Jake pops his head in just after nine, after a short knock that makes David tense. He relaxes when he sees Jake, sleepy-eyed, hair mussed from the couch, like he’s just woken up, came straight to David when he did. Well, of course. All his things are in here.

“Hey, sleeping in?” Jake asks.

“I guess,” David says.

Jake shuts the door behind him, comes to sit on the edge of David’s bed. His bed.

“Coffee downstairs,” Jake says.

He leans in, and David can’t help but flinch away before Jake can kiss him.

“Door’s shut,” Jake says. “No one would come in without knocking.”

“I know, I just—” David says, unsure how to finish.

“I get it,” Jake says, though he doesn’t look like he does.

“Sorry,” David says.

“No worries,” Jake says. “You want first shower, or—”

“You can,” David says. He regrets it once Jake leaves, the smell of coffee overwhelming now that Jake’s mentioned it, and he changes out of his sweats and old t-shirt to go downstairs, even though it doesn’t really make sense to before he showers, and it was nearly the mirror image of what Jake was wearing. Still, this is Jake’s house, not David’s.

It was probably foolish not to expect anyone to be in the kitchen, but he still can’t help but be disappointed when he finds one of Jake’s sisters already there, leaning against the counter and sipping a cup of coffee. At least it’s just one Lourdes.

“Good morning, Natalie,” David says. She’s in the way of the coffee pot, and he’s not sure if it’s ruder to ask her to move or to retreat, wait until she’s gone before he pours himself a cup.

“Morning,” Natalie says.

“Is that coffee?” David lands on as a polite way to indicate she should move, but she doesn’t, just gives him this look like he’s particularly dim. “May I have some?”

“Be my guest,” Natalie says, in a way David thinks is sarcastic, but thankfully she moves away from the pot, tells him where the mugs are when he opens the wrong cabinet.

“So how’d this happen?” Natalie asks, as David pours coffee into a chipped blue mug.

“What do you mean?” David asks.

“You and Jakey,” Natalie says. “How’d all this come about?”

“Um,” David says. “Jake didn’t tell you?”

Natalie shrugs. “Maybe I want to hear your version.”

“I—” David says. “Is there milk? For the coffee?”

“In the fridge,” Natalie says, again like she thinks he’s stupid. Everything she’s said to him — and it’s not a long list, she’s been by far the most quiet person in the house, with the exception of David — has had that bite to it, like she decided not to like him from the get-go and he’s done nothing to change her mind.