Chapter 34
Plot Twist
Gavin
The hallway outside the auditorium is empty except for me and the soft thud of my heartbeat in my ears.
I lean against the wall, straining to hear anything through the heavy doors. Doc's been in there for forty-five minutes giving his presentation. Forty-five minutes of me pacing, sitting, standing, pacing again, and generally being a useless mess.
My phone buzzes.
Tyler
how's it going?
Me
still waiting. can't hear anything
Tyler
he's gonna crush it
Me
i know but still nervous
Tyler
you're so gone for him
Me
guilty
hey so there's something i need to tell you later
Tyler
what kind of something
Me
big something
Tyler
good big or bad big?
Me
good i think? definitely big
Tyler
dude you can't just leave me hanging like that
Me
later i promise
Tyler
fine but you owe me
also the whole house knows Seb can fuck the hell out of you now so congrats on that
I look around the empty hallway like someone might be watching, face going hot.
Me
fuck off
Tyler
Ian said it sounded like you were being murdered in there
Tyler
but like, in a good way
Me
i will tell Ethan about spring break junior year
Three dots appear. Disappear. Appear again.
Tyler
you wouldn't
Me
try me
Tyler
...
i will never tease you about your sex life again
Me
that's what i thought
see you at the house later
I pocket my phone, still red-faced, and go back to staring at the auditorium doors.
Come on, Doc. You've got this.
The minutes crawl by. I check my phone approximately seventy-three times. I count the ceiling tiles. I contemplate the meaning of life and whether Swiss grocery stores carry American cereal brands.
Then—
Applause.
Muffled through the doors, but unmistakable. Real, genuine applause.
My whole body sags with relief.
The doors swing open a few minutes later, and students start filing out. I scan every face until—
There he is.
Doc looks a little green. Sweaty. His hair is sticking up like he's been running his hands through it. But there's a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, and when he spots me, it grows into something real.
"How'd it go?" I push off the wall, already moving toward him.
"Professor Harrington stopped me after." Doc's voice is slightly shaky, but his eyes are bright. "He said I did well. Said I'll have more than a passing grade. That your tutoring seems to have helped me understand the nuances of psychology."
"Doc, that's amazing!"
I grab him, lifting him clean off the floor, and kiss the hell out of him right there in the middle of the hallway.
He makes a surprised sound against my mouth, but then his legs wrap around my waist, and he's kissing me back just as hard. His hands fist in my shirt, and my hands grip his thighs. We probably look ridiculous, but I don't care.
I don't care about anything except this man in my arms.
The auditorium doors open again behind us.
"Well," a familiar voice says, warm with amusement. "I see the work you two did together is paying off."
We break apart, well, Doc rears back, but I'm still holding him, to find Professor Harrington standing there with a knowing smile.
"Yeah," I manage, brain short-circuiting. "Thanks for, uh, hooking us up."
Wait. No. That came out wrong.
"I don't mean hooking us up," I backpedal frantically. "I mean, lining us up. I mean, arranging for us to—"
I give up and put my hand over my face.
Professor Harrington laughs, a genuine, delighted sound. "You're welcome. Gentlemen, have a nice afternoon."
He walks off down the hallway, still chuckling.
I want to die. I want the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
Doc, the traitor, is laughing too.
"I hate you," I mutter.
"No, you don't." He slides down from my arms but grabs my hand, tugging me along the hallway. "Come on, let's get out of here before you embarrass yourself more."
"Not possible. I've reached peak embarrassment. It's all downhill from here."
"Somehow I doubt that."
We walk hand in hand toward the exit, and slowly the mortification fades. Doc passed his presentation. He's going to pass the class. All those tutoring sessions, all those flashcards and practice speeches, they worked.
"So," I say as we step outside into the afternoon sun, "party at the house tonight. Are the guys coming? Your roommates?"
Doc's smile flickers, just for a second. "Yeah, they said they'd come."
"Good. I like them. Especially when JP gets that look like he's calculating exactly how many social interactions he can tolerate before he needs to leave."
Doc laughs. "That's his permanent expression."
"Are we telling the frat tonight?" I ask, squeezing his hand.
"That's the plan, right?"
"Yeah." I take a breath. "But I want to tell Tyler first. Before the meeting."
Doc nods, understanding immediately. "Of course. He's your best friend."
"And you should tell your roommates this afternoon. Before they hear it at the party."
"I was planning on it." He squeezes my hand back. "Meet you at the house later?"
"Wouldn't miss it."
