“Whoa,” I say.
“Are you okay?” Colten asks.
“Totally,” I say confidently, even though the ground briefly tilts.
Then Julian and Rowan come running past, hands connected as they look back at the field, before noticing us.
“Wha—were you guys making out?!” Julian asks, his mouth open wide as he skids to a stop before Rowan yanks him forward.
“No time to ogle, Jules,” Rowan tells him, though he does shoot us a curious look. “We can congratulate them after I don’t get arrested. I’m not a student here anymore, remember?"
“Oh, crap,” Julian says, waving at us as they continue to run off. “We’ll talk later!”
I look over at Colten, who is watching them with a fond but exasperated expression. I squeeze his hand, and he turns to me.
“We should run too, right?” I ask him.
Then I hear someone yell, “They’re bringing the dogs!”
Colten’s eyebrows raise before he pulls me forward. “Unless you want us to be dog food, let’s go!”
We sprint across the grass toward the fence, laughter bubbling up and out of me before I can stop it.
This is objectively a terrible situation, which somehow makes it incredibly funny.
Colten joins in, laughing right with me, which…
Colten laughs sometimes, sure. Quiet chuckles, the occasional snort or bark of laughter when someone, usually me, says something particularly stupid and funny.
But this? This is full, breathless laughter. It’s loud and carefree, like he shrugged off something heavy that was weighing him down.
The sound of it makes me feel giddy, as if we’re not currently escaping, and my cheeks burn as I laugh even louder with him.
And as we laugh and run over the hills so we can escape over the fence, the past few minutes start to catch up with me.
So, we just make out. Like, a lot.
Is it gay to want to kiss your best friend?
I mean, probably.
But also, hear me out:
It’s been a stressful semester—finals, the evaluations, and, not to mention, I haven’t really dated anyone in months. No one’s really caught my eye since the injury.
I tried hitting on Amy, the girl going after Julian, the other day, but that was more curiosity than anything. Plus, it was kind of hot when she was mean.
And while Colten is gay and should be swimming in dick with his good looks, for some reason he doesn’t date, with the excuse that he doesn’t want anything temporary.
But we’re best friends, and we will be best friends for the rest of our lives, so really, we’re anythingbuttemporary.
So this? This is just stress relief for both of us, best friends helping each other work out their frustrations.
Not to mention, there’s the horny glowing. I mean, Colten said he was thinking about me while glowing, and he doesn’t like me, not like that.
I am pretty good looking, and he is gay, so I guess it makes sense he might be attracted to me.
But still, he doesn’tloveme. I think I would’ve noticed if he did, but he still treats me the same as when we went for the same header in freshman year.
