There's No Going Back

6. Thermonuclear

Alex had come back to the dorm in a funk that night and when Jay pried, all he could get out of his brother was a series on unintelligible grunts and a gruff 'I'm fine'.

So be it, thought Jay and went back to plotting his first date with Madison. That is if she said yes when he asked her tomorrow.

Idly, Jay wondered if Alex had struck out with Piper and if that was the reason for his foul mood. If it was, he wasn't about to ask him about it until he was ready to talk. He knew when to push and when to let it go. If Alex wanted to talk about it, he would do it in his own time. It was pointless to pry.

Poetry reading? Nah- too predictable.

Dinner and a movie? Cliche for a first date, but tried and true. He wondered what types of movies she liked. He would, of course, allow her to choose the movie. It was the gentlemanly thing to do. If there was one thing his fathers had taught him, it was how to be a gentleman. Apparently, Ethan had always been one, but it had taken longer for Emmett to get with the program. His fathers had blamed the fact that they had spent much of their younger years apart from each other on their differing lifestyles.

Maybe he should ask Madison what she wanted to do. Jay was sure that Madison would appreciate him putting her wants first, but it seemed too lazy for him. Not his usual style.

Jay spent a good part of the time when not doing schoolwork, thinking about where to bring her on their date. Again, if she said yes. And that was a big if. She had acted strangely the last time he had seen her. Almost wary of him.

By the time the next day rolled around, Jay had several ideas rolling through his head. They weren't so far from the Ocean Beach and there were bonfire pits there. A nice picnic with a bonfire was romantic- perhaps at sunset. Jay would need to check times for that and hope she was agreeable to it.

His other idea was to take her on a tour of the city. San Francisco was new to her and though he wasn't a native, he had come to the city often enough to know his way around. It would be a touristy thing to do, but fun. There were plenty of museums and a nice ride on the cable cars was always a visitor must.

Jay smiled as he thought of his ideas. He would have loved to take her to the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park. Out of all the places he could take her, it would be right up her alley.

Jay ate his breakfast the next day with Alex, Erik, and Ken and Erik's ever-changing entourage of fangirls and teammates. Both Alex and he were quiet, Alex for whatever reasons he wasn't sharing and Jay was too busy rehearsing his 'lines' to be much of a participant in the conversation.

"What's wrong with you two?" Erik finally asked of them. "You haven't spoken all morning even though Ken's been slyly hitting on you."

"Have not!" Ken objected. "I always offer full-body massages to my male friends!"

Erik rolled his eyes at his roommate and breathed out.

"So- what gives?" Erik asked.

Alex got up silently, his breakfast tray still half full and walked away to get rid of it on the rolling conveyor belt. He had barely eaten half of what he had ordered. Jay watched as he walked out of the cafeteria and looked back at Erik with a shrug.

"I don't know what's wrong with him, but I'm fine," Jay stated. "Just thinking."

"About?" Ken questioned.

Jay hesitated briefly and sat back in his chair.

"I was trying to think of a good way to ask Madison out," he admitted. "I was thinking of taking her to a museum or to the beach. She's from Hawaii so she's sure to like the beach."

"The beach is so cliche though," Erik advised. "She probably saw it every day when she was home. I say take her to the museum. Which one you thinking about?"

"DeYoung in the park- it's all art."

"She likes art?" Ken asked with an odd look on his face.

"Yeah- she mentioned she did," Jay conceded. "I'm not a huge fan- that's more Alex's style, but I'm willing to make the sacrifice."

Erik gave him a cheeky grin.

"You're such a glutton for punishment," Erik said with a shake of his head.

"So sue me," Jay tossed back before rising from his seat to rid himself of his cafeteria tray.

******

"f*****g women," Jay bit out later on that day.

It was almost dinner time, and though his stomach told him he was hungry, he had a hard time imagine actually eating.

The day had gone horribly for him. Not only had Madison rebuffed him, but she had also let him have it right after class. And what she had said stunned and confused him.

Jay decided to order out. At least he could have cold pizza later on if his stomach didn't cooperate when the pie came.

Dialing a number from the local Blondie's, he placed the phone back down on the small, round table near the kitchenette and put his head in his hands trying to figure out just where the hell he had gone wrong.

"Hey, Madison!" Jay called out after the retreating figure of the girl. She had gotten up with swift efficiency at the end of class and he hadn't had a chance to speak in class. It had been a lecture, and it was juvenile to try to pass a note to her. Besides, she hadn't been close enough to him in order to make the exchange secretive and he didn't need others snooping in his business.

The girl kept moving down the hall quickly and Jay assumed that she hadn't heard him. He followed her out onto the quad and ran up behind her, grabbing her gently by the elbow until she had turned to face him.

"Madison, didn't you hear me?" Jay asked, his eyes wandering over the inexplicable look on her face. She looked annoyed and angry and he hoped it wasn't at him.

"Are you serious right now?" she asked him her eyes blinking in astonished, aggravated annoyance.

"About you not hearing me?" he asked, puzzled in his own right.

"You don't catch a hint do you?" she questioned, shaking her head. "No matter how many times I try to clue you in, you just don't seem to get it."

