I laugh and grab our jackets from the corner. Mine is my letterman jacket, three years old and still holding together. Colten brought his thrifted black leather jacket, which he’s somehow prouder of than his own letterman jacket.
“Come on,” I say, shrugging my jacket on as I throw Colten’s to him. “Let’s go save Julian!”
***
The auditorium is half full when we get there, with someone presenting a confusing app that seems to be a cross between the driving app Suber and the workout routine Crissfit. There’s an entire panel of judges sitting at a long table near the stage.
Even with a small glance through the half-open door, the judges look terrifyingly official, all of them armed with clipboards and serious expressions.
“Okay,” I murmur to Colten from our spot out in the hall, where we got the rundown about Julian’s presentation. He’s up next.“Maybeit isn’t a hostage situation.”
Still, Julian and Rowan are…close, and never seem to let go of the other. Rowan’s hand hasn’t left Julian’s shoulder once since we got here.
I’m not 100% sure whether Julian’s being held hostage or not, but he does seem more nervous than in distress. Possibly because he’s going to be presenting in front of those judge-y looking judges next.
Or maybe because Rowan Papadakis is actually holding him hostage. Who knows?
After the Suber-Crissfit presentation ends and Julian and Rowan go to set up Julian’s presentation, I take in the others who have been summoned with me to help Julian.
One of them is Jessica from the accounting track, who I dated for a whole three days. She’s not looking great, clearly hungover and maybe actively dying.
“Hey, Jess,” I whisper. “Great party last night, right?”
“It really was,” she says, before leaning against the wall, likely trying not to pass out.
Then there’s Elias, who I’m 90% sure is Rowan’s cousin, but they said he’s his ‘friend’, which is honestly kind of sad. Does Rowan not have any actual friends?
Also present is Amy Hales, Rowan’s ex-girlfriend.
Which I know because Julian mentioned it more than once while she was trying to get close to him over the last few weeks.
I’m impressed Rowan invited her. It takes some balls, especially because it seems like all of us are here to judge him.
…Maybe it’s a humiliation kink.
As Rowan and Julian finish setting up, neither of them moves more than a few feet from the other on the stage, right in front of the judges.
Very, very odd.
Still, during the presentation, I think I do a fairly good job, though Colten and I stick around after, curious about what this presentation is actually for. Julian was cagey about the details, but I’m starting to suspect this is why he kept bailing on our friendly matches this year.
And weirdly enough, after Rowan is done with his part of the presentation, he remains next to Julian, citing the need to do so for a ‘social experiment’.
“Do you think the social experiment is a hostage situation?” I whisper, leaning toward Colten in our spot a few rows back from the judges. Amy already left, and Jessica is quietly snoring next to us. Elias is looking through his phone, muttering to himself. I try to ignore him.
“Julian said they’re friends,” Colten replies, but I can tell he’s starting to get suspicious, too. “Besides, it’s not like any of us have money.”
I snort before gesturing toward the stage with a raised eyebrow. “He is literally holding onto him and just standing there. There has to be something more going on.”
Colten watches for a moment, biting his lip as he considers it, but then shakes his head. “We can ask later. He seems fine for now.”
I sigh but follow Colten’s decision. After spending three years of rooming and playing with the guy, I trust him to be the responsible one and to keep us from getting in trouble. We’re best friends for a reason.
As soon as the presentation ends, I try, and fail, to get Julian to go celebratory drinking with us.
He just keeps looking over at Rowan, like the guy is using some sort of strange mind-control powers on him, and brushes me off.
Colten, regretfully, won’t let me tackle Rowan, so Julian and Rowan are able to run away. Before Colten can drag me back to practice, however, I go to help Jessica as it’s clear she’s trying to sleep off the hangover in the hallway.
