“Hey.” Dustin came in flushed and slightly out of breath, his hair damp with sweat, wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off that showed the full spread of tattoos down both arms. He tossed his keys on the counter. “I need to grab a shower.”
He walked past the couch toward the bathroom, pulling his shirt off as he went.
Greg's eyes were glued to the expanse of Dustin's back, the muscles moving under tattooed skin, the sweatpants sitting low on his hips.
His phone slipped out of his hands.
It landed on the cushion, screen up, displaying an article titledThe Complete Beginner's Guide to Bottomingin a font size that could be read from space.
Greg grabbed it and flipped it over so fast he nearly launched it across the room.
Dustin hadn't noticed. He was already in the bathroom. The shower started.
Greg sat on the couch and pressed the phone against his chest with both hands.
It buzzed again.
Valerie:You still there?
Greg:Google knows too much! And I don't know enough!
Valerie:Time to learn!
She sent a peach emoji followed by an aubergine and Greg wasn't sure he wanted to know what that meant.
He turned the phone off.
The shower ran.
Greg sat on the couch and tried to arrange his features into something that communicatedI have been sitting here peacefully and not learning anything.
He was not confident in the result.
The shower stopped. The bathroom door opened and Dustin came out in clean sweatpants with a towel around his shoulders, his hair dark and damp. He walked into the living room, took one look at Greg, and stopped.
“What happened?” Dustin asked.
“Nothing happened.”
“Your face is the color of a fire truck.”
“The apartment is warm.”
“The windows are open.” Dustin's eyes narrowed. “What did you do?”
“I didn't do anything.”
“You look like you committed a crime.”
“I was just sitting here!”
“Uh huh.” Dustin tossed the towel over a chair and dropped onto the couch beside Greg,close, his thigh against Greg's, his arm along the back of the cushions behind Greg's head.
He smelled like soap and warm skin and Greg's brain supplied a vivid and unhelpful series of images involving Dustin and the specific things he'd been reading about.
“What's going on?” Dustin asked.
“Nothing. Valerie was… We were texting. She asked me something and I looked it up and the results were… I mean, I wasn't expecting…” Greg was overheating. “She asked who tops.”
