Chapter 11
My Frat Brothers are Dicks
TYLER
Stumbling into the kitchen, I'm still half-asleep but unable to stop the smile tugging at my lips. I can't stop thinking about what happened with Ethan last night.
"Well, well, well." Gavin's booming voice makes me jump. "Someone looks like they had a good night."
Grabbing a mug, I keep my back to him to hide my reddening face. "Shut up."
"That's not a denial," James mutters from behind his laptop at the counter. His fingers never stop typing, but I catch the flicker of interest in his eyes.
"Don't you two have anything better to do?" I ask, pouring coffee.
Gavin tosses an apple in the air, catches it easily, and yells over his shoulder as he leaves. "Than watching our VP finally get some action? Absolutely not."
James rolls his eyes, but he stops typing to listen.
My ass drops heavily into the chair next to him. "Please tell me the car wash promo is ready to go."
"It was ready three days ago," He doesn't even look up. "I'm dealing with something else."
"Another security breach?"
His fingers pause. "Someone's been trying to access our donation portal. Amateur stuff, but still."
"That's like, super illegal, right?"
That earns me an actual look. "Yes, Tyler, hacking is super illegal." There's a hint of amusement behind his usual grumpiness.
"Can I see what you've done for the car wash?"
He turns his laptop toward me. The design is clean and professional, nothing like the cheesy flyers we used to post around campus.
"Wow, this is... really good."
"Try not to sound so surprised," he mutters, but I catch the small smile he's trying to hide.
A notification pings on his phone. His whole expression changes when he glances at it, softening in a way I've never seen.
"Girlfriend?" Slips out before I can stop myself. Then I realize what I just assumed. "Or... boyfriend?"
He looks at me with that calculating gaze of his, then a small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. "Yes," he says simply, with a hint of a smirk.
The answer surprises me. I've never heard James talk about dating anyone, so it's not the relationship itself that's shocking. What surprises me is that he actually admitted it at all.
James Hunter sharing personal information is rarer than a solar eclipse. And I appreciate that he didn't feel the need to specify. It doesn't matter.
"Cool," I say, figuring pushing for more would break whatever's happening here. Then I add, "I'm bringing Ethan to the car wash."
James studies me for a moment. "The nursing student? The one with the Halloween drama?"
"Yeah."
"Good." He turns back to his laptop. "About time this place had some diversity beyond jock and bigger jock."
Coming from James, that's practically a bear hug.
Smiling about my strange but weirdly positive interaction with James when Gavin bursts back into the kitchen like a human tsunami, all six-foot-four of him somehow taking up even more space than his actual size.
"Dude! There you are!" He claps a hand on my shoulder hard enough to make me wince. "Been looking for you."
"I've been here the whole 4 minutes you've been gone," I gesture to where James and I have been sitting.
Gavin grabs another apple from the fruit bowl, polishes it on his shirt, and takes a massive bite. "So," he says with his mouth full, "Ethan, huh?"
James makes a sound that might be a snort, but doesn't look up from his laptop.
"What about Ethan?" I'm trying to sound casual, but I can feel heat crawling up my neck.
"Oh, nothing," Gavin says with exaggerated innocence. "Just that your door was closed all night, and Ethan was nowhere to be found this morning, and you've got this dopey grin that won't quit."
"I don't have a dopey grin," comes the automatic protest, as my facial muscles try to rearrange themselves into something more serious.
"You absolutely do," James mutters, still typing.
Gavin leans against the counter, grinning. "So the little nursing dude, huh? He's like, what, five-eight? And you're…" He gestures up and down at my six-foot-two body. "You guys look like a tree and a squirrel."
"He's not that small," I'm defensively, though the image of Ethans small frame makes me smile. "And I'm not that big."
"Bro, you're huge," Gavin says, like it's obvious. "Not as huge as me, but still. Your shoulders are like twice as wide as his." He takes another bite of the apple. "Bet you could pick him up with one arm."
My face is red now because the truth is, I really like that I can lift Ethan easily. I like how he fits against me. I like that I can wrap around him completely. It's not something I expected to be into, but here we are.
Gavin's watching my face with more perception than most people would credit him with. "OH!" His eyes widen. "You LIKE that. You like being bigger than him!"
"Shut up," My mutter has no heat in it.
"Nah, it's cute," Gavin says with that easy smile that makes it impossible to be mad at him. "Little guy's got you wrapped around his finger already."
"We just started... whatever this is."
