A timer on Thurston’s phone went off, and he grimaced. “I have to get going. I’m meeting the boys for lunch.” His gaze met mine and his eyes lit up with an idea. “You should come.”
“Oh, I don’t want to be a fourth wheel.”
“Nonsense. Besides, you’d be doing me a favor. They behave better when there’s company.” Thurston slung his arm over my shoulder again. He was old enough to be my dad, but I never felt that kind of bond between us. He was more like an older brother who was really cool and knew all sorts of things I’d never know, but he’d never hold it against me.
The idea of slinking back to my townhouse to eat alone held less than no appeal, so I let Thurston think he was twisting my arm into going for lunch with them. Eugene and Joe were waiting at a restaurant just around the corner, and I grinned at Thurston when I realized where we were going.
“Do you live your entire life in a three-block radius of campus?”
“It’s convenient.” He glanced at me as he pulled the door open. “Don’t pretend like you get out much.”
“Ouch, Thurston. Right for the jugular,” I said as we made a beeline for the table where Eugene and Joe were already seated.
“Is he being cruel, Sawyer?” Eugene stood and shook my hand. He clapped me on the shoulder and then motioned for me to sit. “Just give me the word, and I’ll get back at him for you.”
Joe got up and pulled my chair out for me, earning him a sappy look of approval from Thurston. They were open about the dynamics of their relationship, that it was some kind of hierarchy they all enjoyed. I’d never been interested in the specifics of it, to be honest. Growing up, it was almost unheard of for my parents to show affection to each other or to my brother and me. Things like approval and affection were hard won, and I’d long ago given up on earning either from them.
Maybe it was my upbringing and its lack of warmth, or maybe there were other reasons, but whatever they were, I’d had a hard time exploring my own sexuality. By the time I came out, I was in my early twenties. Sure, I’d dated a bit and I wasn’t a virgin, but I’d been called closed-off and uptight by more than one partner.
You’d think it would fascinate me to watch three men who were freely affectionate and in tune with one another, but instead it only reminded me of all my shortcomings. Uptight. Awkward. Geeky. Sure, I’d gotten the braces off before college, and I’d filled out my frame a little, but I still wasn’t anything special. Not by anyone’s standards.
“So, are you going to do it?” Eugene asked partway through lunch.
Up until that point, the conversation had drifted around, touching on different things like the weather, the new dean of students, all kinds of things related to the university. The sudden shift in topic caught me off-guard, and I gaped at Eugene.
“Sorry?”
“The book.” he prompted.
“Eugene, that’s not your business.” Thurston admonished, but I waved his comment away.
“It’s fine. I’m—ah—I’m going to meet with him. The rest will depend on that, I suppose, but if it works out, yes.”
“Why doesn’t he write it himself?” Joe asked. “Wouldn’t it be harder to have someone else do it?”
“Well, writing a book is hard. And if you’ve never written one before, it’s even harder. It’s not something everyone can do,” I told Joe, who flushed with embarrassment.
“Oh. Sorry.”
“No need to apologize,” I assured him. I liked Joe. He was my age, which made him younger than both his partners, but the relationship suited him. There was a softness about Joe that made me want to shield him, and I didn’t get that feeling about just anyone. I wasn’t the protector kind of guy, so I could only imagine the fierce protectiveness that Joe made Eugene and Thurston feel.
“He’s going to be so excited. He’s tried to find someone for this project for months now, but people keep backing out.” Eugene pulled his phone out. “Let me text him really quick.”
Thurston reached out and put his hand over Eugene’s phone screen, but it was me he made eye contact with. “If it’s okay with you, Sawyer? I’d planned to speak with him later, and I still can, if you prefer.”
“No, it’s fine. Eugene can give him my contact info.” Excitement made my blood rush to my head. A paying gig would go a long way to making me feel like I wasn’t wasting my life chasing a pipedream. Sure, unless I’d been hired by the pope or the president, it was unlikely to impress my parents, but I told myself that didn’t matter. They had my older brother, the doctor, if they wanted a child they could be proud of.
Thurston removed his hand, and Eugene shot me a triumphant smile as he fired a text off to his friend. I hadn’t expected my phone to buzz with a text so quickly, but it wasn’tmore than a minute or so later when a message from an unknown number came through.
Hi, this is Lukas, Eugene’s friend. Let me know when it’s convenient for you to meet, and I’ll make it work. You pick the place. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me.
I exhaled a shaky breath and typed out a reply, telling him that I’d connect the next day. For convenience, I picked the same off-campus restaurant we were currently sitting in and told him to meet me here for lunch, if that worked for him.
I tucked my phone away after receiving his confirmation and then turned my attention back to Thurston.
“We’re meeting tomorrow,” I told him, suddenly nervous about the whole thing. What if Lukas hated me? Or my writing? What if I spent months on this, and then he ended up hating it?
“You’ll do fine,” Thurston told me. “I had a long think about who would be the best person for this job, and it was your name that came to mind first and stuck there. I have every bit of faith in you.”
