I nod with a tight smile. “Yep.”
“A virgin, Shakespeare?”
“As virginal as they come,” I reply.
“Well, virgins don’t really come, though, do they?” he asks, and we both break out in drunk chuckles.
“Not with a partner, they don’t,” I wheeze through my laughter.
Someone hushes us from across the café. So when our laughter dies, Declan shoots back the rest of his cappuccino and then pops up from the couch.
“Let’s get you home, virgin.”
As he puts a hand out toward me, the dim light of the café illuminating him from behind, I know there’s no hope trying to tame my heart now. The crush I’m forming on my new friend is too powerful. It’s a hurricane that’s decimated everything we were before this very moment.
“As long as you promise not to make that my new nickname,” I say as he pulls me up.
“Just until it doesn’t fit anymore,” he replies with a wink.
With that, he turns and leaves me two steps behind him. For a guy who is royally fucked and bound to have his heart broken, I’m in a pretty good mood.
Chapter Six
Colin
The summer sun is scorching as I jog across campus toward the residence hall in my exam robes. My last exam of the year is done, which means I have nothing left to do for the next twenty-four hours but spend time with my best friend.
He leaves tomorrow on the train headed north, and my mother will be in Oxford bright and early to take me home for the summer holiday.
To be honest, I’m dreading it. I don’t feel like the same man I was when she dropped me off. Save for the week I spent with her at Christmas, I’ve been here with Declan for nearly ten months.
For the first time in my life, I feel like I know myself. And Ilikemyself.
I don’t want to return to the meaningless existence I knew before.
Their son. Dutiful. Obedient. Proper. Quiet. Allegiant.
Declan doesn’t have any classes today, so I know he should be in the room when I return. We can spend the rest of the day doing what we normally do. Get pissed somewhere in town and go home alone. We’ll probably stay up far too late talking and listening to music.
For the most part, I’ve been able to shove aside this growing crush on my friend. At first, I was afraid it would get in the way of our friendship, but it’s been fine. He spends all of his free time with me, so it’s like I’m getting the best of both worlds.
There’s a nagging part of me that worries about what Declan will do during the summer holiday. Will he have sex with someone? Fall in love? Get a girlfriend or a new best friend so he doesn’t want to spend time with me anymore? What will I do then? Who will I be?
The hallway to our room is quiet today. So many of the students are still in their exams or have already left campus. Normally, there’s more noise in the building just from people talking and music playing.
It’s mostly due to this unique silence that my ears pick up a distinct sound as I approach the quarters I share with Declan. Our door is open a mere inch, and just as my hand touches the knob, I freeze.
I hear a moan.
It’s not a sound I’ve heard Declan make before. It’s low and breathless with a hint of a grunt.
At first, I don’t think anything of it, but then he makes it again.
“Fuck,” he rasps quietly, and heat swells in my groin. He’s…getting himself off.
Is he alone? Did someone sneak into our room while I was gone?
But there are no other voices. Just his shallow groans and the distinct sound of quick movement of flesh on flesh.
