“When did you have a girlfriend?” Matty asked.
“In the fall. We broke up right before Christmas break.”
“Huh.” He never knew Tim had a girlfriend while they were playing. It never came up. Nothing ever came up except for Catan. “That does suck.”
“Friendship is about action,” Tom said. He tossed his empty can into the trash. “I remember during freshman orientation, I met a ton of people, and they all said that we should hang out, and then we never did. If you really want to stay friends with Coop, then maybe you should take some action.”
“But the ball isn’t in his court,” Tim argued.
“Maybe there is no ball,” Akash said, and relished his Morpheus-like wisdom.
Matty slumped in his chair. That did not bode well for him and Coop, which sucked because he had a great night with him well before the pool.
“Have you seen this guy since you two said you were just going to be friends.” Tom leaned forward, elbows on the table.
Technically, Coop was the one who said that they should be friends, and Matty had no choice but to go along with it. Matty shook his head no.
“Have you talked with him?” Akash asked. “Maybe seen him around campus and did one of these?” He did a head nod you give to someone across the street.
“If you want to be friends with him, be friends with him,” Tom said. “And if he doesn’t want to hang out, then that’s on him.”
“But the ball is in his court,” Tim said.
Matty wasn’t any closer to having a definitive answer, but he felt better just talking this out. Talking it out with his Catan opponents. “Thanks for helping me with this.”
“Anytime,” Tim said.
“You know, you don’t have to organize a game in order to do this,” Akash said. “We could all just hang out and…talk. Like, about non-Catan stuff.”
“Just talk?” Matty asked. It seemed like such a foreign concept to him, but one he wouldn’t mind getting used to.
“Yeah. We have Playstation up in our suite, so we can play that, too,” Tom said.
Matty had heard kids talking about it in class growing up, but was never invited to play with them. It was for the best, since his free time had been used for studying and working on his latest computer programs.
“Do you want to play?” Akash asked.
“Hey, we should order pizza, too,” Tim said.
“Sure.” A smile stretched across Matty’s face.
I am hanging out. With Friends.
Chapter 15
Coop
Coop bookedanother client for tonight. This senior was going to a networking event and needed a wingman to introduce him around. For fifty bucks and an open bar, Coop was all his. He looked at the email again to make sure he had all the details, and to waste more time.
There was one thing he could actually do before class: write Matty a damn email.But what the hell would I say? I really liked kissing you. It’s a damn perk of the job?Coop didn’t know what to do next after the pool, after their amazing night together. He had to keep spending time with Matty, for the money and because he genuinely wanted to. He didn’t know which was the bigger problem.
He shut his laptop and headed for class. Coop collided with Kelvin in his hall.
“They’ve invented this new fangled thing called email. You should try it out.”
“Do you have a second?” Kelvin had a smile on his face meant for punching.
“Barely. Talk fast.” They returned to Coop’s room. Kelvin shut the door.
