The Troll Whisperer (15 page)

Oscar grinned back. “And you love it.”

“I do.”

This time, Oscar didn’t protest.

They dozed for a little while, running their
fingers lazily over each other’s skin. “Do you speak any Spanish?”
Noah asked eventually.

Oscar laughed. “What brought that on?”

Noah smiled a little and shrugged. “I don’t
know. I just feel like whispering sweet nothings to you and
thought, maybe, you knew some Spanish ones. It’s such a sexy
language.”

Oscar laughed again. “I don’t, really, but my
dad was always calling my mom stuff when we were kids. He’s so
crazy about her, even now.” Somehow, it didn’t feel so bad talking
about him anymore.

“Like what?”

Oscar let out a long breath while he thought.
“Uh, let’s see.
Corazon
— that means sweetheart.
Hermosa
— gorgeous.
Mi cielo
— my heaven.
Preciosa
— precious.” He paused. “Then there’s
amorcito
.”

“What does that one mean?”

Their gazes met. “My love.”

“
Amorcito
,” Noah echoed. “I like that
one.”

They kissed again leisurely for a little
while. Eventually, Noah managed to coax Oscar into the shower.
Afterward, they got dressed and Noah went back to the pancakes,
which he soon had ready for them. As they ate, a couple of
troubling thoughts crept into Oscar’s head. The eviction. It was in
less than two weeks. He hadn’t really thought about it; he was bad
at thinking about the future, plus he also hadn’t cared much. He
was ready to make it a nasty, protracted, expensive affair for
Aneisha and her bosses, but now he was feeling like maybe that
wasn’t such a great idea. There was something else niggling in the
back of his brain, too, but he couldn’t quite remember what it
was.

“I should get going.”

“Why? You don’t have work, and I don’t have
school. I’ve already texted my uncle that I won’t be at church
today.” Noah put his hand in Oscar’s. “I thought we could spend the
day together. We can spend the whole day inside; we’ll pretend like
it’s raining and the only thing we can do is play games and cuddle.
I like all the sunshine in San Diego, but I do miss rainy
days.”

“I’ve actually got some things to take care
of,” he said. When Noah’s face fell, Oscar leaned over and kissed
him. “For real, this time. I’ll come back tonight.”

Noah looked relieved. “Okay,” he said. “So…
Monopoly tonight?”

“Only if it’s strip Monopoly.”

Noah walked Oscar to the door. “You forgot to
bring me your laundry yesterday,” he reminded him.

“Shit, you’re right. I’ll go get that
now.”

He headed out to the building where his own
apartment was. When he got to the bottom of his stairwell, he heard
Noah call out to him.

Oscar stopped as Noah jogged over to him.
“Yeah?” Oscar asked.

“I wanted to remind you to bring laundry
soap.” He gave Oscar a helpless little shrug. “It was the best
excuse I could come up with to get another kiss out of you.”

Oscar laughed. “You couldn’t wait five
minutes?”

“No.” He wrapped his arms around him and they
kissed, right in the midmorning sunlight in front of God and
everyone. It felt incredibly good.

“Soap,” Oscar said when they pulled apart.
“Got it.”

Noah gave him another quick kiss. “See you in
a few.” He went back the way he came.

Oscar felt almost high. He turned to mount
the stairs— and was confronted by Jeremy, who was standing there in
the stairwell, mouth agape.

Shit! He’d forgotten— they were supposed to
catch a matinee. What time was it?

“I was just about to leave,” Jeremy said. “I
kept banging on your door, but you didn’t answer. I sent you a
couple of texts, which you also didn’t answer.” He looked off in
the direction Noah had come from. “Guess I know why.”

Oscar’s heart started to race. He’d been
found out. But that wasn’t a big deal, right? He’d told Jeremy he
was seeing someone, sort of. Hopefully he didn’t get too close of a
look at who it was. “I am so sorry,” he said. “I totally forgot.”
He glanced down at his phone; sure enough, there were two messages
from Jeremy. It was only 10:45, though. “We still have time to
catch a movie—”

Jeremy cut him off. “Forget about the movie.
Was that your ‘friend with benefits’? Because it seems like you
seriously miscategorized that relationship.”

