Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:32:56 +0000 From: Chris Salter Subject: How I Met Jake: Chapter 10 If it's illegal to read a story about 2 men in your country/principality, do not read any further. Also, press the little red "X" if you're under the legal age in your respective areas. Disclaimer: I don't know Jake Gyllenhaal, nor do I wish to imply his sexual orientation or relationship status. What Jakey-boy does in his own private life is his own business. The work is entirely fiction. Anyway, behold, Chapter 10. Chapter 10: Chris stood there watching the man he had loved for 2 years begin to stir. He still looked as amazing as the day they first met. Danny was wearing a pair of dark colored pants and a brown sweatshirt. Danny readjusted his black frames glasses before looking over at Chris, "Where have you been?" He asked croakily. "Out at dinner. Why are you here?" Chris asked once more. Slowly Danny sat up, "I realized I forgot some files. So I came back to pick them up. Who were you at dinner with?" Chris looked at Danny, "I could have couriered them to you." Chris answered, avoiding the date question. "Yeah I don't trust those couriers, you know that." Danny stood up and walked over to hug Chris, "I missed you." Chris stood motionless; he knew if he were fall for Danny again, he could end up ruining his life. After a few awkward moments, Danny finally let go. "Who were you at dinner with? A work thing?" "A guy, we've been spending the last week or so hanging out, he's really fun." Chris responded as he smiled, thinking of Jake. "A potential boyfriend?" Danny enquired. "I don't know, I'm actually the first guy he likes. So I will see where it goes, I do like him though." Chris looked at the clock and noticed how late it was guessing. "Well, it looks like you're over me." Danny commented and he lowered his shoulders. Chris looked at Danny, "Hey," he continued, "I don't think I will ever be over you, I'm just trying to move on." Deciding it was time for him to go to bed, "Look Danny, I have work tomorrow, I'm going to bed....Do you have somewhere to stay?" "I could always go to a hotel room, but I don't know what kind of room it would be at this time of night. I was waiting for you to come home so I could see you." Smiling, Chris turned to pick up the fake fur throw rug. "You can stay here, but you took the guest bed, so it's the couch for you." Dejected, Danny took the throw from Chris and headed back towards the couch. "How long are you here anyway?" Chris asked as he stopped by his door. Danny kicked off his shoes and pulled off his sweater providing Chris a view of his bare chest. "I'm booked on the Wednesday morning flight." "Oh okay. Goodnight Danny." Chris said coldly as he entered his bedroom. He walked into the bathroom and stripped. After pulling on his pajama bottoms, he brushed his teeth and padded back into the bedroom. Chris then pulled back the sheets and slipped between the white cotton sheets. Chris felt terrible. He was quickly falling for Jake, he hadn't felt that comfortable in a long time, at the same time Danny's presence was messing with his mind. Deep down he still loved him, but he knew he had to move on. Chris turned over in the bed and hugged the pillow trying to sleep. This was fruitless however, as half an hour later he found himself still staring at the ceiling. He felt guilty about being so cold to Danny. Slowly he got up out of bed and padded his way over to the door. He quietly pulled it open and walked over to the couch. As the TV was still on, he could see Danny was still awake, staring out the window. "Danny." Danny turned his head to see Chris' bare torso, "Yeah?" "Just come to bed, I feel bad leaving you out here." Chris said as he pointed towards the bedroom. He then started to make his way back to bed as Danny got up. Chris then laid back under the sheets as he watched Danny pad his way across the carpet and into the right side of the bed. "Goodnight Danny," Chris said as he turned over, feeling slightly content having another body in his lonely bed. "Mmm. Goodnight Chris." Danny muffled from the pillow. The cool breeze of the air-conditioner on his bare chest caused Chris to wake up slightly earlier than usual. As he became more and more lucid, he realized he was being spooned by Danny. Lying there for a moment being held close to Danny's warm, bare chest, he slowly made his way to the shower. He quickly turned on the shower, stripped and jumped in the shower. After the shower, Chris quickly shaved before making his way back into the bedroom to get dressed for work. Deciding on wearing a dark brown