“That’s a relief,” he said, another thought popping into his head. “Wait, but we’ve kissed. And I’ve swallowed your come. Does that mean your DNA will be in my saliva?”
Riley’s hands stilled on his keyboard. Was that a dumb question? It seemed legitimate to Josh. He didn’t want his results to say he was English or German or whatever Euro-mix Riley was.
He cleared his throat, keeping his eyes on the screen. “We’ll have to not kiss the day of the test to make sure, I guess. It’s been a while since we did that so you should be fine… if you’re really worried about it.”
Was Riley blushing? Holy shit. He was no good for Riley, and he didn’t want to ruin what they already had. No matter what Auntie Chen said. Or Tobias. Or Elena. It didn’t matter how many people suggested it.
“We just won’t kiss again. It's not a big deal.”
“Yeah, no problem,” Riley said, his voice quiet.
“Did you… want to?”
Why wouldn’t Riley look at him?
“Nah, it was, um, a random thing. Doesn’t have to happen again.”
Josh was torn. Riley wasn’t himself, but Josh didn’t want to make things worse.
“Riley, look at me,” he said, scooting over until their bodies were touching from their arms to their thighs, his gaze finally panning over to Josh’s. “Did you want to do it again?”
The red in Riley's face remained. There was a strange look in his eyes that Josh had never seen.
“I think—”
The door crashed open, and Sophie came barreling through, dropping multiple bags in their entryway and immediately tripping over them as she stormed toward Riley and Josh to stand in front of them with an enthusiastic smile.
“You guys aren’t gonna believe the crazy post-holiday deals I got shopping. I’ve been working with Tobias Moyer, getting him ready for the upcoming alumni game press conference, and holy shit, he doesn’t like talking to people, but at least he has that twink guy for a friend helping him get comfortable, and oh, my God, did you hear the Inferno might get that killer defenseman we’ve had our eyes on forever, Madson? What are you guys doing for dinner? Do you want to go out?”
Jesus Christ, it was so hard to keep track of Sophie’sstream of consciousness. That was so many words at once, and all Josh could remember was dinner.
The day would come when Riley and Josh would finally talk about what was happening between them, but not this day.
Gym Rat Pack Group Chat
Chase Townsend has been added to the chat.
HUNTER:Welcome to the party, Chase!
RILEY:One of us, one of us, one of us…
COLE:::party popper emoji::
CARSON:Hey, Chase!
GARRETT:Welcome to the insanity.
JOSH:Is it time for Chase’s initiation?
CHASE:Hey, guys! What kind of initiation…
JOSH:You have to play fuck, marry, kill with the rest of the members of this chat!
RILEY:When have we ever played that?
COLE:I think it’s a good day to start. If you don’t play fuck, marry, kill, then you have to do one hundred burpees.
CHASE:Well, I know who I wanna kill…
