But rather than explaining all that to my mother yet again, I said, “Oh, I wish I could, but I need to get to the airport on time for my flight.”
“Your flight?” my father said. “You’re not leaving until Sunday.”
“Did I forget to tell you that I have to leave early this year? Sorry. There’s an important study group I can’t miss.”
It was not only a lie, but a terrible lie, because my chances of getting a flight out at the last minute were slim to none and in addition to not running in Cynthia’s social circle in high school, I didn’t run in any social circle and I hadn’t kept in touch with a single classmate, which meant I had nowhere to crash. Nevertheless, I stuck to my story, because an airport motel had to be better than any more quality time with my family.
“Actually”—I looked down at my wrist where a watch would go if I wore one, which I didn’t—“I better go pack.”
Not only did I escape getting struck down dead for lying to my parents, but the gods of air travel were smiling down on me, because with a minimal fee, I changed my flight to a standby ticket and then got the last seat on a redeye to New York. Airplanes aren’t the most comfortable places for a guy my size—my shoulders are broad enough to bump the people next to me—but it didn’t matter because I slept most of the flight. Even though I wasn’t need-to-sleep tired by the time I landed, I was emotionally drained and all I wanted to do was go home and relax.
It wasn’t until after I told the cabby Chase’s address that I realized what my mind equated with home. I gave myself leave to freak out about that later, because at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with Chase and not get out for the rest of the weekend. And I didn’t care what that meant.
The bodega next to his apartment was selling potted hydrangeas, so I picked some up, knowing how much he liked those damn flowers. Then I used my key to let myself into his apartment. As I expected, he was asleep in his bed. What I hadn’t expected was to find two men sharing the bed with him and another two on his couch.
The logical part of my brain registered that everyone was, at a minimum, wearing underwear. I also took note of the various wine bottles and liquor bottles on the counter and table and guessed that a night drinking with friends had turned into friends crashing at his place because they were too drunk to go home. Again, logical brain said that was completely normal behavior for a twenty-five-year-old guy. Well, completely normal behavior for one with friends, anyway. It wasn’t something I’d ever done.
So logical brain was all good. Unfortunately, irrational hothead brain shoved his ass aside and screamed, “What the fuck is going on here?”
One guy rolled off the couch onto the floor, another guy shot up in bed, two guys stayed fast asleep, and Chase rubbed his palms over his eyes and then blinked them open in confusion. “Adan?” he said when he spotted me standing in his doorway. “What’s going on? I thought you weren’t getting in until Sunday night.” His sleepy gaze moved from my face to my hand and he smiled sweetly. “You brought me flowers?”
I decided not to kill everyone in the room.
Chase slowly crawled off the bed, apparently nudging still-sleeping-bed-guy, because he muttered something and shoved a pillow over his head. Awake-bed-guy said, “Who the fuck is that? Man, it’s too early for visitors.”
Maybe I’d jumped the gun on the no-murder decision. I had a key. Couldn’t asswipe tell that meant I was more than a visitor?
“You’re here,” Chase said dreamily as he walked toward me. “I missed you.”
I forgot about asswipe, dropped my bag on the floor, and kicked the door closed.
“What the fuck?” previously-sleeping-couch-guy yelled when the door slammed.
Already-awake-and-on-the-floor-couch-guy said, “Tell me about it.”
I considered beating them over the head with the flowers.
“These are so pretty,” Chase said. He wrapped his hand over mine, brought the flowers to his nose, and inhaled their scent. “I love hydrangeas.”
“I know.” I puffed up a little, feeling proud of the fact that I knew how to please him. I’d need to find something else to use as a weapon against the annoying shits who were making no move to get dressed and get out of our… his apartment.
“Thanks, Adan. I can’t believe you found hydrangeas in November.” He cupped the back of my head, got on his tiptoes, and drew me down for a kiss. “This was sweet of you, but is everything okay? I know I didn’t forget your flight time.”