John glanced at Alexa and Lee, who were subtly eavesdropping nearby. “Should I give you three guesses? Might be more fun that way. Though you should only need one.”

Zack stared hard at John’s face. He should be jumping for joy right now. The star of his fantasies for the past two weeks was standing in front of him, and the man was attractive. It didn’t seem possible. This wasn’t his life; this was the plot of a rom-com. A bad one. And yet here John was, sexy and real and finally within Zack’s reach. He’d never admitted to himself before how much he wanted that. In fact, he’d refused to even entertain it. And now that he had it, it was terrifying . . . and elating.

“So, what have you been up to since I last saw you?”

Zack jumped. “What?”

“You keep spacing out. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Zack cleared his throat. “Yeah, of course. What did you say?”

“How have you been since I last saw you?”

“You mean since the last time we spoke? Earlier today?”

John gave him a bewildered look. “Uh, no, we’ve never spoken before. The last time I saw you was in that class we had together freshman year.”

Zack choked on a reply and then managed to parrot, “Class we had together?”

John pouted. “I guess you don’t recognize me after all. Yeah, we took sociology together back at LACC. At least, until you disappeared. What happened, by the way?”

“I took a semester off,” Zack answered automatically. “How the hell did you recognize me?”

“You argued with the professor a lot. Don’t you remember? You were hilarious. That’s how I recognized that sexy voice of yours.” John smiled coyly.

Under normal circumstances, Zack would have gone into Mach 5 Flirt Mode, but he couldn’t even bring himself to smile. This wasn’t John, he thought in a daze. At least, not his John. He couldn’t tell if he was relieved or profoundly disappointed.

Zack gave himself a mental shake. This was ridiculous. Of course the guy wasn’t John. Zack had already had this conversation with himself. Los Angeles was a big city in an even bigger state. Millions upon millions of people lived here. He was never going to meet John.

He pulled himself together and gestured to his friends. “Sorry, I’m being rude again. Let me introduce you. Guys, this is John.”

“Hi,” John said, extending his hand.

Alexa’s eyes widened before Zack could shake his head at her. Luckily, Lee was oblivious and reached for his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Lee.”

“Hey, Lee.”

“John and I had a class together at LACC,” Zack said, staring at Alexa.

“Oh,” Alexa said, understanding dawning on her face. “I see. I’m Alexa. Are you a fan of shots?”

John grinned. “Actual liquor shots or those foamy, fruity things teenagers order when they want to pretend their IDs aren’t fake?”

“Good answer.” Alexa clapped him on the back. “Tequila?”