Flux - 36. Chapter 36

July 31, 2002

Chicago, IL

 

Matt

 

We’d gotten into Chicago yesterday, and had been pretty burnt out. It had been a long day of travel, and it had been pretty stressful for both Will and me. Will had been a fucking mess after we’d dropped Zach off. He’d pretty much retreated back to the bedroom and locked himself away. For me, it was a combination of the whole deal with Wade, and my fears about Kevin and Cody. I hadn’t said anything to Will about that, because I didn’t know anything solid, and because he was too fragile to deal with it.

So we’d managed to drag ourselves to the condo and pretty much just crash. Will had taken the master bedroom, and I’d taken the guest room. It was really nice here, and really beautiful, but kind of boring. I was feeling a bit better this morning, as I went outside onto the balcony and took in the beautiful view of Lake Michigan. I wondered what everyone was doing right now. Zach was probably hanging out with his parents, bored shitless. Brad was probably on his way to get tested. Stef and JP were probably re-acclimating themselves to Escorial. And Wade was probably flat on his back, with Alex fucking his brains out. The vision of that hit me like a thunderbolt, fucking me up pretty badly. I managed to recover, mostly due to hunger, and the sound of my growling stomach. I was about to go wake Will up when I saw him walking out of his bedroom, looking like shit.

“I need food,” I said, smiling to try and cheer him up.

“We going to Spartacus after that?”

“That was what I was thinking,” I said.

“Give me thirty minutes to get ready,” he said. He was so hollow. It was awful to see him like this. Not that I was doing much better. I took a quick shower, threw on some shorts and a polo shirt, slipped on my flip flops, and went out to find him waiting for me. “We look alike,” I joked, since we were wearing almost the same thing.

“I’m hotter,” he said with a smile, and that was the beginning of us working our way out of our bad moods. We went out and grabbed a taxi, and took it to Boystown. We found a diner there, and that seemed to suit our mood.

“How are you doing?”

He shrugged. “Sucks, but I have to get used to it. I’ll only see Zach on weekends, and even then, probably only every other one.”

“At least you have that,” I said, even though I didn’t mean to.

“A rough trip for you,” he said, referring to Europe. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d have fun.”

“I had fun with you guys, and I had fun with Wade until he ran off with the Earl,” I said, trying to make it funny.

“There was a dude like that at school last year,” he said. “He was from Scotland. Had all the girls creaming their panties over him, just with his accent.”

“But not you?”

“Didn’t even try,” he said. “Dude was a total tool. Once the coolness over the accent wore off, pretty much everyone figured him out.”

“You’re trying to tell me that Alex’s accent disguises that he’s a tool?” I asked.

“No, I think Alex sounds like a pretty nice guy,” he said. “But I think the charm of the accent, and the fact that people call him ‘my lord’, will wear off after a while.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “That’s something that would appeal to Wade. They’re so much alike. It’s like Alex is his British twin.”

“JJ is already having a field day with this,” he said, shaking his head. “He now refers to Wade as either ‘her ladyship’ or ‘the countess’.”

“Why ‘the countess’?”

“Because that’s what an Earl’s wife is called.”

I rolled my eyes. “I need you to help me calm JJ down.”

“You don’t want him to chase Alex away for you?”

“No,” I said emphatically. “If Alex makes Wade happy, I want them to be together. And I want Wade to have a chance to figure that out without JJ causing problems.”

“I’ll talk to him,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“So you think you guys are over?”

I shrugged. “Seems that way. I don’t see how I can compete with that guy. He’s nice, he’s classy, he’s fucking gorgeous, and he’s living in Boston.”

“Then I guess we need to find you a new man,” he said, smiling.

“Just one?” He chuckled. “I’m thinking we should go check out the apartment and Spartacus, go back and take a nap, grab dinner, and go out.”

“You’re thinking just like me,” he said. We were about to pay our bill and leave when my phone rang.

“It’s your dad,” I said, and answered the phone. “Hey!”

“How are you guys doing?” Brad asked.

“Fine. Just eating some lunch, then we’re going to check out the building.”

“Stef talked to Cody,” he said. “He’s positive, so is Kevin, and so is Alex Danvers.”

“All three of them?” I asked, freaking out. “What about you?”

