Chapter 19
Isaac
“Remind me again why you need to do that here?”
Lumi pauses in applying her eyeliner to shoot me a look. “Babe. I know you’re not into wearing makeup. A shame, really, considering your bone structure. But surely you’re aware I don’t actually wake up like this?”
I blink as she adjusts her mirror, the light hitting my eyes square on. “That doesn’t explain why you’re here instead of…oh, I don’t know…at your own dorm where you live?”
Lumi sighs. “Does he need me to explain it?”
Todd nods, shoving another cone-shaped snack chip into his mouth. “I think he does.”
I glare at them both, a fact neither bothers to notice.
Lumi applies another expert swipe of her liner. “We’re here for moral support.”
“Moral support,” I repeat slowly, looking between the two of them.
Lumi is wearing her casual clothes still, although she brought a bag with her I assume has her clubbing attire inside.
As she does her makeup, Todd is staring at his phone, one hand repeatedly submerging into his bag of snacks.
“You realize neither of you has said more than two words to me since you barged into my room ten minutes ago?”
Lumi’s eyes meet mine before she sighs and glances Todd’s way. “You got this?”
Todd nods, wiping his fingers on his shirt as I cringe. “We’re giving you time to open up on your own because you don’t like being forced into a corner. By occupying the same space as you without trapping you in conversation, it gives you the mental and literal room to meet us on your own terms.”
I stare at Todd, mouth open. “I don’t understand how you exist.”
Lumi tsks. “Try again.”
Sighing, I admit, “That was really fucking insightful, Todd.”
Fucking Todd.
He grins at me.
I groan before dropping my book to the side, abandoning the pretense that I’m actually paying any attention to the words on the page. “Trevor might get kicked out. Because his professor thinks he cheated. He didn’t.”
Lumi frowns. “Do they have any proof?”
“Not really? I don’t know. Trevor showed all his work, and now he’s just waiting for judgment. Which is bullshit. His professor is just biased against him because of all the…you know.”
I wave a hand over myself in explanation, trying to encompass Trevor’s outward appearance.
Todd’s brows pinch. “Has he considered bribery?”
“What the fuck, Todd?”
His eyes widen at my outburst. “Just asking!”
“He’d probably get further with blackmail,” Lumi puts in.
It’s at this point I decide I have the worst friends. “He’s not going to bribe or blackmail anyone. What the actual hell?”
“I hate to say it,” Lumi says, opening an eye color palette, “because you know I’m a fan of Trevor. But I’m not surprised he gets shit. He’s kinda scary at first glance.”
I gape at her. “Lumi.”
“I said at first glance,” she stresses. “If you bother to spend longer than two seconds in his proximity, which I’m guessing his professor never has, you realize he wouldn’t hurt a fly. But come on, Isaac, you know most people don’t look past their initial split-second decisions of a person.”
“It shouldn’t be like that,” I get out, my throat tight.
A soft hand clamps around my ankle, and I look over to find Todd’s expression far more solemn than normal.
“No,” he agrees. “It shouldn’t. We’re made up of more than what people can see.
But how someone views us isn’t on us. It exists only in their own head.
It doesn’t define us. It doesn’t mean shit. ”
I heave out a breath. “Goddamn it, Todd.”
Lumi steps in front of me, knocking my chin up with her knuckle. “Fuck ’em. All of them. Trevor has us, right? And if we need to raise some hell, we will.”
I wipe below my eye, embarrassed at the heat I can feel behind my eyelids. “You’re not blackmailing anyone.”
Lumi hums before stepping away. “We’ll see.”
“Lumi…”
A knock at my bedroom door has all three of us turning our heads. Camden peeks in, his gaze running from Todd who has one hand around my ankle and another in a bag of chips, to Lumi and her head of curlers, to me. “Uh… That huge dude…Trevor? He’s downstairs.”
“Thanks, Big C,” Todd says cheerfully.
“Uh-huh,” Camden replies before backing away.
“At least I wasn’t covered in butt plugs this time,” I mutter.
Lumi snorts a laugh. And then another. She starts taking out her curlers as her chuckles continue.
Todd makes a curious noise. “Is that what those were?”
“I’ll be back,” I say loudly, exiting my room and closing the door behind me. I puff out a breath before heading for the stairs.
I find Trevor in what passes as our living room, nodding along as one of the housemates I rarely speak to…Brian, I think? Brady?…chats his ear off. For a second, I simply stare, trying to see a fraction of what it is everyone else does when they look at Trevor.
Yes, he’s incredibly tall and broad, big even without the extra muscle he’s put on.
