Page 37 of Strip Bare

I nodded and we sat there in silence, people watching until she stood up. "Are you off to give him the same speech you just gave me?"

She smiled. "Maybe."

I laughed with her but declined going back to the house. I would talk to Kit, but not right now. I needed time to think, to decide the right thing to say.

“Oh, actually, could you do me a favor?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Sure, what is it?”

“I told Kit I would bring over one of his pieces from the art studio for his showcase but I forgot to grab it. Things have been… intense, lately, staying at Jamie’s,” she added and I winced, nodding sympathetically. Jamie was a bit like a whirlwind, I wasn’t sure anyone’s life was the same after having her in it.

“Yeah sure, I’ll collect it for him now and bring it home with me.”

She beamed and I couldn’t help but return the smile. “You’re a star. Thank you!” Bryn gave me a tight, but brief, hug and then began walking in the other direction of campus with a wave of her hand.

I’d only been to the art studio a handful of times, but I vaguely remembered where it was. Mostly I’d met Kit there after class, seeing as I had no reason to be in that part of campus. My course was a lot less creative than Kit’s.

The journey was relatively short and I was close to overheating by the time I arrived, the main problem with being so fair-skinned. The AC was set to full-blast and I exhaled roughly, enjoying the feeling of it across my sweaty body and face. The corridors were long, carpeted in a strange teal color that somehow managed to look flat and faded instead of cheerful—like being at a doctor’s office. There was a large classroom at the end of the corridor that I knew they stored the pieces for showcases in, I’d been with Kit one time to drop a piece off. I’d actually almost forgotten that he had another showcase coming up. I never usually missed one but I’d been distracted lately with surprise visits and exams and… sex with my best friend.

I found the right room and stopped dead at the sight of all the racks in front of me. How the hell was I supposed to find Kit’s piece among all this? I started to wonder if Bryn knew what this room held in store and had forgotten on purpose to avoid it. I really couldn’t blame her.

I walked down the first of the mini corridors, examining the various cubby holes for Kit’s name—it wasn’t even in alphabetical order and my palms itched at the thought of getting in there and organizing this whole thing.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I heard a rustle at the door and looked up over the chest-high stacks to see Kit staring at me, eyes wide.

“Kit?”

“Leo?” he said at the same time and we chuckled awkwardly. “What are you doing here?”

“Bryn said you had a piece for your showcase here that you asked her to collect and she forgot, so I said I’d do it for her. Why are you here?”

Kit squinted like he was doing really hard math and I bit my lip on the smile I could feel trying to form. “Bryn said she’d seen my professor in the park on her way to me and that I needed to label a couple of my pieces before they got lost.” He shook his head, blue hair falling over on eye. “Did she parent-trap us?”

“I think so,” I said, half-laughing around my sigh as I walked over to him, twisting my hands together so I would reach for his hand. It had only been a few days, but I’d started to get used to the casual touches we’d used around my parents. They’d felt natural, like it seemed strange that we had spent so long not doing that. “I guess I’ll head home, then.”

“Leo,” Kit said as I started to walk past him. “Can we talk?”

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment before nodding stiffly.

Kit led the way out of the room, leading us into an art room that had been haphazardly slapped and speckled with paint, likely as people worked on their pieces. The riot of color actually relaxed me though–it reminded me of Kit.

He sat down at a table and gently nudged a chair out from under it with his foot so I could sit too. “I just feel like, lately we’ve been at odds. Normally we’re so in sync that I forget that there are times when we’re not on the same page—and I feel like there’s been a lot of that recently. So I’m sorry.”

He wanted to talk about our communication? “It’s okay.”

“No,” he insisted, “it’s not. I should have told you then and I don’t know why I didn't, I guess you pissed me off.” He grinned and I raised an eyebrow, confused about what he was saying. “I meant everything I said to your mom. Every single word. You’re my best friend, Leo. You just…” He shook his head. “I meant it. I’m sorry I didn’t try to explain better at Giorgio’s.”

He’d meant it? “I love him. Wherever he goes, I’ll follow. Whenever he needs me, I’ll be there. And if I’m lucky enough, he’ll let me do all of that forever.” “You mean, as a friend?”

Something shuttered in his eyes but he nodded. “Right. Yeah.”

I blew out a long breath and rubbed my hand across my face. “It’s okay. I’m sorry I blew up at you about it. I guess it just caught me off guard.”

We watched each other for a moment before Kit smiled, revealing a flash of his tongue piercing. “So, we’re good?”

“We’re good,” I confirmed and he relaxed. I hadn’t even realized how tense he’d been until that moment.

“So you and Harley, huh,” he tried and I grimaced.

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