“Rin,” I breathe out against his lips, forcing myself to pull away.
Rin clears his throat, looking adorably rumpled. ”Sorry. Got carried away.”
“That’s okay.”
“We should go. I don’t want everyone knowing we sat here making out instead of joining them for dinner,” he says with a chuckle.
I force myself to turn in my seat and start the car. My heart is hammering inside my chest and my stomach is a mess oftwisting, turning nerves. When I look over at Rin, he smiles back. That’s enough to have everything slowing down.
Rin reaches over and holds my hand when I don’t need it for shifting. I could get used to this.
The place we’re going to knew we were coming and has a table big enough for us. I sit down, pulling Rin down next to me. Oli quickly slides into the seat next to him.
“Ivan! I saved you a spot, darling!”
Rodney and Kei sit down across from us. Rodney looks at Oli with a frown and Rin just shrugs.
“Don’t call me that, asshole.”
“Don’t be so mean, Ivan!”
Amour sits down next to Rodney, Kurstin and Bo following behind him. Daniel and Sullivan come and sit next to myself and Kei. Kent finds a spot next to Ivan.
“We should take a selfie, for our social media,” Oli says to Rin.
“Yeah, I don’t mind,” Rin says. “I just ask that you don’t use my real name, please.”
“Oh yeah, no worries there,” Oli says right away. “I know how important these things are. I think we all do,” he says and the people round the table all nod along in agreement.
“It’s not that people don’t know my real name. I just like keeping Blue and Rin separate, you know? Right now I’m just Rin. When I’m streaming, I’m Blue.”
“We get it,” Ivan says quietly. “We all have to put on a face when we’re in front of the camera.”
“It’s awesome that you guys understand,” Rodney says with a smile. “Sometimes it gets really hard making new friends. They like you because they know you’re famous online. You guys are already famous in your own way so we don’t really have to worry about that. We can all just hang out.”
Rin nods his head, looking relieved by the conversation. I like the way he gets along with my team. He’s so charismatic that I never worried about him feeling left out, but seeing him just being himself, the side of Rin I see when it’s just the two of us, brings me a lot of joy.
Sullivan comes back to the table and I didn’t even realize he’d left until now. He’s holding a tray in his hands and a giant grin on his face. “Take one and pass it down,” he says, starting with Daniel and Kei.
Everyone takes a shot and passes it down the table. Daniel looks at Sullivan. “Is this really a good idea?”
“Live a little, Daniel! We just won and we’re making new friends. If this isn’t the time to celebrate then I don’t know what is!”
Daniel nods his head, letting out a little sigh. He turns towards everyone at the table. “We’re havingoneshot but I amnotdriving anyone home tonight so be responsible. You got that?”
“Yes, sir,” we all say, making Rodney chuckle.
Rin looks at me. “Does that happen a lot?”
“What?”
“Daniel having to take care of you guys?”
“More than we’d like to admit,” Ivan says with a deep sigh. “Bo can’t handle his liquor, Oli starts flirting with anyone who’ll look his way when he’s drunk, and Sullivan is a wanderer.”
Rin nods at Rodney. “So is Rodney. We’ve lost him more times than I can count, but we always find him in the end.”
Oli pouts. “It’s not my fault people think I’m pretty, Ivan.”
