I found him on Craigslist. It probably wasn’t some place you were supposed to go to meet people. I mean, the personals were fun to look at, especially when you were drunk or something, and the section for trying to get in touch with that random stranger you saw on the street was hilarious. But no one actually met people from Craigslist. Well, no one except me.
He was interesting.

Sometimes I couldn’t decide if I liked him or not. Other times it felt like I might be obsessed with the guy. It seemed like a relationship where someone who was outside looking in would label it as unhealthy or odd. It didn’t feel that way.

It felt natural. Like I’d known him forever.

I’d read somewhere that good roommates were supposed to be like that. The article, or maybe it was a book…maybe an online magazine—that wasn’t the point—had said that a good roommate was like a lover.

You might know by just looking at them that the chemistry would be amazing. It might take you a while to get there, but in the end, it would feel perfect. Or they’d turn out to be totally crazy, and while you suspected that to begin with, you didn’t listen to the little voice in your head.

I wasn’t so sure about the lover analogy, but the article had gotten one thing right. I’d known that he was the perfect roommate from the moment we met. The lover analogy still confused me, even after we’d been living together for almost six months. I thought that once he’d moved in it would help me make sense of it, that I would finally just get it one day. But maybe I needed to have a lover first for the author’s meaning to sink in.

“You ask him. You’re the one who’s curious.” Bryan’s whispered voice held an edge of panic, but since it was Kevin egging him on, I thought that was to be expected.

“But you’re the one who’s little, so you should ask.” Kevin seemed to be trying to convince Bryan that his logic was sound, but there was obviously some debate over that.

“This isn’t my idea. I don’t even know why I’m listening to you.” Bryan’s voice was clearly stressed but since he seemed more likely to hit Kevin than pass out, I didn’t step in. “You’re a nuisance, and I’m going to tell Jeremy you’re driving me crazy.”

Kevin just giggled. “Good, I haven’t been spanked in days.”

Bryan groaned. “I don’t need to know that.”

Kevin giggled again.

“Let’s just go.” Evidently whatever Kevin was trying to talk Bryan into wasn’t sounding like such a good idea anymore.

But Kevin was persistent.

“You’re going to feel ridiculous if you chicken out now.” There was a pause, and I knew more than likely Kevin had hugged his still-nervous friend. “Besides, it’s just a question, it’s not like you have to do anything.”

“But what if he thinks it’s stupid or too personal?” Bryan’s voice dipped quieter, but I heard his nerves even more clearly.

What do you get the man who has everything for Valentine’s Day? Chocolate? No, he was allergic . Card? He thought fake romance was disturbing, and there was no way I was crafty enough to make one. Dinner out at a nice restaurant? He ended up with food poisoning last time, so he wanted to pick the restaurant this year.

Go with an experience, my mother said. Just go out and do something together, his brother said. That wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be. We both had busy jobs and couldn’t take time off from work in February. I was scared of heights, so that left out those ropes courses and things. We both thought something like a spa would be painfully boring.

So I started thinking outside the box.

He really shouldn’t have left the planning up to me. He should have learned that after the vacation disaster two years ago. He’d said fun and carefree…evidently that hadn’t meant an indoor waterpark resort filled with families.

I’d thought it sounded like fun.

Tobias didn’t. He was a bit too serious sometimes. That was one of the things I liked about him, though. He wasn’t boring, but he was thoughtful and focused, and I never had to worry about him doing something stupid like spending all our rent money on lottery tickets and Girl Scout cookies because he’d gone grocery shopping while high.

But that seriousness made holiday shopping for him more…interesting.

“You know, the stuff you read gets weirder every year. Did that just say something about diapers?” Hunter’s head came over the back of the couch, scaring ten years out of me.

“What did I say about pulling that shit on me?” Slamming my phone to my chest, I glared up at him. He’d done it on purpose, so I didn’t feel bad about the slightly hostile tone.

“That I couldn’t do it when it was a hot scene because that was just rude.” Hunter’s head cocked, and he gave me a look like I’d suddenly become a lot more interesting.

Shit.

“I’m not sure that’s what I said, smartass.” It might have been—but with that expression on his face, I wasn’t going to back down. “How about you not try to make me jump unless it’s like Halloween or something?”

“And my birthday.” He thought for a moment. “And your birthday.”

That was going to be annoying as hell. “Deal.”

Hunter frowned at me. “I think I should have held out for more.”

“You can’t say no. You don’t have a choice; I need you to do this.”

“Huh?” Shooting up in bed, Mason didn’t even realize he had his phone in his hand until Maddy screeched again.

“MASON!”

“Maddy?”

“Are you listening to me?” The volume of her screech told Mason she’d been trying to get his attention for a while. When had he answered the phone? Mason had been up all night finishing a coding project that had a tight deadline. Looking over at the clock on his nightstand, he stretched and noticed that it was almost five o’clock in the evening.

“No, sorry. I was asleep. What’s up?”

“I need you to come down to Midnight. We had a cancellation at the last minute and I need someone else so we have an even number.”

Midnight? He knew that should ring a bell but his brain was too fuzzy. “Midnight?”

“Lord, Mason. Are you paying attention?”

If he said no, she was going to totally lose her shit. It would almost be worth it, because when Maddy was losing her marbles it was fabulous to watch. Unfortunately, he wasn’t up for one of her DEFCON 5 explosions right now. “I was up all night working. Remind me.”

“Sweetheart, I need to sell you.” My mother’s insipidly sweet tone had me looking up from my menu. I hated the restaurant and we’d been here a thousand times over the years, but studying it was better than making small talk.

“Excuse me?” It wasn’t the weirdest thing she’d ever told me over lunch, but I had a feeling it would end up being in the top ten at the very least.

Her smile just went sweeter and she reached over the table and patted my arm. “It’s for charity.”

That didn’t make it any less weird.

“What kind of charity?” Getting that information seemed like a good place to start.

“The LGBT Educational Center.” When she paused and smiled, I just blinked. That earned me a sigh and she pretended to be disappointed in me. “Many young LGBT youth don’t get the same opportunities that you did, sweetheart. It’s our responsibility to help those that are less fortunate.”

I knew better than to fall for this polite line of shit.

She’d never cared one way or the other about who I slept with as long as they were from the right family. This we have to be charitable to the LGBT community bullshit only started when my cousin came out as pan and that’d been a lot trendier than just general run of the mill wants to sleep with dudes gay.

So now she and Aunt Maggie were in some kind of weird competition that seemed to involve me.

Yay.

“Yes, you and Dad went to a lot of trouble to make sure I got the degrees you wanted.” Two could play the polite asshole game.