Later, before Ethan went to sleep, he didn’t think about getting left out of the Chinese buffet trip. He didn’t even realize that he’d had his longest conversation ever with Preston without being a stuttering mess. Nope, all he thought about was the crazy secret of that crazy afternoon that his oh-so-cool friends knew nothing about. Maybe what had happened with Greg wasn’t completely horrible. Maybe it really had made him fresher, to use Lorna’s word.
He could still feel the buzz in his fingertips as he drifted off to sleep. And tomorrow, he really did need to buy toothpaste.
CHAPTER twelve
Ethan tried not to look at Greg during class on Thursday. He focused on the lecture and the sturdy, yet droning, voice of his professor. Acing the first exam would erase every bad mark against him, but every few minutes, Ethan found his head craning towards Greg.
The gesture was not reciprocated.
Greg texted on his phone and scrolled through photos—basically the same things he’d done when they first met. Before everything had happened. Ethan had no idea what to expect from today, but was some form of acknowledgement too much to ask?
“You’re so studious,” Ethan whispered. He tried to sound cool and funny like Greg would, but instead it came out accusatory.
Greg let out a laugh and went back to his phone.
Weren’t they supposed to discuss next steps, or had Tuesday been a one-time fling? A one-time mistake? Ethan wished he knew proper protocol in this situation.
Perhaps Greg wanted Ethan to make the first move. He slowly moved his hand toward Greg’s crotch. Like, super-slowly. His hand had the shape of an airplane coming in for a landing.
But nerves got the best of him. Ethan’s plane hand veered off course and gripped the chair arm for a brief moment before tucking itself under Ethan’s butt.
Once class ended, Ethan stood and shoved his notebook into his bag. He figured he should leave rather than risk being blown off for a second time.
“Where are you going?” Greg asked. He threw his own notebook into his backpack. Why did he bother bringing it in the first place?
“I’m just going to get a coffee.”
“We’ll walk out together.”
“Oh, okay.”
They followed the rush of students heading downstairs. When they reached the second floor, instead of continuing down the stairs, Greg tugged on Ethan’s sleeve. He nodded down the hall with a mischievous look on his face that stirred up butterflies in Ethan’s stomach.
Ethan didn’t say a word.This was happening.He followed Greg down a deserted corridor of closed classroom and office doors. The echo of footsteps from the stairs reverberated throughout the hall. They passed professor offices on both sides, and Ethan caught names on the doors. He’d read about those names in newsletters and emails touting the successful faculty of Browerton.
Greg was on a mission. He poked his head into each room, and Ethan realized what he was looking for. An empty room. Ethan’s heart raced with each office they passed. There were esteemed faculty on this floor, scholars with centuries of combined legal expertise and knowledge. And here were two boys searching for a place to screw around without getting caught. Or did they want to get caught?
No, definitely no.
Ethan secretly hoped Greg wouldn’t find anything. It was exciting to hook up in the mostly forgotten stacks of the library, but not where Ethan’s future professors were mere feet away.
At the end of the hall, beside a window looking out into a grassy quad, they found one. It was an empty office with bare bookcases and a desk that only had two pens and a stapler atop it.
“Perfect,” Greg said, nodding as he surveyed the surroundings.
Nerves scorched within Ethan. Other professors were in other offices just down the hall. There was even an office right across the way. He glanced at the placard outside that office and nearly shriveled up.
Wendell Sharpe!
“We have to go,” Ethan said. His breaths turned into shortened huffs.
“Why?”
“This is too risky.” Ethan pointed to Professor Sharpe’s placard. “Exhibit A.”
Greg checked his phone. “He’ll be in the lecture hall for at least another ten minutes as suck-up students yak his ear off.”
Ethan grimaced. That could’ve been him.
