowd asked, poking his head into our room.

“Yeah, in a bit,” I told him, calling Pat. He didn’t come, though, so I just followed Kennedy, Garrett, and Cameron out to the hotel lobby.

Pat showed up right as we were about to leave, though. “Where’s Chace?” asked, of course, Tay Jardine.

“He didn’t wanna come,” Pat said with a shrug.

“His loss,” I laughed, following All Time Low out of the hotel.

It was pretty fun getting drunk as fuck with all the guys, and Tay. Tay only got tipsy, though, and she spent most of the night glued to Alex’s hip. It was good to hang out with the All Time Low guys again and get to know the We Are The In Crowd guys.

I wasn’t doing too hot by two in the morning, though, so I stumbled back to the hotel a little bit earlier than everyone else did. My vision was beyond blurry. I gave up on trying to use the room card key and just started banging – I mean, knocking on the door, hoping that Chace would wake up and open up. Thank god he did.

“Damn, John, why don’t you just wake up the whole hotel?” he grumbled, opening the door for me.

“Hello, Mr. Grumpy Gills,” I laughed, mussing up his already severe sex hair as I kicked the door closed behind us.

“John,” Chace laughed, slowly but surely leading me to the bathroom for some reason.

“What are we doing here?”

“Sobering you up,” Chace muttered right before pushing my head down towards the sink and splashing water onto my face.

“Chace! Why are you trying to drown me!” I yelled hoarsely, flailing around and splashing water on him, too.

“I said I was trying to sober you up, John!” Chace defended himself, pouting at his wet clothes. “Plus, you know, the toilet’s right there, just in case you puke…”

“Little boy, I can hold my liquor,” I said just as defensively, drying my face with my shirt. “I think that did actually help a little, though,” I admitted with a sheepish grin.

Chace grabbed the hair dryer, trying to dry his shirt with it. He had to pull his shirt up a bit to do it, exposing some of his pale white, flat stomach and – ah, alcohol. It just washes away all my inhibitions. I went to the balcony for a smoke before the sudden sexual tension got the best of me. Slapping myself a bit, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts. I really, really needed… “Jared?”

“John? Why are you calling me?” he asked with an exasperated sigh.

“I know we promised not to talk to you during the honeymoon, Jared, and I’m really, really, really sorry I broke that promise, but this is really, really, really important, alright? I need your help, bro,” I admitted, my voice cracking like back when I went through puberty. Holy shit.

“What’s wrong?”Jared asked urgently.

“I think…Jared, I think I’m gay,” I finally blurted out.

Jared didn’t even bother trying to choke back his laughter. “John, I think you’re drunk.”

“No, no, no, Jared! Well, yes, maybe just a little bit, but that’s beside the point, I’m trying to be serious here, bro. I – I think I’m gay. Legit. Gay.”

“Let’s go with bi-curious, alright? We’ve only been friends for more than half our lives. I’m pretty sure you’re not gay, John. You’re just the most flamboyantly straight man on the planet.”

“No, Jared! I’m, I’m gay and it’s all Chace’s fault!” I said miserably.

Jared busted out laughing again, even getting Tess’ attention at this point. “Honey? What’s so funny?” I heard Tess ask Jared faintly.

“Hey, that rhymed,” I laughed, but they weren’t listening to me.

“It’s John… he’s drunk, and he’s telling me he’s gay for Chace.”

Then both of them started laughing, which really pissed me off. “Take me seriously, you guys! Dammit!”

“What do you want me to say?” Jared asked when his laughter died.

“Tell me what to do, bro. I don’t – I don’t know how to – “ It was easy to pick up girls. Too easy, at least for me. But Chace…how would I even…?

“Just grab him and throw him against the wall and kiss him!” Tess yelled into the phone, making me flinch at the volume of her voice.

“Wh-Why?”

“To see if he kisses back, duh,” Tess giggled as Jared scoffed.

“John, just don’t do anything stupid tonight, ok? We’ll call you again in the morning,” said Jared again.

“That’s cool…so, uh, should I really throw him against the wall or can I just kiss him like I normally would kiss someone?” But they had already hung up on me. I was already intoxicated, though. You couldn’t count on me not to do something stupid!

“You feelin’ alright, John?” Chace asked quietly. Chace startled me, so I ended up dropping my phone before I could place it back in my pocket. He was like a fucking ninja. I never even heard him slide the door open.

“Don’t scare me like that!” I scolded him as he bent down to pick my phone up for me.

“Just wanted to make sure you’re alright,” Chace huffed, going back inside. Ah, man, now I felt bad!

“Chace?” The hotel room was dark, but I could make out his figure on the bed closest to the door. “Chace, don’t be mad at me.”

“Go sober up, John,” came Chace’s muffled reply.

Grumbling, I stripped on the spot before heading to the shower, leaving my clothes in a trail behind me the way a snake sheds its skin… but they were gone when I exited the shower. Chace was gathering them up in his arms. What the hell? “Chace, bro, what are you doing with those?”

“Cleaning up,” Chace replied curtly, throwing my clothes into our collective pile of dirty laundry. “You’re such a slob,” Chace sighed before returning to bed. Scoffing, I changed into some clean clothes before joining Chace on his bed. “Um, John, I was supposed to share a bed with Pat…”

We were so close to each other. We weren’t touching, though…and I really wanted to.

“Well, Pat’s just gonna have to deal.”