“You never told me where you were planning on studying,” Flynn said, falling into step beside Zach as they kept heading toward the hotel, where Zach had promised him there’d be lunch.
Flynn had been too nervous for breakfast this morning, so he was looking forward to it.
“Oh, uh, I was accepted at SMFA. The, uh. The School of the Museum of Fine Arts,” Zach said, scratching the back of his neck nervously. “Do you know it?”
Flynn chuckled. “I live just down the street,” he said. “So yeah, kinda familiar.”
“Wow,” Zach said. “Well, I owe you about five thousand coffees, so… we should definitely catch up when we’re back home? I mean, we aremarried.”
Flynn laughed again, Zach’s enthusiasm infecting him as well. “Yeah, I’d love to catch up sometime. I’m as invested in your MFA as your grandma is, now.”
Zach looked down at his feet, blushing. “With all this support, how can I possibly fail?”
“You’d better not,” Flynn said. “If I have to stand over you and make you do your coursework, you’re gonna pass with flying colors. I mean it. I’m expecting great things from you, and one day I wanna walk into a museum and point out one of your pieces and say ‘hey, I married that guy once’ for everyone to hear.”
Zach smiled another small, shy smile, his eyes sparkling when he looked up at Flynn. “You know, you’re okay.”
“Okay?” Flynn asked, pretending to be offended. “I’m awesome.”
“You are,” Zach agreed. “I’ll make you proud.”
Flynn smiled back at him, warmth sparking in his chest. He wanted to be proud of Zach, for reasons he hadn’t had time to dissect just yet.
Probably just because he wanted to be proud ofallhis friends, and Zach was definitely one of his friends now.
“I know you will,” Flynn said. “You’re okay, too.”
