“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?”

“Sure. I’ll get this round.”

“A man after my own heart.”

The next hour or so was a bit of a blur. Zack took a tequila shot, drank another Scotch, did two more shots—one of which was an absolutely foul well vodka he swore never to touch again—and then switched to beer and water while he still had enough common sense to pace himself. John, to his credit, managed to keep up with them pretty well, and didn’t press when Zack glissaded over what he’d been doing since he left school.

The four of them ended up outside in the beer garden, which was bigger than it had looked from the outside. It had no chairs, but it did have a dozen or so pub tables for them to crowd around, and it was quieter than the club. Zack and Alexa smoked while Lee and John looked disapprovingly on.

“You know,” John said, nodding at Zack’s cigarette, “those things will kill you.”

Zack took a long drag and tilted his head back, exhaling slowly so the smoke curled toward the sky like creeping vines. “Funny you should mention that. It says so on the box.”