Page 50 of Inevitable
“It was easy,” Ezra muttered through a mouthful of food.
Drew smiled. “No humble self-doubts from you, huh?”
Ezra frowned. “I work my ass off so that I won’t have to feel insecure when it comes to school. Besides, I like taking tests. It’s like validation when I do well.”
“Not if?” Bas asked with a laugh.
Ezra shook his head. “I failed plenty of tests in high school, so I’ve learned my lesson. Being a slacker gets you nowhere. Besides, tests make sense. Sufficient input equals sufficient output. It’s very straightforward. Now everything else in life? That’s what stumps me, and it’s why I’m kind of a mess.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever approached school like that,” Drew mused. “But I suppose that exact attitude is what makes you a success.”
“Calling me a success is a reach.”
Bas shook his head. “Stop putting yourself down. You’re wicked smart, and you damn well know it. And once you graduate, you’re going to take on the world.”
Ezra smiled at him and rolled his eyes. “I guess we’ll see.”
“We will. And in a few years, I’ll be pointing my finger in your face, and I’ll be all, ‘Told you so.’ And then you’ll be forced to say, ‘Bas, you’re the wisest man I’ve ever known.’”
Ezra and Drew looked at him for a few seconds before they both burst into laughter.
Drew patted him on the shoulder. “See, you were doing so well up until that last sentence.”
Bas flipped them both off, the wide grin on his face contradicting the crude gesture. “I can’t believe I’m voluntarily on speaking terms with you people.”
“Somebody has to keep you humble.” Drew ducked as Bas threw a mushroom at his head.
Ezra gave an exaggerated sigh. “I can’t take you kids anywhere.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Bas said as he went to pick up the lone mushroom. He aimed an apologetic smile at the guy who was standing behind the counter, before he flicked the mushroom into a trash can and turned around.
Ezra and Drew were laughing as they fought for the last slice. Bas’s feet halted. They looked so perfect together. Totally relaxed and enjoying each other’s company. Just like that night a few weeks ago on the couch.
Bas almost expected to be buried under the same avalanche of insecurities and jealousy. Only this time it didn’t happen. Ezra glanced at him and smiled, and Bas walked back to the table with butterflies wreaking havoc inside his chest.
“Do you think he would have been less happy if you would have been sitting on that couch with us?”
Ezra’s words echoed in his mind as Bas took his seat and stole the last slice to the sounds of mock outrage from Drew and Ezra. The gentle look on Drew’s face when he watched Ezra made Bas feel all warm inside.
There was no jealousy.
Just butterflies in his belly.
16
Over the next few weeks, life took a new turn. No more serious conversations. Bas stopped staying away. They fell into a routine where they’d do their own thing during the day, but once night fell, they all came home.
There wasn’t anything special about those evenings. They ate dinner. Watched movies. Ezra studied. Drew read. Bas played them snippets of whatever he had composed that day from his phone.
Bas was back to his slightly cocky, entertaining self. There was no wrinkle between Drew’s eyebrows anymore. And Ezra hadn’t stayed late in the library for weeks and instead dragged his books to the apartment every night.
There had been no talk of what the three of them were doing. No discussion about feelings or, God forbid, the future.
But everything they did was very… domestic.
And very scary because Ezra had no clue how long it was going to last.
A smarter man would have guarded himself better, but even knowing that, Ezra couldn’t seem to put any distance between himself, Drew, and Bas. He was drawn to them. He didn’t understand it. Didn’t exactly know how it had happened. Didn’t know how to stop. Didn’t know if he could stop.