Page 62 of Out for the Night

Matty closed his eyes to get in the Zone. He imagined leaning against Coop as he did his work. Peace hummed through his body. But Coop wasn’t there. Coop couldn’t help.

“Hey!” Coop said. Hewasthere. Right next to his workstation with a slice of pizza. “Thought you might like some lunch.”

“Thanks.” Matty’s heart hummed with delight. He didn’t know he was hungry until the slice was in his mouth.

“How’s it going?” Coop gave him a secret kiss on the neck. It was a jolt of juice to his system. He sat in the chair next to Matty.

“It’s fine. It’s fine. I’ll be glad when it’s over.”

“Me, too,” Coop said lightly, but Matty knew that wasn’t a joke. “Well, you have Philly to look forward this coming weekend. It’ll be a nice break.”

Matty’s head shot up, out of the Zone and into reality. “It’s this weekend?”

Coop nodded yes. “It’s not even a full weekend. We’ll drive down Saturday afternoon and come back Sunday morning. You’ll be away from campus at most twenty-four hours.”

That seemed too much. Every day mattered. Breaking momentum meant falling out of the Zone. “I can’t go, Coop. I’m really sorry.”

“But this is Dr. Kobayashi,” Coop said, as if he understood the importance of that name.

Matty’s head pounded with stress and confusion and decisions and coding.

“I get it. You have to work.” Coop squeezed his hand. “I am totally fine with that, but don’t say no right away. These upperclassmen that Rafe knows are going down to Philly, so we can hitch a ride with them. One of the guys’ boyfriends lives there and we can crash at his place.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“I’ll take that.” Coop took the tickets out of his pocket. “Actually, you hold onto them. Ball is in your court.”

“Thank you, Coop.” Matty kissed him and let his lips stay there for a moment.

This will all be worth it. I can have the guy and the internship.

Chapter 23

Coop

Afew nights later, the ball was still in Matty’s court. Coop hadn’t heard yet whether he could make it to Philly or not. He chose to believe that Matty was still deliberating and trying to make it work. But maybe he had to start picturing a future where Matty’s work would always come first.

Coop was in his room doing homework Thursday night while Rafe was out seeing an a capella group that reportedly had a gay singer. It always felt strange to Coop to be doing homework, like he had to remind himself that amid the parties, clubs, games, friends, and now boyfriend, he was in college primarily to learn.

A knock at the door saved him from his study misery, even though that was probably Kelvin trying to prod him with more money.

“I said I’m not interested!” Coop yelled through the door.

“In what?” Matty asked back.

Matty? Here?He shut his book and yanked his door open. But Matty wasn’t as excited by Coop’s presence as he was with his.

“Hey! What’s wrong?” Coop asked.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Matty’s voice strained with worry. This was the furthest thing from a joke.

“Of course not.”

“You can tell me if you’re one of those guys who has a girlfriend but likes experimenting or whatever.”

“I’m not a scientist. I don’t experiment.”

“Then who is she?” Matty held up his phone. On it was an Instagram pic of Coop and Maria kissing.Fuck.