I raise my brows at him when he talks himself into a frenzy.
“Okay Xanxan, calm down for a second. Of course my roommates know that I’m bi.”
“Of course they know,” Xander echoes me flatly. “I thought you weren’t out?”
“I’m out to the people I care about, not on Instagram.” I shrug. I didn’t mean it as a jab, but Xander’s face darkens instantly, so I hurry to add: “But not all of them know we’ve been going out.”Which is definitely not for a lack of curiosity on their part. They picked up on me spending several nights away from home.
“Linden knows,” I remind Xander when the frown on his forehead deepens. Plopping the last piece of hotdog into my mouth, I wipe my fingers on my sweatpants. Predictably he cringes, and I grin. My heart beats in my throat when I think about what I’m going to do.
“And the rest will just find out today,” I tell him as I reach for his hand.
***
Despite my courage, I did hope at least some of my roommates would be out tonight. However, the driveway is packed when I pull up in front of the Nook. Xander throws me a careful look like he expects me to turn around and drive us to St. Bernard’s campus, so I can pretend to be Nate and sneak into their dorm room.
Instead, I kill the engine. We sit in silence for a while until Xander clears his throat.
“I didn’t pack a toothbrush.”
“You don’t have to give me an out.”
The corners of his mouth twitch with a suppressed grin. “Maybe I’m trying to give myself an out here?”
I shake my head at him as I open my door. I know this will prompt a whole lot of questions, and I already dread having to answer all of them. But I also know this is important. Less for myself than for Xander and my friends. And even if in a few months this will be nothing more than a memory, I know that it will still be safe with them.
The first thing I hear, when entering the house, is Micah’s deep Southern drawl. He is singing about taking the curve too fast in an old Corvette.
“You don’t even have a Corvette!” I holler from the hallway where I kick my shoes off, then reach for Xander’s hand. My heart is beating so fast right now, I feel dizzy.
“Nicko? I thought you were on a da–” Olli peeks around the corner of our living room, breaking off mid-sentence when he sees us. He blinks for a moment, his eyes going to our joined hands, and I instinctively squeeze my fingers around Xander’s.
“Oh,” he says. And then, after a moment: “Ahh! So your mystery date isSoft.”
“What?” I frown in confusion when Xander clears his throat next to me.
“Hello, Yardley.”
“You twoknoweach other?” I gape, which prompts a chuckle from my roommate.
“All gays know each other, Nicholas. Haven’t I taught you anything?”
Xander rolls his eyes at Olli before turning toward me. “We’re both in the Bonham College LGBTQIA+ Alliance,” he explains, and I sigh.
“Of course you are.”
“And I call him Soft because it’s the opposi–” Olli starts eagerly, but I hold up one hand to interrupt him.
“No, no, please. I don’t even want to know.”
Dinner is actually fun. Micah always cooks like a Southern grandma expecting her whole family over for Christmas, so there’s plenty of food to satisfy all of us. Xander’s presence doesn’t prompt more than a few long looks and a hushed “But I thought he’s the enemy?!” from Marisol.
Still, I feel my shoulders slump with quiet relief once we’re climbing the stairs to my bedroom. My roommates have decided to huddle up downstairs for a spontaneous movie night, very pointedly not inviting us and turning the volume all the way up.
“What are they trying to tell us?” Xander chuckles when I shut the door on the barrage of fictional gunfire.
I rub the back of my neck in embarrassment as I dig out my phone to put a warning into the group chat before the cops come beating down our front door. “I think they’re trying to be supportive.”
“Do they do this every time you bring someone over?”
