Page 24 of Perfect Matcha
Theo loved trivia, and he quickly got wrapped up in the drama of it, shouting the answers he knew and getting way too invested in individual contestants.
“You want another beer?” Camden asked.
“No thanks.”
“All right.” Camden stood and stretched. “I’ll make you tea.” He strode into the kitchen without another word, and Theo stared after him.
They had that exact conversation every week. Theo could have written it into a play, he knew the dialogue so well, but it had never hit him so hard. The tea Camden made him wasn’t quite as good as Bold Brew’s, but it was still terrific. Because Camden was terrific.
A few minutes later, Camden returned, drinks in hand. He passed the steaming mug full of bright green liquid over to Theo and relaxed on the couch, leaning back into the arm and propping his feet on Theo’s coffee table.
It felt comfortable. Routine. Theo gave Camden the gloves, which Camden was adequately impressed by. As he should have been, because they were cool. Then they watched the show together, drinking their drinks and enjoying each other’s company. After Theo got excited about knowing a particularly difficult Final Jeopardy question, Camden nudged him with his socked foot. Theo grabbed the foot and squeezed, ready to brag about how smart he was, but when he turned, Camden’s eyes were soft and tender and trained on him.
Theo’s breath left him in awhoosh. That gaze was different, wasn’t it? Softer than usual. It was likely the—Theo did the calculus in his head—two beers Camden had had over several hours. But Theo knew for a fact that Camden could put away a lot more alcohol than that without feeling any effect.
So, yeah, it wasn’t the beer. The difference was Theo.
He was letting his imagination run wild, seeing things that weren’t there.
“Another episode, smarty pants?” Camden asked.
“No.” Theo stood and gathered up the detritus of their Mexican food. He stumbled into the kitchen.
Camden followed at a slower pace, his movements loose and prowly. Theo had never noticed how sensual … Nope. Nuh-uh.
That thought was a no-go zone.
Camden stopped at Theo’s kitchen table and idly picked through the toys in the basket. He was studying the toys with what Theo assumed was professional curiosity.
Camden was simply good at his job.
Theo dumped the food containers into the garbage and recycle cans under his sink. Then he turned on some music, hoping it would drown out the action in his brain.
“I feel restless,” he said finally.
Camden glanced up at him. “Should we go down to the bar?”
“No.” The last thing Theo wanted was to try to function in a crowd. He could hardly function in front of his best friend right now.
“What about dancing?” Camden did a funny shimmy, and Theo laughed. Not many people got to see the goofy side of Camden Ray.
“No. Not unless you want to risk injury. I hate dancing. I need at least twenty empty feet to dance without incident.”
“We could smoke?” Camden said.
They hadn’t done that in ages. The last time Theo had gotten high, he’d been with Freddie and Camden on the roof of the Laurelsburg University English building after Camden had told them he’d flunked out.
“You have pot with you, Cam?” Theo said, trying and failing to sound cool.
“Nope. You?”
“No.”
Camden grinned. “Ah well. Probably not a bad thing. It gets me all hot and bothered.”
“Yeah. We wouldn’t want that.” Theo’s joke fell like a lead balloon between them, or maybe it only fell flat in his head. Because hedidwant to see Camden hot and bothered. It was a hypothetical thought that he’d shied away from for,God, years, he realized, and now his brain was screaming it at him.
He crossed to where Camden still stood next to the basket of toys and grabbed the box of one that seemed unfathomable. “How does this one work?”
