I laugh, biting into a turkey sandwich and kind of wishing I had some sriracha to put on it or something. Actually, I kind of wonder what the “weird shit” Drew’s friends eat is. Probably has more seasoning than plain turkey. “Don’t forget about Devin’s thing later.”

Drew smiles, wiping my mouth with his thumb. “Yes, I know, gotta go recycle plastics or something.”

Drew’s friend has an apartment, which I guess is part of why he’s having a getty and not a real party. Seven people stand around the heated pool on the rooftop patio of the building. It’s really nice, surrounded with twinkling string lights, an unused bar off to the side, and a railing leading to a breathtaking view of the neighborhood.

Everyone greets Drew as we arrive, a couple of people clapping him on the back, and some white guy in camo passing him a can of beer.

Much like the bonfire, there’s a startlingly small number of girls. Namely, one, who looks like she’s already pretty wasted as she hangs off the arm of this white guy who also looks pretty wasted.

“What’ve you been up to, man?” one of the guys asks. I gather he’s the one who lives there since he’s got a key card in hand. He’s lanky, with emo bangs that hang over his eyes and a tattoo snaking up his neck.

“Not a whole lot,” Drew says. He plops down in one of the patio chairs and pops open the beer. “Mostly just trying to enjoy the summer. One last hoorah before school.”

“Who’s the companion?”

Drew smirks over at me and says, “This is Noah, my boyfriend. Noah, this is Matt. We used to ski together.”

“Damn, dude, I didn’t know you were gay,” Matt says.

Drew laughs. “I’m not. Noah’s special.”

And I know he means it as a compliment, but it makes me feel kind of dirty, like I’m just not enough of a boy or too much of an anomaly to really be anything at all. I tug on Drew’s arm a little to mention it, but he shrugs me off, cracking some joke with Matt, so I just file it away for later. I mean, it’s not like Drew’s a trans rights activist. He doesn’t know better, so I’ll just mention it when I get a chance. No big deal.

I pull up a chair next to Drew and slip into it, but no one bothers offering me a drink or anything. I don’t know if they realize I’m way younger than them, or if they just don’t care since I’m really only Drew’s plus-one.