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“Yeah,” he says, taking his earphones off and turning to face me.
“When we do it, let’s do it without a condom.”
He blinks once. “What?”
“We can get tested, make sure we’re clean.” I shrug. “Then we can do it without protection. Skin on skin.”
He stares.
“Sorry for interrupting,” I say, then leave.
That evening, as we prepare dinner, I ask Lucas how his day went. He stares into space. “I had the least productive afternoon ever.”
I hide a smile. “Oh?”
“Don’t act coy,” he says. “Last week, you were the one who said we can’t get distracted, that uni’s too important, and then this afternoon you go and say that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Hmph.” He turns away. “But…”
“Yes?”
He looks adorably shy. “But I think you’re right. It’s a good idea.”
I grin.
*
Exam season arrives. I have an exam early Monday morning, and I’m surprised to find that I’m nervous. I thought that any anxiety I had about tests and grades would have disappeared with high school, but nope, it’s still here.
At least I have morning tea afterwards to look forward to. Hugo has an exam at the same time as me, but for a different subject, so we’ve made plans to go to a cafe and treat ourselves. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen him in a while.
Lucas follows me to the front door of the apartment. “Good luck,” he tells me and kisses me on the forehead.
On the tram ride to uni, I try not to worry too much about the exam, or the fact that it’ll make up 75% of my grade.
Thankfully, it goes alright. I’m certain I passed, but I’m not as sure I did well enough to get the grade I was aiming for. I don’t have time to dwell on it too long before catching sight of Hugo coming out of the hall. He has a red mark on his temple, probably from rubbing it through the exam, but otherwise looks well.
We discuss how we did as we walk to a nearby cafe. There, we order coffees to keep us awake for the rest of the day, as we both intend to study at home. I also pick up a carrot cake, while he chooses a jelly slice.
“I still can’t believe everything that happened,” Hugo says, referring to my word-vomit text messages. “Gilly’s been avoiding me like the plague, though. Probably because he knows that I know.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Hugo says, raising his mug and taking a sip. “After you left that Brunswick party, Cleo and Gilly started arguing about something, I don’t know what. And Lucas had ran into the rain. It was chaos. I had no idea what was going on, but it makes sense now. If I wasn’t so scared of confrontation, I’d yell at Gilly for what he did to you.”
I shrug, too tired to muster up any outrage. “Lucas said he’d been drinking.”
“That’s not an excuse,” Hugo says. We drink some more of our coffee in silence before he says, “Lucas told me he got sick. Did you catch it too?”
“No, thankfully. He must have caught it from running around in the rain.”
“That’s Lucas for you,” Hugo says, his voice a mix of exasperation and endearment. “Rushing off without taking the time to think of a plan.”
I swish my mug. All the foam has melted away into the milky brown liquid. “You must think it’s weird. What happened between Lucas and me.”
Hugo gazes at me for a few seconds. “Why would I think it’s weird? Because you’re both guys?”
