Chapter 9
DRAKE
Friday, five days before the festival
I wondered if Finn would be up for a blow job if we had time.
This friends with benefits thing was pretty convenient, I had to admit.
Neither Dirk nor I had ever had a steady partner—too much touring and traveling made it difficult to see the same person regularly.
And it wasn’t as if I’d met anyone who seemed worth making the effort for.
But Finn was absolutely worth the effort—not that it took much—to see him while I was in Maplewood. I liked him, and he turned me on something fierce.
Charles and Kirk came out of the bedroom. I held up a hand to stop them from leaving. “Charles, can I borrow your guitar? I’ve got a little time to kill, and I should work on the song I’m writing.”
His face brightened. “Sure! Let me get it for you—you don’t want to go in my room. It’s a mess.” He handed Kirk his backpack and hurried back into the bedroom, returning almost immediately with his guitar.
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Anytime.” He handed it to me. “It’s probably not as nice as you’re used to.”
I shook my head at him. “Your dad gave this to you. That makes it a lot more valuable than my Gibson. I’ll be careful with it.”
He smiled. “Thanks. Just put it inside my door when you’re done.”
They left, and I sat down to work on the song that wasn’t coming together. I should’ve probably started something new, but my gut told me I had the beginnings of a great one if I could get the words and melody where they needed to be.
Charles’ guitar had a nice, warm sound. It was actually perfect for the song, since the lyrics I had so far were about missing a friend—a stand-in for me missing Dirk.
I figured out a fun riff, but the words still weren’t gelling. I was relieved when Finn came home and interrupted my struggles.
“Hey!” He looked tired but glad to see me.
“Hey. Thanks for letting me hang out here until you got home.”
He walked over to the couch where I was sitting, and I set the guitar aside and stood up. Did we kiss? What was the protocol with friends with benefits?
Finn seemed to be having a similar conundrum. “Uh.” He looked around and pointed at my backpack. “You want to put that in my bedroom? I mean, if you’re still planning on staying the night. It’s okay either way!” He held his hands up in a placating gesture.
I grabbed one of his hands. “I’m staying.”
He smiled in relief, his eyes crinkling adorably. “Good.”
Not letting go of his hand, I stepped closer. “How much time do we have before your friends get here?”
He leaned forward until his mouth was almost touching mine. “Not enough.”
Someone pounded on the front door milliseconds before opening it, and Finn and I jumped apart. Alex breezed in, hip-checking the door to close it behind himself as he juggled a bunch of stuff in his arms. Finn rushed over to help him.
I mourned our almost-kiss, but I made up for it by admiring his ass in his scrubs. Fuck, did he take that thing to work every day?
I followed Finn to see if I could carry anything, but the two of them had it covered. I waved at Alex. “How’s it going?”
He grinned. “Great. I have your chicken photos all printed out.”
“Thanks for doing that.” I told them how cooperative Aragornette had been when we’d moved her to her new coop.
Alex gave me an amused smile. “I’m glad you weren’t injured, but I was kind of looking forward to another video.”
Finn noticed the box of cookies, and the two of them cross-examined me about who had baked them before they opened the box.
“I wish someone had warned me about Caspian’s tendency to experiment.” I complained. “By the way, what’s up with the diners? Somebody told Zeke I ate at Red’s yesterday, and he ordered me to eat at Sparky’s ASAP.”
Finn and Alex both nodded solemnly. Alex opened his box and began setting up his DM screen and all the stuff he needed behind it.
“They have a long-standing feud.” He squinted up at the ceiling.
“Something involving a dessert recipe? Can’t remember exactly.
” He shook his head. “Anyway, you either have to declare for one diner exclusively, or you have to make sure you visit each one an equal number of times. Trust me, somebody’s always keeping track. ”
I stared at him. “That’s fucked up.”
Finn snorted. “Welcome to small-town life.” He pulled a bowl from a cabinet and poured a bag of chips into it.
“You need help?” I couldn’t cook for shit, but I could put out snacks.
“Sure.”
I hurried to put Charlie’s guitar back in his room—just inside the door so I didn’t have to look—and my backpack on Finn’s bed. When I got back to the kitchen, he had me put some cheese on a plate with crackers, which was well within my range of skills.
When there was a knock at the door, I volunteered to let people in since Finn knew what he wanted done with the snacks and Alex was still setting up the table.
