Epilogue: Homecoming

Jacky

"Do you remember the first time we had sex?"

Even though Billy wasn't in the room, Jacky turned the phone off speaker and pinched it between his shoulder and his ear. "Of course I do. Prom night. My tiny twin bed. Awkward as fuck."

Ryan's laugh was breathy in his ear. "Wanna recreate that tonight?"

"Dude, my mom is going to be home. And Cody's staying at the house – I told you that, right?"

"We can be quiet."

Now Jacky was the one laughing. "Okay, but this time are you going to read the instructions on the lube bottle? Or go on YouTube to learn how to properly put on a condom?"

"I was nervous!"

"We were both nervous."

"I can read the instructions more sexy this time."

Grinning, Jacky said, "I love how nerdy you get when you're nervous."

"I love how aggressive you get when you're nervous."

"If you pull out the lube and start reading, I might have to punch you," Jacky said, then nearly dropped the phone as the door to his room swung open. He managed to catch the phone.

"Oh! Hello, Billy's roommate," said Mrs. Dixon-Doyle, posing in the doorway. Somehow Jacky wasn't surprised that she didn't remember his name. She put her hand on her hip. "Where's my Billy?"

Jacky chose to illustrate how perhaps she should have knocked by telling Ryan, "Sorry, my roommate's mom just walked in. Can I call you back?"

"I'll be there in twenty, I'll just text when I get there."

"Okay." Jacky hit End Call then faced Mrs. Dixon-Doyle. "I think he might be across the hall."

"Oh." She didn't seem to know what to do, until Billy's stepfather wrapped his arm around her hip and sashayed her into the room. "Should I call him?"

"He's right across the hall. You could try knocking." Pointedly, Jacky shoved his phone charger in his bag and zipped it up, then started opening his drawers to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything else he might need over Thanksgiving break.

She simply said, "Oh," again, and then the stepfather – was it Vinnie or Vince? – said, "Would you do us a solid and go grab him? We wanna get this show on the road."

Rolling his eyes, Jacky did, if only to speed this process along. He crossed the hall and pounded on the door. Affecting a deep voice, he barked, "Mandatory room check!"

Inside, he could hear a panicked, "What the fuck?" and a "Put your pants on!" Despite the frantic activity on the other side of the door, Jacky was forced to bang on the door again. "Open up!"

Braedyn answered with his t-shirt on inside out, breathing hard. "Oh. What the hell?"

Looking past him, Jacky said to Billy, "Your mother is here."

"Fuck." Billy sagged back against the futon, slithering to the floor like his bones had evaporated. "Can't she let me get off, just this once?"

"Good luck with that. I'm going to grab my stuff and peace out. See you next week."

"Wait," said Braedyn. "Don't you guys live in the same hometown?"

"Barely," said Jacky.

Billy sat up and straightened out his outfit. "Come on, roomie. Brae only lives twenty minutes away. We can totally arrange a double date."

Jacky rolled his eyes. "I was hoping to get a few days away from you, but I'll think about it."

As Jacky shouldered his backpack and rolled his laundry basket down the hall to the elevator, he thought about how a double-date didn't sound half-bad. Ryan had said that Monica was planning a homecoming party, which Jacky was looking forward to. His whole weekend was basically booked. He just hoped he could get a little alone time with Ryan before they had to separate again.

He had only been waiting in the lobby for a few minutes when his phone buzzed. I'm outside. Jacky headed out without responding. The sidewalk and parking lot were full of parents hugging their kids and many baskets and bags of laundry being loaded into minivans and SUVs, so Ryan in his old Toyota Corolla was easy to spot.

Jacky's throat felt tight as he grinned and waved. "Hey," Ryan said, reaching for the laundry basket. Jacky just crashed into Ryan's arms.

He didn't even need to be in his house to feel at home. It was right here.

THE END

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Author Note: I don't know about you guys, but that ending just snuck up on me! I hope you all enjoyed this journey, this book took me just over 2 years to write and I'm more than a little sad it's over. Thank you to everyone who's been reading all along, and those who waited until I was done to binge it!