Page 29 of Zero Confusion

SubLily: Merriam-Webster disagrees. Anyway, to answer the question, I think I have too strong a personality to handle a full-time Dom.

DommyBoy: Wow, Lily, what a shocking twist.

Chapter 13

ZACH

For better or worse, the rest of the week didn’t bring any further revelations or heart-wrenching conversations. Days blurred together in quiet domestic bliss, and even though Zach couldn’t stop himself from constantly tracking Miles’s movements out of the corner of his eye, he was slowly getting used to sharing his space.

It helped that Miles was an easygoing person, expertly diffusing any potential arguments. When Zach got a bad grade on his assignment and stomped through the door on edge and frustrated, Miles had immediately shoved him into the bathroom with stern instructions for a long, hot shower while he ran to the store to buy enough sweet treats for an army. And when Zach slammed his laptop shut and growled at the ceiling because the sound of the refrigerator humming kept breaking his concentration, Miles only smiled and hugged him, petting his hair while asking thoughtful questions about the paper he was writing until Zach was ready to keep working on it.

Being stuck inside all weekend while Zach typed on his laptop couldn’t have been much fun—it certainly wasn’t fun for Zach—but Miles didn’t complain. In fact, he barely spoke at all. Every time Zach tore his tired eyes away from the screen, Miles was engrossed in his phone with a strange expression on his face. More than once, a hint of pink tinged Miles’s face, making Zach wonder exactly what he was doing. Texting a girlfriend he left behind in Montana? Reading a racy romance novel? Shopping for a Fleshlight?

“You okay?” he asked when his curiosity had finally reached its peak.

“Hmm?” Miles didn’t bother looking up, his thumbs flying over the screen, and a pang of jealousy ricocheted through Zach.

“You look a little flushed. Is it too warm? Should I open a window?” he asked, tilting his head in mock concern.

“Oh. Umm. I’m okay.” Miles finally looked over at Zach with a guilty smile.

Zach rolled his eyes and went back to his paper. Taking summer classes had been, hands-down, the worst idea he’d ever had. Instead of going out and drinking or hooking up, he was stuck writing a paper on risk assessment and watching his best friend keep secrets.

And so it went all weekend, an endless loop of staring at the blinking cursor and stealthily eyeing Miles’s crimson cheeks.

Zach was ready for a break.

“I’m never taking a summer class again,” he announced on Monday morning after submitting the paper online.

“You didn’t have to take this one either,” Miles pointed out as he cracked six eggs into a bowl and whisked them with a fork.

“Oh, I meant to ask you about that. How did you know?”

Miles sent a questioning glance his way, so Zach clarified, “How did you know I didn’t need the class?”

“I know you, Zee. I know your tells.” Miles poured the mixture into a hot pan. “You breathe through your mouth when you’re lying, and you were basically panting when you told me about needing the credits.”

Zach tried to think back on his past lies, but tragically, he’d never thought to monitor his respiratory patterns. Had he been gasping for breath every time he denied borrowing Jerry’s DS? Or when he claimed not to know where the dent in his father’s truck came from, despite being in the passenger seat while ten-year-old Abe attempted a joyride and immediately clipped a tree? What about those repeated, mysterious disappearances of his mom’s chocolate ice cream? Had he been heaving while feigning ignorance?

He decided to try it out.

“Licorice is delicious. I know how to play guitar. Dogs are better than cats.”

The only result of this experiment was Miles’s shoulders shaking with laughter. “I don’t think it works if you know you’re doing it,” he said without turning around.

“I can’t tell if you’re fucking with me. Breathing through my mouth? Maybe I had a cold that day.”

“You didn’t.”

Zach sagged into the couch and pouted. If he really had a tell, did other people know about it? While he didn’t expect his parents to ask him uncomfortable questions and pause to watch his mouth, it didn’t hurt to be prepared.

He could always ask Joel.

ZACH: Do I have any tells when I lie?

JOEL: Are you saying you’ve lied to me? Gasp.

ZACH: Uhh, yeah. Those purple jeggings were not “fire” and definitely not worth a hundred bucks.