Todd shakes his head, a fond smile on his face as he flips a page in his book. “You prickly little hedgehog, you.”
“Say it to my face,” I grumble.
Todd looks me square in the eye. “I said, you prickly little—”
Trevor tugs me back from the edge of the bed in the nick of time. “Easy, Red.”
I huff a breath as he holds me tight, his next words aimed at Todd.
“Bill knows how to work a camera?”
Todd hums his yes. “He does videography work for a wedding studio in town. I mean, I don’t know if he wants to get into porn, but it’s worth checking. He’s graduating this year.”
Trevor glances my way, a brow raised. “That could work.”
“Uh-huh. Super great. Could you kindly let me go now?”
Trevor does without question, a resigned expression on his face.
Todd squawks when I roll onto him, my friend trying and failing to crawl away. “Your knee is in a very uncomfortable place,” he ekes out.
“I’m notprickly,” I gripe. “Take it back.”
“Tell that to everything poking me.” Todd groans feebly as his fight leaves him. “My ribs.”
I flop onto the floor next to his prone body, Todd’s face on the carpet as I stare up at the ceiling. “Sorry,” I manage, winded. “God, I’m really out of shape.”
Todd reaches over and pats my stomach. “You okay?”
The fact that he’s asking me that after I just smashed him to my floor has my eyes pooling fast. At my silence, Todd looks over, his cheek red from the carpet and alarm taking over his features.
“Whoa, bae. What’s going on?”
“You’re graduating, too,” I point out. “Not just Bill. And so is Lumi.”
“Okay?” he says slowly.
I huff. “And I don’t know what that means, okay? Are we even going to be here in another couple months? You and me in this house? Or are you going to find some job in a lab somewhere halfway across the country and call maybeonce every two years when you remember I exist and thinkoh yeah, that Isaac guy, I should check in with him. Everything is changing, and I don’t like it. It’s just going to be me and Camden and Bill and…that other guy with the room that smells like socks.Socks, Todd.”
My friend is staring at me with wide eyes.
“What?” I cry.
He scoots upright, his hands on my shoulders as he holds my eye, the rugburn on his cheek making me wince. “You give the absolute best I love yous.”
“How isthatwhat you heard?”
Todd tugs me into a hug, my complaint falling away as his arms wrap around me tight. “Isaac… I hate to break it to you, but you’re stuck with us. Me. Lumi. I don’t know where I’ll end up, but I do know it’ll never be two years between phone calls. Yeah, some things might change. But that’s okay. Because any changes we go through, we’ll go through together.”
“Goddamn it, Todd.”
He rubs my back. “I know. Library Guy, would you get down here for a second and hug your boyfriend? He’s leaking, and I need to make a call.”
As Trevor’s arms come around me, Todd slips away. I turn and hide my face against Trevor’s chest, figuring if I don’t open my eyes, I can pretend I didn’t just spew my feelings everywhere.
Unfortunately, Lumi’s voice cutting through Todd’s speakerphone makes that impossible. “Isaac Newport! Can you hear me?”
I croak a laugh against the fabric of Trevor’s shirt. “Yes.”
