Page 54 of We Are the Stars

“Yeah? I’ve heard…nothing about either of you.”

“Carsen’s a dick that way,” Nate says. “You hungry?”

“Starving.”

“We have…” Blake walks over to the swanky silver fridge and peers inside. “Bagel Bites, Hot Pockets, half a bag of French fries, and frozen pizzas.”

“You had me at pizza.”

“Done. Carsen, flip the oven to 400. We’re gonna feed your woman.”

Carsen mutters something, but I can’t make it out.

“Boyfriend, grab the wine!”

“We don’t have wine, boyfriend,” Nate tells Blake.

“They call each other that a lot. They’re newly out and ‘it feels free’ or something like that. To be honest, I don’t think they know each other’s names any longer,” Carsen leans over and whispers conspiratorially.

“I know, boyfriend.” Blake winks my way. “It sounded fancy though. Grab the beer. Anyone else want one?”

“I’m good with my soda.”

“Carsen?” Blake asks.

He shakes his water bottle. “I’m good. We didn’t interrupt anything, did we?”

“Blow jobs, rim jobs…the usual.”

“Why do I even bother asking?”

Nate laughs. “No, dude, you’re good. We were watching a movie—and no, it wasn’t porn.”

“I don’t know, that one sex scene was kind of graphic.”

“Yeah, good point. It might have been soft-core porn then.”

Carsen shakes his head. “You two are so exhausting.”

Nate and Blake move around one another in the kitchen with ease. One opens the pizzas as another grabs the pizza pans. They maneuver around each other like a dance, grabbing extra cheese from the fridge and chips for us to snack on, all while landing random pecks on each other’s cheeks.

It’s something so simple, yet so sweet, and watching Carsen watch them makes it even better. I can see the love he has for his friends in his eyes, can see the way he supports them, how appreciative he is of them.

I love it.

“How long have you all been friends?” I ask.

“Too long,” Carsen mutters.

Nate flips him off. “You fucking liar. You love us and you know it.”

“You’d be lost without us, Car. Don’t play.” Blake turns to me. “We all met in middle school. We drifted toward one another and have been friends ever since. We don’t have a good story to go with it. We’re lame.”

I wave a finger between him and Nate. “And you two have been together how long?”

“Those assholes made me the third wheel about a year ago.”

“Oh, please. You were the third wheel well before that.”

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