“Phew.” He laughs. “I’m sweating like a pig.”
“You had them hanging on your every word. And they seem like a good bunch.”
“They do, right? This is going to be our best year. We’re in charge of the funds, the causes we support, how we do it … it’s time for Alpha Sig to start giving back, like seriously giving back, not just paying lip service.”
I nod. We’ve already started changing things around here, the first being the criteria for new recruits. Under Priestley, family money and connections were paramount. But under me and Nate, the main criteria are enthusiasm and personality. Of course we want a good mix of talents and skills, but there are a few guys pledging Alpha Sigma Psi this year who would have never made the cut under Priestley—and we’re proud of that.
“I’m almost sad this is our senior year,” Nate says. “We won’t get to enjoy the frat as it is now.”
Something twists in my stomach. When we graduate this summer and move out of the house, Nate will be moving in with his boyfriend. We’ll never live together again.
“I know, but at least we’ll leave it in a better place for the next guys.”
Nate nods, his frown turning into a sly smile.
“What?”
He shakes his head. “Remember when we were scared little pledges? Now look at us— President and Vice President of the fraternity.”
With a big sigh, he leans his elbows on the counter. I instinctively look away, knowing how good his butt looks in his dress pants and not wanting to torture myself.
“Hey, I thought we could go out tonight,” he says.
“Who?”
“Just us. We could check out that gay bar we haven’t been to yet.” Nate already has his phone out, looking the bar up on Google.
I suppress a groan at the thought of standing in another gay bar while Nate points out random men and asks me what I think. He’s only being a good friend. And I know he promised to find me a boyfriend, but jeez, I wish I could tell him to give it a rest. I can’t even tell him the real reason why I’m not interested in any of those guys.
When he looks at me again, his face is so full of expectation, I can’t find it in my heart to say no.
“Sure,” I say. “Sounds fun.”
There’sa chill in the air as we wait in line for Extasy. Google said it was one of the premier gay bars in the area. Fridays are themed music nights. Tonight is Beyoncé.
Nate drove us over so we don’t have to worry about getting home, and even though he said he doesn’t mind if I drink, I’m not going to leave him sober alone. So that means I now have to endure a loud bar without even a slight buzz.
Nate gets a few admiring glances while he shivers in the line, wrapping his jacket around himself and bouncing on the toes of his new sneakers. With that preppy frat boy look down to a T, he looks so good it hurts. The only thing he’s missing right now is a polo and his snapback and he could have stepped right out of one of those old Abercrombie ads I used to—ahem—‘look at’ when I first discovered I was attracted to men. Even if I was remotely interested in picking up some stranger in a bar, there’s no way they’d even notice me standing next to him.
A guy with muscles like a Mr. Olympia winner comesover and offers his coat to Nate. A weird sensation buzzes under my skin as I watch the interaction. Nate’s shy blush as he politely declines, telling Mr. Olympia he has a boyfriend. Mr. Olympia’s confused glance in my direction.
“This the lucky guy?” he asks.
My heart sinks. He makes me sound like a lottery winner or something. I know Nate’s out of my league, but is it really that obvious?
“No, this is Ben—a friend.” Nate says. His beaming, friendly smile never slides out of place. “My boyfriend isn’t here tonight.”
“Oh, really?” Mr. Olympia completely ignores me as he takes a step closer to Nate—practically pushing me out of the way. “Well, what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.”
The friendly smile drops from Nate’s face. “Sorry, but I’m not a cheater,” he pushes through gritted teeth.
Mr. Olympia keeps smiling as he shrugs. “Worth a try. Have a nice night, boys.”
“That guy.” Nate shakes his head as Mr. Olympia squares his shoulders and walks away. I envy that guy’s confidence. He just walked right up to a hot guy and came onto him. When the guy said no, he didn’t even flinch. I could never.
I’m about to ask Nate if he’s sure he wants to be here tonight—I’d almost rather be at home with my noise cancelling headphones on while he has sex with Evan in the room next door—when the couple ahead of us are let in and it’s finally our turn to face the bouncer.
“IDs,” he says.
