“Morning, sunshine.” Abi grinned at Riley, then gestured to Alex, and Riley froze midstep. “You look a lot better than he did first thing.” She shook her head and pointed at the rows of empty bottles lined up next to the sink. “How much did you lot drink after we went to bed?”
Christ, that was a shitload of beer they’d got through, not to mention the nearly empty bottle of whisky that stood next to the beer bottles. No wonder they hadn’t managed to get up to anything last night.
Riley shrugged, an uncomfortable feeling growing in the pit of his stomach, though he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. “A fair bit, I guess.”
He stole a glance at Alex, wondering if they maybe should say something, after all. These were their best friends, and they didn’t tend to keep secrets from one another, no matter how embarrassing. Even though this thing with Alex was new and private, Riley felt sort of dishonest not telling them.
Abi scoffed. “A fair bit? Considering Alex here has no recollection of us even saying goodnight, I’d say it was more than that.”
Wait… what?
The uncomfortable feeling blossomed into something big and heavy, weighing him down enough that Riley had to pull out a chair and sit. He forced himself to look at Alex and asked, “You don’t remember?”
Alex laughed. “Not a fucking thing after the whisky, and even that part’s hazy. I remember drinking it, but not how much we had.”
“More than enough, apparently.” It came out sharp, cutting through the warm, easy atmosphere like a gust of icy wind. All pairs of eyes focused on him, and Riley shuffled in his seat, wanting to dash back upstairs and start the morning all over again.
This cannot be happening.
He ran a hand through his hair and met Alex’s gaze. He knew every tell his best friend possessed. If Alex was lying, Riley would see it. “So, you don’t remember anything at all after drinking whisky with Dylan?”
The others were still watching them, probably wondering what was going on, but Riley didn’t care about that.
Alex shook his head. Apart from a faint blush on his cheeks, nothing about his posture or his facial expression looked out of the ordinary.
He isn’t lying.
Well, fuck. Fuck it all.
Alex smiled as he walked over and set a bacon sandwich on the table in front of Riley. “I woke up this morning to a pounding headache and you taking up half the bed. Did we not even make it to our own rooms last night?”
Oh God, Riley wanted to curl up in a ball and die. “No.” Amazingly, he managed to keep the hurt out of his voice. “You were a nightmare to get into bed. I think I must have passed out after dragging you up there and wrestling you out of your jeans.”
Alex nodded as though that made perfect sense. And the worst thing was it did—that exact scenario had happened too many times for anyone to question. “I had the weirdest dream, though.”
Riley choked on his sandwich.
Dylan slapped him on the back, and Alex quickly poured him a glass of orange juice. “Here.” He passed it over. “You okay?”
“Mm-hmm.” Riley answered as he drank. He caught Nick watching him, but refused to meet his eye. “Thanks.”
“What was it about?” Nick kept looking at Riley as he spoke to Alex. “Your dream?”
Riley wanted to kick him under the table. He might not know details, but Nick clearly knew something was up.
“Oh, the usual. Sex.” Alex blushed again but laughed it off, waving his hand towards his groin, which wasnot fucking helpful,thank you,Alex.
Memories of Alex pressing him against the window and their hard, eager kisses hit Riley, and he closed his eyes in an effort to stop them. He concentrated on finishing his sandwich while the conversation went on around him.
“Why was it weird, then? Did you get up to kinky shit?” Dylan sat back in his chair and nudged Riley in the arm. “You’re lucky he didn’t try and hump your leg in the night.”
If only.
Riley laughed—a sad, mournful sound that he tried to cover with a cough. He couldn’t help but look up at Alex, only to see his cheeks had gone even redder. Alex very rarely got embarrassed, so…ahh. He stifled the sudden urge to yell “It wasn’t a fucking dream! It happened.” The words were on the tip of his tongue, but then Alex walked over with a mug of tea in his hand, set it down in front of Riley, and ruffled his hair.
“Ri wouldn’t give a shit if he woke up with me sprawled all over him, morning wood or no. That’s why he’s my best friend. Maybe you should get one too.”
“Hey, fuck you! I have a best friend.” Dylan went to trip Alex as he walked past, but Alex veered out of the way just in time, laughing. “I just don’t sleep with him on a regular basis.”
“Whatever. Riley knows I don’t mean anything by it. He’s well used to me by now.”
Riley stared down at his tea, pretending to be bored by the whole thing, as he usually was when Dylan and Alex bickered.
“Knock it off, you two. I’ve still got the remnants of a headache.” Jake wandered down the stairs and stood between them, frowning and effectively ending that conversation.Thank God.“I reckon we need to set off about two so I can be back in time for my mum’s Sunday roast. That okay, guys?” He was talking to Alex and Dylan. Riley had driven up with Abi and Nick this time around. Yet another thing to be thankful for.
They started discussing what route to take back to Bristol, and Riley tuned them all out, going back to staring at his tea and wondering how his morning had started out so well and then nosedived so thoroughly.
After more than a year of pining after his best friend, he’d finally had the guts to do something about it, and Alex didn’t remember a fucking thing.
Fuck my life.
