Page 52 of Josh’s Play

Campbell had been swallowed up by the crowd. I pounded my drink before turning and grabbing Devon’s, stacking my cup in his and drinking that one down in one gulp as well.

“Yeah, we did.”

Devon raised a hand to high-five me. “One and done, baby,” he said, like we had a million times before, but he didn’t sound as sure of it as he used to, and I knew I wasn’t as sure of it when I smacked his hand and replied.

“One and done. Come on,” I said, and I returned us to the keg for refills. Vance seemed to be in heavy conversation in the corner of the kitchen. Leave it to my literary brother to find someone to talk to about books at a raging fraternity party. I watched him for a minute. As far as I knew, Vance had never been in a relationship. There had been a time when I was younger that he had been part of the hookup scene, but the Vance chatting with that guy that night was a man who wrote, jogged, went to school, and didn’t do much else. He was already a published author and was studying to be a teacher. I didn’t think he would hook up with one of his students, but he seemed happy enough to be talking about books in the corner.

While I watched him with the guy, I pounded another beer and was on my fourth when I finally said, “Vance seems okay. Come on.”

Devon followed me out of the kitchen, and I scanned the party, looking for Campbell, hoping Devon was scanning the party for a hookup so that I could go to Cam alone. Surprisingly, when I caught Devon’s eye, it seemed like he was just watching me.

“What?” I insisted.

“Oh, are we doing this again, weirdo?” he countered.

“No, you’re definitely the one acting weird. Are there any guys here you want to hit on?” I asked hopefully.

Devon shrugged and sent a perfunctory glance around the room. “Keeping my options open. You?”

“Same.” I went to take a sip, but my cup was empty. When had that happened? I was peering in the empty cup when Noah approached us.

“Hey, guy from the party.”

“What party?” Devon asked.

Noah grasped my cup over my hand and peeked in it. “Empty. BRB. Cam’s in the other room. Wait for me.” He let go of my hand and pointed at Dev. “Hey, man, I’m Noah. You need a refill?”

Devon gave an up nod, a perplexed look on his face. “Devon.” He looked in his cup. “Nah, I’m good. We just refilled,” he said pointedly in my direction.

My ears were ringing, and the room was pulsing. I thought that was at least better than if it had been swaying.

“Who was that?”

“That’s Noah,” I said obliquely.

“Okayyy.” Devon drew the word out.

I scanned the crowd and found a guy looking our way. He was Devon’s type, not too tall, not too built, a little punk, a good dancer. Hell, there was a time he might have been my type. He was dancing near one of the members of the hockey team, but I knew the woman on the other side of him was that guy’s girlfriend. “Someone’s clocking you,” I informed Devon, giving him an up nod.

Devon shrugged and let out a noise that sounded like meh.

Noah returned, hugging three drinks. “Hey, Josh, grab them both. One’s for your boy, Cam, anyway.”

I took the drinks, then stood frozen for a minute as Noah walked away from me. Devon turned to follow, keeping his eyes on me. They asked the question he didn’t need to verbalize and one I wasn’t ready to answer.

I stared at the two red plastic cups in my hand, eventually turning and following Devon.

I couldn’t help it when I saw him. I swear to fucking Christ, it was like one of those romance movies—as if all sight and sound ceased. There were no crowds, no blaring music, no nosy best friend. There was just Campbell and me and that floating feeling. It had been a dull pulse since I’d last seen him. As the world faded around us, the pulse returned in full force. I had missed him; my body missed him. My smile missed his smile.

My face lit up. And yeah, the look was probably too huge and probably conveyed way more than it should have. At least that’s what I attributed the scowl on Campbell’s face to. I hid mine behind my cup and took a few deep breaths to get myself together. I also guzzled more beer, and that floating feeling became heavier as if it had turned into a raging sea. My ears buzzed, and I could hear that my words were heavy, like I was fighting past a handful of marbles to say them.

I kept the smile off my face, though, so bonus points for that. It was easy. I just matched Cam’s really, really angry scowl.

“Hey. Happy Thanksgiving,” I muttered from behind my cup.

“Hi, yeah. Thanks.” Campbell’s nod was so tense I thought his shoulders might shatter.

“Thissh is Devon. My mate, my roommate. My ... Devon.”