“Thought you weren’t into football players?” Tate asked Percy.
“I’m not.” Percy sniffed, confirming a little of the brat in him. “That crush was back in seventh grade before he got all—” Percy scanned Cal head to toe, then gestured with a wave. “—big.”
I snickered, and Cal nervously rubbed the back of his neck again.
“This is Dorian, by the way,” Percy said and pointed over his shoulders at the pretty boy.
“Nice to meet you,” Cal said and nodded with him.
Dorian gripped Percy’s shoulder and shook him. “We met this semester, and I can’t seem to get rid of him.”
“Are you two together?” Cal asked.
Percy elbowed Dorian in the stomach. “He wishes. I’ve tried convincing him gay is the way, but he’s very stubborn.”
“Not gonna happen, brat.” Dorian grinned.
“Once you go gay—” Wren started, but Tate interrupted him.
“That’s not how that goes.”
Cal laughed. “It’s great to see you guys. You live around here?”
“Percy’s on campus at Cressmann U, but we’ve got an apartment—”
“Shithole,” Wren corrected Tate.
“—near Auburn. This was halfway for all of us,” Tate finished with a smile.
“Enough about that,” Wren said, then pointed between Cal and me. “When did this happen?”
We glanced at each other, then laughed.
“Uh, I guess right before school started,” Cal said.
“Dude.” Wren gave Cal a high five. “That’s great. Honestly, though, I thought you were straight.”
“I thought I was too,” Cal agreed.
“Just takes the right guy,” I said.
“Thank you.” Percy peered over his shoulder at Dorian. “Didn’t I say the same thing?”
Dorian shook his head but couldn’t hold in his laugh.
“Hey. We’re here with some friends. You wanna come hang out for a moment?” Cal asked.
“You guys done?” Tate pointed with his chin at the corner behind us, lips twitching.
“Uh.” Even though it was dark in the arcade, the blush across Cal’s cheeks wasn’t.
“He’s fuckin’ with you,” Wren said. “Yeah, man. Who all’s here? People you trust?”
“Yeah,” Cal said. “Everyone here’s cool. Things have changed a bit since you guys graduated. The faculty are still uptight dickwads, but the students are a bit more relaxed now.”
“Well, maybe after the pranks,” I added.
“Oh, right.”