“I just got tested. I should know tomorrow, or at least have the preliminary results back.” He paused. “I called and talked to Wade, and told him.”

“How did he react?”

“He was pretty calm about it,” Brad said.

“Did he sound happy?” I asked, dreading the answer.

“He did,” he said, then changed back to the key topic. “So you need to get tested too. I don’t think Robbie barebacked Danvers, but we can’t be sure, and he’s been positive since at least March of last year.”

“Fuck,” I said. “Alright. I’ll try to work that in today.”

“I’d like to wait to tell Will and the others until I find out the results,” he said. I looked up and saw Will staring at me, his green eyes drilling into mine.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” I said.

“Matt, just do this for me,” he said, annoyed.

“He’s sitting here staring at me. You want to talk to him?”

“He heard your side of the conversation?”

“Yep,” I said.

“Fuck.” He sighed. “Just tell him that we’re getting checked just to be safe…”

I cut him off. “I’m not going down that road. Not with this shit. With this, you have to be open, and straightforward.” I was pretty direct, and not all that nice about it, but this was not the time for his usual bullshit where he tried to manipulate who knew what.

“That’s not your decision,” he snapped.

“Hang on,” I said. I handed Will the phone. “Talk to your dad.”

“No problem,” Will said. “What the fuck are you trying to keep from me?” he asked Brad. Will rolled his eyes, and then got pissed. “You are not doing this to me. I’m hanging up, Matt’s going to spill his guts, and the next time you see me, it’s not going to be pretty.” He looked at the phone, and ended the call. “What’s going on?”

“He wouldn’t tell you?”

“No, and that means it’s a big deal, and that’s why he’s freaking out.” He looked at me. “Spill it.”

“He told me about his deal with Kevin,” I said.

“That was pretty fucked up,” Will said. “I’d be freaked out if some dude just ran out of bed after I fucked him.”

“With your dick, he probably would do it because he was in pain,” I joked. He didn’t laugh; he just looked at me, telling me to go on. I told him about our conversation on the plane, and about Tony’s experience. I was impressed that hearing about Tony fucking some dude didn’t seem to bother him at all.

“You’re saying that Kevin is HIV positive?” he asked.

“He is,” I confirmed.

“Did Dad bareback him?”

“No.”

“Then what’s he freaking out about?”

I swallowed. “Cody’s positive too.”

“Shit,” he said, and looked away from me. Hearing about Kevin had bothered him, but he was a lot closer to Cody. “Did he get it from Kevin?”

“Rumor has it that’s why they hate each other now. They both blame each other. I think it’s more on Kevin’s side, though. I think Cody has dealt with it, at least according to Stef.”

“Dad slept with Cody,” Will said. “Did he bareback him?”

“After 9-11, he said he slept with him, but he doesn’t remember if they were safe or not.”

“Fuck!”

“And there’s one more problem,” I said. “Alex Danvers is positive too.”

“Cody’s with him now,” Will said, more as a confirmation. “Holy shit. Dad and Robbie both fucked him.”

“They did,” I said. “Your dad was safe, and he thinks Robbie was. But he can’t really be sure.” That made us both sad, as if this conversation didn’t suck badly enough.

“So Dad went and got tested today?”

I nodded. “And he had to call Wade, because he and your dad had unprotected sex.”

“Dude, that sucks. I mean, Wade just starts out with Alex, and now he has to tell him he has to do the condom deal because he wasn’t safe. Not good.”

“I don’t know how that talk went,” I said. “And I have to get tested.”

“Did you fuck my dad too?” he asked, only he was teasing. I got what he was doing. He was trying to lighten up the mood.

“No, but I fucked Wade.”

The waiter came up to drop off our check, and Will stopped him. “Dude, if you wanted to get an HIV test around here, where would you go?” That was so like Will. He didn’t really give a shit about being embarrassed about that; he was just going to solve the problem.

“There’s the Howard Brown Health Center on Sheridan, real close to here,” the waiter said, giving us a weird look. “That’s where I’d go.”

“Thanks,” Will said.

“Dude, you just got a medical recommendation from a waiter at a diner,” I said, shaking my head.

“I did. And that’s where we’re going. You and I are going to get tested,” he said. He snatched the bill and paid it, giving the guy a massive tip, and got up. “Let’s go.”

