“Yeah, sure, of course, but…” They approached the porch entrance to Brennan’s apartment, nestled in a row of cozy brownstones. Cole stopped in front of the door and shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. “I mean, I know you’re a vampire, I know you read angsty poetry, I know you’re a nerd for systems and organization and that you likeTwilighteven though you won’t admit it—”
“Okay,that’sblatantly untrue—”
“But I don’t know what goes through that head of yours. I don’t know how youfeel.”
Brennan hesitated, lingering a few steps behind Cole, still on the ground in front of the stone stairs to the door. “About what?”
He had a hypothesis.
Cole shuffled his feet, facing the door. Brennan took in the curls on the back of his head, the headphones around his neck, his short, lean frame.
Brennan desperately wanted Cole to address the elephant in the room that was their flirtation, but more than that, heneededColenotto. Because if Cole asked Brennan how he felt about him, he might just be honest, and he might just do something reckless like kiss Cole’s perfect face. Which was getting harder and harder to view as a Bad Idea.
Brennan took the two steps up and stood next to Cole in front of the door. Brennan traced the curve of his jawline with his eyes while Cole stared forward, mouth twisted in thought.
Their shoulders brushed when Brennan moved past him to unlock the door.
He pulled it open as Cole said, “I mean, I don’t know, I guess…”
They stepped into the apartment and Cole trailed off into silence at the sight of Mari and Tony sitting on opposite ends of the couch, arms crossed over their chests, both looking straight ahead where the TV was dark and lifeless. The ice in the room was tangible.
“Don’t you guys have class?” Cole asked, and for a second he almost seemed disappointed. Like he’d expected them to be alone, too. Like he wanted to say whatever he’d been about to say half as much as Brennan had wanted to hear it. But it was gone in an instant, evaporating into concern. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Tony opened his mouth to respond but Mari shot him a glare so cold he slumped back into silence immediately.
“I fell asleep while we were studying. Well,Iwas studying, Tony was playingCall of Duty.AndAnthonyhere didn’t wake me up for my four thirty class because he wants to ruin my life—”
“I just thought you could take a sick day and rest—”
“—and sabotage my perfect attendance, my scholarships, mycareer—”
To Cole and Brennan, Tony said, “She already emailed the teacher and got an alternate assignment.”
“And now we’re sitting in silence until it’sBachelorettetime so I don’t commit manslaughter before I can graduate summa cum laude,” Mari finished, and offered an unhinged smile. “Does anyone want wine?”
No one dared accept the offer as she stormed toward the kitchen. Cole caught Brennan’s eye with an apologetic look before following Mari.
Tony queued up their trashy reality show of choice on the Xbox. He was deflated and noticeably quiet, so Brennan shuffled farther into the living room.
“That seemed… tough?” Brennan tried.
Weeks of living together, and Brennan still didn’t quite know how to communicate with Tony. Cole was easy, and with Mari, he could talk academics, but Tony’s brand of broeyness wasn’t something he knew how to approach. He half feared Tony saying something misogynistic along the lines ofbitches be crazy.But Tony surprised him.
“Look, I know she cares a lot about school and the rules and stuff, but she’s been working herself to death. She needed to sleep.”
Brennan had gotten the impression Tony was interested in Mari, but he hadn’t realized Tony actuallycaredabout her. Before he could figure out what to say, Mari’s voice spoke up, distant but clear even through the kitchen walls. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but his hearing, bolsteredby a refreshed drinking regimen under Nellie’s instruction, tuned from Tony to Mari like changing radio stations.
“It’s not even about that. I get that he cares, it’s just, the irresponsibility. The lack of accountability. You know?”
Brennan blinked and refocused on Tony, whose expression was that of a kicked puppy.
“Um,” Brennan said.
This wassonot his business. But they were, if not quite friends yet, then candidates for friendship, and maybe this was the kind of thing you did when you were maybe-almost-friends with someone.
“Like, he barely apologized. He just kept making excuses,” Mari was saying from the other room.
Brennan pinched his nose and exhaled. Maybe he shouldn’t eavesdrop, but he didn’t need vampiric powers to tell Tony to apologize.