"Huh?" Jay was perplexed. How did she try to clue him in? And to what?

"I'm not interested in any game you are trying to play with me, Jay- or whatever your name is," she told him, her jaw set and clinching as she spoke the words.

"Whoa- hey now, I'm not playing any games," he told her. "I was just wondering if you wanted to go out with me. The DeYoung is having a Gaugin exhibit and I thought you might be interested in going."

"I'll pass," she stated and started to walk away. "I'm busy anyway."

Jay frowned and started walking after her.

"Wait- you don't even know when it is," he told her, walking swiftly to keep up.

"I'll still pass," she said shortly. "I won't have any time for you or anyone else for a while. I'm here to get an education, not play silly games and try to figure frustrating boys out. It's distracting and irrelevant."

"But-" Jay began.

"Leave me alone!" she said as she started to speed-walk away from him, leaving Jay standing there under a large tree in the center of the quad.

Later, as Jay sat with the unopened pizza box in front of him, he thought over the whole interaction. He had no idea what she was talking about and wondered what she had meant. He tried to deconstruct the entire conversation piece by piece and search for hints as to what she was talking about.

He had come up with a big, fat nothing by the time Alex walked into their dorm. His brother sniffed the air as he set his bookbag aside next to the door.

"I smell pizza," Alex stated.

"Have it," Jay stated, pushing it towards his brother and sitting back in his chair. "I lost my f*****g appetite."

"What kind?" Alex asked. He must still not have been in the mood to discuss whatever was bothering him Jay figured.

"Pepperoni, bacon and linguica," Jay stated, his stomach rolling over. He should be famished by now his gut was so empty. Instead, it turned over like it did minutes before he would vomit on the few occasions he would get sick enough to do so. Usually, if he had been drinking illegally or ate something that was off.

"Your favorite. What gives?" Alex asked, looking over at Jay with a brow raised.

"What do you mean?" Jay asked, knowing what his brother was getting at but determined to play dumb for now.

"Are you sick or what? You hoovered the grub easily enough this morning," Alex added before picking up a slice of pizza and walking over to the cabinets to grab a plate.

"More than likely the same thing that's wrong with you, bro," he told him and watched as Alex hesitated before opening up the cupboard,

"Nothing's wrong with me," Alex countered gruffly.

"Right," Jay stated on a sigh.

"If you wanna talk, I'm here to listen," Alex told his brother as he placed the slice onto his plate, cheese oozing onto the dark blue ceramic.

Cocking his head, Jay's mouth twitched before speaking.

"Tell you what," he began. "I'll tell you what happened to me if you spill the beans on why you're as grouchy as a bear with jock itch."

Alex grimaced at Jay's choice of words.

"I'm eating here. No need to talk about groin maladies while I have a mouth full of cheesy goodness." Alex swallowed while Jay smirked at him. He loved irritating his brother- especially when he was in the middle of a meal.

"Okay, but no asking questions and no more talk about jock itch or smegma or whatever else your disgusting mind can think of. At least not while I'm eating," Alex agreed.

"Fine," Jay said and started talking.

Jay spoke about his encounter with Madison, his brother grunting and nodding his head, his mouth too full of pizza to ask questions or interject with his own thoughts.

After he was done, Alex shook his head.

"Chicks are a f*****g mystery," he told his brother who nodded his head, agreeing whole-heartedly.

"Did any of it make sense to you?" Jay asked, hopeful.

"Not a bit of it."

"Shit."

"I know."

The two sat in silence for a few. While he had been talking, Jay decided to try a slice of the pizza. His stomach was still in knots, but at least the queasy feeling had gone away once he had started confiding in his brother. Now it was Alex's turn.

"So why have you been so moody lately?" Jay asked after he swallowed another bite of pizza. "Piper giving you problems?"

"She's- she's somehow angry with me for... whatever reason," Alex said. "No clue as to why. Just like Madison. It's a complete f*****g riddle. I must have done something wrong in her eyes, but I'll be damned if I even know where to start on finding out what it is."

Both boys shook their head at the enigma that was women. Madison sounded like she was a lot like Piper. The two probably would have hit it off if they met. Best friends for life.

"Anyway, so I was thinking that this first week sucked ass," Jay commented. "Want to head back up to Tahoe and see Mom and Dads?"

Alex groaned.

"Oh, it sounds so f*****g weird when you say that," Alex groaned out.

"I know," Jay stated with a grin. "It's why I like doing it. You get so weirded out. Besides, maybe the dads have some insight on how to get the girls to forgive us. They f****d up enough with mom while they were 'dating'."

Alex grimaced again.

"I don't want to think about what those two could have possibly done to irritate Mom." Alex shook his head. "And I don't want to think of what nasty things they did while 'dating' either. Makes me want to rip off my d**k and join a monastery."

"So, you up for a road trip this weekend?" asked Jay, getting back to the matter at hand.

"Sure," Alex stated with a sigh. "Why the Hell not. It's not as if my plans this weekend aren't completely down the toilet anyway."

"Plus, Mom will be ecstatic to see us," Jay added.

"I just hope Emily hasn't painted our bedroom walls pink and purple and is using it as a shrine to that douche next door that she's all hot over."

"Don't f*****g remind me."