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Justin.
Justin, who should have been in Las Vegas still, but was standing right here in front of us.
Who was now witnessing me and Rome, curled up and cozy together on the couch,veryobviously closer than any “friends” would normally be. For fuck’s sake, we looked every bit like a couple, sharing a blanket and cuddled up as close as humanly possible.
I swallowed past a sudden tightness in my throat. Underneath the blanket, my hand instinctively grasped Rome’s thigh, like I was trying to hold onto steady ground in a storm.
“Justin?” I managed to say.
“Whoa,” he repeated.
His eyes were wider than I’d ever seen on him. Back in college, we always used to joke that nothing ever shocked Justin. He could have seen a parade of naked jugglers walking down the street and barely bat an eyelash.
But right now, unmistakably, Justin was fucking shocked.
“I… I finished the Christmas event in Vegas a few hours earlier than I thought I would,” Justin said, explaining himself like he was on trial, or something. As ifhewas the one doing something wrong. “I knew if I caught a quick flight to Denver, I could be here until tomorrow afternoon. I wanted to surprise my Dad…”
He trailed off, looking completely dazed.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
I realized that I was still squeezing Rome’s thigh under the blanket. I let go, bolting up from the couch and tossing away the blanket.
“But I didn’t thinkyou’dstill be here, Casey,” Justin finally continued.
“I fell asleep,” I said, pacing over toward him. “I fell asleep while we were watching Die Hard.”
“I can see that,” Justin said. “Yes.”
“I can explain,” Rome said, but when I glanced back at him, he truly seemed at a loss.
“Did you guys actually hit it off?” Justin said, with a look on his face like he was trying and failing to solve a complex calculus problem. “GoodGod. I thought I was just imagining it, when I saw how you looked at my dad at the Christmas tree lot. But I’m pretty sure I wasn’t imagining it, now. I was treating it like a joke—”
“I’m going to leave,” I said, walking over toward my boots by the door.
Justin’s hand came out to stop me. “Casey.”
“I need to leave,” I said.
I was panicking internally. This wasn’t a situation I ever thought I’d find myself in, and I had no fucking clue what to do.
I was sure that I was about to lose my best friend. About to ruin his trust with his father, too, and the catastrophe of that was too much to bear.
Justin gripped my forearm, stopping me. “This,” he said, “is the weirdest moment of my life, and I can say that with certainty.”
“Same here,” I told him.
“I was joking when I said you should date my dad, Case, but—”
“You said that to him?” Rome groaned from behind us. “Jesus Christ.”
“I wasjoking,” Justin reiterated. “And I am going to be thinking about how weird this moment is for weeks, probably. Years, maybe. Or maybe forever. But if you guys actually…hit it off, then I want you both to be happy, I guess.”
I was sure I had to be dreaming, at this point.
“Justin, you don’t have to say that,” I told him.
“I repeat—this is the weirdest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” Justin said. “But screw it. Sometimes life sends you weird curveballs, doesn’t it? I don’t know, dude. I’m… Dad, can I talk to you alone, for a minute?”
