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“You tease me about one-word responses, and here you are with verbal diarrhea. I’m pretty sure you’re asking me on a date.”
My cheeks flush.
“And now you’re blushing.”
“Well, I’m wearing these sexy lacy briefs you picked out.”
He eyes me skeptically. “Pretty sure it’s because you’re asking me out and it’s making you all feely in a way Ty Lancaster isn’t used to.”
I shake it off. “I do want to take you on a date, Lance Fehn.”
“This isn’t just because you know I’m datey as fuck, is it?”
I consider my reply. “Maybe a tad.”
His smile fades.
“No,” I say. “I do want to do things you like, but it’s notonlybecause of that.”
“You don’t date, though, remember?”
“Yeah, and I didn’t fuck dudes either, yet here we are.”
He laughs. “Here we are.”
We share another kiss, and as he pulls away, he says, “Fall festival could be fun…”
25
Lance
“You’ve barely touchedyour lunch,” Mom says, which must be a surprise since I usually would have devoured all my chicken teriyaki and Thai popcorn chicken by now.
“And you keep checking your phone,” Dad notes in a way that’s more accusatory than observational.
“You’ve been doing stuff like this for the past few weeks every time you’ve come to visit.”
Ty and I agreed to have our date this afternoon, which has me excited and nervous. I figured I could swing by for lunch with Mom and Dad, but now I’m realizing I’m too distracted for them not to notice. It doesn’t help that they know me better than most people.
“Okay, okay,” I say. “Maybe enough of the third degree.”
“This is first degree, at most,” Mom insists with a loving smile.
“Well, the last text I got was from Ash. He’s staying with his boyfriend for the weekend, and he thinks Frat Cat’s been acting off, so he asked me to check on him when I get back. Happy?” At least it’s the truth, even if I would have rather it’d been from Ty.
“I hope everything’s okay with Frat Cat,” Dad says. “But you can pretend all you want. We know how you get. I’m justgonna say it. You’re crushing on a girl.”
I chuckle nervously. “Well…not a girl, Dad, but nice try.”
I’m surprised at how effortlessly that came out…Icame out.
Mom’s jaw drops, and Dad’s mouth makes an O shape.
He takes a moment before he says, “There it is, I guess.”
“When were you going to tell us?” Mom asks. “No, I’m sorry, that’s not what I should have said. Scratch that. We love you. We care about you. Thank you for telling us. And whenin the worldwere you gonna tell us?”
“Today…?”