36. Brad
36
brAD
I t took us a while the next day to recover from the boat party. As far as I knew, most of us stayed in our rooms trying to nurse hangovers, trying to return to something like human again. I’d had way too much myself, after Dylan and I got dragged away from the side of the boat by a plastered Shane, begging us to dance with him. Which in Shane’s world always led to more shots. Thankfully, the worst of my hangover had passed after working out, as much bread as I could cram in my face, and a nice long shower.
Dylan had stayed away from most of the shots, so I didn’t notice him being all that drunk. Still, by the time I got out of the shower, it was already afternoon, and Dylan was still curled up in bed. He did like his sleep. Smiling a little to myself, I walked over to him.
He looked so peaceful laying there, with his pretty lips parted and eyelashes fanned out over his skin. Reaching out a hand to his shoulder, I shook him. “Dylan? Babe?”
He stirred, and his eyebrows furrowed as he struggled to come back to wakefulness.
“Come on, baby, you’ve been sleeping a long time. You’re not like hibernating, are you?” I teased, running my hand along the Dylan-shaped lump in the bed.
He groaned, and finally his eyes slitted open. “Who hibernates in the summer?” he mumbled, his voice all raspy from sleep.
I smiled. “Ah, nice to see signs of life.”
He shuffled under the blankets, tossing his hair out of his face. There was this look of disorientation on his face. I could only imagine he didn’t know how long he’d been sleeping, or maybe didn’t know where he was. “Mm.” That was as far as he got.
“Do I need to pull the covers off of you?” I threatened, reaching out for them playfully.
Dylan eyed me, weighing his options. “You wouldn’t.”
“Not if you get up.”
“Why do I have to?”
“Because I miss you.”
A flash of amusement crossed his expression, mixed with that reluctance to get out of bed. “Mm, that’s cute. Why don’t you lay here with me?” He shuffled over to make room for me.
It was hard to argue with him when he looked so cute like that. Against my better judgment, I crawled in. “You’re dangerous.” My arm wound around him, pulling his warm body next to mine.
Dylan’s lips curved into a faint smile and he moved so that he pressed flush against me, his head resting on my chest, his leg over mine. “You’re warm.”
I laughed. “Is that the real reason you like me laying with you?”
“No, but it helps.”
Humming, I ran my hand along his back, just savoring the sensation of having his pliant body next to mine. We’d need to get up soon enough. Jason messaged me, he said we’re planning to do something in a couple of hours. Otherwise I’d have loved to stay with Dylan, maybe make him moan in my ear, but there was time for that later.
“Bowling? We’re going bowling?” Shane asked, like he was trying to figure out if there was any other word he could have mistaken it for.
Theo laughed. “Yeah, bowling, man. So suck it up and get ready to put on some ugly shoes.”
Shane pressed his lips together, but said nothing. Trying to be less intense was still a work in progress, but trying was the key word there.
“Do you ever think…we’re all a bunch of bowling pins? And life is the ball?” Dylan wondered.
We all stared at him for a moment. I fought the urge to laugh.
“What the actual hell goes through your mind?” Shane asked, but he sounded amused.
Dylan shrugged. “You’re lucky I keep most of my thoughts to myself.”
There was a smattering of laughter. Everyone turned to leave the hotel, and I put my hand on the small of Dylan’s back. He glanced at me, but said nothing.
The bowling alley Theo chose wasn’t that far from us, and though there was a fair amount of trepidation, I figured people would loosen up once we started. Some of them — Shane, namely — thought they were too cool to do things like bowl. We grabbed the aforementioned hideous shoes and Micah and I went to grab the food for everyone.
Piled high with pizza and nachos and drinks, we carried it to the lane they grabbed and put it out on the table. Bowling alley pizza was almost definitely horrible — maybe the pizza in England’s bowling alleys was different, but I doubted it — but there was something about it that was oddly addictive. Or maybe I didn’t care as long as I had food.
“Okay, how are we dividing up teams?” Alex asked.
“Alex and I are too powerful to be on the same team. How about the four of us versus them?” Shane volunteered, looking at Theo and Dylan and me.
“Oh, it’s on. You’re going down,” Jason threatened, pointing his finger at me.
I laughed. “A little Lambda in-fighting. Why not?”
Charlie shrugged and went over to put in our names on the board. Dylan didn’t look at me, only watched the bowling balls, like he was trying to size up which one he liked.
Shane was the first up, and those of us on his team knew that although he didn’t care about sports, he hated to lose, so we were thankful he was on our side. His eyes narrowed as he sized up the pins and tossed the ball down the lane in a fluid arc. His hands fell to his hips, like he was just daring the ball to go off-course. In true Shane fashion, however, the ball didn’t waver. Cheers sounded from our side of the lane as all of the pins toppled. Shane turned and gave a little bow, like we should have been in awe of him.
The other side, however, was full of groans.
“How are you good at everything ?” Alex asked, gesturing toward his boyfriend.
Shane winked. “You should count your blessings.”
Charlie was the first up on the other team. I winced as he fumbled to even grab the right ball, looking like he was having second or third thoughts about this whole thing. Hardly looking at where he was aiming, he tossed the ball with little to no direction.
Unsurprisingly, it went straight into the gutter.
Jason groaned. “Micah, you better talk to your friend.” Jason also hated to lose.
Micah laughed and patted his shoulder reassuringly. “ Charlie . You can do better than that. Do you want to lose to them?”
Charlie shrugged and grabbed the blue ball as it circled back around the conveyer. Wordlessly, he grabbed it up and did the exact same thing, with the exact same result.
Theo laughed. “I think he’s giving me a win. Thanks, baby.”
Charlie pressed his lips together, but went and sat down, just thankful people weren’t staring at him anymore.
The game was close, with Alex and Jason doing expectedly well on the other team, Charlie racking up constant gutter balls, and Micah being hit or miss. Shane stayed in good form, and Theo and I could hold our own. Dylan, on the other hand, was extremely… casual about his bowling style. Which meant that he tossed it down the lane at a grandma’s pace and walked off, only hitting a pin once in a while. I laughed, but it drove Shane crazy.
No one cared that much if we won or lost. Nothing was on the line except for a few wounded egos, so it was nice to just do something goofy together. That’s why I figured Dylan did it — he liked the game being so close. If he wanted to, he could have easily gotten more than he was, but I think he liked keeping even with Charlie. I also suspected he enjoyed making Shane a little insane, if the way his lips twitched was any indication.
That was my guess, in-between stealing glances of him every now and again. Not enough to draw anyone’s attention, but it was nice to look at his pretty features. His sharp cheekbones and pretty parted lips as he watched someone bowl. Whenever Alex wrapped his arm around Shane or Theo would whisper sweet nothings in Charlie’s ear or Jason would pull Micah onto his lap, I wondered. What would it be like if Dylan and I were open, if we admitted to them what was really going on? That we were just like them, but only in secret. Would they care? Would they laugh?
Did I even care?