AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That could’ve gone better. I don’t necessarily know how. But I’m sure it could’ve gone better. I wanted some certainty. Answers. If anything, I’m more confused now.
I blow out a breath and turn around.
The street outside is busy with people moving between clubs and bars, enjoying their Saturday night. I start to walk. Now what? Should I do a phase two? Go to another bar and see if picking up a girl feels somehow different now?
I take one more glance behind me, toward the bar. Obviously a smart move, since now I’m not looking where I’m going, so I walk straight into somebody.
“Shit! Sorr—” The words die when I see who it is.
Lake raises his brows before his face settles into the usual scowl that he then smooths out into a neutral expression.
“Fancy running into you,” he says.
Not sure if fancy is the word I’d use. It’s been a few months since the last time I talked to him, which was the beginning of summer, when I stopped by his apartment to let him know I was transferring over the money.
I saw him walking out of the library a few weeks after the semester started.
And that’s about all there is to report on the Lake-sightings front, even though I’ve looked and have maybe, possibly, hung out in the science section of the library a few times over the course of the last semester.
He looks good.
I stand in front of him, startled by how easily that thought came. I didn’t have to analyze or overthink anything. It’s just an easily acceptable fact, like a lot of others. It’s dark outside. That guy over there is drunk. Lake looks good.
“What are you doing in Boston?” he asks. “I thought you guys had a game tonight?”
“I was just…” I shake my head. This is shaping up to be the evening of unfinished thoughts and sentences.
His eyes flick to the building behind me. I swallow down a groan. Did he see me coming out of the gay bar?
Even if he did, he doesn’t say anything.
It takes another few seconds to notice the other people standing a few steps behind Lake, three of them gathered in a neat semi-circle, eyeing me with varying degrees of curiosity. Two guys and a girl.
I know them. Well, two of them. Lake used to hang out with both Rachel and Sawyer all through middle school and high school. Seems that’s still a thing.
The third guy’s a stranger, though. He throws me a cursory once-over before his eyes settle on Lake’s back.
“Are we finally going, or what?” he asks.
Rachel swats him on the chest with the back of her hand. “Don’t be an ass, Kel.” She smiles at me. “Hi.”
“Hey.” I nod to her and Sawyer. “I haven’t seen you guys in forever.”
“It’s practically a reunion,” Rachel says with a grin. “How’ve you been?”
“Yeah, good. It’s all good,” I say. “You?”
“Can’t complain.”
And that concludes the small talk portion of the evening, I guess.
There’s a beat of silence during which Rachel elbows Lake and widens her eyes, and he rolls his eyes in return, a silent conversation between people who’ve known each other for a long time.
Lake’s gaze meets mine.
“We’re heading to a party,” he says. “It’s just this birthday thing.”
“Wait.” Sawyer frowns. “I thought it was a housewarming.”
