Role Play - Alison Hendricks Page 0,11
him.
"That's great, David. I think you'll do awesome. Before you make another character tonight, though," not my best segue, but I was going to own it, "Ruth said you've got some algebra homework?"
He shrugged a little, gaze still fixed on his phone. "I'll do it tomorrow before class. Everybody always does their homework before class."
I knew from experience that was true, but I didn't want to encourage it. "Come on. I bet you can breeze through it. It's probably like what, twenty problems?"
"Forty."
"Okay, well maybe you and I can knock them out and they'll get done quicker."
"I'll do it tomorrow," he said again, still not looking at me.
"Hey. David." I knew it was a bad idea before I did it, but some stupid part of my brain insisted it was the only way, and I reached for his phone. "Set it aside. Just for an hour. Whatever you don't finish in that time, you--"
"Give me back my phone!" he said, his voice already raised to a panic. "Give me back my phone! Give me back my phone!"
The way he repeated it, the way he kept getting more and more panicked, I couldn't help but wonder if a teacher or another student had taken his phone from him at school. I hadn't been notified of him having any issues with that, but if it was a student, the administration might not have bothered intervening.
He kept repeating it, growing more and more distressed. I had no choice but to give him the phone back.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I just want to make sure you're getting your work done, man. It's important."
He pulled his noise-canceling headphones -- the pair he used to cope when there was too much going on -- up from around his neck, fitting them over his ears.
"What if we found a way to connect it to D&D somehow? I could look at the problems and--"
"I'm going to bed."
He took his phone and his glass of water and headed toward the stairs.
"David, you haven't even eaten dinner yet."
"I'm not hungry."
I knew it was fruitless to argue with him. I'd come by later and see if he wanted a grilled cheese sandwich or something, but right now, he needed to remove himself from the situation, and I needed to let him. Trying desperately to fix shit like I did with my job wasn't going to get us anywhere.
"Okay, well text me if you need anything. I'll come up later to see if you change your mind about dinner."
I heard the door shut upstairs and I sank into one of the chairs at the card table, dragging my hands over my face. Why had I done that? I knew better than to try and take his phone from him. I knew how much that app meant to him. It was hard not to think I hadn't left all my work shit at the door, since I didn't think I would have done something so stupid if I wasn't already frustrated.
I needed a way to blow off some steam. The gym was an option, but right now I didn't want to see the inside of a sports center, and that was likely where I'd go. I definitely didn't want to chance running into one of my colleagues.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I moved mindlessly between screens, looking for an app to open. Normally, I had to pass right on by Grindr these days. I needed my focus to be on David, and since I had him most nights, hookups just weren't possible. But if Ruth was taking him tomorrow night...
I opened the app, having to log in again since it'd been so long. Scrolling through, I found things hadn't changed much. Guys were still mostly posting pics of their chests and abs, with demands for partners that made me flip right on past. Even if I was considered "masc" by most of the queer community, I sure as shit wasn't going to hook up with somebody who thought anyone presenting as "fem" wasn't their kind of gay. That was some toxic bullshit, and I'd had enough of that in the past, before I wised up to how shitty those types of guys were. Not just personality-wise, but usually in bed, too.
I wanted something different this time, but all Grindr wanted to serve up was more of the same. Mostly white men who all had the same body type. I was just about to give up when I caught a pic of a guy