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“You’re welcome,” Liam murmured. Coury let go, and his smile sent a jolt through Liam.
“You’re amazing.” He bounced in front of Liam. “I mean it. You’re the best.”
Coury’s energy was infectious and Liam smiled through his embarrassment. “Give yourself the credit. You took the test.”
“I know, but I never felt so good after taking a test in my life. You get to take credit for that part.” He raised his hand for a five, and Liam went with it. “And it must not have been easy because a lot of people grumbled as they left.”
“But not you?”
“Hell no. I finished with five minutes to spare and was itching to get out so I could call you.”
“And stalk me, too.”
“Whatever. There was no stalking involved. You told me you had English Lit.”
“Which is a ten-minute walk from the science hall.”
Coury looked busted. “Okay, so I might have run to get here before you left. But I’m ridiculously happy. I was stressing about this class before you agreed to help me. I owe you, Liam.”
“Nah, we’re good. I’m glad to help.”
Coury shook his head. “About tonight . . .”
Here was where he blew Liam off for something better. “What about it?”
“You weren’t that into the frat party, so how about we do something else?”
“Wait. You’d skip the party if I don’t want to go?” Liam hadn’t meant to sound so incredulous, but the idea Coury would skip a frat party for him was . . . incredible.
“Yeah, sure. I’m serious when I say I really appreciate this. Also . . .”
“Why am I scared?”
“Because you’re being silly. So there’s this thing tonight. I hadn’t even thought about going, but then you helped me pass this test and I thought . . .” He shrugged.
“What thing tonight?”
This was weird, even for Coury. What had him so rattled?
“Professor Glover, the guy who’s teaching the class this year, is giving a presentation tonight. Since I know you were bummed you didn’t get to take the class with him, I thought we could go to the lecture instead.”
He sounded so unsure Liam wanted to kiss the doubt away. He might have if he wasn’t so stunned. “You’re willing to give up your party for a lecture on paleontology?”
“Yeah, if you want to go.”
“Of course I want to go, but what about Friday Night Fun?”
“There’ll be another one next month. There won’t be another lecture on the life history of dinosaurs from birth through adulthood and reproduction by Professor Glover.”
This was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for him. The fact Coury had zero interest in the lecture made it even sweeter.
He frowned. “Did Beckett put you up to this?”
“Seriously? Do you even know your brother? First, how would he know about the lecture? And if he did, do you think that’s what we talk about?”
Liam laughed. “If you tried, he’d change the subject.”
“Exactly, and even if I managed to get out ‘guest lecture on dinosaur reproduction on a Friday night,’ do you think his first thought would be, ‘Hey C-man, how about you take Liam to that?’ Really?”
Liam rolled his eyes. “Another good point. Why are you asking me?”
“Because you’d like this more than a frat party.” His eyes twinkled with mischief. “And it still counts toward keeping the Lionheart’s streak alive.”
Liam shoved him with his forearm. “Shut up, dork.”
“Hey, if I’m a dork, so are you.” Coury bumped shoulders. “You want to go?”
Fuck. Liam hadn’t expected Coury to be this nice. “If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
“Awesome. I have therapy this afternoon, so how about you meet me at the house? We can grab something to eat before we go.”
If it got any more like a date, Liam was going to explode. “Sure. What time?”
* * *
Liam sat on the fraternity couch, a beefy frat brother standing before him, hiding him from sight. Around Mr-So-Large-I-Block-The-Sun, he caught sight of Coury bursting through the door, heading for the stairs.
“Yo, Henderson,” the frat brother called. “Your boyfriend’s in here.”
Heat rushed to Liam’s cheeks.
“What? I don’t have—” Coury’s gaze snagged on Liam and brightened.
Liam smiled sheepishly and waved.
“Tom, you can be an idiot sometimes.” He motioned for Liam to follow him, and Liam leaped like a puppy at his command. “This is Beckett’s brother. You know, my friend who kicked your ass at beer pong last weekend.”
Tom grimaced. “I saw you two hanging out last weekend and when he came asking for you, I assumed . . .”
Liam walked up to Coury, wanting to hide.
“Sorry,” Tom said.
“Go-the-fuck away, Tom.” Coury half-laughed, half-growled.
Tom hitched a thumb over his shoulder and walked away.
“We play baseball together,” Coury said as he led them upstairs. “He’s a good guy. Just a bit dense at times.”
“I probably confused him.” Distracted by Coury’s text saying he’d be late, he hadn’t had time to consider his word choices. “I said we were going out tonight. I didn’t mean it in the ‘we have a date’ way, but it might have sounded like that.”
