Page 35 of Hot Set

“Want a beer?” Seth asked. “I’ll pay.”

“That’s okay,” I replied. “I can buy my own. Brandondoespay me pretty well.”

Seth shrugged.

“Hey, Seth! And—Alex, right?”

I turned around, surprised to see Mark. There was a man with him with dark blue hair and shockingly green eyes.

“That’s new!” Seth exclaimed, pointing at the man’s blue hair.

“And you arejustas dramatic as I remember,” the man said.

“Oh, Alex, this is Logan. I told you about him,” Mark said, “The evil cat man.”

“Hey!” Logan exclaimed. “My cats are angels.”

“One of your angels barfed on my sketchbook,” Mark deadpanned.

“So, I’ll buy you a new one,” Logan said. “Just rip the cover off.”

Mark shook his head, his face somewhere between fond and frustrated. “I didn’t realize you two—” Mark said, pointing between Seth and Logan, “—knew each other.”

“Oh, we used to bang a lot,” Seth said shamelessly.

“What a shock,” Mark said sarcastically.

“That was undergrad, though,” Logan replied. “We were in a production ofHamlet.”

I ordered a beer and sat behind them, hoping someone would bring me back into the conversation, although that seemedunlikely at this point. Seth had already sauntered down memory lane, engaged in a competition over whether he or Logan had the dirtiest blackmail. It would be rude to interrupt them.

I edged past Mark and slipped from my seat. He glanced at me, somewhat surprised.

“I’m just walking around a bit,” I said. “Scoping out the restroom. You know. I’ve never really been to a place like this before. I’ll be back for my beer.”

“You’d better hurry if you don’t want Seth to finish it off first,” Logan said. ”He comes up empty and grabs whatever is unattended.”

Mark shook his head. Seth grinned.

At least they were having fun, and this place wasn’t too bad. It was enormous. I drifted into another room, with a live band. There had to be at least one more room somewhere. I could hear pool balls clicking together. I paused before the band, watching as they launched into some serious rock. I nodded along with the beat and covertly glanced around. Somehow, I’d imagined a gay bar being a vastly different world, but it really wasn’t. Obviously, there were people blatantly making out with members of the same sex, but somehow, I’d expected something more.

I made it to the restroom, looking like any other restroom, and headed back, searching for the guys.

This whole thing was bizarre.Iwas bizarre. Everyone here looked so comfortable with who and what they were. And me? I was still working it out. Maybe I shouldn’t have drifted away from the others. Maybe I should’ve stayed and taken over the conversation. I could’veaskedif Seth, Mark, or Logan ever felt this way. Like they were found and lost all at the same time.

“Do you come here a lot?”

It took me a second to realize someone was talking to me. I turned and found a man with long, stick-straight blond hair andblue eyes. He was absurdly tall and broad-shouldered. If I took a step closer, I’d have to crane my neck just to meet his eyes.

“Hi,” I said. “No. First time. My friend met up with his ex, so I thought I’d leave them to reminisce.”

The man whistled between his teeth. “Connor,” he said.

“Alex.”

“It’s nice to meet you. How about I buy you a drink?”

Buy me a drink?I heard the words, understood them, then instead of a reasonable response, I just stared at Connor like he’d lost his mind. I already had a drink back at the table with the guys, assuming Seth hadn’t already drunk it. But the question seemed deeper and more profound somehow. Was there any harm in Connor buying me a drink? Not really. And hewashandsome. I could see myself talking to Connor a little more. It wasn’t as if I was actually in a relationship with anyone.

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