CHAPTER EIGHTEEN DEAN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DEAN
“Talk to me.” Claire bonks me on the head with her empty water bottle from across our shared library desk, and I roll my eyes at her.
“About what?”
“When your flight is. Do you not want me to give you a ride to the airport or what?”
“I already told you I’d schedule them around yours,” I say, scrolling through my email for my itinerary. “We’re leaving at one in the morning on December 17, on the flight to Hong Kong.”
For the past three years, we’ve coordinated our flights as much as possible—Claire’s lucky enough to have a car, and we split the cost of parking at Logan Airport.
This time, I’ll only have to wait around for five hours, since she and Oscar are leaving for Taiwan at eight. Besides, I’ll have Nick with me.
And I still have to tell her.
“Okay, well, have fun waiting—” She stops abruptly, narrowing her eyes at me. “Did you just say we’re leaving?”
My heart stops, and I break into a sheepish grin, embarrassment climbing up my neck.
“I did,” I admit after a pause. “I offered for Nick to come home with me, and he took me up on the offer since he’d be alone otherwise.”
She stares at me, her expression blank and unyielding. “Nick’s going to Hangzhou with you.” That’s a question, even though it doesn’t sound like one.
“He is. What about it?” Other than everything?
“I didn’t even know you two were still friends, and now he’s going home with you? I think you might have forgotten to update me on, like, a million things.”
What would have been the point? I don’t refresh her on what’s going on with my other friends, or give her the nitty gritty on my hookups. Nick happens to be both of those, and that’s no reason to change what I do.
Claire’s determined stare withers my resolve, so I spill. I tell her about Thanksgiving break and the two weeks afterward.
“You’re telling me this guy who you’re such casual friends with, just, like, up and bought a ticket to visit your parents for two weeks?”
I nod.
“You two are so fucking stupid.”
Frowning, I toss a pen at her. “Hey. He’s doing this because he doesn’t have a family of his own. He’d be lonely.”
“So his solution is to go to Hangzhou. With you. To see your family.” She’s going in circles, but she isn’t wrong. “He’s going to want to become part of your family by the end of this. I’m calling it now.”
My heart flips at the same time my stomach drops. “You think he’s going to catch feelings?”
She throws up her hands, laughing. “If he hasn’t already! Think about what he’s actually doing!”
I don’t want to. There’s no reason to dwell on it.
“We won’t do anything stupid like that,” I counter. “We’re both well aware there’s an end date to this.”
Claire scoffs at me, shaking her head. “Like that’s ever stopped anyone.” Sucking in a breath, she adopts a terse smile. “Whatever. I hope things work out well. What did you even tell your parents?”
“I haven’t. Not yet,” I admit.
At that, she shuts her eyes and lets her head fall to the table, groaning and laughing at the same time. “You’re ridiculous. You leave in a week!”
“I’ve told you about my parents. They’re cool.” It’s the truth, and I’m eternally grateful for it, especially seeing how wacky some of my high school classmates’ families were. “They’ll be fine, and they won’t suspect a thing.”
“And again, I wish you all the best. But maybe tell them before you rock up with a sexy American athlete who you met under suspicious circumstances.”
“I should,” I concede.
Claire goes back to studying for her last final, and I let myself go into a spiral of everything I should have thought about over the past three weeks, but haven’t.
It’s not…extraordinary for Nick to be traveling with me, right?
My friends from high school go and see each other all the time, and I did too at the start of college before things got hectic.
So it isn’t necessarily out of the question.
But then again, Nick and I are spending more time together than I ever have with any other friend. Or even with my high school ex, who I saw every day in school.
And then there’s the fun addition of how much sex we’re having, not that I’m ever going to complain about getting my mind—and something else—blown on the regular. It just makes things slightly more complicated, especially when the two of us have gotten used to chilling after the fact.
We blur lines for sure, but we haven’t erased them entirely. Not even close.
My phone buzzes with a text, jerking me out of my contemplation, and I glance at the screen to find it’s a message from Dad.
Mom’s probably left for work already, but maybe I can catch Dad before he leaves, too. And tell him about Nick coming to visit in a week.
God, what was I thinking, putting this off for so long?
After nodding at Claire, I leave the study room and step into the library foyer, where it isn’t a quiet zone, and call Dad.
“Hey, kid, what’s going on?” he asks.
“Hi.” I try to purge the nerves from my voice. “I’m good. There’s something I want to run by you and Mom before I come home.”
“Sure?” Dad’s voice breaks at the end. “Is there anything wrong?”
