Page 52 of Out of Nowhere

“Since when are the two of you an item, though? Or were you just having a one and done?” Kasey asked, grabbing Dex’s attention.

“They just went out of town together,” Colt said. “They probably got together then.”

“Hold it.What?“ Jude said loudly, his eyes going to Dex and Seo-jun. “One and done?Anitem?Explain, please.”

“Dex and Seo-jun were boning in the shower,” Hawk supplied around a bite of roll.

“And I missed it?” Jude exclaimed. “Damn it!”

Dex sighed. “Okay, okay. Seo-jun and I are seeing one another. No, that was not the first time and won’t be the last. All future sex will happen in a more private place.” The corner ofSeo-jun’s mouth curved upward.

“I called it!” Jude said, a smile spreading over his face. “Didn’t I tell you they liked each other?”

“Yes, and you also said that they were unlikely to get together because Dex is clueless and Seo-jun is socially backward or something to that effect.”

Jude smacked Hawk on the arm before turning to Seo-Jun. “I didn’t call you socially backward. I used a much more politically correct term.”

“Well, as long as it was politically correct,” Seo-jun said seriously before continuing to eat.

Jude flashed Dex a puzzled to look that made him laugh.

“But you called me clueless?” Dex teased. He’d seen very little of Jude since Jude had moved near the university. Dex liked that he looked so happy.

Dex’s phone buzzed on the table between Dex and Seo-Jun, the text message appearing on his locked screen. It was from his mother and only said two words: “Call me.”

Dex tilted the screen so Seo-jun could see.

Worried that something was going on with Anna, he stood from the table.

“I need to make a call,” he said, already pushing the call button next to her name as he walked into the kitchen.

“I just got off the phone with Penelope,” Bea said right out of the gate.

“Hello to you, too,” Dex said. “Mom, it’s one thing for you to try to fix me up with someone, but it’s a whole other thing for you to check up on me to see if I did it. I’m a grown man. I’m also in the middle of dinner. I only answered because I thought it could be an emergency.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I called Penelope. She said you went to lunch with her and told her you were seeing someone. Really, Dex? Are you that afraid to get into a relationship?”

This was too much. “Iamin a relationship, Mother.”

“What? You are?” She sounded delighted, but Dex knew that was about to change. It didn’t matter. He had to tell her.

“Yes. I’m seeing Seo-jun.”

“That’s an odd name. Where is she from?”

“It’s a man’s name. He’s Korean. I’m seeing a man, Mom, and, no, this isn’t a joke. I’m gay. That’s why I never want to go out with the women you try to fix me up with. I should have told you a long time ago, but I knew you wouldn’t like it. But I’m tired of hiding it.”

Dex waited as the seconds ticked by in silence. Finally, he said, “I have to go,” and hung up.

When he walked back into the dining room, it appeared that everyone had heard his side of the conversation. In retrospect, he had been talking loudly.

After a brief, awkward silence, Logan said, “Good for you, Dex. I know that wasn’t easy.”

Everybody joined in with their congratulations, which quickly turned into an exchange of coming out stories.

“My father flipped his lid when he saw me kissing a guy behind our house,” Colt said. “He locked me in my bedroom for a week.”

“A week!” Kasey looked horrified.

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