Josh let out a disgusted sigh while Kellan gave me a disbelieving look. All right, maybe he hadn’t known.
“Why would you do that?”
“Well, she likes Dreamscape,” I said, only a little defensive. “She knew all the words to their songs and everything.”
“And you saw Grey,” Kellan finished.
I grabbed one of the grapes from my plate and popped it into my mouth so I didn’t have to answer. It didn’t buy me enough time, because Josh and Kellan just stared at me until I’d swallowed.
“Guys, it’s fine, seriously. We talked after the show, and he was really understanding, and—”
“You talked to him?” Kellan said a little too loudly.
A random girl gave him a disgusted look, and he lowered his voice.
“Ethan, why would you do that? You’ve already been so confused over him.”
“I’mfine,” I insisted. “Look, he has a girlfriend, so no worries.” I winced at the hurt that entered my voice. I’d been doing so well too.
“And him having a girlfriend bothers you,” Josh said. It wasn’t a question.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Kind of.”
“What’s the problem?” Kellan asked. “Wasn’t your plan to ‘sleep with sexy girls’ this year? Or am I making that up now?”
“Sounds pretty made-up at this point.” Josh folded his arms over his chest.
“I’m sorry. Did I miss something?” Kellan asked. “Do youlikeguys?”
“It’s fine if you do,” Josh jumped in.
“Obviously,” Kellan said with a flippant wave of his hand. “I like guys. I’ve dated a guy before.”
“Wait, you have?” I asked.
“I’ve literally told you about this,” Kellan said. “You guys just don’t listen to me.”
“How drunk were we when we had this conversation?” Josh asked.
“That’s beside the point,” Kellan said. “Ethan, do you like guys?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” I confessed. “I didn’t think so, but then, I can’t seem to shake Grey.”
“Dude, it’s fine,” Kellan said. “You probably just have a man crush on a straight guy. It happens all the time.”
“Does it, though?” Josh asked, earning a glare from Kellan.
“All you have to do is find something else to focus on—literally anything else. Go out with Piper. Start working out. Focus on school. But for the love of God,don’t see Grey again.”
“It’s not good for your mental health,” Josh agreed. “And even if he has a girlfriend, he doesn’t seem too opposed to confusing you.”
“Well, yeah,” Kellan said. “Guys like him will take attention from anyone they can.”
I chewed my lip. Once again, my friends were right. They were essentially saying “Don’t play with fire,” and I kept doing it then complaining about the burns.
“I know,” I finally said. “Thank you, by the way.”
“No problem,” Kellan said, polishing off his plate. “But I’m serious about the Grey thing.”
