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Mikey moved past me, his hand brushing my lower back as he circled the table to take up a spot on the middle section of the couch, his shoulders pressed into the cushions at his back, both feet planted firmly on the floor.

He was a lounger. He practically melted into furniture. At home, on our couch, we were always touching. Clearly, we could touch here, too, if we wanted to. But his body language said “I’m going to sit here, and you’re going to sit there, and don’t worry, I won’t make this hard for you.”

I tossed him a look of gratitude and took up my spot next to him, our arms pressing together. I could give him that.

Sebastian leaned forward, setting his empty glass on the table.

“You want a refill?” Bell asked, planting his hands next to his thighs in anticipation of getting up to retrieve the bottle.

“I’m good,” Sebastian said, halting his movement.“I promised Tay I’d drive us home.”

Bell sank back down against Ethan.

And then everyone was quiet again, and everything felt so fucking awkward. Why were we putting ourselves through this?

“Thanks for having us,” Morrison said, finally breaking the silence. “I know you usually spend Christmas with Ryan and Rachel and their families.”

“Ryan took Will skiing—one last hurrah before graduation,” Ethan explained. “And Rachel took my mom to visit our Aunt Helen, so we didn’t have plans. You’re doing us a favor.”

“How so?” Mikey asked, inserting himself into the conversation.

At least one of us had figured out how to talk.

“He bought two hams,” Bell snickered, snuggling further into the crook of his husband’s arm.

Ethan tugged on the lock of Bell’s hair he hadn’t stopped toying with. “I didn’t buy two; they were buy one get one free.”

“Oh, my mistake.” Bell rolled his eyes, Ethan’s lips twitching before he schooled his expression.

Sebastian turned to us. “Do either of your parents live around here?”

Mikey, Morrison, Bell, Ethan, and I all shared an identical, startled look.

“My family is in Minneapolis,” Mikey answered. “Too far to make the trip worthwhile. Cally’s are down in Boston, but⁠—”

“They’re busy,” I rushed out before he would have to offer up some half-baked lie about why I wasn’t spending the day with them instead. “Prior commitments.”

“Ah,” Sebastian hummed, nodding, as if that explained everything.

Another round of awkward silence descended where we all just sipped our drinks until Morrison dragged his legs from Sebastian’s lap and swung around to plant his feet on the floor.

“I can’t take it anymore. Can we please address the elephant in the room?”

Bell let out a huge sigh. “Oh thank god. Ethan told me I wasn’t allowed to say anything.”

“That’s because you two are worse than a bunch of gossiping old ladies,” Ethan said, shaking his head in exasperation while, next to me, Mikey snickered as if he found this all extremely entertaining.

Bell pushed away from Ethan, turning to glare at him. “Oh come on. You’ve been just as curious about this as we are.”

Ethan twisted, setting his beer down on the side table. “Of course I have. They locked themselves in our guest room for an hour at Thanksgiving. Doesn’t mean I’m going to force them to talk about something they’re clearly uncomfortable with.”

“I’m not uncomfortable,” Mikey piped up. “I’m pretty much willing to tell you anything you want to know. It’s you all who are making this weird.” He waved a finger back and forth between the two other couples.

“I mean, I’m making it kind of weird, too,” I admitted.

He grinned at me. “Yeah, but that’s like, status quo.”

“This is what I’m talking about,” Morrison interjected. “Half the time, you look at him with stars in your eyes, while the rest of the time you’re calling him an asshole and telling him what a fucking weirdo he is.”