Page 15 of Of Pranks and Passion

EASTON

I didn’t stayall night. I waited long enough for Gary to fall asleep before sneaking out of his bed. I made sure his roommate turned the noise down, so they didn’t startle him awake, and he didn't argue with me. Gary was right, he was a nice guy. It annoyed the shit out of me.

When I came back to The Hideout, most of the guys were still awake, though Smiley was obviously high off his ass, so I doubted he’d be awake much longer. Chuckles wasn’t far behind him, his eyes bloodshot and only half open. He offered me some and complained when I took the blunt and walked away.

“You’re bad at sharing,” he complained, but he was too high or too lazy to chase after me. I joined Angel in the kitchen, tipping my head to check out what he was working on while I enjoyed the good stuff. Damn, Smiley’s dealer was a nice guy, too.

“Are you seriously drawing gay porn right now? What happened to your assignment?”

Angel was the only other guy in school. He went to the art college downtown and complained endlessly about howassignments caged his creativity. He was good enough to sell his own stuff, but he was always saying he could be better and refused to stop going.

“I couldn’t think about it anymore. It was driving me nuts. How’d it go?”

Blowing out a puff of smoke, I dropped into the chair beside him. “Fine, I guess.”

He looked up from his work, raising an eyebrow at me. “Just fine?”

I shrugged. Technically, Gary didn’t say he forgave me, but he also didn’t say he didn’t. And he was fun to hang out with afterward. He’d be a decent friend if I could get past the urge to fuck him. Maybe a little quieter than my usual bunch, but he was funny. And hot. I was tempting the hell out of myself by climbing into bed with him.

“You’re in lust, aren’t you?” Angel teased, drawing my focus back to him. I flipped him off, which only made him laugh harder.

“I love it. You planning on tapping that?”

I rolled my eyes, taking another drag. “No,” I gritted out. I let the breath out slowly, running my fingers through my hair. “He screams innocent. I’d ruin him.”

“Maybe he wants to be ruined,” he said with a shrug. “How many college kids are hoping to save themselves? You said he’s a little awkward, right? Could be he wants to hook up, but is too shy to ask.”

“Yeah, maybe.” A ghost of that possessive feeling drifted through my chest, making me hesitate. I’d kill for a chance to muss Gary up a little, but some part of me recognized that once wouldn’t be enough. It felt cruel to trap him into a situationship with me when I wasn’t looking for anything real. All I felt for him was horny and possessive.

“You’ll never know if you don’t ask him outright. I’m in college too, and I know I’m not looking for anything serious right now.”

I hummed, and after a few minutes, I mellowed out enough to brush away the tight feeling in my chest. I didn’t want a relationship with Gary. But for some reason, I didn't want him in a relationship with anyone else either. Someone needed to make that shit make sense.

By the timeMonday rolled around, I’d pretty much convinced myself it was just a figment of my imagination. I didn’t get all into my feelings, so I was probably just worked up about having to apologize. I headed for my first class, dropping into my seat beside Gary with a groan.

“You okay?”

His concern seemed sincere, and I didn’t want to be a jackass to him, so I forced one eye open to look at him. “Coffee machine broke. I’m dying.”

He tried so hard to fight off that laugh, but I saw it anyway and flipped him off for it. He chuckled, grabbing a disposable coffee cup from beside his notebook and offering it to me.

“If you don’t mind something a little sweet, you can have this. I got yelled at for making it wrong by a customer, so after I made her another one, I decided to drink it myself instead of wasting it.”

Not one to say no to the nectar of the gods, I took the cup from him and took a generous sip. It was a little sweeter than I liked, but it was still coffee.

“Thanks.”

He smiled and nodded. “No problem. I, uh… I brought your hoodie, too. Thank you for letting me borrow it.”

He offered it back to me, but I’d already grabbed a different hoodie from my place that morning. It would be a nuisance to carry it around all day, and I was feeling lazy. “Keep it. I don’t want to carry it.”

Hugging it to his chest, he grinned. “Really?”

I shrugged. It was just a hoodie. Whatever.

The coffee helped, but I was still half asleep through most of the class. Gary had to nudge me for me to realize it was over. I debated skipping the rest, but I promised my old man I’d take this seriously. Well… I said I’d show up. That counts, right?

Most professors didn’t care that I wasn’t listening. I showed up, I didn’t distract people, and I didn’t snore. What more could they ask for? But the professor in charge of the last class me and Gary shared didn’t like me sleeping. I was drifting when I heard her call my name.

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