Page 30 of Convergence

“I bet we can get a bowl of cereal at least,” I said with a little giggle.

Nate appeared in the doorway. He grinned when he saw us sitting in the bed. “Well, this looks cozy.”

I felt guilty for a moment, like I wasn’t supposed to be in Everett’s bed when I was with Nate, but it hadn’t occurred to me before getting in. I guessed it was a weird thing to do, but there was no going back now. And it wasn’t like I was doing anything to be unfaithful to Nate.

“Bring us coffee and cereal,” I demanded in a silly, posh voice.

Nate bowed. “Yes, my queen,” he said and left the doorway.

“You could ask that man for anything,” Everett said with a shake of his head and handed me a book from his nightstand.

“What do you mean?” I asked and looked down at the book. It was a nonfiction book about the history of cooking over a campfire. Not a book I would have typically picked up but was vaguely interested in enough to open it.

Ev smiled down at me. “He’s obsessed with you.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said and felt my cheeks flame up. I stared down at the book on my lap. Ev made a noise as if he didn’t believe me and he and I settled back against the headboard, each with a book, and waited for our breakfast. There was room on Ev’s other side to fit Nate when he came back, and I hoped we could all sit and read and eat breakfast together.

Nate came back with three bowls filled with our favorite cereals and a jug of milk before he returned to the kitchen for three travel mugs of coffee prepared for our different tastes. He looked at Everett as if he was waiting for approval for his caring actions. I smiled as I took a careful sip from my coffee. Ev thanked him and pulled the blankets back for Nate. It was nice to see Nate and Everett learning from each other. Nate was learning from Ev’s caring nature and Ev was learning from Nate’s playful personality.

Nate climbed into the bed next to Ev and looked at Ev under the blankets. “That’s not fair. How do you look like that?”

“I’ve worked on a farm my whole life,” Ev said, his accent thick. He smirked with a tinge of pink in his cheeks. “These muscles don’t come from a gym.”

“No, but you totally hit the gym,” Nate snorted. And poured milk into our cereal bowls.

Ev shifted towards me to make more room for Nate, and his leg brushed against mine. He was also wearing only a pair of boxer briefs. Did neither of them wear pajamas? I’d seen them both wearing them around the house, but I guessed it to be more for lounge than sleep.

“Says the man with a dump truck for an ass,” Ev said in his quiet and calm way that I envied.

I coughed and almost spit my coffee onto Everett’s comforter. Ev thumped me on the back while I gathered myself. Ev was not wrong; Nate did have a defined ass.

Nate had a pink blush over his own brown beard. “While it’s not a farm, I worked in warehouses. Gotta lift with your ass cheeks.”

“I’ll have to try that,” Everett said, and took a sip of his coffee. He hummed in pleasure. “Thank you for the coffee and breakfast, Nate.”

“Yes, thank you,” I agreed.

Nate smiled.

We ate our breakfast and lounged in Everett’s bed for a few hours before hauling ourselves out to Ev’s truck. It had snowed probably eight inches since last night and it was still dropping. Ev and Nate made quick work at clearing off the truck as I cranked the heat inside. The streets were covered in snow and brown slush, but plows were out and working as quickly as they could to make the roads safe. Everett had to switch the truck to four-wheel drive with a dial on his dash before we could make it out of the student parking lot. Our single parking space was cleared, and salt had been thrown down to melt the ice. The little path to the door wasn’t shoveled, so we had to tromp through it. I followed behind, hopping into the guys’ larger footsteps.

We worked until mid afternoon, when the snow was falling even harder. A thick covering of snow had fallen on Ev’s truck since morning, and we thought it to be a good idea to head home. The rest of our work today could wait a day or two, thankfully. We bundled up, cleared off the truck, and headed home in the blizzard. The streets were completely covered again; the snow was falling too hard and fast for the plows to keep up. Nate drove us home in Ev’s truck as he had more experience with driving in the snow from living in Connecticut.

The snow didn’t stop falling for the rest of the afternoon. It was well over a foot deep by the time it was early evening. The guys and I had spent the afternoon playing video games and watching movies. I baked a batch of sugar cookies to snack on and the guys worked together to make chicken thighs by following a recipe they found online. It was a quiet day, more peaceful than we’d had in a while. Daisy didn’t contact me and I didn’t reach out to her. It didn’t seem like she had tried to reach the guys today, either. Whenever I thought about my lost friendship with her, I felt a sort of twinge in my gut. Not so much at losing her as a person, but more so for myself for losing the first girl that had seemed interested in being my friend in a very long time.

I listened to the guys laughing and talking as they cooked dinner and when the wonderful smells reached me in the living room; I joined them in the kitchen. I didn’t join them in conversation, though. It was more enjoyable listening to their conversations and opinions on things. They were two fascinating men and seemed like ‌opposites that genuinely liked and respected each other. When I entered the kitchen, they both turned to look at me. Nate’s forest green eyes seemed to eat me up whenever he saw me, and today, he looked ravenous. Everett’s bright blue eyes looked me over with what looked like interest. I didn’t understand what that look meant, so I pretended as though I didn’t see it. They both went back to their conversation when I sat at the island. They worked side by side, their elbows and shoulders brushing, cutting vegetables to go with the chicken.

Dinner was being set on the table when the power went out. We looked at each other in silence for a moment while we waited for it to come back on. Everett rummaged in a kitchen drawer and found a pillar candle and matches. He lit it and set it on the table.

“Cozy,” Nate said with a wink to me, and sat in his chair.

We ate by candlelight and set all of the dishes in the sink after. “I guess we should call it an early night. If you guys need a book to read, let me know,” Ev said as he headed to his room.

With no power, we also had no internet access, so reading was all we had to do. Or so I thought until I looked at Nate. He was grinning wolfishly at me and I smiled back. He held out a hand to me and led me upstairs and to his bedroom. “We’ve finally got all night,” he said as he shut his door behind me.

I shivered at his deep voice. “Seems like it. And someone has to keep me warm,” I said in a whisper.

He didn’t respond, only lifted me up to wrap my legs around him and kissed me. His tongue swept into my mouth as he laid me on his bed, his body hovering over mine.Finally.We kissed for a few moments before he pulled away and pressed his forehead against mine. “I told you I wanted to take my time when I fucked you. Are you ready for me?”

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