Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95019 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95019 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Ty laughs. “We’re not letting you rob Sigma Alpha. And you know a bet is definitely against the rules, so why don’t you just settle for trusting your good friends with this?”
“I hate when you make a good point.”
Funny to think I’ve been walking on eggshells, feeling so on edge the past three and a half weeks, and now I feel lighter. And I know it has nothing to do with the bet, but because Ty and Keegan were clearly scheming to find a way to keep me good through this probation, and it’s not something I’ll take for granted. I also have no intention of letting my bros down.
“So is it a bet?” Keeg asks.
“At a hundred each?” I confirm.
Keeg rolls his eyes. “Fine. A hundred it is.”
“Damn right it’s a bet.”
We shake on it, and Ty says, “I’m glad you’re in. Because I want to still be hanging with my buddy.”
“We can’t lose one of our own,” Keegan adds. “Just let some of the other guys get into trouble for a minute.”
I know I’ve been an asshole to Marty recently, but he’s about to see a totally different side of Ryan Lorde. He won’t even know who the fucking hell his roommate is.
“I’m gonna be so good, he won’t be able to stand it,” I mutter, glaring at Marty like he’s my archnemesis right before he gets hit in the face with the ball.
8
Marty
I thoroughly enjoyed the break, spending the time in my old room at my parents’, not having to deal with that frathole being right on top of me. And despite being disappointed with Aiden going to Tybee Island, I still got to spend a couple of days with him when he got back.
Now everything’s back to normal.
Only not.
The past few days, Ryan hasn’t been as bad…really, since we played pickleball with the crew. Not that he’s been great, but feels like he’s been laying off, not trying to make a production of annoying the crap out of me. I want to believe he’s finally taking the consequences of his actions seriously, but I’m worried it’s something else. That he’s trying to get me to let my guard down before he surprises me with something that’ll really throw me.
Any minute now, I’m sure the floor will fall right out from under me.
Sunday night, I go out with the guys to the new rock-climbing wall at the rec center. We climb for a bit before grabbing smoothies. Ash and Colin went to a queer nudist camp in South Georgia for the break, and right after, Ash went to some nerd conference, so we’re only now catching up with him about the topic Lance and I are most interested in, for all the obvious reasons.
“I still can’t get over your being totally fine having your junk out,” I say.
Ash shrugs, and Lance pulls a face.
“We’ve walked in on him having sex with his boyfriend,” Lance says. “How would that be the weirdest thing he’s done?”
“It’s different when it’s just wagging around like that. You’re not doing anything with it at a nudist camp.”
“Uh…yeah, sure, definitely not having sex the entire time,” Ash says, glancing around overdramatically.
I can’t disguise my envy. “Oh, shut up. You were not having sex that entire time. Were you?” I notice how high my voice gets on the question.
Ash bursts into a laugh. “Of course not.”
I don’t know why that makes me feel relief, maybe because if it hadn’t been that way, it’d be like I was getting even less sex than I already am.
“We had to eat,” Ash adds with a wink, but I’m not laughing ’cause now I’m thinking maybe that’s closer to the truth than I figured.
“I know the feeling,” Lance adds. “Ty and I had fun at Universal, but we were eager to get back to the hotel so we could have a different kind of fun.”
“To think it used to be two straight guys and our bi bro Ash, and now I’m the odd man out.”
“That’s not true,” Ash insists, sidling up close and hooking his arm around mine. “You were always the odd man out. But it is funny how many Alpha Theta Mus identified as straight freshman year, and now they’re falling out of the closet left and right. Maybe keeping a whiteboard to track how many of the guys in the house come out wouldn’t be so bad.”
That’s an idea I had when it felt like all my buddies at Alpha Theta Mu wound up with guys.
We share a laugh. Obviously, we’d never do that, but it’s funny imagining scratching off the names of our bros as they discover this new side of themselves.
“But enough about the Alpha Theta Mu queers,” Lance says, then to me, “How are things with you? I saw you chatting up Angie after TaskFrat on Friday. Any news there?”