"Yeah, but I've known you since we were freshmen," Gavin says, pointing his half-eaten apple at me. "You got it bad, my friend."
James glances up, looking between us. "The nursing student is intelligent. Good match."
Gavin and I both stare at him, shocked that he's voluntarily contributing to the conversation.
"What?" James shrugs. "I've had classes with him. He asks thoughtful questions."
"High praise from the Webmaster," Gavin stage-whispers to me.
Shaking my head, I'm secretly pleased. "I'm bringing him to the car wash fundraiser."
Gavin's eyes light up. "Excellent! I wanna see if he can actually reach the roof of an SUV."
"Don't be a dick," My tone warning him not to tease Ethan around me.
"I'm not!" Gavin looks genuinely offended. "I think it's awesome you found someone who makes you smile like that." He tilts his head. "I never saw you look this way with what's-her-name."
"Cher," I supply.
"Yeah, her." Gavin nods. "You guys were fine and all, but you never had the dopey grin."
I'm surprised by his observation. Gavin comes off as a space cadet most of the time, but he notices things others miss. One reason he's so good at recruiting pledges is that he sees past surfaces.
"It's not that serious yet," I say, though my chest feels warm at the thought that it could be.
"Mmhmm." Gavin finishes his apple and tosses the core into the compost bin across the room with perfect aim. "Just wait till the car wash when you see that little nursing dude all wet and sudsy."
"It’s Ethan, not ‘nursing dude’, use his fucking name, man."
"Ethan," Gavin repeats with a grin. "Who has our big, bad VP wrapped around his little finger."
"I hate you."
"Nah," Gavin says, ruffling my hair like I'm a kid brother, even though he's barely four months older. "You love me. And you're into tiny, smart guys who can boss you around."
Groaning I drop my head to the table while Gavin laughs.
"For what it's worth," he adds in a rare moment of seriousness, "I think it's cool. You seem happy."
Gavin is one of the few people I've met that I have to look up towards to meet their eyes. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," he says with a warm smile. "Plus, now we can double date whenever I find someone."
"In that case," I reply, "I'm definitely breaking up with Ethan."
"You're not even officially dating yet," James points out without looking up.
"Details," My hand waves.
Gavin laughs again, a booming sound that fills the kitchen. "Speaking of details, what's the plan for asking him to the car wash? Please tell me it's gonna be awkward and adorable so I can watch."
Throwing a balled-up napkin at him. He catches it without even looking, because of course he does.
"It's going to be perfectly normal," I insist. "I'm just going to text him and ask if he wants to come."
Both Gavin and James make disapproving sounds.
"What?" Confused why they are both looking at me like I've said something unforgivable.
"Text?" Gavin looks horrified. "You can't just text him! This is your first real date!"
"We've already—" I cut myself off, not wanting to go into details.
"I know what you already did," Gavin says, wiggling his eyebrows. "But this is different. This is public. This is you saying, 'Hey world, this is my guy.' That deserves more than a text."
"Ummmm," I hadn't thought about it that way. "I guess you're right. But we went out to dinner too."
"Course I'm right, but this is different. This isn't just the two of you. "Gavin says confidently. "You should do something special. Not huge, but thoughtful."
"Like what?"
Gavin shrugs those massive shoulders. "I dunno. What does he like? Besides you, obviously."
Thinking about what I know of Ethan, it takes me only a second to answer. "He's really into his nursing program. He volunteers at the hospital. He likes coffee. He's got this thing about proper hydration..."
"Oh my god," Gavin says, looking at me with mock horror. "You're dating a responsible adult. We're gonna lose you to the dark side of regular sleep schedules and balanced meals."
"There are worse fates," James murmurs, closing his laptop and standing. "Good luck with your courtship ritual, Tyler." He nods at us both and heads out of the kitchen.
"That's practically a blessing," Gavin stage-whispers when James is out of earshot. "I think he likes Ethan more than he likes most of us."
"High bar," My voice is dry as dirt.
"So," Gavin claps his hands together. "Operation Ask Out The Tiny Hot Nurse is a go. What's the plan?"
The eye roll happens, but so does the smile. Gavin being so pumped about this makes me feel like I can handle anything, even figuring out what's happening between Ethan and me.
"Just call him already," Gavin says, shoving my phone into my hand.
"I will, but not with you breathing down my neck," I tell him, trying to push him out of the kitchen.
Gavin plants his feet, immovable as a mountain. "No way. I need to hear this. For science."
"For science?" My eyebrow quirks.