"I do."
The table makes a collective gagging sound, but it's fond.
"What about you guys?" Sam asks. "What's the summer plan?"
"Training camp," Wes says. "Got a callback from the Seahawks. We'll see what happens."
"Oh my god, Wes!" Sam nearly knocks over his drink. "That's huge! Why didn't you lead with that?"
Wes shrugs, but he's blushing just a bit. "Didn't want to steal your thunder."
"Dude. Seahawks. That's—Braiden, did you know about this?"
Braiden is beaming. "He found out yesterday. I'm going to defer med school a year," Braiden adds. "Go with him to Seattle. Figure out the long-distance thing if I have to, but..." He looks up at Wes with so much adoration it makes my chest hurt. "We'll make it work."
"Damn right we will," Wes says, dropping a kiss on Braiden's head.
"What about you two?" Sam asks Jionni and Toby.
Toby and Jionni exchange a look. Something passes between them, a whole conversation in a glance.
"I quit the RA position," Toby says.
The table goes quiet.
"Wait, seriously?" Sam leans forward. "Toby, that was your whole—"
"I know." Toby smiles, and it's different from his usual polished expression. Softer. Realer. "But I realized I was holding onto it because I was scared. Scared of losing the structure, the security. It was never actually what I wanted."
"What do you want?" I ask.
"Law school," Toby says. "I got into Columbia. Full ride."
"Holy shit," Sam breathes.
"And I'm going with him," Jionni adds. "Got a buddy in Brooklyn who needs a roommate. Gonna make music, do some tattoo work, annoy Toby while he studies."
"You're going to be very distracting," Toby says, but he's smiling.
"That's the plan."
I look around the table at these people—these friends, I realize, not just acquaintances—and I feel something I've never felt before.
Belonging.
"To us," Sam says, raising his cup. "To surviving freshman year, and RA drama, and academic rivals who turned out to be the love of our lives."
"To found family," Braiden adds.
"To not being idiots," Jionni says. "Well. To being slightly less idiotic than we could have been."
"To the future," Wes says. "Whatever it looks like."
We clink our cups together, a messy collision of coffee and iced drinks and whatever the hell Jionni is drinking.
"To the future," I echo.
Under the table, Sam's hand squeezes mine.
