Page 13 of Starved

“But…you dated,” Colin said, confused. “You dated a lot.”

“Because you did.” Evan shrugged again. “What else was I going to do?”

“You could’ve told me,” Colin said, indignation beginning to seep through the shock.

“You could’ve told me, too,” Evan countered. “Why didn’t you?”

Colin cleared his throat, dropping his gaze to the butter knife, forgotten in his hand. “Because by the time I figured it out, a couple of months into freshman year, you were dating that girl.”

“What girl?”

“The soccer player with the horse laugh.”

“Abigail,” Evan remembered with a fond smile. “She did kind of whinny, didn’t she?”

“You dated her for over a year, so I thought I’d missed my chance. And when you broke up with her, I was seeing Max.”

Evan let out a short, baffled laugh. “Right.”

“And after a while,” Colin went on slowly, “I guess I just got used to not saying anything.”

“Yeah.” Evan heaved a sigh, a faint smile on his lips. “Me, too.”

Colin looked at the man who’d been his closest friend for a decade and a half, and his most secret wish for nearly as long. “So…what now?”

Evan rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “I thought we could go back to the way things were. You know…”

“B.O.”

Evan’s brow wrinkled. “Huh?”

“Before the orgy,” Colin explained.

Evan snickered, then the mirth on his face faded away. “But the thing is, Col, I don’t want to go back.”

Heart in his throat, Colin asked the question that had been haunting him for two weeks. “What do you want?”

“I want to be with you.”

Joy rushed through Colin, spilling out in a giddy grin. “I want that, too.”

Hope blazed in Evan’s eyes. “Really?”

Colin nodded. His head felt like it was filled with helium, and he was pretty sure if he tried to stand, his knees would give out. But in a strange way, it felt…good. Really good. “Yeah.”

Evan’s breath left in a whoosh, relief and pleasure and a little bit of fear reflected in his eyes. “Wow.”

Since that was pretty much how Colin felt too, he nodded. “Yeah.”

Evan swallowed, his throat bobbing, and licked his lips. “So, since we’re not going back…”

Colin let out a slow breath, nervous and a little queasy and quite possibly happier than he’d ever been. “Wanna try that kiss again?”

Evan blinked, heat blooming in his eyes. He pushed back from the table, the chair scraping against the floor loud enough to almost drown out the heartbeat thudding in Colin’s ears, and stood. “Come here.”

Helpless to do anything else, Colin rose to his feet, rubbing his damp and shaking hands on his thighs.

Evan’s eyes tracked the movement. “You’re nervous.”

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