Zak steps into the room, closing the door behind him. “Liar.”
“Whatever,” I say as he drops onto my desk chair. “I’m taking a shower.”
It’s the world’s quickest shower, because I know my friend will still be sitting there when I’m done. He’s a persistent fucker and it’s one of the many reasons I’d be lost without him. Once again, the pang of knowing the three of us will be torn apart after graduation has my chest aching.
I step out of the bathroom and find him still sitting, his phone in hand, and I sigh, pulling out some clean sweats and a hoodie.
“Couldn’t wash that frown off your face?” Zak quips. “Maybe you should have taken longer.”
I flip him off and he chuckles, looking back at his phone as I get dressed. “What do you want?”
“Do I have to want something to talk to my brother?”
“Right.” I scrub my hair with the towel and drop heavily onto my bed. “No agenda.”
“I was thinking, actually,” he says. “Have you considered going to a meeting?”
“A meeting?”
Zak holds his phone out to me, and I take it. It’s open to a page on the FWU intranet. It’s a page I knew existed, but I’ve never clicked on it because it didn’t apply to me. I’m still not sure it does now.
“You think I should go to an LGBTQ meeting?”
Zak shrugs. “If anyone can help you figure stuff out, it’s them, right? They’ll have been through it, too.”
“I still don’t even know if I’m bi,” I say, shaking my head. “I kissed a guy, once. They’ll probably laugh at me.”
Zak frowns. “You know that’s bullshit.”
“Whatever.” I hand him his phone back. “I’ll figure it out myself.”
My desk chair squeaks as Zak leans back and folds his arms across his chest. “That right there is why I wanted to talk to you.”
I turn away from his intense stare and lie down on the bed. “What are you talking about?”
When he doesn’t reply, I turn my head to look at him, and the concern in his dark brown eyes has my chest tightening all over again.
“You don’t have to do everything by yourself,” he says softly, rolling the chair over to the bed. “Sure, take some time to figure it out, but there’s no harm speaking to people or looking for help. You might even meet someone you like.”
My insides squirm at the thought and Zak chuckles.
“Wow. Didn’t like that idea, huh? How’re things going with Wes?”
I shake my head. “They’re not. It’s like some weird game of chess or something, and I can’t figure out what to do because I don’t know the rules.”
“I’m pretty sure the rules are the same with guys as they are with girls,” Zak says. “Should be easier, in fact. I mean, you know how guys think.”
I groan. “That’s bullshit. I have zero idea what Wes is thinking.”
Before I can open my mouth to protest, Zak has my phone in his hands, and he’s opened my message thread. For a fleeting second, the idea of him reading the ballsy shit I sent on Thanksgiving has my skin heating, but as I watch his expression turn from a frown into a smirk, curiosity takes over.
“What?” I ask.
Zak shakes his head. “You honestly can’t see your next move?”
“Can you?”
He leans forward and hands me back my phone. “Wes told you very clearly to go find him. Did you go find him?”