“No, no. It’s just…” Shit. “One of my friends here wants to visit China over the break. Is it okay if they stay with us?”
Silence. Stunned fucking silence.
I hold my breath.
“So this friend of yours decided on a whim to buy a ticket to come back with you for two weeks? Just like that?”
“Yes,” I reply. “There’s still time to refund the ticket”—maybe?—“so I wanted to run it by you first.”
This isn’t a video call, and not being able to see Dad’s expression is making my heart go into overdrive. The silence isn’t helping my nerves calm down, either. I’m not sure if Dad’s hesitation is because he’s tired, or if he straight up doesn’t believe me.
“You and Mom did say I could bring a friend back to visit, right?” I remind him.
“Yeah, we did, but we weren’t expecting them to come with…not very much notice.”
“Oops.”
“Look, it’s fine,” Dad says. “We’re just glad you have friends.”
Seriously? I scoff in disbelief.
He chuckles. “I’m kidding. Lighten up.” Then his voice drops. “Is this…friend a guy or a woman?”
Sheesh, why’d he have to imply a different kind of friend? Way to make my stomach churn.
“My friend’s a guy,” I explain. “He’s called Nick.”
“And I assume Nick is sleeping on the old air mattress that probably doesn’t inflate anymore?”
“Yes.” No. “And he says he can sleep on the floor, too. His bed is really hard.”
I freeze the second those last words leave my mouth. How would I know what Nick’s bed feels like if I haven’t been in it—
“Don’t worry. I can patch up any leaks,” Dad says, putting my nerves at ease a little. “Anyway, your flight gets in while Mom and I will be at work, so we’ll probably see you two the day after, since you’ll be jet-lagged as usual.”
“Yeah.” I laugh nervously, trying to lift my mood. “This’ll be a first for Nick, so I’ll have to see how he handles the time difference.”
“Your friend’s ambitious, isn’t he?” Dad’s smile is audible, even through the phone. “Coming to China for his first major trip?”
“Uh…” Swallowing the lump in my throat, I try to think of something that won’t sound too suspicious. “Yeah, he is. Nick’s a funny guy.”
“Great. I’ve gotta run, but I’m looking forward to meeting your friend.”
We sign off, and I walk back to the desk Claire and I are sharing. She has her headphones on, frowning at her tablet, so I don’t disturb her. I still have assignments due after the break, so I work on those to get them out of the way, since I luckily don’t have any more finals.
Nick still has two left—one in a few days for a course requirement, and one for his Chinese class that he’s taking right now.
God, it’s already past seven. Poor guy. Whoever schedules any kind of test past six p.m. needs to take a good, long look at their life.
I have Nick’s exam schedule, and I pull it up, noticing that his final is in the exam center down the road from the library, and that it wraps up in fifteen minutes.
We haven’t seen each other too much this week, although it’s all relative—I’ve already been at his place twice since Monday, but that’s compared to essentially alternating nights at each other’s places for the two weeks prior.
So needless to say, I could use a hookup.
It might make me a lazy fuck, but having Nick ride my dick until my eyes roll into the back of my head sure beats taking care of myself.
I shut my laptop and pack up, pausing when Claire takes her headphones off.
“Where are you going?” she asks.
My cheeks heat, even though I could technically lie and say I’m going home. “Gonna meet Nick. His exam ends soon.”
She sighs, smiling through it. “You’re doing this for a hookup?”
“He’s still my friend. Come on,” I groan as I sling my backpack over my shoulders. “We’ve both agreed to stay casual.”
The skepticism in Claire’s eyes is impossible to ignore. “Okay.” She nods, pursing her lips. “Whatever you say. Have fun.”
I will, I don’t say, heading out instead.
I’d do this for any friend. I’ve done this for friends before, meeting them after exams, and I’ve had the same done for me. This is nothing more than an innocent, friendly gesture.
Friend.
I repeat the word in my head, even if I don’t need to convince myself.
The choir of commiserating criers in the exam center bathroom is audible even from the main hall, and they sure aren’t the most pleasant soundtrack. I just hope Nick wraps up his exam soon so I don’t have to bear this for any longer than needed.
There’s movement at the door, and I jerk my head up to see Nick sauntering out, his long jean-clad legs propelling him toward me. My mind works in slow motion—he brings an arm up to adjust the backward baseball hat he’s wearing, and he smiles as soon as he notices me.
Jeez, that hat is so fucking hot. Part of me wants to steal it.
Maybe he has spares.
It feels like it takes forever for him to get closer. I don’t know what it is about his backward hat, but holy shit, he looks so damn hot in it, and I can’t stop looking.