Ronny blushed. The words made him stubborn. “Why aren’t you with Jennifer tonight?”

Ben shrugged, jaw set, looking at the ceiling. He leaned up, stripped the shirt over his head. He looked at Ronny and waited. Ronny moved to the edge of the bed, put his hands on Ben’s chest and lay across him. Ben folded his arms over Ronny and sighed.

Ronny breathed against the center of Ben’s chest. He could feel the furthering of ease in Ben, his breath slowing, his heartbeat steady.

“You know I was supposed to be living in Granville Towers this summer,” Ben said. “Were you thinking about that when you got this room?”

“No, I didn’t know where you’d be. That part was just luck.”

Ben raised him up and looked him in the eye. He was smirking. “Yeah. Sure.”

“You think I’m crazy about you or something.”

“Anyway, I’m not going to be over there. I’m not coming to summer school.”

Ronny shrugged. But he sank a little to hear it.

Ben’s heart was a steady pulse. When he moved his arms he showed a glint of satisfaction; it appeared he liked the way Ronny reacted when his body shifted, the way Ronny’s eyes followed the changes in the shapes and contours. He liked having his physicality appreciated, which his girlfriends did in one way and which Ronny, apparently, did in another. Sometimes Ronny felt he knew Ben so well he could tell what he was thinking from one moment to the next. After a while Ben said, “Sure I think you’re crazy about me. What do you think you are?”

“About you?”

Ben’s breathing was deep and even. He lowered one arm around Ronny’s back.

“I’d have to be crazy to be crazy about you,” Ronny said. “I’d sure be crazy to tell you.”

Ben grinned and there was a feeling in Ronny that a sun had touched him, and sun-stuff showered through him, lit him golden. “You’re right about that.”

They watched each other for a moment, while the wind-up alarm clock ticked and ticked on the desk. Ronny said, “I don’t know what you want me around for.”

Ben looked out the window, a hand over his eyes. “Stuff.”

“Yeah?”

Ben brushed hair out of his eyes, mood shifting, becoming somber. He was wearing a watch, took it off, leaned over to put it on Ronny’s desk. “Why are you pushing me like this?”

“I don’t mean to be.”

“Yes you do. That’s why you left the dorm today.”

Ronny moved closer to Ben’s face. Sometimes he felt unsafe there, in the space right in front of Ben. As if he might come to pieces from the intensity, as if Ben might push him away. Other times, like tonight, he felt invited. “Maybe there’s not that much time,” Ronny said, rubbing against Ben’s stubbled cheek.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re going to marry some girl like Jennifer. You’re going to have kids and do all that stuff.”

“So? That never bothered you before.”