pair of pants and a white dress shirt, he quickly dressed and made his way into the kitchen. Although he rarely ate breakfast, today he was feeling hungry for some reason. Pulling a bagel from the breadbox, he pulled it apart and shoved it in the toaster. Chris then pulled a container of cream-cheese and sour cherry jam from the fridge and waited for the bagel to bounce out of the toaster. Sitting down at the dining table, he quietly ate the bagel while flicking through one of the trashy magazines that had mysteriously made their way into his apartment. He turned the pages quickly trying to reach the mindless puzzle section, something he occasionally enjoyed partaking in, as it gave him a feeling of moral superiority. He suddenly stopped turning the pages as his attention was drawn to a photo of Jake in a Lexus SUV with Reese at the wheel. "Potential Lovebirds? Keep an eye on this couple." Chris said as he read the caption aloud. Reading this made Chris feel ill. He knew how Jake felt, but it didn't make him feel any easier from reading a gossip report. "Who's that you're looking at?" Danny asked as he padded his way towards the dining table. Chris quickly attempted to close the magazine, however failed in the process. "Oh, no one. I don't know why I'm looking at this trash." Danny smiled as he flicked the page back open to where Chris had been staring when he walked in. "Jake Gyllenhaal? He is a cutie isn't he." Danny then looked over to see Chris blushing and looking extremely nervous. "Looks like he's straight though. I suppose you can dream though." Chris stood up quickly, "Yeah I guess so." He then made his way to the table to pick up his keys and wallet. "If you go out, don't forget to lock the door. Bye." Chris then rushed out the door, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of Danny any further. He quickly jumped in the car and immediately slammed his head against the steering wheel, causing the horn to go off. Shortly after, he sped off on the way to the lab. As with the day before, Jake had spent the early part of the morning grabbing a smoke. This was then followed by a vigorous workout by doing a large circuit of the neighborhood on his bicycle. As usual, during his workout he had a few people taking photographs of him, trying to get the latest images of the Hollywood star to construct various stories about his private life. His workout completed, Jake put his bike back into the storage area and made his way up the staircase to shower and attend to his personal grooming. He was still beaming from the night before. He really loved spending time with Chris. Jake could easily see he was falling hard and fast for Chris. Spending time with him caused Jake's heart to race. Whenever he could hug or hold Chris close to his body, he could barely contain himself. "I really really like Chris." Jake said to himself as he pulled on a pair of worn jeans. Jake then played with a small patch of hair on his chest as he searched in a pile for a shirt to wear. He finally found a black polo shirt and pulled it on. Jake then had the idea that he would give Chris a call to thank him for coming over the night before. Bounding down the stairs, he then searched around the kitchen for the cordless phone. He finally found it and dialed Chris' number. Jake had come to remember Chris' cell phone number by heart. Reading over the number to double check he had entered it correctly, he then pressed connect and waited for the other side to pick up. The phone rang for quite a while before the call finally connected, "Hello?" Came a strange male voice. Jake felt a horrible feeling in his gut, wondering who the male voice was he enquired, "Hi is Chris there?" "Ah no, he left his phone here at the apartment." Jake's lower lip began to tremble, "Who is this then?" he asked. There was a short silence, "It's Daniel Foster, who is this?" Jakes heart sunk completely. He had opened himself up to Chris in the past week about his feelings and Chris went and threw it all in his face by going back to Danny. "Oh, it's Chris' friend Jake. I will try to call back later, thank you, bye." Jake quickly ended the call and dropped to the ground. He dropped the phone on the ground and brought his knees up to his chin. Jake hadn't felt like this since he officially ended his relationship with Kirsten. The feeling was horrible. He felt betrayed and hurt at the same time. "Why am I hurting so much?" Jake groaned to himself as he tried to console himself on the cold floorboards of the kitchen floor. Going over the perfect night that had passed, Jake thought of at least 10 times when he could have