They’d be okay. And maybe Aidan was actually right—though he’d never tellhimthat—and he and Mo could be friendly, too.
“You make it sound like I’m like your rookie,” Aidan complained. “I’m thirty-three.”
“Shhhh, dude, I don’t know if I’d say it that loud,” Dawson joked.
“God, you’re the worst.” But Aidan was smiling, looking not-very-secretly pleased at how this had all gone. “But seriously, youdidmake sure our new punter got home safe, in one piece? Made sure he was still alive this morning, right?”
Dawson sighed. Maybe this was inevitable. “Don’t be weird about it, okay?”
Aidan’s face morphed into an expression that made it crystal clear just how weird he was going to be about it. “You didn’t. While he was drunk?” he hissed.
“Oh my God, he wasnotdrunk.” Dawson was not going to go into the exact ways he’d known that. But suffice it to say, the excellence of Cam’s hand-eye coordination had made that clear enough.
“Dude, congrats,” Mo said, and he raised his fist for a quick bump.
Aidan glowered. “Don’t encourage him. Cameron is young. Naive. Worships the ground Dawson walks on.”
“I know. It’s pretty great.” Dawson said it flippantly, but he meant it seriously, too. Because it wasn’t just Cam’s hero worship that was a balm on his wounded pride, but his relentless positivity, too. All that sunshine lighting up the dark shadowy corners of his mind.
“Daws,” Aidan said, frowning. “Imeanit. Don’t fuck him up, okay?”
“Don’t fuck him up or don’t fuck him? ’Cause I’m only interested in one of those, and it can’t be a freaking mystery which it is.”
He’d known Aidan was going to be stupid about this, and so far he’d delivered on every expectation. But Dawson imagined that if he’d found out later—it would’ve been so much worse. There had to be some bonus for Dawson being at least reasonably upfront about this. He wasn’t hiding anything, because there wasn’t anything to hide. Nothing to be ashamed of. Cam was a friend and they were just enjoying each other. Having some much-needed fun.
“I wanna know how it went down,” Mo said, surprising Dawson.
Here Aidan was, scowling like an angry cat, and Mo was actually encouraging Dawson to talk about it. Maybe he’d dismissed Mo too easily.
“It wasn’t exactly a secret he was interested,” Dawson said.
“God, your ego,” Aidan muttered under his breath.
“Because hetoldme,” Dawson continued, shooting Aidan a smug grin. “Anyway, we were walking home, and he was being all sweet and sunshine-y and shit. You know how he is,everything’s gonna work out, Daws!and well . . .I can only resist so much.” Dawson shrugged.
“Unbelievable.” Aidan had the nerve to morph from an offended cat to a scandalized grandmother. Dawson was going to send Levi a text to tell him that whatever he’d been doing tounbend Aidan was clearly an ongoing process, and he should put his back into it, still.
“Hekissedme, what was I supposed to do? Turn him down? He was into it. I was into it. Don’t tell me I need to draw you a diagram on how that goes,” Dawson said.
“I would’ve said yes, but then there’s Levi,” Mo said frankly. “And that guy doesnotneed a diagram.”
Aidan went brick red again. “I’m not going to let you distract me with your comments about Levi, okay? Do I need to talk to him?”
“To Cam? About what?” Dawson knew Aidan would probably be like this. But there was still a whisper of unease that rocked through him. Did Aidan, one of his longest friends, actually think that he was no good for anyone? It was one thing forhimto worry about it, in the dark solitude of his empty apartment. It was another entirely for a semi-objective third party to suggest it might be true.
“Dude,” Mo said, before Aidan could answer. “They’re hot for each other. Let them fuck it out. They don’t need a freaking intervention.”
“Mo,” Aidan chided, more gently. Because this was Mo, and he probably always would have a soft spot for the guy. Purely platonic now, but stillsoft.
“Did you stage an intervention when Ri got together with Landry?”
“No, but he wanted to,” Dawson said, because he was still smarting from Aidan’s comments.
“I didnot,” Aidan protested. “I just wanted him to have someone good for him, and Landry’s one of the best guys I know. I was always happy for them.”
That uneasy feeling in the base of Dawson’s stomach grew.
“Please,pleasedo not tell me you’re going to suggest Daws here isn’t a good guy, ’cause I barely know him but I’m gonnathrow down for him, anyway.” Mo shot Aidan a steely look, born of long knowledge of Aidan’s bullshit.
