The other point was that I had no idea what to say to him. The one time I’d been here before hadn’t exactly been a model relationship, and I didn’t want to make whatever mistake I made last time again. Not with Ward. I couldn’t stand the thought of Ward hating me.
I had to saysomething, though. Seth would have told me that, and he’d been right about everything else so far.
Ryder:I stole one of your shirts because they smell of you and I didn’t want to leave this morning
Ryder:so don’t freak out when I say I wanna talk in person
Ryder:I just have to get this right
Maybethiswasn’t right, but I knew I needed to be with Ward in person if I had any hope of getting all my feelings in order.
Ward:you’re adorable
Ward:and I won’t freak out
Ward:you’re my best friend
Ward:you’ll always be my best friend
“He’s so sweet,” Seth sighed. “I bet he’s a tiger in the sack though.”
And I was blushing again.
“I can’t believe you just saidtiger in the sack,” Mercutio said. “What are you, ninety?”
Seth looked so offended that I couldn’t help grinning. Clearly, these kids liked me.
“He’s twenty—ow,” I yelped as Seth’s pinching fingers return. “You’re not that old!”
“No, and I’m going to age gracefully into a hot silver fox, but in the meantime I’m maintaining an air of mystery.”
“Well, you guys can look up how oldIam on IMDb and use the information that Seth and I were in the same drama class,” I said, prompting Juliet to get her phone out.
Mercutio frowned at me. “You have an IMDb profile?”
I blinked at him.
Wow.
Well, he was well and truly out of my demographic, but that was enough to humble me. For once, in a good way.
“My mom told me who he was after the performance last night,” Juliet explained. “She loves you, by the way. She’s gonna be so disappointed you’re gay.”
“She didn’t find out with the whole rest of the world?”
Juliet blinked at me.
Okay, well.
This conversation wasn’t going at all the way I’d imagined it would. Maybe I didn’t have to live in disgraceeverywherein the world.
Otter Bay was special like that. Nowhere else I’d been was quite like it.
“I won’t tell her if you don’t want me to,” Juliet said. “I just got excited because y’know, you’re… you’re one of us,” she added, gesturing around at all the kids who’d shown up.
“An actor?” I asked, looking around at them.
“Gay,” Seth filled in for me. “Or trans or bi or ace or questioning or… whatever.”
