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“Whoa.” Nick caught his arm and hauled him to a stop.
Adam stopped, his eyes locked straight ahead. His arm was tense under Nick’s hand.
Nick moved closer and dropped his voice. “I’m not trying to string you along,” he said quietly. “I thought about leaving, but I wasn’t going to. I couldn’t stop thinking about you all day.”
Adam turned his head to meet his eyes, and Nick felt his cheeks go warm.
“All day?” said Adam.
“I failed a physics test because of it.”
A shadow of that easy confidence sneaked back into Adam’s voice. “I blew a chem lab tonight because of you.”
Nick’s eyes widened. “A chem lab?”
“Yeah. I had class. I told you.”
“I thought you meant dance.”
“I wish. I suck at chemistry.”
Nick loosened his grip on Adam’s arm, but he didn’t let go.
“I’m great at chemistry.”
Adam’s eyes flicked to his lips. “I bet.”
Nick hesitated, not wanting to damage the mood, which felt precariously balanced between flirtation and forgiveness. But it also felt like a big old heap of evasion. “Can we talk about what just happened?”
Adam pulled away and started walking. Nick fell into step beside him, expecting Adam to need to walk to talk. But then his companion remained silent.
Nick didn’t press. He had enough experience from his brothers—to say nothing of Quinn—to know that people wouldn’t talk until they were damn good and ready. By the time they made it to the tiny restaurant, he no longer expected an answer.
The place looked like it didn’t know what it wanted to be.
Red-checked tablecloths, cheap metal chairs, and all manner of food on the menu, from dim sum to stromboli. Soft lighting did nothing to hide the fact that they were the only patrons in the place.
After they were seated at a four top, with sodas in front of them, Nick was desperate for anything to lighten the mood.
“Fast service,” he said wryly. “Do you want me to accuse you of dazzling the waitress?”
Adam choked on his soda. “Is that a Twilight reference? How is it possible your brothers don’t know you’re g*y?”
Every time he said that, Nick wanted to flinch as hard as Adam had on the street. “I said a girlfriend was making me read it.”
Adam lost the smile. “Quinn said you’ve had a lot of girlfriends.”
Nick shrugged and wondered what the safe answer to that was. “‘A lot’ is relative, I guess.” He paused, wondering what else Quinn had said about him. “And you?”
“Girlfriends? None.”
Nick smiled but wondered if they were going to play this game all night. The entire rhythm of the evening felt off, like they’d hit the wrong note right from the start, and they’d never really found the melody.
Adam unstrapped his bag and pulled out a chemistry textbook, followed by a spiral notebook. “Didn’t you say you wanted to study?”
So they weren’t going to talk about anything of substance at all. Nick pulled out his calculus textbook, glad he’d brought it along. He worked through the three homework questions he’d missed, hoping he could convince the teacher to give him half credit. Then he moved on to tonight’s assignment.
Adam made for quiet company. Nick had worried it would be uncomfortable, but the restaurant was warm, the French dip sandwiches were exceptional, and an hour had passed before he realized it. He shoved his calculus textbook back into his bag and reached for physics.
