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So, instead Auggie said, “We went to a Sigma Sigma party my senior year, and Theo was trying to teach my friend Orlando how to juggle, and he ended up getting Orlando run over by an ATV.”
Theo burst out laughing as he snagged another ball out of the air. “That’s a lie! Orlando shouldn’t have been showing off, trying to walk backward while he juggled, and those doofuses shouldn’t have been on a four-wheeler anyway.”
“It was amazing,” Auggie said, laughing. “Orlando was fine, thank God, but you could literally see the tire marks for a month.”
“Hold up,” North said from behind Auggie. “Theo pledged Sigma Sigma?”
“Uh, no,” Theo said. “Not exactly my scene.”
“Ha ha,” Auggie said. “I made possibly the worst frat bro ever, considering I spent more time reading Shakespeare with my boyfriend—”
“Yeah, yeah,” North said over him. “You were a hot nerd. We get it. Dude, we pledged Sigma Sigma. Shaw and I.”
“Uh—”
“This means we’re literally brothers,” Shaw said, and the note of glee in his voice was worrisome.
“Not literally—”
But before Auggie could get the rest of it out, North attacked him from behind. It didn’t feel like precisely the right verb, but Auggie’s brain couldn’t come up with anything better while he was being put in that weird half-nelson hold-slash-hug that Shaw had earlier been a victim of.
“Lil-bits!” North said, tightening the hold as Auggie squirmed. “Way to fucking go!”
“What the fuck is going on down here?” The voice came from the stairs, where Colt stood. The teenage boy, lanky in shorts and a tee, glared down at them while he rubbed his eyes.
“Hey bubs—” John-Henry tried, but he cut off when Colt turned the glare on him.
“We were simply—” Emery began, but the words seemed to dry up in his mouth.
The only sound for a moment was the whoosh and slap of the balls flying through the air. Then, between the two of them, Jem and Theo collected them, and the game was over.
“There are children in this house,” Colt said. “Did you think about that? Little kids who need their sleep. Biscuit’s whining in her crate, you know.”
“Bubs—”
“Bunch of grown-ass adults acting like it’s a fucking slumber party.”
“All right,” Emery said.
“I’ve got fucking school in the fucking morning!”
“I said all right. You made your point. And you’ve used up your quota of righteous indignation, so I suggest you quit while you’re ahead.”
For another moment, Colt glowered at them. Then a cocky half-smile slipped out, and he padded back upstairs.
“Good God,” North said, releasing Auggie and then ruffling his hair. “He is going to be fucking terrifying as an adult.”
“Thank you, North,” John-Henry said. “Now I can have nightmares about that.”
“Does his boyfriend know?”
“I wish,” Emery said. “Frankly, the whole thing would be much more tolerable if he tore a few strips off Ashley’s hide now and then. Instead, he just melts every time Ashley looks at him.”
“Gee,” Auggie said, remembering how John-Henry had looked at Emery. “I wonder what that’s like.”
Maybe Emery heard it in his voice, or maybe he was aware of it, at some level, because he directed a dark look at Auggie.
“Can all you motherfuckers get out of my bedroom,” North said, giving Auggie a little shove on the back of the head, “so I can actually get some fucking sleep?”
