“Nothing, I just ...are you going?”Suddenly, Harper found himself waiting with bated breath for his former classmate’s reply.
“To an ice cream social?After enduring a six-hour pep rally?With that clown?Uh, no.”Banks hemmed slightly, glancing into Harper’s curious eyes.Harper was surprised to find they were almost the same height.Back in school, he’d assumed Banks was literally ten feet tall.“Why ...are you?”
Harper couldn’t back out fast enough.“Fuck, no!”
Banks gave out a little chuckle, taut body sagging with obvious relief as Harper tried to ignore how plump his lips looked as he gently frowned.“I could use a cup of coffee, though,” Harper blurted before he could stop himself.Or, maybe, just maybe, before he could chicken out.
“Same,” Banks grunted in appreciation.“I haven’t had time to unbox my coffeemaker yet and that instant shit just ain’t cutting it.”
Harper struggled to suppress the irrational sense of all-out glee he felt at being face to face with Banks, here, in this gym, all alone.They’d already said more words to each other in the last two minutes than they had in all four years of high school.“You?Can work a coffeemaker?”
Banks made a crumpled-face kind of snort that looked as adorably surprised as it sounded.“I’m sorry, did ...did Harper Grant just make ajoke?”
“I guess I did,” Harper chuckled dryly, a most unfamiliar sound indeed.“Trust me, I’m as surprised as you are.”
Banks gave him another sturdy once over, Harper was feeling seen in a way he hadn’t in years and wondering, suddenly, why.Why was Banks even talking to him?Why had he not just grunted a quick “hello” and sauntered off after the horde of comely coeds who’d streamed past while they stood there talking awkwardly in the middle of the big, empty gym?Was it just because they were the only two alumni of Piedmont High standing there at the moment?Was it just old times’ sake?Or was it something more?Could Banks, hot, studly, womanizing, beer swilling, touchdown scoring, yearbook editing, camera in hand Banks be something more than all of that combined?
Banks was yammering, a strangely tentative lilt to his normally confident voice.“Anyway, I ...I think I saw a coffee shop in the quad on the way over here this morning?”
“The Campus Café.”Harper nodded in reply, the thought of sitting in a cozy corner of some dimly lit café with Banks Principle, of all people, making him quietly weak in the knees.“You think any of those Stepford Freshman from the pep rally will notice if we skip the ice cream social?”
Banks rumpled his face and inched quietly away, calling over his shoulder, “Do you even give a shit, Harp?”
Harper chuckled, drifting alongside Banks as he quietly led the way toward the auditorium door.“Not even a little.”Then he paused, long enough for Banks to notice the lack of footsteps behind him.He turned, casually, beautifully, bathed in the mid-afternoon sun streaming through the open auditorium doors behind him.
“What?”he asked, with that little cock of his pretty little head.“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Harper chuckled dryly, more flattered than his little goth heart would care to admit.“It’s just ...did you just give me anickname?”
Chapter Three
Banks
“So where did you hear about this place, anyway?”
Banks looked up from his massive cup of black iced coffee, the fresh cold brew literally suffusing his veins with energy as he wriggled in his chair like a five-year-old downing a banana split.Harper made a crumpled face beneath wisps of his chestnut brown ponytail.“This café or...?”
