I'd never met anyone like Chase before. He was smart, talented, and had a great if somewhat dark sense of humour.

My friends always talked about their crushes and it was pretty obvious that I was now developing one too.

And I was having so much fun!

We drank beer, chatted about everything and nothing, and watched the latest episode of "Desperate Housewives"!

When my phone rang, I almost felt embarrassed to pull the old Nokia out of my pocket.

"Hey, dickwad!" Duncan whispered. "I just told your Dad that you're asleep already, so you'd better be out getting laid."

"Duncan!" I said, my face going red.

"If you tell me who it is, I'll cover for you every night," he said.

"I'm hanging up now," I said and pressed the red button.

"Everything OK?" Chase asked, dropping himself into a spot right next to me.

I was suddenly very aware of how close he was, and in that moment I desperately wanted to kiss him.

"Can you bring me back to the hotel?" I asked, tearing my gaze away from his beautiful eyes.

***

When I carefully snuck into my room, Duncan was already sleeping... or so I thought.

The moment I crawled into bed, he whispered, "Welcome back, loverboy."

"Whatever," I said, turning around.

"Do you have nothing to tell?"

"I just hung out with my friend Chase," I said, wanting to close this topic so I could sleep.

"The bartender at the pool?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah," I answered, wanting to add that he was so much more than that.

"Are you two fucking?" Duncan breathed.

"What?! No!" I whipped around to face him in the dark.

"Too bad, he's a good-looking guy."

My head started to spin, what did Duncan know?

"I found your dude-love book, 'Call You My Name' or whatever, hidden in your suitcase."

"What the fuck, Duncan!" I hissed.

"It's OK to be gay, you know," he said calmly.

I let out a breath I never knew I was holding. Never in a million years would I have thought that Duncan would be so easy about this.

"Thanks," I said, aware that I was holding back tears. "I really, really needed to hear that."

"Anytime, fuck face," he replied.

We both laughed, despite the gravitas of the moment.

I had a lukewarm relationship with my stepbrother at best, but his support meant more than he could ever know.

"Do you like him?" Duncan asked.

"I think so," I breathed.

"Then maybe you should tell him, what do you have to lose?"

Was he right? Should just I take a leap of faith?