I spot Laura sitting at a table in the student center, and I settle down in the seat across from her.
“Something’s up,” she says. “What’s going on?”
Huh? I go through everything that could be wrong—clothes, hair, face, shoes. Did I accidentally steal Ian’s shoes or something?
“Callum. It’s chill. I can practically see the gears turning in your head.”
I relax, if only a bit.
“You seem a little disturbed. Is everything okay?” she continues.
“I guess, yeah.” I shove my hands into the pockets of my coat, the same one Ian gave me last month.
Laura narrows her eyes at me, clearly not believing a word of what I said.
Shifting uncomfortably, I suck in a dry breath through my teeth. “It’s about Ian. He told me he’s bi yesterday.”
“Okay.” Laura clasps her hands together, resting her chin on them. “Is that what has you all knotted up?”
“No. Not exactly.”
“Not exactly?” She tilts her head. “I don’t mean to prod or whatever, but you brought it up—you don’t have a problem with living with him because of that, do you?”
“Absolutely not.” I take another breath. “I’m gay.”
Hoo boy. Saying that faster doesn’t make it any easier.
“Oop.” Laura… I can’t imagine why she’dsmileat that, so it’s probably a wince. “Have you told him?”
“No.”
“Anyone else?”
“Yeah,” I reply, not going into details. I don’t know if Laura wants to know I go to therapy, so I don’t bring up Anita.
“Okay. But not Ian. Is there any reason why, or are you not ready?”
I glance off to the side, pursing my lips together. Part of me is desperate to tell Laura; she might have some kind of advice, but again, I don’t want to use her as a dumping ground for my chaos.
“I’m not ready,” I reply simply. “Besides, he might be weirded out or something.”
Laura jerks her head up, making quiet, disbelieving sputters. “Callum, he’s bi. Why would he be weirded out about you being gay?”
Staying silent, I try to think of a good response, but I’m caught off guard when Laura grins.
“Wait.” She blinks her dark brown eyes at me. “You like him.”
My faceburns. Am I that obvious about how much I like Ian?
There’s no denying it now, so I nod. Unless my eyes are deceiving me, the corners of Laura’s mouth twitch upward even more.
Wait, is she trying not to laugh at me?
“That’s so cute,” she says. “You’ve gotta be the fastest person to admit something like that.”
“Well, it’s true,” I mutter. “God help me. He’s treating me like Nick, and he doesn’t know that I read way too much into that flirty dynamic.”
“Oh boy, what happened?”
