Page 72 of Thirsty

Charlie pulled back, licking his lips, his cheeks bright pink, and Lorenzo shoved a tchotchke back into his hands beforethey got themselves thrown out of the casino. Charlie took it gratefully, and Lorenzo hovered over his shoulder as he went back to browsing.

“So,” he said, once he felt more in control of himself. “How is your thesis going?”

Charlie froze, turned, and blinked at him. “Uh. Well. Really well. I’ve been turning in chapters to my—my advisor, and, um. She really seems to like them.”

Lorenzo couldn’t figure out why Charlie seemed nervous. Maybe he was worried about theeducationalaspect to their relationship, but Lorenzo wasn’t feeling sensitive about that today, so he tried to reassure him with a smile. “So I’ve been helpful?”

Charlie’s anxiety, whatever the source, melted into a warm smile. “Very helpful.”

Lorenzo walked down the aisle, looking at some discount candles. “And...what’s the timeline?” he asked. “When do you finish it, or turn it in, or whatever?”

“Uh...” Charlie said, poking around on the opposite shelf. “A few more months, I think. Then it’ll be done.”

“And then what?”

“Then what...what?” Charlie asked.

“You get a teaching job?” Lorenzo asked. “That’s what people do with advanced degrees, right?”

“Yeah,” Charlie said vaguely. “I mean—maybe.”

“You should probably think about that,” Lorenzo said, smiling at him. “If you’re going to be done in a few months.”

“Yeah,” Charlie said, rubbing his neck. “I’ve never been great at planning.”

Lorenzo sighed. He didn’t know what Charlie wasn’t telling him, but that wasn’t really the point. He clearly didn’t want toinclude Lorenzo in whatever it was. So he stopped asking questions, and a stilted silence fell.

Then Charlie said, abruptly, “But, uh—I know they’re never really hiring here, at the university.”

“Oh,” Lorenzo said, frowning. “So—”

“So I’ll have to move,” Charlie said, darting a glance at him. “Eventually.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. He remembered something about Charlie’s father being a professor at the university, but he was guessing he wouldn’t want to talk about that. Charlie always clammed up anytime they were talking and the subject started to drift toward his family.

Charlie was moving?

“Yeah,” he was saying. “I mean, everyone wants to live here—I mean, in Brookville,” he said with a grin. “Not this...incredible casino.”

“Yes,” Lorenzo said softly. Jobs were hard to come by in Brookville; it was a popular town, and graduates of the university were always looking to return. Lots of people wanted to live there. But Charlie wasn’t one of them.

He was moving after he graduated. Lorenzo felt like an idiot.

He’d seen this coming with Olivia. Why not now?

Because he’s already taken root in you, a cruel voice whispered.There’ll be nothing left when he’s gone.

Charlie glanced back up at him. His soft brown eyes seemed so full of emotion, but Lorenzo couldn’t be sure. Sometimes he felt like he could see Charlie—really see him—and other times it felt like trying to know him was like trying to hold the sky in his hands.

“It’s really competitive,” Charlie said. “So I’ll probably be looking at jobs in New York. Or, uh, elsewhere.”

What was the point in Lorenzo holding back from biting him? He would already be torn apart when Charlie left.

“Right,” he said. “Okay.”

Then again—hadn’t he always expected to lose Charlie somehow?

Chapter 21