Chapter Twenty-Six
Irving
Across the diner booth from me, Ezra lifted his coffee, sipping some of it out as a glob of whipped cream floated across the rim.
“You’ve got whipped cream on your lips,” I said, offering him a paper napkin.
He leaned forward across the table, surprising me with a quick kiss on the lips. “Now you do, too.”
I smiled, then wiped both of our mouths off with the napkin. I was really impressed by the way Ezra moved so easily between these different kinds of connections we were having. Normally, I would get myself all worked up and nervous about whether some guy liked me before I even had a conversation with him. I wouldn’t have thought I could navigate hooking up in the way that we had, but then Ezra was just so carefree about everything.
It was one of the reasons I had held off all the insecure feelings that threatened to grab me. Anytime I felt jealous, like Ezra and Brick would leave me the same as Mario and my roommate, I’d remember how passionately Brick had kissed me, and how happy Ezra seemed.
Ezra did stuff like kissing me at the diner and making everything feel normal and real, and those insecure feelings melted away.
“You don’t think he left town, do you?” Ezra asked.
“I doubt it. I guess he might have—I just have a feeling he didn’t.”
“Me, too.”
“I’m definitely not surprised that he’s a minute late though.”
The waiter appeared at our booth, pulling a pad of paper from his apron. The diner was pretty quiet, with only a few people at scattered tables and booths. Most of them looked like regulars, people who lived locally and probably came in for the same meal just about every day.
Ezra pointed at the menu. “Cheesy fries, please.”
“I’m fine with just the coffee, thanks.”
“Cheesy fries and more coffee, got it,” he replied, grabbing our menus and then tucking them back behind the napkin dispenser.
Ezra swooped up some of the cream with his finger, licking it off lazily. “Are you excited?”
“Excited about what?”
“For the hookup,” he whispered. “What did you think I was talking about?”
I kicked him under the table, glancing around the diner. “We can’t talk about that right now,” I whispered, holding back a nervous laugh.
Ezra shrugged. “Why not? No one’s paying attention. Anyway, as soon as Brick shows up, he’s going to start eye-fucking us, and everyone will know what’s up anyway.”
I almost choked on my coffee, holding the napkin up to my face. “Oh god, he really does eye-fuck us, though, doesn’t he?”
“Those green eyes…”
I caught Ezra’s gaze, and his silver eyes were sparkling back at me. “Your eyes are pretty nice, too.”
“Thanks!”
“We can’t get all distracted by sex, though. I mean, it’s obviously pretty distracting, but I still want to get more of Brick’s story out of him.”
“He seems pretty sure that we’re not in danger, at least.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, “and I do feel inclined to trust him. But even if we’re not in danger, it seems like he is. Is running out of town really the best thing for him?”
Ezra rested his cheek on his fist. “I want him to stay in town, too. But if he does disappear, you and I are heading right back out there together.”
“What do you mean?”