The first to arrive was Mickey from Red’s diner. “Hey, Drake! Good to see you again.” He came bearing a pot of soup and some bread. The other diner wasn’t represented, so I guessed not everything had to be equal between them.
The next person was a cutie with brown hair and a short beard. “Hi, I’m Sam. I use they/them pronouns.”
“Hi, Sam. I’m Drake, and I use he/him pronouns. Come on in.” Sam had brought homemade peanut butter cookies, and they looked delicious.
Before I closed the door behind Sam, a man with a shaved head who was about my height but with a little more meat on him came up the walk. “Hey, you must be Drake. I’m Andre.”
We shook hands, and I waved Sam and Andre to the kitchen just as someone else knocked. This turned out to be Jason, a large muscular guy with brown hair and light hazel eyes. Damn, did Finn know anyone who wasn’t attractive? Even for what I’d seen of Maplewood so far, this crew was stellar.
Jason was followed quickly by our last player, who turned out to be Bo Boyd from the music festival committee. He, like the rest of them, seemed to have been expecting me. I wished Finn would’ve given me the rundown on his friends, but it wasn’t like we’d had time.
The food was spread out on the island, and after we served ourselves, we all settled around the table. Finn put me between him and Andre, directly across from Alex behind his DM screen.
Alex announced, “We’ve got a larger than usual group tonight, with Drake visiting and Bo able to join us.
So we’re doing a one-off quick campaign that we should be able to finish in a couple of hours if everyone pays attention.
” He glared around the table at us to make sure we’d heard him.
“Okay, for Drake’s benefit, please go around the table and introduce your characters. ”
I wasn’t surprised to find out Finn was a half-elf cleric who leaned chaotic good. He’d never make it on the dark side. His miniature was carefully painted with no exotic colors.
After I told everyone about my rogue character—chaotic neutral, thank you very much—Finn cleared his throat.
“I, uh, didn’t have a rogue miniature, but I thought you could use this elf-bard I had from an old campaign.
” He held out another painstakingly detailed miniature. It was blond and wore a hat.
My mouth dropped open, and I took it from his hand. “Finn! This is amazing! Thank you so much.” I leaned over and kissed him on the corner of his mouth. Oh, shit. I froze, staring at him. I was pretty sure the friends with benefits handbook didn’t cover public displays of affection.
He gave me a little smile, and started to say, “You’re welcome,” but Jason interrupted.
“Hold up there. I didn’t expect this development.”
Finn looked at me questioningly. I guessed I had to decide how to proceed.
Nothing for it but to own it. I shrugged nonchalantly, putting on my best rockstar-of-the-world persona.
“Finn and I are spending some time together while I’m in town.
I didn’t mean to distract everyone from the game, though. Andre, what’s your character?”
No one brought up me and Finn for the rest of the night.
But what they did talk about, when we were taking breaks from the game, were moments from their shared history.
They were all around the same age. I was at least ten years younger.
Most of these guys had gone to school together.
Maybe not all in the same grade, but they’d grown up knowing each other.
Me, I’d had my siblings. Well, after Mom died and Dad had sent Steve to live with Grandfather, I’d at least had most of my siblings. And now Dirk and I had Steve back, and Mona stayed in touch, but Heath and Hunter had gone no contact.
I didn’t really have friends my age. I was friendly with Steve’s friends in Texas, and I had a relationship of my own with Wesley and his husband, but they were decades older than me.
I did text with Poppy every few days, but she didn’t have a lot of downtime.
I didn’t have anyone to hang out with like this.
Joke around with, talk about shared experiences with.
A lyric crystalized in my mind. And another.
And another. Holy shit, I had the song! I stood up from the table, and everyone looked at me.
“I’ll be back in a few. Finn, you play for me, okay?
” I didn’t wait for a reply, just rushed to Charles’ room and grabbed his guitar.
I caught a glimpse of his room, and it wasn’t too messy, just covered in typical teenage clutter.
I took the guitar into Finn’s bedroom where I could shut the door and not disturb the others.
I sat on the end of the bed and opened the dictation app I used for songwriting. Quickly I spoke the lyrics so I wouldn’t forget them. Then I strummed Charles’ guitar. The riff I’d come up with earlier melded seamlessly with the new lyrics. Additional words flowed easily. Finally I was in the zone.