Page 24 of Where the River Meets the Skye

“Yes,” he said. “I am.” The way her eyes lit up, and the frown on her face turned into the faintest hint of a smile, made it one hundred percent worth it. “And if you, or anyone else wants to talk about it more, you can see me after class, okay?”

“Ha, see, so it could have been his boyfriend,” Ben said. “I was so right.” He turned to Kevin and pointed a finger at him.

“Yeah, but he isn’t,” Kevin argued.

“Well, do you have a boyfriend?” Gwen asked.

“We’ve gotten way off topic now, guys,” he said.

The class just groaned and Skye smiled. He loved his job.

River

“Hey, Skye, how was your day?” River asked when his roommate walked in the door later that afternoon.

“Good,” Skye said, beaming. His eyes were sparkling and his cheeks flushed.

A wide smile split across River’s face. “It must have been. You look like you’re on cloud nine. What happened?”

“I came out to one of my classes,” he said, that huge smile still brimming on his cheeks as he sat in the chair across from River.

River’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Skye laughed. “Well, it was part of the conversation. I didn’t just come in and announce it out of the blue. But there's a student who I think it might have really helped. She asked me point blank if I was gay, so I told her, and you should have seen the way her face lit up, Riv. It was like she could breathe again. It made my day.”

The joy radiating off of Skye made River smile even more. “Good for you. I’m glad you get to be back there. They need you.”

Skye’s eyes met his. “I’m glad to be back, too, angel, but I don’t resent taking care of you. You know that, right? I was happy to do it, and I would have been happy to do it longer if you’d needed me to. I mean that.”

The way Skye looked at him, and the sincerity in his voice had River’s stomach doing weird flips. He found himself unable to look away from Skye, staring into those apple green eyes. He blinked and swallowed, his mouth dry all of a sudden.

“Where’s Jodi?” Skye asked, looking around and bringing River out of his daze.

“Oh, uh, she’s napping. I think she was pretty worn out from working all day yesterday and then making the drive. She’s only been in there for a few minutes. I told her I would be fine til you got home.”

“How was your day?” Skye asked, resting his head back on the chair and closing his eyes.

“It was good. We talked a lot and played some games. Watched some tv. She makes me laugh like crazy, which is kind of a bad thing right now ‘cause it makes my ribs hurt more. And she seems to like you a lot, could’t stop going on about how amazing you were, although I’m not sure why,” River teased.

Skye opened one eye to look at him and raised his eyebrow. “I can still spit in your dinner,” he said, and River grinned. “Besides, I’m adorable. What’s not to like?”

River gazed at his roommate, his smile fading. Skye’s eyes were closed again, arms folded across his chest, and River couldn’t think of an answer.

CHAPTER 9

Skye

“So when are you going to ask Jenna out?” Skye asked. It was a couple of days later and he was sitting across from his friend at one of the high top tables at their go to bar. He watched with mirth as Nick choked on his beer and it dribbled down his chin, his eyes watering.

“What?” Nick croaked as he grabbed a napkin and wiped up the mess.

Skye chuckled. “You heard me. I’ve seen the way you look at her, man. The way you’ve been looking at her. For years. What’s with you guys?”

Nick shook his head. “Hell, no. We aren’t touching that with a ten foot pole until we talk about the obvious crush you have on a certain roommate of yours.”

Skye’s cheeks heated. Shit. He’d walked right into that one. “That’s different,” he said, twirling his straw around in his drink.

“Why?” Nick raised an eyebrow. “We’re both crushing hard on our best friends. What’s the difference?”

---