Page 70 of Dire Straights

He shrugged a shoulder, keeping his eyes glued down to his phone. “Well, if it’s to support Maddox, then whatever. It’s only a few hours.”

I smiled, slowly, not saying anything until he finally glanced up at me.

“What!?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly, but I couldn’t wipe it off my face fast enough. He kind of had that trait in common with Maddy,getting embarrassed over being nice, so I was very familiar with how to deal with it. “It’s just, uh… I thought you didn’t like jocks.”

He gave me a dry look, before shifting his gaze back down to his phone with a haughty sniff. “It’s possible that maybe there are a very small percentage of jocks that are somewhat tolerable. He may happen to be one of those aforementioned.”

“Very fair and valid of you.” I’d figured out pretty early on that Aspen was a genuinely nice and friendly guy, but he didn’t exactly like spreading that fact around. I was pretty sure he didn’t want anyone treating him like a doormat or talking down to him. His edgy emo boy look helped reinforce theleave me aloneattitude he liked putting off, as a defense mechanism.

“Fair and valid are my middle names,” he said simply. “Anyway, it’s a good thing. I’ve heard a lot of people bitching and complaining about hating their roommate’s significant others. I’m just glad I haven’t had to deal with that.”

“Ah, but Maddy isn’t really my…” I trailed off. “I mean, we’re not actually boyfriends or anything.”

Aspen scoffed, giving me an incredulous look. “Sure. Whatever you say, buddy.”

“We’re not,” I insisted. “I mean, we never really talked about it. I don’t know if that’s what he wants.”

“You’re kidding, right? You guys are attached at the hip. And when you’re not together, you’re texting each other. You threw him a birthday party,” he reminded me. “You’re boyfriends.”

“But he never said we were.”

“Some things transcend verbal confirmation,” he said, smirking a bit as he tilted his head at me. “I guarantee if you asked him, he’d say yes, you’re totally boyfriends.”

“I…” I shook my head, feeling a twist of nerves in my stomach. “Or I could ask him and it freaks him out and makes him pull away from me. I don’t want that. He’s too important.”

“Do youwantconfirmation?” Aspen asked. “Does it bother you, that you guys can’t go public?”

“It doesn’t bother me, exactly,” I said, wiping my dampening palms on the thighs of my jeans. “I just… It’d be nice if we could be more open. I hate that I can’t kiss him or hold his hand when we’re out in public.”

“Aw, you want to show him off, don’t you?”

“Wouldn’t you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Have youseenhim?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, waving a hand dismissively. “Abs and jawline. So just talk to him. You guys are pretty good about communication, right?”

“Yeah. Well, yes and no. We’re good at communication when I force him to communicate.” But he was getting better about that. Mostly. Maybe Aspen was right. Maybe if I talked to him about it, it wouldn’t be a big deal. We were doing pretty much everything that couples did, after all. “You really think I should bring it up?”

“Totally,” he said. “Even if he’s not ready to go public, I’m sure he’ll ease your concerns about the boyfriends thing. I mean, it’s so obvious he probably thought he didn’t even need to say anything.”

“Well… Maybe.”

“Dude.” He put a hand on my shoulder, giving me an encouraging look. “You got this.”

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?” I wondered. He scraped his tongue around his teeth, producing a sucking sound.

“No.”

“How come?”

“I’m still waiting to meet a guy that I don’t want to muzzle after I’m done fucking him.”

I blinked, clearing my throat. “Alright. Fair enough.”

“You want to play some Federation before we head over?” He asked. I wasn’t sure if he was changing the subject on purpose or not. But because I didn’t want to hit a nerve, I let him.

“Sure,” I agreed, opening my laptop back up and loading up the game client. “You think Che’s online?”

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