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I shake my head and pull the door open.
Not sure I can claim to have had any cool to begin with, but whatever there was is lost the moment I find myself facing Lake.
After a little bit of staring, he raises a brow. “The fuck are your manners, James?” he asks.
I move to the side to let him in. He steps inside and pushes a paper bag against my chest before he starts taking off his coat.
“Where’s your hat?” I ask.
His hands stop working on the zipper, and he sends me a dubious look. “My what?”
“Hat,” I repeat. “It’s ten degrees outside.”
He stares at me for the longest time.
“How very Mom of you,” he finally says.
There’s a barely there smirk on his lips while he hangs up his coat and takes off the scarf and the mittens.
For a moment, we stand in silence. Until I realize I’m still holding the bag he gave me and peer inside.
“What’s this?” I ask.
He rolls his eyes. “Food, Ryk. It’s food.”
“You’re bringing me dinner?”
“I wouldn’t get too excited. It’s just sandwiches. Made from leftovers. I’ve been cooking too much food this week, and I didn’t want it to go to waste, that’s all.”
He does that thing where he gives too many details. Like people do when they lie. I don’t call him out, though. Not gonna risk him leaving now that he’s here.
“Thanks,” I say.
“Whatever,” he replies, stuffing the scarf and mittens into the hood of his jacket. “So we’re just going to stand here, or are you going to ask me inside?”
I motion toward the living area, and he walks past me. It’s in those few seconds it takes him to stop in the doorway that I remember Hayes and Soren. I rush after Lake and run into his back almost immediately.
“Uh… hi,” he says. It’s almost funny how startled he looks.
“Hey, man,” Soren says, friendly as ever.
Hayes? He just stares.
“Soren. Hayes.” I point each of them out.
Lake nods and introduces himself with a nod and a muttered, “Lake.”
There’s a beat of silence while I try to figure out the best way to get rid of my fucking friends before Lake reconsiders whatever it is he’s doing here.
“Nice to meet you, dude. How’d you know Ryk? You got class together?” Soren asks.
Lake throws me a thoughtful look over his shoulder. “I suppose you could say I tutor him.”
Frankly, I’m not sure how it’s even possible to put so much innuendo into one sentence. I also don’t know how it’s possible to get hard this fast. I plop down in my desk chair.
Hayes seems to blink out of whatever haze he was in and sends me a curious look. “You need tutoring?”
“Yeah,” I say. “It’s this class I’m taking.”
