Page 5 of The Sunday Brothers Novellas

CHAPTER TWO

JOHN

Almost One Year Later

Teagan

This is your friendly reminder that it’s Friday night, aka NETFLIX NIGHT, aka The Best Night of the Week.

If you get home early enough, we can watch the last five episodes of Knightfall before we crash, which MUST HAPPEN, because I will not be able to sleep until I know that Abe is happily in love.

Also, just to say, if I don’t get proper sleep, I will never finish my degree, and I might go full-on Ophelia from the strain of it all.

I’m not saying my tragic descent into madness will be entirely your fault, John…

But I’m also not saying it’s NOT your fault.

Did you leave yet?

Or are you and the other math dudes busy watching multiplication porn and jerking off?

I snorted. When the texts from Teagan came through, I’d already grabbed my jacket off the back of my chair and had my laptop bag in one hand and my travel coffee mug in the other.

I shut off the light with my elbow, shut my office door with my foot, tucked the empty coffee cup under my chin, and typed.

Your fantasies about life in the math department are always so spot-on.

Also, you made me mess up my seventeens tables and threw off my rhythm. I’m limp now. Thanks a bunch.

I could hear the laughter in Teagan’s voice when I read his reply.

Teagan

True fact, Johnny: just KNOWING your seventeens tables is the leading cause of erectile dysfunction in men over twenty-eight.

(I’d make up more fake stats on that, but then you’d get hard again and I’d never get to finish our show. Hurry up!)

I groaned.

The real true-fact was that I hadn’t had a problem getting an erection since I’d meet my very-platonic best friend, Teagan. These days, my problem was trying to hide it, and that grew harder (no pun intended) all the time.

I’d been head over heels for the man for three hundred fifty-five days (yes, I was counting), and since then, I’d found myself doing all kinds of shit I never would have fathomed before.

Like moving a random stranger’s couch, yeah—because when the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen turns to you with his big eyes and needs a favor, you fucking do it— but also participating in Karaoke Saturdays, and Philosophical Conundrum Taco Tuesdays, and all the other random days of the weeks that Teagan turned into holidays, complete with sacrosanct festivities and, almost always, special holiday foods.

Maybe the craziest of these, though, was Netflix Night every Friday, when I sat in the semi-darkness for hours in what had become “John’s spot” on Teagan’s beloved sofa and pretended I felt nothing but warm friendship for the sexy-as-fuck man sitting two feet away.

Weirder still, I somehow looked forward to this torture.

Teagan Donahue had made me a masochist.

“I am not going to have sex with my roommate,” I whispered aloud, willing myself to believe it. Then I adjusted myself quickly, locked my office door, and texted back.

I believe you believe that. FYI, smartass, I’ve already left the office.

There . I smiled a little to myself. This technically was not a lie, and I prided myself on being as honest as possible.

About most things, anyway.

“Professor Curran?” a voice called from an office on the left as I hurried down the hall. “John?”

I winced but quickly turned it into a smile as I turned around and doubled back to talk to the older blonde woman who’d been my mentor since I’d been here. “Marie. Hey,” I said from the doorway. “Working late?”

“A little.” She sat back in her desk chair and gazed at me impassively across her messy desk. “I got an interesting phone call that derailed my afternoon a bit.”

My heart beat faster. “Oh?”

“A Professor—” She slid her reading glasses on to consult a paper on her desk before quickly sliding them off again.

“—Osman Kheir from Hannabury. Apparently there’s a full professorship open in their math department, and you’re the leading contender for it.

He wanted a reference, and of course I was happy to give it.

” She shook her head, and her face broke out in a smile.

“John, why didn’t you tell me you were applying for this? ”

“Oh.” I tapped my metal coffee cup nervously against the doorframe.

“Well.” I cleared my throat nervously. “It’s hardly a done deal.

I, ah, I applied for the position nearly a year ago.

My brother-in-law Andy works in the math department at Hannabury, and he gave me a heads-up that the opening was coming, so I was the first guy in the door, so to speak.

But at the time, they were hoping to promote from within, and I haven’t heard anything official since then, so I’m pretty sure nothing will come of it. ”

She narrowed her eyes. “That’s not how it sounded to me at all. Professor Kheir indicated that the spot is yours for the taking. And Hannabury is closer to your family, isn’t it? Your parents are still up in Vermont, and your sister’s family?”