He’s not smiling, exactly. I suppose someone might call his expression stoic or even cold if they couldn’t see the small uptick at the corner of his mouth that means he’s enjoying whatever maybe-Brady is saying, as well as the clear focus in his dark brown eyes.
They might see the ink covering his hands, chest, and neck and not realize those tattoos are a patchwork of love.
They might look at Trevor and reduce all he is down to a few simple words. Large, strong, unafraid.
I even thought some of that myself when I first saw him.
But I never feared Trevor’s strength. I was…in awe of him. Am in awe of him. Because he makes me feel strong, too. And that’s something I’ve rarely felt in my life.
Trevor finally notices my presence at the edge of the room, his lips jumping into a smile. I nearly groan at the sight of such automatic, earnest adoration.
Fuck. I’m doomed, aren’t I?
“Hey,” Trevor says, giving my housemate a parting nod before heading my way. “You look nice.”
I huff and glance down at my sweats. “I haven’t changed yet. Want to wait upstairs with the rest of us? Should only be a minute.”
“Sure,” he says easily. “Should I act like I need you to lead the way?”
Scoffing lightly, I wave him on, pretending I can’t feel the heat of his stare on my backside as he follows me up to the second floor.
I knock and stick my head into the room. “Safe to come in?”
Lumi motions us forward. I open the door wide for myself and Trevor.
And maybe-Brian follows us inside.
I watch as he plops down on my bed, right next to where Todd is sitting on the floor. He grabs a few chips. “Hey.”
Todd up-nods as I continue to gawk.
“Um,” I manage, steering Trevor toward an available sliver of space on my mattress. “I’ll just get changed real quick.”
Trevor shoots me a small smile, and I exchange a look with Lumi. She seems amused at my bafflement. Grabbing pants and a nicer shirt than I’m wearing, I step down the hall to change in the bathroom.
By the time I return, Todd and…Bryce?…are debating snack brands and Lumi appears ready to go. I briefly wonder if she changed in my closet but decide it’s none of my business.
“You look hot,” I tell her, knowing it’s the absolute truth, despite women never having done anything for me. But even I can tell Lumi is a knockout, and a dangerous-looking one at that. I’m fairly certain her stilettos could double as a weapon in a pinch.
“Thanks,” she says, accepting the compliment easily as she collects the top half of her hair into a few pins that look as sharp as the heel of her boots. “We ready to head out?”
“Where are we going?” maybe-Bryce asks.
I look to Todd for help.
He gives me a subtle nod like he has it handled. “This new club called The Riff. It’s right next to Django’s.”
“Right on. I’ll grab C.”
I toss my hands in the air as he leaves the room.
Todd stands, giving me a pat on the head. “Sweet, crispy marshmallow.”
I make a swipe for him, which Todd deftly evades.
“It’s okay to let people see your gooey insides,” my supposed friend calls as he disappears down the hall.
“That sounds like the exact opposite of a good idea,” I shoot back.
Lumi gives my cheek a pinch. “This is going to be so much fun.” As she offers an arm to Trevor, which my polite boyfriend takes as he stands, she asks, “So, Trevor. Have you seen Isaac’s insides?”
“Oh my God,” I hiss. “That’s private information. And no one is even listening to me. You’re all walking away. That’s not normal, you know! Most people don’t simply leave a room while someone else is talking to them.”
Heaving out a monumental breath, I grab my wallet and phone.
“Don’t let the cab leave without me!”
We make it to The Riff a good twenty-five minutes later. The club is further than our usual haunts, but Lumi said something about fishbowl drinks, and Todd was sold.
Todd pays the cab driver as I ease off Trevor’s lap and exit the vehicle, my boyfriend just behind me. Todd follows from the middle seat while Lumi steps out of the front passenger side. And then from the back comes…Brayden? Who rode atop Camden’s lap.
I didn’t ask.
There’s a line at the front door that has Todd groaning. “Lumi.”
“Babe, you have a better shot than I do.”
Todd glances at the bouncer. “Really?”
Lumi’s “Mhm” has Todd squaring his shoulders, like he’s gearing up to go off to battle.
“Oh Lord,” I mumble, watching my very ace friend get ready to attempt…flirting.
Todd approaches the bouncer with an exaggerated swagger in his step, and we all inch closer, an ear tilted toward the conversation. “Sup,” Todd starts with.
I groan.
“No, no,” Lumi says. “Give him time.”
The bouncer runs an eye up and down Todd, arms crossed in front of himself.
“So, uh,” Todd goes on. “Are you Larry’s boyfriend? Because our group got separated, and he texted to come to the club with the hot bouncer. He said that’s, uh, his boyfriend, and he’d let us in. So I figured that must be you?”
“Shit,” I mutter, impressed despite myself. “That wasn’t terrible.”