I took a deep breath. He walked up and hugged me so tight I could feel his ribs pressing against my own. The other people at the party didn’t matter; I clung to him and buried my face in the cradle of his neck and shoulder. It was the strangest sense of pride; he punched someone to defend me.
“I’m sorry. Are you okay?” he asked, lifting my head from his shoulder.
I nodded and smiled weakly. “How’s your hand?” I asked, looking at his hand and rubbing my fingers over his knuckles.
I could feel eyes watching us, though people tried to pretend that they weren’t paying attention. And I didn’t mind sharing this moment of intimacy with them. I smiled at Wesley and he smiled back, taking the beer from my hands and finishing it in one gulp. Alycia and Jeremy came up to us, and Jeremy apologized for Alan’s stupidity. Alycia cursed him up one side and down the other and pretty soon, we were all laughing.
The night wore on and I wished that one of us were sober enough to drive because I really wanted to get home. The events of the evening, Wesley’s unmitigated defense of me, and the alcohol had left me a little hot and bothered. But Alycia, Wesley, and I stayed the night at Jeremy’s and we ended up playing beer pong until there wasn’t any beer left. Fortunately, Wesley and I both had the next day off from work, because we didn’t wake up until three the next afternoon. Tired and hungover, we got fast food for dinner and were in bed again by eight.
Chapter 33
“THAT QUIZ totally sucked!” Mark complained, shaking his head and furrowing his brows. “How’d you do?”
“Pretty good, I think. I only got two wrong,” I answered, following him out of the classroom.
“There were only two questions,” Mark said, then grinned. He pulled at the shoulder strap of his book bag.
“I know. I’m just math-stupid,” I conceded, buttoning my coat as we left the Sciences building.
Mark and I met in our precalc class. We gravitated toward each other, because we were both terrible at math and because he was gay too. It was sort of a “takes one to know one” situation, and we became friends quickly.
“So, do you have any plans for Thanksgiving?” he asked. A cool breeze whipped through his brown hair and he glanced at me sideways.
“I’m not sure yet. I’m gonna go to my mom’s, and Wesley’s welcome of course, but I kinda want him to go home for Thanksgiving. I mean, he hasn’t really seen or talked to his parents since we moved in.”
“That’s too bad,” Mark said quietly, staring at the ground. “It took a while, but Jared and I have finally figured out a family holiday schedule. We spend Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas Eve with mine. We sleep over, well, because my mom still likes to play Santa Claus,” he confided, blushing lightly. “I mean, I’m twenty-four and I still get presents from Santa! Then, we spend Christmas morning with my family and the rest of the day with his. It took a couple years to get everything squared away, but we got it all worked out.”
I smiled and imagined spending Christmas with Wesley’s family and the thought sent chills down my spine. I was glad for Mark, though. He was older and smarter than I was, and he always seemed to inspire me. He was friends with Professor Kitner and an advocate of same-sex marriage. He and his boyfriend, Jared, wore matching rings so that the symbol of their bond was present; now they just needed the benefits opposite-sex couples enjoyed.
“I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that. Wesley’s family…. Well, his parents objected to our relationship from the start. But my mom’s really cool and pretty much thinks of Wesley as a second son,” I said, shoving my hands in my coat pockets and smiling faintly.
“It’s too bad about his family,” Mark said, looking down and shaking his head.
I nodded and looked down the sidewalk. Several students were walking around campus, some wearing just sweatshirts and others wearing thick winter coats. It was hard to tell what season it was by looking at all the different layers people were wearing. One of the kids wearing a sweatshirt looked like Wesley and I squinted for a better look. My heart started beating faster and a giant smile dawned on my face. It was him, and I waved and shouted his name. He smiled and walked toward me, then looked at Mark and lost his grin.
“Hi! What are you doing here?” I asked, feeling giddy through my whole body. Wesley looked really handsome and I was excited to show him off to Mark.
“I thought I’d see if you wanted to get lunch,” Wesley said, glancing at Mark again with a sour look.
“Yeah, of course!” Wesley had never visited me at school and I was happy to see him. It was Monday, his day off, so I knew he made an effort to come see me. “Oh, I’m sorry!” I said, thudding my head with my palm and turning to Mark. “Mark, this is my boyfriend, Wesley. Wesley, this is Mark.” Mark extended his hand and Wesley shook it, his expression easing up with what looked like relief.
“It’s nice to meet you. Toren talks about you all the time,” Mark said with a smile and I felt myself blush. “I gotta get to my next class, so I’ll see you Wednesday, Toren. It was nice meeting you, Wesley. Have a good