expressed his complete feelings to Chris. Instead of being open, he thought it would be better to wait, so as to not appear obsessive. In hindsight, Jake realized that he should have just told Chris, and then he probably would have stayed the night, or wouldn't have gotten back with Danny. He needed to talk to Maggie. Searching on the ground through his squinting eyes, he found the phone and pressed the speed-dial number corresponding to Maggie. It was late in the afternoon, Chris was tired and wanted to go home, but at the same time, he didn't want to be left alone with Danny too long. However, after Chris had received the results of the test he was conducting with Gas Chromatographer, he knew he had to suck it up and head home. As he headed through the garage to his car, he reached into his pocket to find his mobile. He was going to call Sarah and tell her about the night with Jake. It was then he realized he didn't have it with him. "Fuck." Chris muttered as he hurried to his Volkswagen. Eventually getting home, Chris parked in the garage and he slowly made his way up the stairs. Unlocking the door, he was greeted by the aroma of chicken being cooked in the oven. Realizing Danny was cooking, he suddenly had a feeling of nostalgia. He placed his keys and wallet on the small table before kicking off his shoes and heading into the living area. There he saw Danny standing in the kitchen chopping something at the bench. "Hey, welcome home." Danny exclaimed as he turned his head to acknowledge Chris. "Hi....." Chris said as he quickly looked inside the oven. He then looked on the bench to see if he could see his phone. Chris then quickly made his way over to the coffee table, once again coming up empty. "You haven't seen my mobile lying around here have you?" Danny quickly reached into his pocket and fished the phone out, "You left it on the coffee table last night." He then handed the phone over to Chris. "Thanks," Chris said. "I don't know why I left it here; I'm usually attached to it." Chris said, remembering the real reason he forgot it was because he wanted to get out quickly before Danny enquired any further. He flicked through the missed calls to see if he had missed anything. "You had a call this morning actually. Some guy called Jake." Danny finished chopping the tomatoes and tossed them into the salad bowl. "He sounded a little...strange." Chris' eyes widened at the thought of Jake and Danny conversing, "Strange, how?" Quickly rinsing the knife under the water to remove the acid from the tomato, Danny turned and leaned on the bench. "He just seemed, I don't know, like the worst thing in the world had happened to him while he was on the phone. Who is he?" Chris' heart sunk, having an idea of what Jake must have felt. A similar thing had happened to him a few years earlier with one of his irrelevant boyfriends. "Jake? He's a friend." "From the way he was talking, he sounded a bit more than a friend." Danny replied as he wiped his hands on a cloth. The juice from the tomato had begun to seep into a cut on his finger. He then stuck the finger in his mouth to try to suck off some of the juice. "What if he was?" Chris asked. Danny smiled weakly, "I'd be happy for you I guess. We are over, we have to move on I guess." He then saw Chris smile at the comment, "He's not that Jake Gyllenhaal that you were looking at earlier is he?" Danny joked. Chris smiled nervously, "So what if he was?" After seeing Danny's eyes widen, Chris decided to try and laugh off the moment. Danny however didn't believe Chris' joke. "It is? Good for you Chris." "Look Danny," Chris thought of what to say. He didn't want to hurt Danny's feelings and he didn't want to look like a slut. "Nothing has really happened, just a date on Sunday, dinner at his house last night. Oh and he had to collect some of his belongings from the lab yesterday, so he stayed for lunch." Seeing Danny lower his head, he realized he was sounding like he was trying to replace Danny quickly. "He told me though. When we were at the dinner party the other day, he spoke to Amy and asked how you would feel about the whole thing. He kind of went about things the right way, ya'know?" "Yeah I suppose," Danny said as he returned to devoting his attention to the chicken. "I'm happy for you, really I am!" He then motioned for Chris to go call Jake. Following Danny's orders, Chris picked the phone up from the bench and walked into the bedroom. He quickly flicked through the names to find 'Jake G. :)'. After pressing connect, Chris waited for Jake to pick up. "Hey, It's Jake," Came a voice from the other end. "Hi Jake it's..." Chris