Page 46 of Escape Velocity
Mason stares at Callum’s smile and he feels a smile of his own tugging at his lips, but he hides it with taking a sip. It’s hard to deny that he feels comfortable with Callum for once. He’s tipsy, and he’s already forgotten about how angry he is with him. For now.
“Well, your words really made me feel seen,” Callum says, his tone softer.
Mason’s staring at Callum’s lips now.
They’re plump. Why is he just noticing them now? Why does he want to reach out and touch them?
It must be the beer.
“You can tell a lot about someone by how they play. I found that out recently.”
Callum’s smile falters slightly, and his eyebrows furrow, appearing pensive, like he’s angry.
“You don’t know me though. Not really,” Callum says, his tone harder, but in a way that he’s more upset at himself and the world around him than Mason.
“I used to.”
Callum’s smile is fully gone now, replaced by him rubbing his face and his cheeks flushed. Mason feels like he’s just hit a nerve and addressed the elephant in the room.
Mason’s never addressed the fact that they used to be best friends since they “reconnected.”
He feels like he’s overstepped with how Callum is reacting. But there’s no overstepping to do.
They aren’t friends anymore.
They don’t have any established lines to vault like the scrimmage line did for the number of yards players have to cross.
“Brown! The browning jewel of the Hornets!” Joel bellows and claps Callum on the shoulder.
Callum’s expression immediately changes back to his confident grin, doing a complex handshake with Joel.
Mason takes a sip of his beer and his gaze darts between Joel and Callum, who apparently think Mason phased into the wallpaper and disappeared.
Mason sighs, takes one last fleeting look at Callum and walks off, not wanting to be ignored or have the worse alternative of speaking with Joel and having to do some weird “bro-handshake” that he never knows how to do no matter how many times he tries.
He walks back into the kitchen and actually sees Alex fromThe Goldberg. Mason had lied about Alex being there to Jenna, but now he doesn’t have to lie again.
Alex waves at him and beckons him over as he takes a sip from a red cup of his own.
Mason points to himself, turning to look around to see if he’s gesturing to anyone else, sees that there isn’t, and walks over to him.
“Hey. You came. Is this your way of finding out more about the secret clubs on campus?” Mason asks.
Alex smirks. “I don’t give away all my secrets, but you’re onto something.”
Mason nods and takes a sip of his drink. “Have you ever come to one of these?”
Alex shakes his head. “Nope. I’m not the most outgoing, and I’d rather be in my dorm playing video games with a large pizza, but I’m here forThe Goldberg. And to scope out the cute guys.”
Mason chuckles and looks at the crowd. “Well, you made a good choice. There are a lot of them, here.”
Mason turns to look back at Alex, who’s staring at him with a shy smile. “I know.”
Mason blushes. “You’re not so bad yourself,” Mason says, smirking playfully. He has no idea how to flirt in all honesty.
He thought that making playful jabs was the only way to do it. When someone compliments him, especially another guy, he doesn’t know what to do except stand there awkwardly and say, “Thanks.”
Alex flashes him a toothy grin. “You know, I read the article you originally handed in for the paper. Sounds like you know Callum pretty well.”
