Page 23 of Septembers

“What if I cut my hair?” Caleb asked.

“You’d still be Long Hair. They’re locked in.”

“I call bullshit.” Theo crossed his arms and stood his ground. He knew the difference between Dae’s soft-shy voice and his soft-lying voice. “What’s mine really?”

Dae meticulously sorted silverware as his ears caught fire.

“He is lying.” Caleb gasped like he didn’t think Dae was capable of it. “About all of ours or just Theo’s?”

“Just mine,” Theo said. “His jaw clenched before he said it, and he can’t look at me.”

“Damn.” Jason laughed. “You really pay attention. Can you tell when we’re lying, too?”

“Of course I can.” No, he couldn’t, and he hoped no one would test him on it.

“It’s nothing bad,” Dae said, his voice pleading. “It’s not even interesting.”

Theo took pity on him. “Okay, fine, even if my nickname is mean…”—Dae groaned, but Theo talked over him—“it’s fine, because that was then, and whatever you thought of me in that first week doesn’t matter.”

Dae’s mouth opened like he was going to say something, but no sound came out.

“Dae, promise me something?”

He nodded and the guys looked at Theo with curiosity, as if he were about to bequeath some major life wisdom.

“No sweaters tonight.”

Torrid Love Affair

The party was exactly what Theo thought it would be: loud, hot, and debaucherous. The low lights, sticky air, and obnoxious base made the house feel like the belly of a wild animal, shaking and bellowing with annoyance. Partygoers were crushed together, sometimes from necessity, sometimes not, their voices straining above the music.

Despite what Theo had said about wanting him around, Dae was making an effort to be on his own. He’d worn a simple jeans and t-shirt combo that showed off everything one would want to show off. When Theo pointed this out, Dae had tried to grab a hoodie, but all three of them blocked him, and he was forced to be wildly attractive.

Poor guy.

The result was that Theo found him nodding along to whatever their pretty neighbour was saying, his back pressed against a wall, the picture frame beside him rattling with either the vibration of the music or Dae’s nerves.

“Hi!” Theo yelled over the cacophony, sticking his sweaty hand out to her. “I never got your name.”

“Jacinda!” Her smile was just as dazzling in a hazy living room as it had been on the lawn. “You’re Theo!”

“You did your research.”

“When a house full of hot guys moves in across the street, I make it my business.” Judging by her slur and sway, Jacinda had partaken in more than a few of her own Jello shots. “I asked Dae out on a date!”

“Great choice! What did he say?”

“He hasn’t yet!” They both turned to him, which made him attempt to melt into the wall.

“Jacinda!” Theo leaned in close. “How do you feel about making it a group thing?”

“I love group things! Group things are my favourite things!” She took his hand and shouldered her way through the crush of bodies towards the kitchen, leaving Dae staring after them with a slightly stupefied expression. The kitchen was the exact inverse of their own, as if the designer had just copy-and-pasted the entire cul-de-sac.

He scrawled his number and put ‘GROUP THING’ in huge letters onto a sticky note that Jacinda then slapped to the fridge. After a year of trying to get Dae a love life, perhaps he was finally succeeding. Which, he reminded the pit of his stomach, was a good thing. A responsible, safe, totally awesome thing.

She handed him a Jello shot and knocked it with her own. “To the group thing!”

“To the group thing!” The edges of the plastic cup dug into the corners of his mouth as he excavated the shot out with his tongue. It was sweet and sticky, and the ratio of alcohol-to-Jello was an alarming jolt, but none of those factors stopped him from immediately having another. “Hey Jacinda, why did you choose Dae?”