He leaned against the wall, happy to hear from her. Yes! Sorry, bit of a whirlwind. Listen, MATEO DIXON IS HERE. IN THE SHOW. (Do not ask who that is, just Google.)

While he was waiting for Lynn’s reply, he fired off a quick message to his mom. Arrived okay. Busy day. Will call you tomorrow.

Then Lynn replied. HOLY SHIT, ARCHER. HE’S HOT. WHAT IS HE DOING THERE?

I don’t know … dancing, I guess?? But I
was IN LOVE with him as a teenager. It’s
very weird.

You were??? THIS IS AMAZING. Is
he nice?

So far, I think he hates me.

No way. How could anyone hate
you?

Lol, I’ll ask him. How are you?

Good! But I need to talk to you about
something when you have time.
Maybe tomorrow? We’re heading out
now.

Everything okay? Did you kill my plants
already? Tell me Spot is alright.

Lol, no! Everything’s great, including
Spot. Just need your advice about
something.

Okay. Have fun. I miss you.

Miss you too. Kick some ass, okay?

Xoxo

He slid his phone back into his pocket and went back into the room.

Caleb was stretched out on his bed again watching Beau and Ben unpack. “How long have you two been together?” he asked them.

“Three years,” they said at the same time, then smiled at each other.

Caleb whistled. “Three years, shit. No little breakups in there at all? Three years solid?”

Both men stiffened. One of them (Ben?) offered a forced smile. “There was a brief, er, pause a year or so ago, but”—he pressed his lips together—“only a pause.”

“We don’t count it as a breakup,” the other said firmly. He stopped what he was doing and went to kiss his boyfriend on the shoulder before resuming his unpacking.

“Hmm.” Caleb’s eyes twinkled as he gave Archer a knowing look. Archer tried to keep his face noncommittal. “Yeah, sounds like it doesn’t count.”

They continued to settle in while Caleb gossiped about the rest of the dancers. “River is nonbinary and is definitely trying to get with Gage, who is bi. I already tried to fuck Gage last summer, but he wasn’t interested. Seems like he’s into River, anyway. Speaking of fucking—”

“How many summers have you been here?” Archer interrupted, not at all interested in who Gage was or was not fucking.

“This is my fourth. Gage, Grace, Seta, and a couple of the others are on their second. Dominik and Harley have done three. They work here for the summer semester then go back to college.”

Does anyone dance on Broadway? Archer wanted to ask, but it felt like an idiotic question.

Mercifully, Betty rapped on their doorframe before the hookup report could continue. “Hey guys, you ready to go?”