We went to the clinic and it was actually pretty easy. It wasn’t as nice as what I was usually used to, but then I chided myself for being a snob. They took our info, took our blood, took our money, and sent us on our way. What more could we want? “Let’s walk to Spartacus,” I said. It was one of those beautiful summer days in Chicago.

“We need to do this at least every six months,” he said. “I should have done it before.”

“Did you fuck someone without a condom?”

“Only Zach, and only when he’s got a clean bill of health,” he said.

“Does he bareback other guys?” I would have been shocked if Will put up with that.

“No. It used to drive me nuts, because we had this deal where if we were unsafe, all we had to say was that we needed to use condoms.”

“No questions? No guilt?” That really surprised me, because that wasn’t like Will at all.

“That’s right,” he said. “Only I finally got too curious, and pinned him down on what he was doing when he wasn’t safe.”

“What did he tell you?”

“He only fucks women without condoms.”

“Dude, what if he knocks someone up?” I asked. “Shit, he’s a fucking stud. Some chick sees him, gets what potential he has, and she could nail him down.”

“We had that conversation,” he said. “You know why he does it?”

“No.”

“Because he has a hard time getting off when he’s fucking a chick and has a condom on,” Will said.

I looked at him and raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Dude, he is really gay.” That made him laugh.

“He really is.” We walked on for a bit, before he changed the subject. “Did you call Cam yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

“I hurt him really badly,” I told him. “I don’t think I’m ready to jump into a relationship now. But with this deal with Alex and Wade, it’s real tempting.”

“You’re worried you’ll grab onto him, he’ll be your rebound, and you’ll end up hurting him all over again?” I nodded. “Why don’t you try this? Why don’t you call him, take him out, and tell him what happened with Wade, tell him you’re dangerous, and tell him you don’t want to hurt him.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because that dude seems like a lot of things, but the thing that comes through loud and clear is that he’s pretty trustworthy.”

I smiled, and thought about Cam, then got what he was saying. “You’re telling me that there aren’t many guys I could be that honest with, but Cam is one of them.”

“Is he?”

“He is,” I said. He stopped and stared at me. “What?”

“Call him,” he said.

“Now?”

“Now,” he insisted. I got what he was doing. He was trying to get me to move on, and to build a life beyond Wade.

I pulled out my phone and looked up Cam’s number, even as I gave Will a relatively dirty look. “Hey,” he said as he answered. “You in town?” He sounded happy to hear from me.

“I am,” I said, and couldn’t stop the big smile that spread across my face, even when Will snickered at me. “Want to go out with me?”

“I have to work tonight,” he said, and sounded disappointed.

“You work tomorrow?”

“Nope. Got a day off.”

“Why don’t we meet up after you get off work,” I suggested. “I’m guessing we’ll be at the Manhole.”

“Good guess,” Will said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

“I haven’t been there lately,” he said, more to himself.

“We can meet there, and then leave,” I said.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Where do you want to go?” I flirted.

“I’ll think about it,” he said. “I’ll call you when I’m on my way so I don’t have to beat off some douchebag to get to you.”

“I’ll bet you’re good at beating off douchebags,” I said, hitting the double entendre pretty hard.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” I said, then hung up. I gave Will a wry look. “You were right. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” he said, being cocky.

We walked up to Spartacus and stood outside the building. There were people all over the place, working. I was pretty impressed with how much activity there was. “Shit, Stef sure knows how to motivate people.”

“That’s what tossing some money at the problem will do,” he said. We walked into the bar and grabbed hard hats and put them on before Gus could say anything. He smiled slightly at us, appreciating that we followed his rules.

“I didn’t know you were coming over today. We’re pretty busy.”

“Don’t let me distract you,” I said.

“No problem,” he said. There was a general route to the tour they gave us, and I started to appreciate the routine. Gus started in the basement, showing us all the stuff they’d done, and since he’d done this before, it was easier to see what had been updated.

“You guys are making amazing progress,” Will said. “When is this place supposed to open?”

“Friday, August 30^th,” Josh said, seemingly materializing from nowhere.

“Hey there,” Will said to him, and gave him his hyper-charged smile. Josh shook his hand, grinning back at him, while Will forced him to hold it a little longer.

“Good to see you,” Josh said. It was funny that Will played him so well.

