Drew and I walk to study room 354. Felix and Kayla should already be there, and Alex said to give him half an hour. I’m not sure when everyone else will arrive, but my palms are sweating. As we approach the door, Drew side-eyes me.
“You’re nervous?” I give a shaky laugh.
“Yeah, meeting new people can be nerve-racking. Especially when they’re older.” My nerves have absolutely nothing to do with these random people I’m meeting today.
“Aww, you’ll do great.” He wraps an arm around my waist and kisses my head. The action feels a little more overwhelming rather than comforting, but I keep that to myself.
At the door, Drew pulls it open and I walk in ahead of him.
“My wife!” Felix calls, jumping from his seat. The room isfullof people, but I keep my eyes locked onto my person.
“Why the fuck amIthe wife? You’re the one who cries.” Someone chokes—coughing loudly. I turn to my left to see Aaron bent over, trying to breathe around his water. Some girl is patting his back and whispering to him. Huh, okay. Drew scoffs behind me.
“Way to out me, Bear.” Felix and I are grinning at each other; Kayla smiling softly and shaking her head at us from her office chair next to her boyfriend.
Then, before I can observe the rest of the room or find a seat, a deep, gravelly voice calls out.
“Alright, I’ll be the first to say it. That guy is creepily pretty.” A few people snicker as I find the voice. He’s sitting toward the center of the large table—long, curly black hair tied up on his head. Sharp features, confident smirk, blue eyes that seem to be stripping me naked. He continues. “Dude, you’re insane. Have you always looked like this? Are you a model?”
It’s silent—as if they actually want an answer. My face flushes.
“Uh, no—I don’t model. And I guess? I mean, I’ve always had this same face, so…” This makes the huge guy bark out a laugh that fills up the entire room. To be fair, he is hot.
“You’re funny—I like you. What’s your name? I’m Josh.” He extends a hand to me. I lean over the wide desk and shake his hand—my necklace dangling in between us. Aaron starts choking on his water again, but this time I don’t pay him any mind.
“I’m Benjamin, but Bear is fine.” Josh’s eyes light up as soon as my name is spoken.
“Ah! It’s Button!” I startle—ripping my hand away like he’s electrocuted me. He’s still laughing as I look at Aaron, who’s actuallyblushingas he stares at my chest.
“Right, that’s great.” Drew wraps an arm around me—pulling me to him and putting himself in a position to shake Josh’s hand as well. “My name’s Drew—I’m Ben’s boyfriend. Nice to meet you.” Josh shakes Drew’s hand—smiling so widely I wonder if his lips will split.
“Yeah, nice to meet you, man.” He looks at me again—then at Aaron. When his eyes shoot back to Drew’s, he says, “Oh wow—this is going to be so much fun.” The girl who was patting Aaron’s back earlier punches Josh in his shoulder—impressively hard for how small she is.
“Ignore him—he’s barbaric. I’m Angie, the twin of misfortune and my brother’s keeperapparently.” This makes me laugh a little, but Drew does not find her entertaining. His arm tightens just slightly—effectively cutting off the circulation. “Let me introduce you guys: this is Darian and Kade—they play on the UA basketball team, and Darian here is actually our boy Top 3’s roomie.” Huh? I tilt my head at her.
“Who’s that?” I hear Aaron mumble an “oh God” under his breath as she grins.
“Oh, that’s our nickname for Aaron.” Looking between the two, I have a feeling he doesn’t want me to know why—which means I absolutely need to know why. Grinning, I turn back to her. “No, I was banned from telling. Sorry, Button.” Ignoring how my skin crawls at her using that name, I turn to Josh.
“Alright, Mr. Barbarian—I knowyou’renot listening to anyone. What’s up with the name?” A startled laugh leaves Josh as he leans forward in his chair—turning to talk down the table to where Aaron sits.
“Dude, he already knows how to manipulate us. It’s always the hot ones.” He turns back to me—smirking up at me. “Alright, I’ll tell you.” Aaron groans loudly. “At a party last year, we ended up in a game of Name Your Three. Well, this time the rule was everyone in the circle says their top three people at the party that they’d fuck.” Oh my God. “Well, Aaron was in the top 3 of every single person playing. And I meaneveryone. There were ten people in the circle,by the way. Me included.” He winks at that last jab—startling a laugh out of me. I look at the wall above his head, trying to process how that must have gone down.Top 3, huh?
“Oh, wow.” Is all I say, but my voice betrays me—and instead of sounding neutral I sound every bit as awed and impressed as I am. I clear my throat. “Angie, was it? Please continue.” She laughs at me.
“Alright, this is Cammie and Jenna. Cammie is Amber’s roommate, and Jenna is Cammie’s best friend turned our best friend.” Cammie rolls her eyes—draping a leg over Jenna as if to saynah, fuck you.
“It’s nice to meet you all.” I smile at them—trying to look at everyone individually so that no one feels excluded. “As I said earlier, I’m Benjamin—and this is Drew. I know you all seem to love my nickname, but if you’d please—just call me Bear or Benjamin.” It’s silent.
Everyone’s looking at me like I grew another head, but I don’t understand what I said that was so shocking. Looking around at their faces I grow increasingly nervous. I avoid Aaron at all costs, and Felix is giving me the look of,I don’t know any more than you do, brother. So very helpful.
“Actually,” I continue—ever the nervous rambler. “You can call me whatever the fuck you want—as long as it’s not that. I mean, I would rather not something mean, but who am I to stop—”
“It’s okay, Button. I think they got it.” Aaron’s smiling at me so softly. Like he’s proud—like he adores me. Like he only invited me here to show me off to all of his friends—showing them what he owns, even if it’s out on loan at the moment.
He’s got an elbow on one of the arms of his chair at the head of the table, his chin resting in his palm. He looks like a powerful man in charge of a very important meeting.
I release a breath I wasn’t aware was locked inside of me.
