“Oh, shit, yeah.” Mateo jumped forward and swung the door open for him. Thank God no one had locked it. The key was in the depths of his toiletry bag.

“Thanks,” Archer murmured as he dashed through the door, not able to slam it behind him because, again … hands. Instead, he fell onto his bed and wiggled the covers around him. His clothes and towel were sitting folded neatly on his pillow. Ben and Beau were curled up together on a bed watching something on a tablet, although they were both now staring at his entrance, wide-eyed.

“Who put my clothes there?” he mumbled into his pillow, too embarrassed to be mad.

“Caleb,” one of the B-Boys replied.

Archer sat up. “You didn’t think it was weird Caleb had my clothes?”

They shrugged and went back to their show. “He said you asked him to drop them off or something,” one of them muttered.

Archer grabbed his clothes and realized Mateo was standing in the doorway still, looking very uncertain—a look Archer had not seen on him before. He pulled his boxer briefs and shorts under the blanket and awkwardly clambered into them before letting go of the blanket and wrestling his T-shirt on.

“Thanks guys,” he snapped at the B-Boys as he stood and smoothed his hair back. “Did you need something?” he asked Mateo with more irritation in his voice than was fair.

“Uh, no,” Mateo said. “No, not really, I was walking by and I was just going to ask—or say—good job today.”

Right at that moment Caleb strolled in. “Hey, Matty,” he said casually to Mateo. “How are things?”

Archer bit his lip, not wanting to lose his shit in front of Mateo.

“Fine, Caleb. I, uh—I’ve got to go. I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning.”

“What the fuck, Caleb?” Archer snapped as soon as Mateo’s form retreated from the room.

Caleb fell back onto his bed. “Oh, just a bit of harmless fun, Archer. Relax. Welcome to the troupe.”

“Fun? Mateo Dixon basically saw me naked!”

Caleb laughed. “No one is going to be mad about seeing you naked, not even Mateo.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. This is my job. I’m here to work.”

He rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to take this quite so seriously, Archer.”

The words piled up in Archer’s mouth. Maybe this wasn’t serious for Caleb or Ben and Beau or anyone. Maybe they were only here for fun. He was here because no one else wanted him, and he had to do it well.

“Just…” Archer ran his hands through his hair. “Leave my stuff alone, okay?”

“Fine.” Caleb sniffed.

Archer spread his comforter out in the icy silence, which was interrupted by his phone buzzing. Lynn was calling him. He ducked into the hall, ignoring Caleb’s sulk on the way.

“Archer! I miss you!” Lynn cried as soon as he answered.