said before he was cut off. "I can't answer the phone right now, please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible!" There was a loud beep before the line went silent. Chris felt like an idiot, talking to a machine was something he detested. Nevertheless he sucked it up, "Hi Jake, It's Chris, I'm sorry about the phone issue earlier. I need to explain a few things, please call me back as soon as you can, I miss you." He pressed end before lying back on the bed. Chris felt terrible, he could imagine Jake would have felt extremely hurt having Danny answer Chris' phone. Deciding to try once more, he pressed connect and waited to be connected. Once again, it went to Jake's voicemail. Dejected, Chris ended the call, slipped the phone into his pocket and curled up on the bed. He could smell dinner cooking still, but suddenly he had lost his appetite. A short time later, Danny slowly opened the door and informed Chris that the chicken was ready. Slowly Chris made his way to the dining chair and sat down. Danny quickly stuck the chicken on his plate and took his own seat. Chris sat there poking at the chicken while Danny slowly ate. "Are you okay?" Danny asked as he piled on a piece of salad greens onto his fork. Chris continued to poke at the lonely chicken piece on his plate, "I don't know, I'm probably worrying more than I should." "I'm sorry Chris," Danny said as he went to put his hand on Chris'. Chris quickly placed his hand in his lap before Danny could make contact. "I just feel as though I might have blown things before they really started. I feel like a cheap whore." "I should have just let it go straight to voicemail." Danny commented. "Why do you feel like a whore?" Chris winced at the notion of being everything he hated, "I had a romantic evening with Jake, I ended up dozing while leaning on his chest. Then I come home and wake up in the morning being spooned by you." Chris then stood up from the dining table, "Can you maybe put mine in the fridge, I think I'm going to go to bed." Danny was about to console Chris before he disappeared into the bedroom. He slowly finished his meal and put Chris' plate in the fridge. Even though they were no longer together, Danny still felt Chris' pain. Unsure of what to exactly do, he walked over to Chris' cordless phone and picked it up. He quickly dialed his sister's phone number and waited for her to answer. "Amy, hi." Danny said softly. Amy sounded perky as usual, "What's wrong?" Danny was silent for a moment, "I think I've done something bad." He grimaced at the thought, "I think I screwed things up for Chris." He continued to talk to her for about 15 minutes before he finally ended the call. Replacing the phone on its base station, he quietly opened the bedroom door and found Chris lying on the bed hugging his pillow tightly. Danny softly sat on the side of the bed and gently stroked Chris' arm. "Do you have to?" Chris muttered. Danny slowly moved closer and kissed Chris on the cheek. "I'm really sorry Chris. I'm sure it will all work out in the end." "I really don't think so; I've probably turned him back off guys forever now." Danny chuckled lightly, "I seriously doubt that will happen. You're too cute for your own good." Chris rolled over so he was lying on his back, able to look Danny in the eyes, "I wish I had your confidence." Moving further up the bed, Danny changed his position so he could lightly stroke Chris' hairline. "I still love you Chris, I always will, but I want you to be happy. I really hope things work with you and Jake." He then leaned in and gently kissed Chris once more. "I still love you too," Chris said as he once again turned to be on his side. Watching Chris turn, Danny slowly moved once more and held Chris close to his chest. He loved him, and wanted to protect him from the hurt he was feeling at the moment. As Danny began to brush the unkempt hair away from Chris' ear, he heard a slight whistling noise emanating from Chris' nose. He was asleep. --- Chapter 11 soon --- I did it again, left you all hanging to the next chapter. I hope you don't mind it. I love hearing comments from you guys. Feel free to drop me an email at chezmoi_ou_cheztoi@msn.com Some of you have even offered some interesting, yet cute ideas. I will stick them in my hat before I dig around and pull one out! Anyway, I'd now like to give a little shout out to some of the great readers. Luis, Megan and 2.o especially. You guys rock. Thanks for reading guys! Now I'm back to watching Madagascar and listening to Apocalyptica (I do suggest checking them out, Rock music with Cello's!). Stay tuned guys and stay safe! Chris