I nodded, my palms dampening slightly. “My mothers have a hobby farm up in Keltyville. And Molly is pregnant with her second now. But really, Marie, I’m not sure what’s going to happen with the Hannabury job?—”

“John, we both know Covington won’t be able to offer you a comparable position for…” She shrugged helplessly. “A long time, if ever. And positions at Vermont colleges like Hannabury are incredibly rare, what with so many schools going out of business. This is the career opportunity of a lifetime?—”

“Yeah, I know,” I agreed. “But there are, you know, a lot of factors to consider. So…” I forced a smile. “Don’t tell anyone in case it doesn’t work out, okay?”

She stared at me for a moment like I was an equation she couldn’t solve. “What does Teagan say about this?”

“Oh, ah…” I licked my lips. “I’m not sure. We haven’t really talked about it. He’s… you know… ”

Beautiful. Fascinating. Compelling. Genuinely kind. Fiercely intelligent. Entertaining as fuck.

Also sexy.

I am not going to have sex with my roommate.

“He’s busy,” I concluded, which was also true. “He’s finishing up his degree next semester.”

“Yes, I know.” She smiled warmly, which was most people’s reaction whenever Teagan’s name was brought up.

“The last time he brought you lunch, he complimented my new glasses, told me about an amazing hair salon his friend opened, and gabbed to me for ten minutes about his thesis. It sounded fascinating.”

I returned her smile because I couldn’t help it. “It really is. I know nothing about T.S. Eliot, and I didn’t really want to know either, but when he talks about it, I get interested against my will. It’s annoying.”

Marie laughed. “You’re proud of him.”

“Of course.” I shrugged. “He’s amazing.”

“And what’s Teagan going to do after he graduates?”

“He’s hoping for a high school teaching contract for next fall.

Probably substitute teaching otherwise. And he does creative writing, too—like, he and my sister are working on these children’s picture books that I think could really take off because he’s an incredible storyteller, and I keep encouraging him to query an agent, but—” I coughed lightly.

“Anyway. He’s got a million things he could do.

I want him to pick the one that makes him happy. ”

Marie nodded, then tilted her head. “Forgive me for asking such a personal question, but you and Teagan… Are you two…?”

The look in her eyes made it clear what she meant, and I felt my face go hot. “Us? Oh. Nah. No. We’re not… together. We’re roommates. Best friends. Platonic. That’s all. That’s… that’s plenty.”

I’d been telling myself that for eleven and a half months .

For two semesters, five visits to my family, and a summer road trip to the beach in Maine so terrible that it had already become funny.

For fifty-one weekly loaves of sourdough that Teagan had made me faithfully, exactly as he’d promised.

Even during the blizzard that snowed us in over spring break.

Even when I was ready to crawl under my mattress and hide during final exam season.

Even during the sweltering summer months, when sweaty tendrils of Teagan’s bright red hair had fallen out of his topknot to plaster against his neck as he worked the dough in our tiny kitchen.

And one of these damn days, if I kept saying it enough, it was going to sink in.

I am not going to have sex with my roommate.

“Ah. I’d imagined, with how close you are… “ She shrugged, a little disappointed. “Well. Never mind. You know I’m here if you need to talk about career goals or anything. Covington and our students would be sad to lose you, but our loss would be Hannabury’s gain. You know that, right?”

“Sure.” I nodded woodenly. “Have a great weekend, Marie.”

I checked my phone as I raced down the hall toward the stairs and saw the text string I’d missed.

Teagan

You’re still standing in the math department as you type this, aren’t you?

Tell Marie and Botan and whoever else you’re talking to that I say hey.

Why are you not answering me, Mr. Reliable?

You will recall that failing to answer a text message is second only to people who use the thumbs-up on Facebook Messenger in Teagan’s Hierarchy of Annoyance .

Then, time-stamped six minutes later…

Teagan

OMG. I have major, MAJOR news to share!! Like, an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime, holy-shit, unexpected but REALLY GOOD thing just happened, and my emotions are all over the place, and I need my CALM AND STEADY BFF to talk me down. WHY ARE YOU NOT HERE?

No, it’s fine. It’s FINE. I’m composing myself and then jumping on a Zoom call in 10 mins, so now you’re gonna have to wait until you get home for me to tell you all about it.

But actually, if all goes well, I think we need to postpone Netflix Night!

Just until tomorrow night, I mean. Would you mind?

Turns out I MIGHT be able to wait one more night to find out if Abe is happy.)

Johnnnn. You’re still not answering. I swear, if you’re still working right now, I’ll…

Actually, I don’t know what I’ll do. But it’s gonna be TERRIBLE.