“And together, we are the Queerious Quizzards,” Naija declared, jazz hands and toothy smile and all, which had Sami rolling his eyes.
“The name was Naija’s idea, in case you couldn’t tell.”
“You love it.”
“I plead the fifth.”With that amused smile, he hardly needed to vocalize his approval.
“I hope you play to win.They take this super seriously,” Tony said.
“Won’t be an issue,” Sami said before Baz could, so proudly as though Baz’s competitiveness was a virtue, not the vice so many had cursed it to be before.Finally, someone who got it.
“I’ll do my best to keep up,” Baz said.He didn’t have time to attend trivia nights in bars anymore, but he used to go once in a while with Eevee and Joel back in college, and he had a good memory.
Kaina freed herself from her girlfriend’s arms and sat up.“Sami was right, you do look better when you aren’t drenched in coffee.”
They had seen that photo?Just now, when Sami announced Baz would crash their hangout, or were they, not Ian, the real reason Sami had taken it?
The rosy blush blossoming on Sami’s cheek indicated the latter.That would mean… what did that mean?
“Now you look like you just got back from a meeting,” Naija said.Shocker.He hadn’t even considered changing, but amidst all the color and glitter, his black suit seemed depressingly out of place.
“Long day at the office.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll get glitter after a few drinks,” Sami hummed.Baz raised an eyebrow.They’d see about that.
“Speaking of,” Kaina said, “Sami, your man is sober.”
Your man.Baz’s heart picked up speed.Was that what Sami had told them?That they weresomething?
“On it!”Sami shimmied onto Baz’s lap, a tight squeeze under the bolted-down table, then swung his legs over the edge of the bench before gliding down.Asking Baz to move would have been easier, but the most obvious path was rarely the one Sami chose.His hand traced along Naija’s shoulders when he walked by.
Kaina’s eyes followed Sami until he made it to the bar.Then, her forearms hit the table.Her piercing gaze targeted Baz.“You’re a unicorn.”
He was?Last he checked, he was gay.
“She means Sami never brings anyone along,” Zahra explained.Oh.Seriously?
“Never?”That couldn’t be right.Sami was a social butterfly.He had hit on Baz when Baz had given him every reason to stay away.Someone like that was bound to have people fawning over him at every corner.
Shaking heads all around the table.Huh.
“I mean, he didn’t plan to invite me either,” he said to himself as much as to the gang.Really, Baz had ambushed him into a last-minute pity invite when Sami should be the last person to care about Baz’s bad days.The last one who should want to cheer him up.
Shouldseemed to have no space in whatever they were.
“You sure about that?”Zahra arched one eyebrow, smirking.“I’ve never seen him this excited.He couldn’t sit still for the past thirty minutes.More so than usual.”
“He usually doesn’t get giggly when he receives a heart emoji from someone for the first time either.He didn’t stop talking about it for hours when it was the middle of the night and I had a nineamlecture,” Naija said, no trace of exaggeration in her warm tone.
Sami had done that?Over a silly emoji?
“Oh,” was all Baz could say.Did that mean Sami wasn’t always as bold as he had been with him?Could this be special to him?
He watched Sami lean against the bar counter, nodding at something the blue-haired bartender said.The politeness dropped from his face the second the bartender turned away.He glanced over his shoulder.Their eyes met; the smile reappeared, softer, realer.
“All that’s to say, don’t jerk him around.If you don’t mean it, leave now,” Naija said.
Mean what?Baz didn’t mean half the things he said to Sami.The insulting half.He hadn’t once entertained the idea that he was in a position to hurt Sami when Sami had been driving whatever they were since day one.He had set the pace, taken charge with his witty words and alluring body that knocked every critical thought out of Baz’s brain.Was that his way of showing that he liked Baz?
