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CHAPTER 08

Theo

JUDE: This is torture.

This is Wyatt's favorite.

JUDE: Not a fan. It’s a stupid movie.

Holy shit!” Wyatt exclaimed with excitement. “The band! The band! He got the band to help him win her back!”

I took a long swig of beer, head tipped back against the edge of my bed while Heath Ledger danced across the television with a microphone and enough confidence to make an entire stadium full of people watch him publicly embarrass himself for a girl. Apparently, this was romance. I wasn’t impressed, even drunk. Next to me, Jude looked equally skeptical as he scowled at the television over the opening of his beer bottle.

The three of us had taken over my bedroom for the night, which wasn’t particularly unusual. Wyatt and I shared a room at the GOAT frat house, while Jude technically lived in the dorms. Technically being the important word. He had clothes in our closet, snacks in our cabinets, a toothbrush in the bathroom, and had fallen asleep on our floor enough times that nobody even bothered asking whether he was staying anymore. Jude might not have been an official frat member, but good luck convincing anyone in the house of that.

“It’s stupid,” Jude muttered around the opening of his bottle.

“It’s a classic,” Wyatt retorted.

“Why does it have to be so... flashy?” he asked.

I smiled into my beer. That was very Jude. He talked a huge game about hookups and had the confidence of a man who genuinely believed he could charm any woman he flirted with. He could discuss his sex life with absolutely no shame and too much detail. But public affection? Absolutely not. Not unless he was drunk enough that common sense had left the building.

“All these movies are fucking ridiculous,” he said. “Why can’t you just tell someone you love them without it being a show?”

“Big shows are fun,” Wyatt replied. “Tell the whole world that you love her.”

“Yeah, but she’s the only one that matters.”

That made me glance at Jude. He was still staring at the movie, unimpressed, like he hadn’t just accidentally said something far more thoughtful than anything I expected out of his mouth tonight. For all his bullshit, there were moments when Jude did that—dropped something strangely sincere into a conversation and then moved on before anyone could look too closely at it.

“I just want to know if it works,” I chimed in. That was the important part. I didn’t care whether there was singing involved. Or a band. Or bleachers. Or even public humiliation. I just wanted to know if there was some magical series of steps a person could follow to make someone change their mind.

“It always works,” Wyatt assured me. “Women love that shit, and he always gets the girl.”

“Yeah, but in real life you aren’t winning someone back like that.” At least, I didn’t think so. Standing outside Rhodes’ house with a marching band seemed considerably more likely to end with him calling the police than declaring his undying love. Not that I needed undying love. I’d just settle for him admitting the last ten months hadn’t been a mistake.

“Did your secret girlfriend break up with you?” Jude tapped his beer bottle to my temple until I glanced at him.

“Something like that,” I muttered. I didn’t correct the girlfriend part. There were too many reasons not to. I was almost completely certain neither of them would care that I was gay. Jude and Wyatt were idiots, but they were my idiots, and nothing either of them had ever done made me think they’d stop being my friends because I liked men.

Still, almost certain wasn’t the same thing as ready. If I came out tonight, there would be questions that would eventually lead to Rhodes, and I wasn’t ready for that.

“Are we winning her back, or are we drinking until we burn away the brain cells that hold her memories?” Wyatt asked. Jude and I just stared at him.

“What the fuck, dude?” Jude demanded. He planted a hand on my head, giving it a violent shake. “His brain cells are precious!”

“What is wrong with you?” I batted him off while he laughed. “And I don’t know! I don’t know what I’m doing.”

That was probably the most honest thing I’d said all night. I didn’t know what I was doing. I wanted Rhodes back. That much was painfully clear. What exactly back meant was considerably harder to define. We hadn’t been in a conventional relationship. Okay, we’d barely been in a relationship at all. We’d never kissed without sex being involved, which felt like one of those very basic relationship milestones we probably should’ve crossed before I started mourning the loss of whatever we’d had. There had been no dates or labels. No anniversaries or promises. Maybe we hadn’t called it dating, but it’d felt like we were. And I liked it. Fuck, I liked him.

Rhodes had issues with commitment and relationships. That wasn’t difficult to figure out. But whatever he’d been willing to give me? I wanted it. I liked how I felt around him. I liked the version of Rhodes I got when nobody else was around. And I certainly wasn’t ready to accept that a job neither of us had seen coming that morning meant I never got any of it again.

“I don’t think…” I took another sip to give myself the liquid courage to lie, “… she wants me back.”

“Operation Get Her Back it is!” Wyatt exclaimed. He dropped out of his computer chair onto the floor next to us. “I have all the movies to help.”

That should’ve concerned me, but I loved his enthusiasm to help me solve a problem I couldn’t even begin to fathom where to start.