Page 65 of Bro Amazing

"Sure," says Quintin, also standing but being much more chill about it.

"See you all later." I grab my bag and beeline for the door. My boyfriends can come or not. It's up to them. Although I hope they do, because god only knows what secrets will be divulged if they stay behind.

"Why don’t I come over on Saturday to see the new place, and we can finish our movie?" calls Sasha.

Instead of responding, I just toss a wave over my shoulder. This was exactly why I didn't want these two worlds to collide. I want all of my worlds to stay neatly separate. No touching.

"Give me your bag." Coming up behind me, Quintin grabs my bag off my shoulder and hooks it onto his, not even caring that he's wearing all black and my bag is pink with cute little birdies and flowers embroidered on it.

"You didn't have to come out to the bar," I say. Before they can defend themselves, I point out, "You could have met me at the station that's right by our house if you're still worried about me walking home at night."

"You'd told Ender you didn't have a lot of friends, but you had this group." Lionel shrugs. "We wanted to make sure they were nice."

"And I notice you both put on jeans to come out tonight." It had been one of the first things I'd noticed, actually, but I hadn't wanted to say anything because I can already feel their interest piquing now that I have brought it up.

"Do we get a reward for putting them on again?" asks Quintin. "We even did it without being told."

"And without being bribed," I point out.

"Oh no, we still want our bribe," says Quintin.

"In fact, we should get extra because we put them on proactively," Lionel bargains.

"I'm not sure you understand how bribes work." I don't know if I'm more annoyed or amused. Both in equal measure, probably.

"I'm not sure you understand how this works." Lionel takes my hand as we ascend the steps to the platform.

"You're going to have to tell people about us eventually," adds Quintin.

I turn the tables back on them. "Oh, so you've already told your friends and family about me?"

Both of them open and close their mouths as they look to each other.

"That's what I thought." I step onto the train and sit in one of the four seats facing each other. They can follow or not.

"We don't have a lot of friend-friends," says Quintin, following me onto the train. "More like work friends."

"And fans," adds Lionel, close behind.

"Exactly, that's what my critique group is. They're my friends, but on a super professional level. And you're not announcing to your fans and followers what's going on in our house." Never once on their streaming page or in their chat have they even intimated that any of them has a girlfriend, let alone one they all pay to live with them.

Both Quintin and Lionel give me a surprised look, and I realize I've said something I shouldn't. They're not supposed to know I've researched them. Or that I'm following them and listening to all of their streams so I can hear their voices because they calm me down when I'm stressed or lonely.

"What about your families? You haven't told them," I point out, directing the attention away from my slip-up.

"We all live so far away from our families that it's not likely they'll meet you," says Lionel, finally sitting beside me.

"Then why live here in an expensive city when you could live closer your families?"

"But we'd only be able to live near one person's family. This way it's more fair," argues Lionel.

"Besides, there's better takeout in the city," says Quintin, sliding into the spot across from me.

"You were just home visiting your families for a few days." I'm not letting them distract me from this fight. If they're holding me to a certain standard, they need to be held to thesame one. "You're telling me not once in all that time did you have an opportunity to tell them that you hired a live-in girlfriend to share between you?"

"I wouldn't phrase it exactly like that," says Lionel.

It's exactly like that though. Of course, I don't say this out loud.

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