It’s a sunny day, perfect for eating in the park. We find our usual picnic table beneath a big shady tree.

“I’m not interested in James. Plus, he’s my boss. Isn’t that breaking some sort of rule?”

“Probably,” Theo laughs, pointing to the free table as we sit down with our food. “That wouldn’t stop me if I were gay. But that’s just me.”

“Are you sure you’re not?” I tease.

“Hey, just because I’m comfortable enough to say a guy’s hot doesn’t mean I’m gay.” He grins, mouth full of taco.

“Fair enough,” I say, digging into my enchilada.

“So what are you going to do about this guy?” he asks.

“We were actually best friends in high school. Things ended badly over Sarah. Funny enough, we both ended up chasing after her again in Toronto.”

“No shit,” Theo’s eyes widen.

“Shit,” I confirm.

“So you two were fighting over the same girl and ended up falling for each other?”

I think about it. “Yeah. I guess that’s how it went down.”

“Maybe you were subconsciously chasing each other the whole time,” he says, shrugging.

I blink. “That was… actually kind of profound.”

“I didn’t get this job only for my looks,” he grins. “So are you going to see him again?”

“What’s with the twenty-one questions?” I raise an eyebrow.

“This is the most you’ve ever talked about your love life. I’m cashing in.” He laughs.

He’s right. I usually keep that stuff to myself. But Caleb made me feel interesting. Maybe I am and I just never gave people the chance to see it.

“I hope to see him again,” I admit. “But I don’t know. Things were left up in the air. Now I just feel kind of… ghosted.” I look down at my plate, suddenly queasy.

“Maybe talking it out would help.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I mutter. “There’s a party at Sarah’s this weekend. Want to come with me? I don’t want to go alone.”

“Party at your exes house? Count me in. Maybe she’s got some hot friends I can obsess over for the night.” Theo winks.

“You’re a pig.” I shake my head, laughing.

At least he has someone to look forward to.

Mine? Apparently AWOL.

29

caleb

“Dude, this place is sweet. Great hookup," Tony says, grinning as he pats me on the back.

Leave it to Sarah to help me rent out an entire rooftop patio just to throw a party in the hopes of luring Nathaniel here. We’re not sure it’ll work based on the fact that he said he needed to think about it—but it’s worth a shot. No turning back now.

“Yeah, man. Should be a great show,” I say with a smile. The whole crew is here, ready to show out. Jason’s setting up behind us on the drums, while Richard runs through some notes on the keys. I nod to the rest of the band, all busy getting into place. We used to jam together all the time inside Richard’s house, but ever since he got engaged to Christina—who’s a law major—we don’t play there as often.