Chapter 3
Dillon
I looked down at the red Solo cup in my hand and frowned. “Well, apparently, my brothers were right about this place,” I mumbled.
Tanner just gave me a look and snorted. “Because you didn’t want to party? Or because you think you’re too cool for a nearly flat beer out of a keg?”
I shook my head and took a sip. “It’s not nearly flat, it is flat,” I said with a grimace, then finished it anyway. Because, hey, beer.
“Pacey and Sanders are working on the next keg. You just happen to come from a family that owns a bar. And from what I hear, knows what they’re doing when it comes to beer.”
I shrugged and looked around my new place, currently filled to the brim with people I didn’t know. “My brothers wanted to make sure they had the best beers available, local and craft, and everything hipster you could possibly think of. I may have tasted some, but I’m going to plead the fifth.”
Tanner just glanced at me, his eyes filled with laughter, surprising me since they were usually a little more brooding. The other man took a sip of his beer and grimaced. “I hope the next keg is good. I mean, anything is better than this, unfortunately.”
“Do I want to know where Pacey and Sanders got the kegs? Considering I’m pretty sure all of us are twenty.”
“Sanders has an older brother who graduated last year. He makes sure Sanders always gets what he wants.”
There was something more in that particular statement, but I let it go. We were only a week and a half into living together, and we weren’t quite meshing yet. Nobody was rude or uncomfortable, but we were still trying to find our routines. Considering how I wasn’t good at finding a system thanks to hating change, it wasn’t easy.
“Okay. We’ve got it,” Sanders said, to the cheer of the others in the living room and kitchen.
“I didn’t realize this many people wanted to be here before school started,” I said as Miles came to my other side. The guy looked even more nervous than I did and kept hunching his shoulders as if afraid someone might notice he was there. Once Miles got to know people, he wasn’t as shy—at least given what I’d seen so far. But for now, he tended to hide behind Sanders or Tanner until he got more comfortable.
“I’m pretty sure Sanders knows all of these people. Or knew at least some of them, and they invited everyone else.”
“Sanders or Pacey,” Tanner added.
I looked at my two roommates, the ones who hadn’t invited the rest of the world, and felt like maybe I had found some kindred spirits. Or perhaps I was deluding myself.
“Hey there, Tanner,” a redhead with a very low-cut shirt and very short shorts yelled as she came up to Tanner’s side. She smiled and leaned against the other man at her side. “We were just talking about you. How about you show us the rest of the house? We’d love a tour.”
The guy holding the woman raked his gaze over Tanner, and Tanner shrugged, set his cup on the counter, and held out his arm. The guy and the girl split apart, each going to Tanner’s sides as they wrapped their arms around his waist before they left. I could only assume he showed them around the house then—our new home.
I looked over at Miles, whose eyes were so wide, I was afraid they might fall right out of his head.
“Well, I wasn’t quite expecting that right out of the gate,” I said with a laugh, and Miles shook his head.
“I knew he was bi or pan because I’ve seen him date men and women throughout the time I’ve known him. Just didn’t realize he did it at the same time. Good for him.”
I shook my head, holding back a laugh at the confusion on Miles’ face. “A few friends of the family are in poly relationships, even have kids. The idea doesn’t shock me. The fact that it’s Tanner, the one who usually doesn’t even say two words unless he’s in the mood, is what does.”
“Maybe it’s the brooding thing. I should try that on someone.” Miles looked around. “Although that would require me talking to people, and I don’t know if I’m up to that.”
I laughed as a girl with thick glasses, a short skirt, and two shots in her hands came up to Miles’ side. “Hey, Miles. I’m going to beat you for the curve this year. But first, we’re going to make out. I hope that’s okay.”
Miles coughed into his hand, looked at the shot glass, and grinned. “I think you’re welcome to try. Now, what were you saying about shots? I mean, making out?” He stumbled, and I held back a laugh as the girl and Miles did the shots together, then went off to some corner, presumably to see who was going to beat that particular curve.
I shook my head and realized that I was once again standing alone in a room, even though it was my house. I should probably be better at this.
“Are you going to leave the corner and talk to people? Or are you the quiet guy I wasn’t aware of?” I looked over at Pacey as he pushed his hands through his blond hair and shrugged.
“I’m just getting the lay of the land. I kind of went from hanging out with mostly people in their late twenties and thirties, all thinking about marriage and babies and 401ks, to coming back to college like this. I feel like I’m a little behind.”
Pacey gave me a look, and I didn’t know what it meant. “You know, we’re all behind in some things, and yet ahead in others. I would bet amongst all of us, you probably know your way around the world a bit more than someone who might have been under his daddy’s thumb for his
