Chapter Nineteen
“So, looking forward to class today?” Flynn asked, putting the finishing touches on breakfast. He’d done Zach’s eggs exactly how he liked them, and he was ridiculously proud of the crispiness of the bacon.
Good moods like this didn’t come along all that often, so he planned on savoring this one.
“Yeah,” Zach said. “Honestly, the last few weeks have been so overwhelming with all the admin stuff and assessment requirements and getting to know the buildings and the people and… everything, but this week I’m starting to feel less like I don’t belong.”
“Of course you belong,” Flynn responded automatically. “You got in, didn’t you?”
Zach laughed. “Yeah. Yeah, I got in, but it still feels like a mistake sometimes. Like I don’t deserve it.”
“You do,” Flynn said firmly. “I don’t know anything about art, but Idoknow they don’t just hand out spots in Masters programs. And I know youknowabout art, because of the way you talk about it. It goes right over my head, but you sound confident.”
“You should have told me I wasn’t making any sense to you,” Zach mumbled. “Now I feel like an asshole.”
“Don’t,” Flynn said, finally satisfied with his breakfast presentation. Maybe he was going overboard with trying to impress Zach, but…
Well, he wanted Zach to be impressed. That was all there was to it, really.
“I liked hearing you talk about things you cared about,” he explained as he set the plates down at the table. “And I got the gist. I’m just saying… you deserve to be where you are. No question.”
Zach laughed. “You’re so kind to me. I feel evenworsethat I need to ask you for a favor, now.”
“What kind of favor?” Flynn asked.
Zach groaned, sitting back in his seat but grabbing his knife and fork anyway. “This looks incredible,” he said. “Are you sure I can’t just sit here and eat it instead of telling you?”
Flynn chuckled. Zach was probably just saying that so he wouldn’t have to tell him whatever was on his mind right away, but he wasn’t immune to flattery. The thing he wanted to hear most in life was that the way he was trying to take care of someone worked for them.
Right now, he was trying to take care of Zach by feeding him, and he was saying nice things about that. There were few things that could have made Flynn happier.
“You could do both,” Flynn said, starting in on his own eggs. “I’m probably not gonna say no, for the record.”
“That just makes it worse. I don’t wanna use you,” Zach sighed.
“Just ask me,” Flynn said. “Come on, man. I won’t bite.”
Zach sighed. “My grandma is coming into town this weekend to see us.”
Flynn looked up from his own plate, a forkful of eggs and toast halfway to his mouth. He blinked at Zach, processing what he’d just said.
“What?” he asked, his heartbeat starting to speed up.
“I know. Iknow,” Zach said. “She wasn’t about to take no for an answer and honestly I didn’t want totellher no, she’s all I’ve got and she just wants me to be happy and… now I’m screwed.”
“You’re not screwed,” Flynn replied.
He paused for a moment to shove his fork in his mouth, wanting to give himself a second to consider his response.
The obvious solution was for them to just… pretend to be genuinely married for a few days, while Zach’s grandma was in town.
Things were going okay, weren’t they? Maybe they hadn’t quite figured out what they wanted from each other yet, but…
“We’ll show her what she wants to see,” he said, almost before he’d reached a conscious decision. “Take her out a few places, let her see us holding hands… it'll be fine.”
The little thrill of excitement in the pit of Flynn’s stomach at the thought of holding Zach’s hand was probably fine, too.
“She has dinner reservations for Friday,” Zach said, as though this was the worst thing that’d ever happened to him.