Oscar’s heartbeat started to slow. So he
didn’t recognize him. Good. “Well, it changed.”

Jeremy smiled a little. “Why didn’t you tell
me? I’m happy for you, man.”

“Thanks,” Oscar said. “Hey, why don’t we get
going? We should really get to that movie soon if you’re going to
be on time for work.”

“But don’t you need to bring down the soap to
him?” Jeremy said. “Then I could meet him.”

He might not have recognized him in the
fleeting glance he’d just gotten, but he definitely might if he
looked at Noah up close. He’d have to tell Jeremy eventually, but
he didn’t feel like getting into it right now. “No, it’s cool,” he
said. “I’ll just text him and tell him I had to go.”

Jeremy frowned. “But it should only take a
minute.”

“He’ll understand.” He started toward his
car. “Come on, man, we’re going to be late.”

Jeremy just stood there. “You don’t want me
to meet him.”

“No, I just—” He floundered for words. He was
in a relationship now. At least, he was pretty sure he was. He had
a boyfriend. He had never had a boyfriend who wasn’t a secret one.
“This is new,” he said. “Th-the being in a… you know, a thing with
someone.”

“A relationship,” Jeremy finished for him,
smiling. Oscar was relieved. Maybe they could have left it at that,
but then Jeremy said, “I think it’s really good that you’re moving
on from the Ricky stuff. I know that it’s been really hard for you,
but it’s been eight years. It’s definitely time to start living in
the present, you know?”

Bringing up the “Ricky stuff” felt like
Jeremy had just ripped off a newly formed scab. To make it worse,
he sounded so condescending— like Jeremy wasn’t a fucking mess
himself. “Wow, you sound a lot like Crystal,” Oscar said. “It
wouldn’t kill you to have a thought of your own every once in a
while.”

Jeremy looked like he’d been slapped. “Hey.
That’s not cool.”

“No, what’s ‘not cool’ is you bringing up
shit that I have specifically said I don’t want to talk about.
Ever.” Oscar narrowed his eyes. “Did you tell her about what
happened?”

Jeremy paused. “Well, yeah. I didn’t think it
was that big of a deal.”

“Well it is,” Oscar snarled. “That’s my story
to tell. Not yours. Not anyone else’s.”

“Look, I’m sorry you feel that way, but it’s
my story, too,” Jeremy said, getting defensive.

“It didn’t have to be. I told you to stay out
of it.”

It took Jeremy a moment to absorb that. “Are
you talking about when you told me not to rat the rest of them out?
Christ. We were just kids then, but I thought by now you’d realized
how fucking insane it would have been not to say anything!”

“You know how many people I’ve told about
your mom? Zero. Because I know better than to spread other people’s
business around.” Oscar brushed past him, going up to his
apartment. “You know, I don’t really feel like a movie today. I’ve
got shit to do.”

Jeremy marched up after him. “No, you don’t
get to do this,” Jeremy said. “I’m not going to put up with your
weird mood swings anymore. You don’t get to brush me off.”

Well, this was new. Oscar and Jeremy never
fought. They gave each other a hard time, sure, but that wasn’t
fighting— that was playing. Sometimes they would get close to the
edge of a real argument, but Jeremy would always back down. “What
do you mean ‘brush you off’?” Oscar asked, his voice getting
louder. “I don’t brush you off!”

“You do!” Jeremy’s voice rose to meet
Oscar’s. “Every time I dare to disagree with you, you stop talking
to me until I cave.”

Oscar was flabbergasted. He had no idea
Jeremy felt that way. Oscar figured he just always saw reason
eventually. Instead of apologizing, Oscar just got angrier. “It’s
not my fault you don’t have any balls!”

Jeremy had looked slapped earlier; now he
looked like he’d been punched in the gut. “Fuck you.”

“Fuck you, too.” Oscar couldn’t quite get the
key in the door; his hands were shaking.

