Page 24 of Changing the Play

The two of them share a look, and Darcy rolls his eyes. “Pull up a chair and sit if you want. I’m just working on your next lesson.”

I gesture toward the line. “I’m actually going to grab a coffee. Can I get you two anything?”

“Oh. Polite. I like this one, Darce.”

Darcy glares at his… friend? before dragging his eyes to me. “I’ll take a cinnamon tea, please?”

The guy Darcy’s with makes a fake gagging sound and I turn to him. He’s… striking. White-blond hair streaked with pink. Icy blue eyes. Even with something black smudged across his nose, he’s… something. Is this the type of guy Darcy goes for? Do I even care? “What about you, man?”

There’s a beat of silence and I sense Darcy tense, but he doesn’t say anything. The guy eyes me for a second, and I feel a bit like I fucked up somehow. “Not a man, actually.”

Oh. What does that mean? “I’m sorry?”

I glance at Darcy and his face is completely blank, not giving anything away.

The… person? holds their hand out to me, so I reach forward to shake it. “I’m Parker. You can call me Parker. Or Park would be fine too, I guess. My pronouns are they/them.”

Oh. Well, that makes a lot more sense. “Okay. No problem. I’m sorry.”

Parker shrugs. “You didn’t know. No harm, no foul.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. So, coffee?”

They smile. “Sure, handsome. I’ll take it as sweet as they can make it.”

Handsome?

Parker’s face does something complicated and then they turn away, looking at Darcy again. “Did you just fucking kick me, Darcy?”

Darcy shrugs. “Maybe. Stop flirting.”

Parker smirks. “Oh, baby. I am who I am.”

Darcy huffs. “A menace. That’s what you are.”

“Okay, I’m going to go grab drinks.”

Darcy flashes me a bright smile and I make my way to the line. Thankfully, it’s thinned some, and it doesn’t take me long to get everyone’s drinks and go back to the table.

I hand both of them their drinks and sit down beside Darcy. “So,” I start, leaning close to him. “What’s the next lesson, Professor Darcy?”

Parker gasps. “No fair. Why does he get to call you that?”

Darcy ignores them, instead turning to me with a grin. “The Reign of Terror. It’s fun.”

Oh, yeah. Sounds like a blast.

Chapter 8

Darcy

West wanted a celebration dinner. I was fine with it in theory, but now that we’re sitting here, it feels oddly like a date. I know it’s not. Iknowit’s not, but I can’t help that it feels that way.

When he asked to go to dinner the first night, it was easy enough to brush off. And then when he asked the second time, I was sitting across from Parker and my face was bright red and they were giving me crap about it. So I just put my phone away and acted like I didn’t see it.

But that didn’t deter West. When he quietly asked if I wanted to go to dinner before we left the coffee shop, I knew I couldn’t turn him down again. There was no reason. No reason that wouldn’t have been suspicious anyway.

I should have said no. I was wrong before.Thismay be my thirteenth reason.

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