18. The Shovel Talk
The Shovel Talk
LUKE
L uke held his large cup of coffee with both hands and briefly wondered if there was a way he could crawl inside it.
The morning had begun bitter cold with the wind gusting up to twenty miles an hour so that it felt even colder.
It was as if winter had sunk into his bones, and he would never feel warm again.
Not to mention, the mix of caffeine and restless energy was the only thing keeping him conscious today. This did not bode well for the long day of classes ahead of him.
Harper plopped into the empty seat next to him on the sofa in the student lounge area on the third floor of the science building. Usually, the upper floors of this building were stiflingly warm, but even the old heater couldn’t belch out enough warm air to combat the low exterior temperatures.
As soon as she was settled, he leaned into his best friend, his head resting on her shoulder.
“If the other lesbians start thinking I’m straight, I’m kicking your ass,” she muttered as she lifted her cup to her lips.
“No one on campus thinks you’re straight,” Luke mumbled as he gave a jaw-cracking yawn.
“Better not.” She took another drink of her coffee and nudged him. “Why the hell are you so sleepy? I thought you said that you had quit your jobs to work for your landlord. Shouldn’t you be getting way more sleep now?”
“I should be…” he paused and grinned broadly into her shoulder. “But I was up half the night texting with Matteo.”
“Bitch!” she gasped. Harper shoved Luke off her so she could look him in the eye. “I didn’t know you’d finally gotten the guts to text him regularly.”
“Well, it’s only normal since we had our first kiss.”
“Sneaky bitch!” She smacked him on the shoulder, then added two more when the first one didn’t seem to have any effect.
“You kissed? How can you be holding out on me like this? I thought we were friends. That means you have to dish on everything . Particularly the good dating bits. Why the hell else would I be keeping you around?”
Luke snickered and took a sip of his coffee. God, he adored this woman. He didn’t know what he would do without her. She had a way of keeping him sane while the rest of the world went crazy.
“Okay, fine,” she huffed and settled on the sofa. “We’ve both been busy recently. Now’s the time. I don’t have class for another half hour.” She stuck out her index finger and poked Luke in the arm. “Start talking.”
“Well, there’s not much to tell. We’ve just begun hanging out. He was talking about how loud it was in his dorm, and I kind of bragged about living off campus. He was interested in seeing the house, so I invited him over on Friday. We stopped and picked up a pizza on the way?—”
“Wait! You’re telling me he’s seen the house you’re living in, and I haven’t?
” She thrust one hand into the air and held her coffee cup to her chest. “Betrayed! I have been betrayed!” She said it with enough force and emotion that several people passing through the lounge stopped to stare at us.
But they gave no more than a look before continuing on.
They probably thought one or both of us were drama majors. Or simply undergrads.
“Fuck, all right,” Luke hissed, grabbing at her hand to pull it out of the air. “You’re being loud enough to disturb classes, you lunatic.”
“Let them be disturbed. My best and greatest friend in all the world has shown a hot piece of ass his nifty place off campus and not shown it to his best, most loyal and caring friend in all the world. I see how it is.”
“Oh my God, you’re ridiculous. Until this moment, you’ve not shown any interest in seeing where I live,” he argued as she sat on the sofa properly, her left leg crossed over her right.
“Mostly because you were never there. You were always working. Why would I go see your house without you there?”
Luke rolled his eyes. If anything, his conversation with Harper had worked wonders for waking him up and shaking off the cold and fatigue that had gripped him so tightly. “Okay. Fine. We’ll figure out a time for you to come over.”
“Today.”
“No, not today. You forget that I have a bunch of other roommates. I want to give them some warning that I’m going to have a guest.”
There was no way in hell Luke was going to stroll into that house with Harper in tow and not give the demons a heads-up.
It would be his luck they would be walking about in their real forms. Harper would run screaming from the house, only to return later to burn it down to save the world from the demons.
But what scared Luke more was the possibility that Harper would get along with the demons and somehow team up with them to take over the world. No, it was better if Harper and the demons never crossed paths.
Harper grunted and slumped on the sofa, leaning more into Luke.
“Fine.” She pouted. “But soon. If my friend has the finest pad, I need to see it.” She drew in a deep breath and released it.
When she started again, her tone was very restrained and proper.