Jeremy turned to leave, but then he stopped.
“It’s that guy from the video I sent you,” he said.

Oscar froze.

“Yeah,” Jeremy said slowly. “Yeah, I thought
I recognized him. So you trolled him and then, what, stalked
him?”

“I didn’t stalk him!” Oscar said before he
could stop himself. “It was a weird coincidence.” He wanted to kick
himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth; now he couldn’t
deny it.

“And you didn’t trust me not to say anything
about it. That’s why you don’t want me to meet him. You really
thought I’d betray you, after everything we’ve been through.”
Jeremy let out a humorless laugh. “But how could I betray you when
I don’t have the balls for something like that?”

Their gazes met for a moment, and then Jeremy
took off down the stairs. Oscar ran after him, but he tripped,
landing face-first on the concrete. When he got up again, his nose
was bleeding. He made his way down the stairs as quickly as
possible, pinching his nose to try to stop the blood. But Jeremy
already had a huge head start. He prayed that Jeremy hadn’t noticed
which apartment was Noah’s, but he went right to it and knocked on
the door. Noah opened it just as Oscar arrived.

“Can I help you with something?” Noah asked.
The door blocked him from seeing Oscar.

Jeremy thrust out his hand. “I’m Jeremy,” he
said. “Oscar’s friend.”

Noah smiled and took it. “Oh! It’s really
nice to meet you. Oscar talks about you a lot.”

“That’s funny, because he never even told me
your name.”

Oscar put his hand on the door, opening it
wider so that Noah could see him. “What happened to your nose?” he
said with alarm.

“I-I tripped,” he said. He turned to Jeremy,
looking at him with as much pleading in his eyes as he could
muster.

But Jeremy wasn’t looking at him. “I just
thought you might want to meet the guy who introduced you two.”

Noah frowned, looking back and forth between
them. “I don’t understand.”

“I sent him a link to your YouTube video,”
Jeremy said. “He trolled the shit out of you.” Jeremy turned to
Oscar. “What handles did you use again? I think it was
up4it
and another one— one you made just for that occasion.
ASMRfan
, or something like that?”

Noah looked at Oscar, his eyes wide and his
mouth slack with disbelief. “That was you?”

“Sure was,” Jeremy said. “Anyway, it was nice
to meet you.” He glared at Oscar. “How’s that for balls?” He
stormed off.

Noah and Oscar just stood there for a moment,
both of them in a state of shock. The blood from Oscar’s nose had
escaped from his hands and was dripping on the concrete. “Noah, I’m
sorry—” he started.

Noah slammed the door in his face. Oscar
immediately started knocking. “No! Noah please— open the door.
Please!” When there was no response, his knocking grew more
desperate, and his voice became louder. “Noah, please! Open the
door!”

“Oscar!” a female voice said. He whipped
around. Aneisha stood on the other side of the pool, looking
furious. “What is going on?” She noticed the blood on his face.
“What happened?”

“Nothing,” Oscar insisted.

She crossed her arms. “Did you finally show
Noah your true colors and he clocked you one?”

“It’s none of your business!” Oscar
roared.

Aneisha narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to
stop bothering him, or do I need to call the cops?”

Oscar looked back at the door. It was smeared
with his blood. He gave one last weak little knock. “Please,” he
whispered. He doubted Noah could hear him.

His shoulders slumped. He turned back to
Aneisha. “No.” He wiped at his nose; all it did was smear more
blood over his face.

He must have looked beyond pathetic, because
her expression actually softened. “Do you need help with your
nose?” she asked.

“No,” Oscar said. “No, it’s fine.”

He went back to his apartment. He washed his
face off and stuck some toilet paper up his nose. When he wasn’t
bleeding all over himself, he took out his phone to text Noah.

Plz talk 2 me. Let me explain.

He waited for a reply. The phone said it was
only five minutes, but it felt like forever.

What kind of explanation can you possibly
give me?

Oscar typed back immediately.

It was before i met u. I didnt know u were
my neighbor.