“August 30^th?” I asked. “That’s only a month away!”

“These guys are on top of things,” he said, gesturing at Gus.

“Just like you,” I teased, making him chuckle.

“You guys are going to be here for the big opening, right? I figured it would be fun. I’m lining up a good band for it,” Josh said.

“I think so,” I said. “I guess I have to find out how my place is coming along.”

“It’s looking good,” Josh said. “I sneak up and check it out all the time.” He was being totally cool, as opposed to the asshole he had been.

“I don’t care if your place is done or not,” Will said to me. Then turning to Josh, he declared, “I’ll be here.”

Geoffrey showed up after that, and took us up to the apartment. It was still all ripped apart, but it was obviously coming together. We just wandered around, listening to him tell us how it was going to look. “When will it be done?” I asked.

“I have been ordered to move heaven and earth to finish it up by September 1^st,” he said.

“When you do a good job, there are rewards,” Will said flirting with him. I looked at him, surprised. He was suddenly on fire; a flirtatious beast.

“You’re a little young for me, honey,” Geoffrey said.

“I’m not,” I said, and raised my eyebrow suggestively.

“Just what I need. Another tease,” Geoffrey said.

“We’ll talk on September 1^st, and you can see if I’m still a tease,” I said, getting him all fired up. It was hilarious, and fun. We went back downstairs and found Josh talking to Gus.

“You guys going out tonight?” he asked.

“Matt’s meeting Cam at the Manhole,” Will said. We were both staring at Josh, trying to figure out if that bothered him, but he didn’t seem to give a shit. “Wanna hang out with me?”

“I can do that,” Josh said.

“I’ll see you there tonight,” Will said, and gave Josh a kiss on the cheek.

We walked out of the building and hailed a cab. We gave him our address, and then I looked at Will. “Dude, what’s gotten into you? You’re on fire.”

“One of us has to have some game,” he said, giving me a smarmy look. Then I got what he was doing. He was trying to get me out of my funk, and get me to put myself out there like I usually did. That was a really sweet thing to do. It also showed how well he knew me.

My phone rang and I looked at it, and got a little excited. “Wade,” I said. He took the phone from me and hit the ‘end’ button, sending it to voice mail. “Dude, what the fuck?” I demanded, not a little pissed off.

“Oh I’m sorry,” he said sarcastically. “I thought you were trying to avoid being a pathetic piece of shit.”

“Very funny,” I said. I looked at my phone longingly. I desperately wanted to answer it and hear Wade’s voice, to connect with him. Then I thought about how agonizing that would be, and just frowned at the phone sadly.

“Dude, he’s like an addiction for you. You have to make a choice. Become an addict, or quit the habit,” he said.

“When did you become so fucking smart?” I asked him.

“At least you think I am. My dad thinks I should still be wearing diapers,” he grumbled, doing that thing where he went from being super mature to a bitchy teen in a millisecond.

“Dude, are you into wearing diapers?” I asked, giving him shit. “No judgment here, if that’s your thing.”

“You’re a fucking riot,” he said, and that made me laugh. We got back to the condo and vanished into our separate rooms to nap. Turns out that neither one of us got much sleep.

I closed my door, pulled out my phone, and checked to see if Wade left a message. He hadn’t, so I called him back. Will may be right, but I gave into the drug that was Wade. “Hello,” he said. It was getting late there, but he sounded like he was still awake.

“I saw that you called,” I said.

“I wanted to check up on you, and make sure you made it back alright,” he said, which was total bullshit, but that made me smile.

“It was a rough trip, but Will and I are in Chicago, and we had a fun day. Dude, that boy has some game.”

“Yes he does,” Wade said, chuckling. “I talked to Brad last night.”

“Yeah, he told me,” I said.

“I’m really sorry about that, about putting you at risk,” he said.

“It’s alright Wade. You didn’t know. Will and I went and got tested today, just to be sure. I’ll let you know how that turns out.”

“Thanks,” he said, then paused. “Is it alright if I call you?”

“Yeah, I like it when you call me,” I said. “Are you doing alright?”

“I’m doing well,” he said. Then I got what he was doing. He was trying to maintain our connection, which was really cool.

“So am I,” I said. “Will and I are going out tonight.”

