Jock Next Bed (BL)-Chapter 242: Shopping

Chapter 242: Shopping
The next days blurred.
Sky had avoided him.
He’d muttered something about wanting to "catch up with his friends" and spent the night stretched out on the couch, arms folded like he was standing guard. Irritated, he’d claimed. Too irritated to share the massive bed with his friends.
Even Henry had offered to sleep on the couch since he was smaller than Noel and Sky, but Sky would rather die than let someone’s body touch his.
Yeah right.
Chris hadn’t minded. Not really. He knew exactly what Sky was doing. He wasn’t avoiding him for the wrong reasons. He was avoiding him for all the right ones. The kind that made Chris want to laugh and pull him close and whisper things that would make Sky turn red to his ears.
But still. They were in the same spaces. Breakfast, afternoons wandering town, Wilson showing off their city with pride. And in all of those spaces, Sky wouldn’t meet his eyes.
Chris caught him once, twice, more than that, actually. Always Sky, glancing, then yanking his gaze away, rubbing the back of his neck like it was on fire. Cute. Annoyingly cute.
Wilson was a good host, everyone had to admit. He knew where to take them, how to keep everyone entertained. Bubbly parties. Loud games in arcades. Hidden food joints where even Noel dropped his serious act for a while. And Rachel was comfortable enough to chat with all of them.
They’d split cars when driving. Wilson, his boyfriend, Rain, and Henry piled into one. Chris drove the other, with Sky, Rachel, Noel, and Mei. Which meant Chris had to sit there pretending not to notice Sky’s knee bouncing against the car door, or the way his voice got clipped whenever Chris asked him something very random while they all chatted.
Fine. Chris could wait. He was good at waiting.
By the morning of the family party, everything had shifted into that dizzy, rushed rhythm again.
Chris had at least been useful, doling out orders the night before: "By 10 a.m., everyone ready. We’re shopping. No arguments."
Sky looked guilty about it. Guilty enough that Chris almost stepped in to shake him by the shoulders. He thought Chris was spending too much on them. And his friends? They didn’t care. They were just happy. Too happy. Poor boy didn’t realize Chris wasn’t thinking twice about any of this.
Of course, by 8:30, Sky’s friends were already waiting outside with bright smiles, buzzing with too much energy.
Chris himself? He strolled out casually at 9, card in hand, like he’d simply been waiting for the world to catch up to him.
The shopping center they pulled up to wasn’t just a shopping center; it was practically a glass palace. Grand pillars. Floors glittering like light had been poured into them. Of course, Wilson’s family owned it.
Naturally.
Sky tried not to gawk, but his friends didn’t bother hiding their awe. Even Mei looked impressed. That was how insane this place was. Noel pulled out his phone, muttering something about posting the view, and Rachel was busy grinning at Chris like he’d just opened Narnia for them.
Henry was lost in the moment, bothering Rain to take photos of him and then complaining about how she never put in effort, meanwhile he even rolled on the floor to get good photos of her.
Chris? He just slid his card into Wilson’s waiting hand like it was no big deal.
"First stop: hair and makeup," Wilson announced, voice dripping with authority. "You’ll thank me later."
They were whisked in, no lines, no hesitation.
They were separated into stations. Apparently, the entire salon floor had been booked for them, rows of stylists waiting like soldiers.
Sky froze halfway inside. His friends didn’t. Henry squealed like a child and dragged Rachel into the first chair. Noel just looked at the mirror. His hair had grown a bit the last few weeks and he had kept it in a standard buzz cut. What else were they supposed to do now?
Sky still lingered by the doorway, arms folded tight.
Chris walked past him, brushing just close enough that Sky’s sleeve caught against his. "Don’t tell me you’re scared of a little hairspray," he murmured.
Sky scoffed.
Chris only smiled, settling into his own chair like he owned the entire floor. Which, technically, his friend’s family did, but it might as well have been his, the way everyone moved when he lifted a hand.
Sky gave up eventually, dragged down into a chair by Rain and Mei. He sat there, scowling like a child being forced into picture day, while the stylist, a young lady probably in her late twenties, began to ask if he had any style in mind for his hair, if he wanted his hair parted this way or that.
"I’m not very sure, sorry" Sky muttered.
She nodded, smiling warmly at him.
"Let’s see..." she said as she took in his face closely and hummed. "I already got a look at the various outfits prepared for you. So I think we can work with making something that might suit any of those."
Various outfits prepared for him?
Sky’s brow furrowed. He hadn’t heard that before.
Through the mirror, he looked at the far end by the right where he knew Chris was sitting.
He saw Chris.
Relaxed. At ease. Shirt rolled up to his elbows, long legs sprawled out like the chair was made only for him. And across from him, the stylist. Some young guy, neat uniform, laughing too easily at whatever Chris said. His hand lingered in Chris’s hair a beat too long, brushing, smoothing, tugging gently as if he had every right.
Sky’s grip on the armrest tightened.
The mirror betrayed every detail: the way Chris tilted his head slightly toward the guy, listening with that half-smile, the one that had been driving Sky insane since the first time he saw it. That smile. His.
"Relax your shoulders," his stylist, Elizabeth, murmured.
Sky forced himself to, only for his gaze to slide back again to the reflection at the end of the row. Chris, leaning in. Chris, laughing low at something. Chris’s lashes lowered as the guy brushed fingers along his temple.
What the actual—