“Now, tell me about Matteo and this kiss. You’re dating? ”
Luke rolled his eyes at her but let go of his frustration a second later. “We are…going on a date. A movie, I think. And dinner.”
“Ooooh! Very classic of you.”
He snorted and bumped her shoulder. “Whatever. I’m still nervous, but I’m getting better at talking to him and not sounding like a moron.”
“You’re not a moron.”
“Matteo doesn’t seem to think so, either.”
Harper leaned forward and stared into Luke’s face. With a click of her tongue, she sat back and smiled enigmatically.
“What?” Luke demanded.
“You’re glowing. Every time you say his name, you glow. It’s fucking disgusting.”
A cackle jumped from Luke. “You’re jealous.”
“Fuck yes, I’m jealous. I can’t remember the last time I was so wrapped up in someone that I was glowing when I talked about them.”
“A few days before the beginning of the term. You were excited about Patricia.”
Harper shuddered. “Thank God I came to my senses and didn’t date her.” She suddenly waved her free hand as if trying to physically brush aside our detour. “We’re talking about you and Matteo. So, you took him over to your house and…”
“We got a pizza and watched a movie. Afterward, we went up to my room to study.”
Harper bounced on the cushion and shifted so that she was sitting on the edge with her body turned toward Luke. Her elbow on her knee, she rested her chin on her palm. “Study? Like study, study ? Like you studied his dick with your?—”
“Holy shii—” Luke hissed at her while waving one hand at her to stop her words. “What the hell? No, nothing like that happened. I’m not a total slut.”
“ Ugh , why? You’re a college student. You’re supposed to be. This is the time in your life that you’re allowed to be. No one is going to judge you for it. Go suck all the dick you want. Who cares? Get lost in a forest of dicks.”
Of course, that was the moment that a professor walked by on his way to a class. His eyes widened enough to nearly fall out of their sockets and hit his glasses. Luke groaned and was simply grateful that it hadn’t been one of his professors.
He got what she was saying. This was a time in his life when he should experiment and have all the fun he wanted.
But he had zero interest in quick, meaningless sex.
He couldn’t separate the physical act from the emotional side of things.
He always felt something for a person he was involved sexually with, and he couldn’t understand people who could walk away afterward as if it meant nothing.
No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t built like that.
“Look, we kissed. It might not mean much to you, but I thought it was great.”
Harper’s expression became serious in a flash. “I’m sorry. I was just teasing you. It is great that you and Matteo shared your first kiss. If you’re happy and excited about it, so am I.”
“What are we excited about?” Matteo’s warm voice cut in, causing Luke’s heart to cartwheel through his chest.
He turned around at the sound and was greeted with a light kiss to the tip of his nose.
The gesture sent heat rushing across his cheeks and up to the tips of his ears.
He blinked, his eyes focusing on Matteo’s smiling, handsome face above his.
The man’s cheeks and nose were also red, but it was likely from the bitter cold.
“Hi.” Luke exhaled. He was melting under the force of Matteo’s grin. There was nothing left of him. He was turning into a pool of goo just like Ogos.
“Hi,” Matteo whispered, still gazing into Luke’s eyes.
“Oh Lord, I’m gonna be sick,” Harper moaned.
Luke smirked and pressed a quick kiss to Matteo’s smile. “Matteo, have I ever introduced you to my friend, Harper?”
“No, you haven’t.” Matteo straightened and stuck his gloved hand out to Harper. “It’s good to meet you. Luke has said many wonderful things about you.”
Harper sniffed and shook his hand. “I seriously doubt that, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
“I have never said a single mean or untrue thing about you,” Luke countered while part of his brain continued to soar into the stratosphere because Matteo had chosen to sit on the arm of the sofa closest to Luke, his hand resting on Luke’s shoulder while his leg brushed against Luke’s. This is heaven.
Prior to leaving the house for the long trek to campus, he’d texted Matteo to say that he’d be hanging out on the fifth floor of the science building with his friend.
He’d hoped that just maybe Matteo would pop by ahead of his own class, but he’d not explicitly asked.
But he had! Matteo had come looking for him and had met Harper.
These were big steps. To Luke, this solidified the possibility that they might actually become a real couple one day soon.
“I don’t believe you,” Harper grumbled.
“It’s true! I think all I mentioned was that you’re my friend and that you’re a finance grad student who plans to open up a surf shop in California.”
“Or a ramen shop,” Harper corrected.