“I wonder which one of you will bring a dude home,” he joked.

“Who says we both can’t?”

“That is distinctly possible,” he joked.

“You meant to say probable,” I said. “Will is already macking on Josh.”

“I thought he was an asshole?”

“Ever since Will busted his balls, Josh seems to respect him. It’s pretty funny to see Will basically guiding this player around by the nose.” Wade cracked up, and I thought about how much I loved his laugh.

“What about you?”

“I’m going to meet up with Cam Heely, the guy I knew in Cleveland. The one who made you jealous,” I teased.

I could almost see him rolling his eyes over the phone. “Right.”

“You weren’t jealous?”

“I was jealous,” he admitted.

“So was I,” I said. “When are you coming back to the US?”

“Probably in a week or two,” he said.

“Give me a call. Maybe we can meet up or something,” I said. “There’s a big opening for the bar on August 30^th. Maybe you can bring Alex.”

“We’ll see,” he said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later,” I said, and hung up the phone. Talking to Wade made me happy and sad at the same time. Maybe Will was right. We got up and pretended to be refreshed, which I actually was, thanks to the shower I took. We put on our club clothes, went out for a nice dinner, and then got in a cab to head to the Manhole.

“I talked to Wade,” I admitted.

“It’s your life,” he said, looking at me like I was an idiot.

“I’m just trying to maintain a good connection with him,” I explained.

“Not my business,” he said, shutting me down. “The plane is down until at least tomorrow.”

“What happened?”

“They found a faulty gauge or some shit like that,” he said.

“So they’re leaving for New York tomorrow?”

“No, they’re leaving for Claremont, then New York,” he said.

“What did Zach say about that?”

“I figured I’d let him know when I got there,” he said. “None of those people can ban me from the city.”

“Instead of being a dick, why don’t you call him, tell him you miss him, and tell him you’re thinking about going to Claremont for a few days,” I said. He gave me a dirty look. “You told me to be honest with Cam. Is Zach less trustworthy?”

He gave me a still nastier look, even as the cab pulled up to the Manhole. “I’ll worry about that later.”

“Good idea,” I joked. “So what happens to you if I bail with Cam?”

“I can take care of myself,” he said. I was going to argue, but his green eyes just dared me to try and set a curfew, or be all parental on him.

“Alright, you’re in charge of yourself. I get that. But is it so wrong for me to worry about you?”

“It is,” he said. “No promises, but I’ll probably hang out with Josh or Devon.”

“Dude, I’d pick Devon.” He chuckled. We went in and paid the cover charge, then headed to the bar.

Devon saw Will and ambled over in his cocky way. “Look who’s back.”

“You noticed,” Will said, flirting. “Good to see you Dev.”

“Good to see you too,” he said. He acted like he spoke the words grudgingly, but his eyes were twinkling.

“What time do you get off?”

“My next bathroom break,” he joked, cracking us up. “At the earliest, 2am. Usually by three.”

“Think you can give me a ride home?” Will asked.

“Ask me in a couple of hours,” he said, noncommittally.

“I will, if I still need a ride,” Will said, letting Devon know he had other options.

“Alright. I’ll take you home,” he said.

“Don’t wear yourself out in the bathroom,” Will said, in a really slutty way. Devon raised an eyebrow, and went to get someone else their drinks. “Got that problem solved. So now you can chill your uptight ass out.”

“Fine,” I said. He nudged me and gestured toward the door, just as Cam came in.

“I’m dancing. Good luck tonight.” He pulled off his shirt and waited for Devon to come get it from him, and then he vanished toward the back.

“Hey,” Cam said, as he walked up and put his arm around me.

“Hey,” I said, and leaned in to give him a kiss, and he let me. God, his lips were intoxicating.

“So we going to dance?”

“I had something else in mind,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I just paid the cover charge,” he objected. I pulled a twenty out of my wallet and handed it to him.

“Now you’re up some cash.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re staying at a condo near Evanston. I thought we could go there.”

“Dude, I don’t know about that,” he said, assuming I was going to try and get in his pants. I was, but I was more coy than that.

“I just need to talk to you about a few things, and it would be nice to do it where it’s quiet,” I said, almost pleading. “I didn’t rape you last time, did I?”

