“No!”Celeste groaned into Ryan’s collarbone.“No, I really wanna meet up with Matt and Noel, I was super looking forward to it and I’m fine now you guys, I promise!I’m not even barf-y.”
“…no one accused you of being barf-y,” Marin said, tone low and suspicious.
“Celeste, maybe the two of us should head home.I think you need to get to bed,” Ryan told them.Celeste shook their head into his chest.
“No!Babe!Babe, no!”they repeated.“It’ll be better if I eat first, it’ll help me to get some salt in my system.”
Blake figured they were right—that is, if they weren’t lying about not being queasy.Adding food to that equation could go south quickly, depending on how drunk Celeste actually was.
Ryan sighed, looking defeated—there would be no getting Celeste into an Uber without some level of compromise.
“Fine.”Ryan sighed, patting them on the head.Celeste squealed in delight, snuggling into Ryan’s sternum.He wrapped his arms around them, turning to Blake and Marin.“Did we pick out somewhere to eat?”
“Yeah, we’re meeting up with them at Dawn’s,” Blake told him, hitching a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the diner.
“Sounds good to me, I could use a burger,” Ryan said as he peeled Celeste away from his person.“Can one of you bring up the menu?”
“Sure thing,” Blake nodded, removing his phone from his pocket once more.
As they made their way down the block towards the diner, he and Marin pored over the online menu, reading off several of the burger options to Ryan.
“I want chicken fried steak,” Celeste insisted, leaning in between them.“Please tell me they have it?”
“Maybe you should start with some toast and see how that sits with you,” Marin suggested with a gentle tap to Celeste’s shoulder.They squeezed in between Blake and Marin, wrapping both of their arms around one of Marin’s and rubbing their cheeks together.
“You are so nice,” Celeste insisted before affixing their hazy stare to Blake.“Keep this one around, okay?I like him soooo much—we’re like best friends now.”
“I’ll do my best,” Blake told them, dropping his speed so that he was in step with Ryan and adding to him in an underdone: “Are you sure they’re going to be okay?”
“No,” Ryan snorted.
“Cool, just checking,” Blake responded, sarcastic.
“I need to make sure that they don’t start climbing anything,” Ryan groaned.“They did parkour in high school and when they get drunk, they tend to get… vertical.”
“Oh god,” Blake balked.“Yeah, let’s keep an eye on that.”
They arrived at Dawn’s a moment later, spotting the dark blur of Noel’s form in one of the window-seat booths.Noticing Celeste’s enthusiastic double-armed waves, Noel turned to offer a shy wave of his own before Matt threw himself across his lap, beating the window with a greasy palm.
“HI GUYS!”he shouted, loud enough that his muffled voice could be heard through the glass.“We got a window booth!”
“I can see that,” Blake groaned, ignoring him and making for the front door.He held it open for the others, nearly having to catch Celeste as they tripped over the threshold.“Careful!”
Celeste went ahead as if they hadn’t heard him, rounding the corner and spilling themself into the booth beside Matt.
“Hi!Oh my gosh, thanks for meeting us here!”they greeted him with a side hug.
“No problem!I am absolutely down to go anywhere, any time, as long as there is pie involved!”Matt grinned, gesturing towards the mountainous slice of mud pie before him.“I’m Matt and you’ve already met Noel!”
“Noel!”Celeste reached across Matt, squeezing Noel’s hands.“Oh my gosh, hi Noel!I’m so happy you came!”
“Uh.Hi there,” Noel said, giving their hand an awkward squeeze and disentangling himself.He nodded towards the others as they approached.“Hey.”
“Hey guys,” Ryan greeted, sliding into the other side of the booth.“Sorry about them.”
“Nah, you’re fine,” Matt waved off the notion with a tiny dessert spoon before driving it into the depths of his treat.
“Baby, why are you apologizing?”Celeste asked, scooping up one of the menus and pouting over the top at their boyfriend.“I’m totally fine, remember?”
