“I seriously don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Maybe it was for the best?” he offers. “I mean, you two seem to like each other a lot.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah.”

“When you … when you realized you were in love with me, what was that like? How did that happen?”

“You’re asking me when I fell in love with you?”

I nod. “What was it like?”

“You realize that love’s not really a thing most people whittle down to a single moment.”

“Yeah, but like … what was the best moment?”

Josh lets his head hang in shame. “You’re actually hopeless.”

“So you don’t know?”

“Jesus Christ, Neil. Remember that LEGO Y-wing that you bought me?”

“Yeah.”

“We had this missing piece, and you turned my room all over, looked under everything and everywhere until you found it.”

I think I looked for a full hour.

Josh couldn’t finish the stupid thing without the piece.

“That was when I think I first realized that I loved you in more than just the platonic sense.”

“So, love is looking for LEGOs?” I say. “Got it.”

“Yeah, you can look at it that way,” Josh says. “But I see it more as it’s knowing what the other person needs and doing whatever it takes to find it, because somehow your own happiness has become inseparable from theirs. Because it makes you so damn happy to see them happy. And it makes them happy to see you happy.”

Oh.

That sounds … familiar.

“I think … I think that I’m in love with Wyatt.”

“Did you tell him that?”

I give Josh a glance. “Don’t you think he’d still be here if I’d told him?”

“Right, yeah.”

“I love him,” I say. “And I think that I fucked things up.”

“Did you apologize? I know that’s never been your skill set, but it looks like you’re learning.”

“Over the phone.” I turn on my screen again. Still no calls or texts. “I guess I’ll have to wait until we’re back at school to talk to him. If he even wants to talk to me anymore.”

“Well.” Josh stands up. “If I’m talking to you again, maybe there’s hope. I mean, I know the full diagnosis of someone who’s fallen for Neil, and Wyatt was definitely showing the symptoms. Poor guy.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yeah, I do.” Josh holds out a hand for me to take.

“Can I ask you one more question?”

Josh raises a brow. “You’re pushing it, Kearney.”

“That’s not a no?”

He smirks, so I take that as permission to ask.

“Who was that handsome guy you’ve been hanging out with?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Josh lets out this low chuckle. “Come on—we’ve got a wedding to attend.”

*  *  *