Page 100 of Looking for Group
Kit gave a little moan. “Oh God, I’m hopeless at this.”
“And I have way overhyped a piece of garnish.”
Blushing slightly, Kit leaned forward, and took a neat bite of the strawberry. They’d dithered about it for so long that Drew thought it had become a joke. Except it totally wasn’t. There was something weirdly intimate about it, just in offering, and being accepted.
Also it was, honestly, kind of sexy.
Having Kit that little bit closer. Being able to see tiny details like the flicker of his light-gold lashes, and a faint suggestion of shadow following the line of his jaw. How close his lips were to the tips of Drew’s fingers.
Flustered, he ate the other half of the strawberry and put the leaf back on the plate.
They were quiet for a moment.
“Boyfriend?” said Kit, who was still a little bit pink.
In the midst of all the excitement, Drew had forgotten about that. “Uh. Is that… Was that…uh.”
“No, it’s nice.”
And Kit put his hand over his mouth, and smiled.
After they’d awkwardly paid for each other’s food, which would have been really faffy if Kit hadn’t turned out to be good at mental arithmetic, they tumbled out onto King Street, where they stood about for a bit, shuffling.
Still slightly strawberry dazed, Drew went for it. “So, like, last time we were on a date, neither of us wanted to go home, but then we had to raid, so we kind of had to. There isn’t a raid tonight. So…”
“So…” Kit slid his hands into his sleeves. “Do you want to come back to mine?”
“Yes.” Wow, that sounded way too eager, but Drew realised he was, in fact, quite eager. And if they went back to Kit’s, then he wouldn’t have to invite Kit back to his, because his was a state. He’d left most of his T-shirts (and some of his pants) all over the floor, and Tinuviel tended to wander in without knocking or, in one extreme instance, wearing clothes. And Drew was pretty sure any or all of those things would seriously kill the mood.
They got on a bus, and off again twenty minutes later outside the University of Leicester Botanic Gardens.
“You live in a garden?” asked Drew.
“In a house in a garden with three hundred other students.”
“Classy.”
Drew hadn’t actually been this far out of the city centre like… ever. It was a little bit like going home to his parents’, because it was quiet and leafy, and it made him feel quite distant from his regular life on campus. But not in a bad way. The sun was just on the cusp of setting, so the light was mellow and the shadows were long and golden. And then Kit took his hand, and they walked together under the trees.
Here and there, they wandered past groups of students lounging on the lawn with plastic cups of beer or playing a late-evening game of Frisbee. If he hadn’t been out with Kit or raiding, it was the sort of thing Drew might have been doing with his mates. But it didn’t seem like the sort of thing Kit did, and Drew couldn’t decide whether he felt bad for him.
“This is a really cool place to live,” he said.
Kit nodded. “I really like being so close to the Botanic Gardens. There’s this willow tree I like to read under. And sometimes I bring my laptop.”
Drew gave his hand a squeeze. “Don’t you ever want to hang out with people from your course or anything?”
“I sometimes have lunch with my lab partner, and I go to the occasional party, but I don’t really feel I’m missing out.”
And now Drew couldn’t decide whether he felt bad for himself. “Oh man, I always feel like I’m missing out.”
“When I first got here, I had this serious freak-out because I thought I was doing it wrong. I was so convinced it was going to be massively different to school, but it wasn’t.12 I was still the quiet guy who didn’t have many friends, and there were still the popular kids who seemed to be having this amazing time that I just couldn’t be part of.” They’d come to a sun-dappled corner of lawn that nobody seemed interested in. “Do you want to stop for a bit? It seems a shame to miss the sunset.”
Drew surveyed the area critically. “Well, there isn’t a rock and I’ve left my fishing rod in a fictional universe.”
Kit’s laugh seemed louder and brighter under the clear sky.
They got settled on the grass, side by side, Drew’s arm and leg gently brushing Kit’s.