“Fine,” he agreed. We went out and grabbed a cab, then kicked back for the ride up to the condo. “When’s your apartment supposed to be done?”

“The first of September,” I said.

“They work fast,” he said.

“Stef lit a fire under them,” I joked.

“I thought you were in Europe with Wade,” he said.

“We got to London, and he met this dude, and blew me off for him,” I said. Will said Cam seemed trustworthy, and he was right, so I let him see that I was pretty upset about that.

“Dude, that’s raw.”

“Yeah, it is. So we’re still friends, and I still love him, but we’re not together. At all.”

We got to the condo and I grabbed a couple of beers for us, then led him out to the balcony, where we sat, enjoying the beautiful view of the Lake, and downtown. “So is that why you called me? So I could be your rebound?”

“You wanna be?” I asked him playfully, and then I got serious. “Will and I were walking to the bar today, and he told me I should call you. I told him that I was nervous about doing that, because I hurt you really bad in high school, and because I’m damaged goods right now. I probably should be running around, fucking anything that moves.”

“Probably,” he joked. “Why’d he tell you to call me?”

“He said that it was pretty obvious that you were a really trustworthy guy. He said it was also pretty obvious that you still liked me.”

“He’s batting fifty percent,” Cam said, but I knew he was flattered by Will’s comment.

“His big idea is that I’d tell you what was going on, so you knew where I was coming from, and what my deal was.”

“Dude, you’re going to be honest? You really do have to work on your game,” he joked.

“No games, not between us,” I said seriously. “I’m pretty dangerous right now. Wade is with this other guy, and it’s eating me up, but I know I have to move on. I’m not at a point to be in a relationship. I would just fuck it up if I were. But I’m pretty lonely.”

“You are seriously fucked up,” he said with a smile. I nodded. “Dude, you’re asking if we can hook up with each other, be friends, and have no commitment?”

“Is that such a huge request?” I asked, since it was.

“You came into town last time and my relationship with Josh got blown all to hell,” he said. I was about to argue that it wasn’t my fault, but a look from him told me it wasn’t relevant, and not to argue about it. “You told me I should be a single dude. So I’m trying that right now.”

“How’s it going?”

He sighed. “So far, it involves a lot of jacking off.” I laughed at that, and so did he. “Maybe we can move forward on this single thing, but kind of do it together.”

“How’s that work?”

“I’m seeing you as a safe haven. Someone I can go to and talk about my problems, and someone who can get me laid once in a while,” he said.

“I can do that,” I said, smiling at him, because he’d nailed exactly what I wanted and needed, and it seemed like it was what he wanted too. “Can we fuck now?”

He laughed, and then stood up, almost like he was going to leave. “Which room is yours?”

I got up and led him to the guest room, then smiled at him as we both pulled our clothes off. I walked up to him, noticing that he still had the same hard body that he’d had in high school, only now it was bigger. His shoulders were broader, and his muscles were more defined. I moved in and hugged him, and it felt so good to be with someone who wanted to be with me. It was weird, because here we were, totally nude and rubbing against each other, and all I wanted to do was hug him, to feel close to him.

He changed the mood by kissing the area behind my ear, something that usually got me fired up. I backed away from him enough to let our mouths connect, in that way that was so seamless, and so perfect. “You still like to top?” I asked him.

“Haven’t done it in a while,” he grumbled, since he’d had to bottom when he’d been with Josh. I pulled out a condom and slid it on his nice cock, one that was as long as mine, but thicker. I lubed his cock while he lubed my ass, and then I fell backward onto the bed and grabbed my ankles, cracking him up. “Dude, you don’t have to be that easy.”

“You complaining?” I asked, as he gently slid his cock inside me.

“Not one fucking bit,” he said. And then he took me on one wild ride, and we both showed each other that the 18-year-olds that used to fuck around were now 22-year-old dudes who were way more experienced, and so much better.

We lay in bed, just joking and talking about what we’d done in the last four years, pausing to have sex when we got horny. It was magical. And then around 3am, we heard the front door open, and heard loud moaning. We snuck out into the main room and saw Devon just drilling Will. We giggled, and then went back in my room.

“This is really nice,” he said, as we lay there, drifting off to sleep.

“Yes it is,” I agreed, and I lay there with him, totally content. And I didn’t think about Wade and Alex once.