“Jesus,” Bas muttered. “Drew, you don’t know what you’re saying. Maybe it’s time wego.”
“Hey! Leave him alone,” Keisha told Bas, all fiery and defensive. “You’ve been hurtfulenough.”
“Hurtful! He’s myfriend. It’s not hurtful tosay…”
“You look at that face,” Jen said adamantly, staring at Drew like she wanted to leap over the coffee table and hug him. “Look at hiseyes. He’shurt.”
“Drew.” Bas sounded exasperated, but when Drew turned his head, Bas’s eyes widened. “Jesus. Do you want me to kissyou?”
Drew shook his head, and it wasn’t really a lie because he didn’t want Bas to kiss himlike this. Not with an audience. Not when Bas wasn’t intoit.
But apparently, the subtlety of his thoughts was lost in whatever emotion Drew was wearing on hisface.
“Oh, fine,” Bas said, rolling his eyes. “This is so not a bigdeal.”
Bas grabbed Drew’s jaw between his thumb and forefinger, turning Drew’s head until they were facing one another. He sidled closer so their thighs were pressed close together, and leanedforward.
Holy shit. Drew could feel Sebastian’s warm breath ghosting against his lips. It was agonizingly wonderful and terrifying at the same time. He swallowed hard. If this was his only opportunity to have this, he was going to enjoy everysecond.
He let his eyes shut as Bas drew him closer, and then, after a decade and a half apart, their lipstouched.
It was… well, to be honest it was entirely anticlimactic, which was a little bit heartbreaking. Drew had dreamed of kissing Bas again - and, yeah, fine, a lotmorethan just kissing, if he was being honest - and here he’d finally done it, only to find that it was actually kinda dry and dull. He’d had better kisses from a dozen guys. He’d had better kisses fromBas’s littlebrother.
He pulled back, opened his eyes, and cleared his throat. “Okay, then,” he said. “I guess youproved…”
But he never got a chance to finish the sentence. Sebastian made a low noise and pulled him forward again, pressing their mouths together once more, firmer this time. Again and again and again, tiny kisses, parting Drew’s lips, allowing him to taste Bas’s flavor, which was more potent than any Halloween punch. His hands lifted into Bas’s hair of their own accord, clasping in the softstrands.
Thiswas the stuff of dreams, the reason he’d never been able to - and never reallywantedto - fall in love with anyoneelse.
He darted his tongue out to trace Sebastian’s lower lip… And someone - Keisha or Jen, maybe - whistledshrilly.
“That’s what I’m talking about! Kiss himgood!”
Drew smiled.This is already good.I have wanted this for so long, he thought.God. Years and years and years. Every time I’ve looked athim.
Bas pulled back and looked at Drew like he’d never seen him before. “What?” Basdemanded.
Oh, fuck.Drew’s stupid mouth had opened and once again, his drunken thoughts had fallen out. Panic began to penetrate the cinnamon-fireball haze, and his mind started tochurn.
Thiswas the problem with losing control.Thiswas why he should never have allowed tonight to happen. Fuck, fuck,fuck!
“What do you mean,what?” Drew repeated helplessly. “I didn’t sayanything!”
But Bas had already turned his head away and was pushing himself to hisfeet.
The women had gone quiet. Drew noticed in a distant sort of way that they stared, mouths open, like they were watching a train wreck. In a way, theywere.
Bas reached out a hand to help Drew up, then wrapped his arm around Drew’s waist, but he didn’t look Drew in the eye. “I’ll get you home,” he said stiffly, moving them toward the door and then outside, not pausing to say goodbye toanyone.
“We should… maybe we should…” Drewbegan.
“God, I can’t believe how drunk you are!” Bas said, smiling widely as they swayed down the front lawn. “I would never believe it if I hadn’t seenit.”
“Not as drunk as I was,” Drew told him honestly. “And, Sebastian, I think we should talk about what happened in there. I apologizefor—”
“So,sodrunk!” Bas insisted. “I swear, I was getting a contact buzz for a second there. Ha ha!” He shook his head as they arrived at the car, still smiling that same forced smile. And even though Drew could have held himself up perfectly well - really, there was nothing like a massive dose of adrenaline to make him sober up quickly - he let Bas open his door and ease him into the passenger’s seat… which was about when he noticed that Bas’s jeans were a little bit snug, and he was pretty definitely sporting anerection.
Andthat was enough to kill the rest of hisbuzz.
