“Well… You and Aspen hang out, just the two of you. And Ren and Maddox.”
Ren and Maddox were dating, and Aspen and I were… Pseudo-dating. We were in a relationship that I had to pretend to call something else so I didn’t freak out my edgy little high-strung emo boy and send his brain into fearful spirals of commitment panic. And also I wasn’t allowed to kiss him. Yet.
It felt wrong on some level, because Cyprian had always been so supportive and friendly to me and Maddox, and he’d never grilled any of us or gotten into our business, but…
“Do you mind if I ask you something personal?”
“I guess,” he responded, turning to face me and eyeing me cautiously.
“So in terms of, you know, what you’re into… Are you…”
“I don’t know,” he answered quickly, his gaze darting away from mine with obvious embarrassment.
“No, I just mean, like, are you into girls or guys? Or both?”
“I don’t know,” he repeated pointedly.
The idea ofnot knowingwas so foreign to me. I’d figured myself out before I’d even started high school, but I knew it wasn’t like that for everyone. Ren and Maddox were prime examples of that.
“I… I kind of thought I wasn’t into… Anything,” he finished.
“Ah,” I acknowledged. “So you’ve never…”
“No,” he cut me off again, before I could voice the thing he obviously didn’t want me to voice. “I’ve never.”
“Okay. I mean, that’s cool,” I stated. The last thing I wanted was for him to feel like I was making fun of him or anything. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “I just… I don’t know. It’s all kind of confusing.”
“I get that,” I assured him. “So when you say you thought you weren’t into anything… Do you think now maybe you might be?” I asked. When he finally glanced back up to lock eyes with me, I tilted my chin toward the living room, where Arie and Che were happily chatting about what movies they wanted to watch with Cyprian.
He cleared his throat, shuffling his sock-clad feet a bit. “I don’t know. Seriously. I don’t. I can’t…” He lowered his voice, glancing into the room conspicuously. “I can’t have a crush on a couple, right? That would be crazy.”
“I mean… They are kind of crush-worthy, aren’t they?” I admitted, tilting my head. “If Aspen wasn’t in the picture, Iprobably wouldn’t mind being the meat in that sandwich, if you catch my drift.”
“Hey,” he reprimanded me, furrowing his dark brows together. “Don’t say that.”
“What?” I asked, snorting at the whiplash tonal shift in his voice and expression. He’d gone from blushing and fidgeting to ready to kick my ass to defend their honor. Something was most definitely going on.
“That’s vulgar,” he insisted, frowning. “They’re not sexual objects for you to… Perv on.”
I blinked, trying desperately not to show my amusement by smirking, because he was obviously being very serious.
“Sorry,” I said. “Won’t happen again. Anyway, have fun tonight. Aspen and I won’t bug you.”
“Thanks,” he said, then seemed to quickly regret the sharpness of his tone before. “I mean, you don’t bug me or anything. It’s just…” He trailed off, looking conflicted, and gestured with his hands.
“I get it,” I assured him. “Seriously. I do.”
And I did. I’d slugged a guy way bigger than me in the mouth for accidentally pushing Aspen into the side of his car. And even though I’d mostly been joking, because that was how Arie and I kidded around with each other, if Cyprian felt anything for the two of them like I felt for Aspen, then… Well, I wouldn’t want someone perving on Aspen in front of me either.
WHEN ASPEN FINALLYgot to my house, he gave a couple quick knocks on my bedroom door before coming in and closing it behind him. He had a little duffel bag slung over his shoulder, which he dropped on the floor before taking a seat in my desk chair and giving me a pointed look.
“Did you see what’s going on in the living room?” He asked, and I chuckled.
“Yeah, I got called a pervert for commenting, so I’m staying out of it.”
The corner of his cute mouth perked up into a little grin, and he raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to guess you were probably called a pervert because you were being one.”
