But it went beyond simply liking him—even though it had only been forty-eight hours since he’d met Marin, Blake found himself becoming attached—and if he was being honest with himself, that realization scared him.If the visions he’d had during Noel’s song were any indication, that attachment ran far beyond “platonic”.
It felt ridiculous—and some level of horrific—to have that epiphany as he stared down a horny piñata.
Celeste wasn’t far off the mark with the “demisexual” comment.Blake had always needed some level of friendship or closeness (if not romantic feelings) with a person before he experienced any sort of physical attraction towards them.
It had been so long since he’d felt this way about someone.Solong.
Before Marin, it was Jace.Blake had been stupid and managed to get attached to someone who was supposed to be a friend with benefits in an open relationship.Then he’d ended up getting crushed when Jace rebuked his feelings and cut things off to focus on his and Faren’s budding relationship with Alex.
Before that, it was Matt.A bright, passionate, devoted love that had paled in comparison to the relief of Xanax on Matt’s tongue.
Bad things always happened to the people Blake loved.His mom dying.His dad and Matt getting addicted to drugs.And now—by allowing himself to get so attached—didn’t that mean it was Marin’s turn to suffer by the hand of his affection?
“So are you done having an existential crisis, or…?”
Blake jumped, realizing that Celeste had come to stand next to him.They were swirling a plastic cup in their hand, looking judgmental and glassy-eyed.
“Sorry,” Blake said.“Ready to go?”
“Yeah, just let me finish this,” Celeste slurred, holding up their half-finished drink and attempting to chug it.
“No,” Blake admonished.“Nurse.It.I don’t want to send you back home in a coroner’s van.”
“BRUH,” Celeste threw back their head, eyes in danger of getting lost in their skull.They slammed the half-finished drink down on top of a trash can, nearly missing the mark.“Forget it, I’ll get another at the club then.Come on.”
They gestured for Blake to follow them and the two stepped out of the bar and back onto the quiet streets.
17
Celeste and Blake were approaching the front door of Star Lounge when a voice from above called out: “Hey!”
Blake glanced up to find Ryan and Marin above them on a small second-story balcony, toting water bottles.
“Getting some fresh air?”Blake shouted to them.
“Yeah,” Marin shouted back.“Have a nice smoke?”
“A brief one.”Blake snorted.
“Seems like this place is winding down a little,” Ryan called.“’Sides, Matt just texted me that he and Noel were pulling into Midtown—we should pick somewhere to meet up and eat.”
That actually sounded nice.Blake was about to reply with an affirmative before Celeste yelled out: “BOO!”
“‘Boo’?”Marin echoed.
“Yeah, fucking ‘boo’!”Celeste folded their arms over their chest, bouncing in place indignantly.“I want another drink!”
“Celeste, it’s getting late,” Blake told them, surprised.“We should work on sobering up, you seem a little—”
“No, one more shot!”Celeste insisted, stumbling back towards the bouncer.Blake sighed and shrugged up at the other two before following Celeste back into the club.As Ryan and Marin said, it was starting to slow down—most of the people who had been on the dance floor had either left or were lounging around the tables.In the corner, a couple of young guys were twisted around each other in a way that looked legally dubious, their moans and chuckles muffled by the now-soft music.
Celeste made a beeline for the bar, so Blake decided to meet up with Marin and Ryan on the balcony.Marin tossed him a water bottle as soon as he approached.
“Lemme guess: Celeste’s trying to get another drink before we leave?”Ryan asked with a heavy sigh.
Blake thanked Marin before addressing Ryan: “Yeah… I don’t think we’re going to have the easiest time getting them out of here.They had two and a half drinks at the bar down the street when we left just now.”
“Fucking wonderful,” Ryan groaned.“I’ll go cut them off.They’re probably a lot drunker than they let on and I don’t want them blacking out.”
