“Sounds excellent,” Lincoln said. “Percell’s gonna be there too?”
“Yup. Mostly we had to make sure he could get leave that weekend, but it’s all a go.” Percell was Dominic’s oldest adopted brother, and being active military, he had a stricter schedule that his siblings. “This is great. I can’t wait to see you guys.”
“Us too, Dom,” Benji said. He, Dominic, and Lincoln had been the backbone of XYZ for two years. Benji missed being around his friends. “We’ll make sure Eddie can work our schedule out so we can all be there.”
“Good. And bring your instruments. The hall has a stage.”
Lincoln snorted. “Are you selling tickets to this thing?”
“Nah, you know my parents love you guys. Trey and me are gonna do a few songs, too. Right?”
“Yup.” Trey’s voice echoed a bit, probably further from the phone that Dom. “I can’t wait to see you guys.”
“Ditto, bro!” Danielle said.
“Coolness,” Dominic said. “Listen, I know Fading Daze has to get on the road. Linc, you want to call me back after those knuckleheads are gone? Touch base?”
“Sure, dude, later,” Lincoln said. A round of goodbyes went up, and Lincoln ended the call.
“All right, you guys,” Bobby said. “This shit won’t load itself.”
They hadn’t used the equipment much, other than a few brief rehearsals, but storing it in the house was safer than leaving it in the van all week. Not only because of the humidity and chill at night, but also possible theft. None of them had a few grand in their back pockets to replace it. With seven pairs of hands, it didn’t take long to get everything loaded up, including luggage.
Benji went in for a solid hug from Lincoln. “Sorry I wasn’t around much this week.”
“Hey, no worries.” Lincoln smacked a wet kiss on his cheek. “I’m glad to see you and Joshua in such a good place. You two had me worried this summer.”
“We’re in a great place now.” They were all mingling outside, so Lincoln’s sunglasses protected his eyes, but Benji knew him well enough to see the unasked questions. “Me and Joshua are better than we’ve ever been.”
“Good. Keep it that way.”
Benji laughed. “Emmett, take care of this troublemaker, okay?”
Emmett appeared by Lincoln’s side. “I will.”
Joshua pulled Benji to the other side of the van for a hint of privacy, and tucked him close to his chest. Benji wrapped his arms around Joshua’s waist, pressed his nose into his neck.Inhaled his familiar, spicy scent. Listened to the ragged sound of his breathing.
“I love you so much,” Benji whispered. “Gonna miss you.”
“Me too. You be careful out there, okay?”
“I will. At least I know I’ll see you in a few weeks at the anniversary party.”
“We need to talk about that.”
“We will. Think he’ll want to go?”
Joshua stroked his back. “I hope so.”
It would be as good a place as any to reveal their poly relationship—unless Van thought it would distract too much from the point of the party.
Danielle rounded to their side of the van. “Kiss your boyfriend, and let’s go.”
Benji groaned, but did as he was told. He left another small piece of his heart behind in that driveway, but he could leave thankful that those pieces had each other. And he’d see both of them again soon.
Joshua always hated the first few hours after saying goodbye to Benji, and this time it didn’t hurt any less. He soothed his pain by crashing on the couch and watching a couple of bad horror movies with Lincoln and a bowl of popcorn.
At the end of the second film, right as the villain proved to be not quite dead after all, and killed the only survivor, Lincoln said, “Are you dating Van?”
