“I was convenient,” David says quietly.

Jake barks out a laugh. “You are the least convenient person I’ve ever met,” he says.

It feels like a compliment, even though David knows it isn’t one, and David bites down the reflex to say ‘thank you’, just says, “Oh.”

“Can we just start over?” Jake asks, and then when David doesn’t say anything, at a loss, “Like. Okay.”

He reaches his hand across the table. “Hi, I’m Jake.”

“I know,” David says.

Jake snorts. “What’s your name?” he asks pointedly.

“You know my name,” David says. He’s maybe being difficult on purpose, but it makes Jake smile, so he isn’t going to admit it.

“You are the most infuriating person in the world,” Jake says, but he’s grinning wide at David, so that feels like a compliment too.

‘Thank you’, David doesn’t say. “It’s nice to meet you,” he says instead, feeling stupid about it.

“You too,” Jake says, and David wants to kiss his smile, but doesn’t.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

David takes it as a good sign when Jake starts sending a stream of texts to him again, borderline illiterate as they are. The first one is good talk :), which makes David roll his eyes but also makes him smile, as hard as he tries not to, and it continues from there.

what do u like to do? Jake sends the next day. David scrutinises the text for a moment, trying to figure out if there’s something he’s missing. Finally he types out Hockey., even if it’s kind of an obvious answer, then shoves his phone into his pocket.

It buzzes almost immediately, and David resolutely ignores it for about ten seconds before it buzzes once more and he pulls it back out.

duh :P, the first text reads, followed by, my other fav sport is football

I like tennis., David sends, because that seems like what Jake’s prompting him for, and it opens the floodgates, Jake sending him random texts about his favourite book or band, and so on and so on.

The information Jake sends is alternately asinine or obvious, and sometimes both. David doesn’t know how the fact that Jake’s favourite colour is red is supposed to inform their friendship, and he already knows Jake’s favourite foods, sports teams, movie genres, picked that up without even realising while they were in Toronto.

He obediently replies, even if it often takes some thought. Jake sends him a text saying no hockey aloud!! :P when David offers a hockey movie that came out when they were kids as his favourite.

He can’t think of another, because he doesn’t really waste his time watching movies. He eventually just types out the title of the last decent movie he saw, because until he answers, Jake can’t send him another question.