We stop at the point where our paths split, him toward the geek house, me toward the frat. I pull him in for one more kiss, softer this time.
"I'm proud of you," I murmur against his lips.
Tyler's door closes behind us, and for a long moment, neither of us says anything.
The conversation was... a lot. Not bad. Just heavy. Tyler needed time to process, and I gave it to him, and somewhere in the middle of it all, he pulled me into a bone-crushing hug and told me he was happy for me even though he was going to miss me like crazy.
We're good now.
Ethan comes bounding up the stairs like an overexcited puppy. He takes one look at us, Tyler's slightly red eyes, my nervous expression, and stops dead.
"Is everything okay, guys?"
Tyler lets out a long breath. "Yeah. It'll be alright."
I pull him into another hug because I need it as much as he does. Then Ethan squirms his way in between us, wrapping his arms around both of us, and okay. Yeah. We're okay.
"Okay, seriously, what is going on?" Ethan demands, muffled against my shoulder. "You're freaking me out."
"It's good," I promise. "I'll explain later."
"Later? Why does everyone keep saying later?"
"Because we have a meeting to set up for." Tyler pulls back, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Come on. Let's go yell at people to pick up their crap."
Tyler hauls Ethan up in his arms and carries him down the stairs. We are alike in how much we love carrying our men.
Setting up for a frat meeting mostly involves hollering at brothers to move their stuff out of the common room.
"Rex! Your shoes are not a decoration!"
"Jeff, if I step on another one of your protein bar wrappers, I swear to God—"
"Whose underwear is this? Actually, never mind, I don't want to know."
Tyler and I fall into our usual rhythm, moving furniture, stacking chairs, giving each other shit. It feels normal. Like maybe things really will be okay.
Ethan keeps shooting me suspicious looks, but he doesn't push.
"When are you telling everyone?" Tyler asks quietly as we shove the couch against the wall.
Ethan's head snaps toward us so fast I'm worried he'll get whiplash.
"After the meeting," I say. "Or maybe during. Since they'll need to replace me as recruitment officer next year."
Ethan drops the stack of cups he's carrying.
They bounce and scatter across the floor, but he doesn't even look at them. He just sprints across the room and grabs my arm.
"What is going on?" he demands. "Replace you? What does that mean? Gavin, I swear, if you don't tell me right now—"
"It's all good," I say, pulling him into a hug. "I promise. You'll find out with everyone else."
"That's not fair!"
"Life's not fair, tiny."
"I'm not tiny, I'm fun-sized!"
Doc appears in the doorway, and his face lights up when he sees us. He crosses the room and wraps his arms around me from behind, his chin resting between my shoulder blades.
"Hey," he murmurs.
"Hey, yourself." I twist to kiss his cheek. "How'd it go with the guys?"
Something flickers across his face, but before I can ask, guys start pouring into the room.
The meeting is about to start.
I grab Doc's hand and lead him to our usual spot. Tyler drops onto the couch and pulls Ethan into his lap. I settle next to them and pull Doc into mine.
"Oh, come on," Ian mutters from somewhere behind us. "All these damn happy couples."
Doc and Ethan both turn and hit him with identical withering glares.
Ian holds up his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying! Do any of y'all know some single ladies? I'm lonely too!"
Doc and Ethan relax. I snort.
"We'll work on it," Ethan offers.
"Much obliged."
Drew calls the meeting to order, and the room gets kind of quiet.
"Alright, first order of business." Drew actually looks proud, which is mildly terrifying. "We made it over a month without anyone getting us tagged on TikTok."
A small cheer goes up.
Then Drew's eyes land on James and Caleb, and his expression shifts.
"Oh shit. What did you two do?"
James and Caleb exchange a look. The guilty kind.
"We didn't do anything," James says, in a tone that absolutely does not inspire confidence.
"We got it taken down," Caleb adds. "So technically—"
"Technically?"
"It's the same thing, right?"
Drew closes his eyes. Takes a long, deep breath. The kind of breath that suggests he's counting to ten in multiple languages.
Tyler reaches over and bumps his fist against Drew's shoulder. "Yeah, man. It's the same thing."
Drew doesn't look convinced, but he moves on.
"Alright." Tyler claps his hands together. "Got an announcement. Haru has officially decided to pledge!"
A cheer goes up, much louder this time. I spot Haru near the back of the room, eyes wide at the sudden attention.
"However," Drew continues, "he won't be moving into the house due to extenuating circumstances."
Caleb's head snaps up from his laptop. "Wait, how come he gets to stay at his place? I had to move in!"