in those red pants he owns. Been there, done that.”
Seth shoved Nick’s hand away. “Those pants aren’t that great.”
“Yeah, try saying that again when you’re staring at him from behind—why are we even talking about this?”
Seth scowled at him. “Because he flirts with you all the time, and sometimes you look at him like you don’t know if you want to punch him or kiss him.”
“Again, not mutually exclusive. But he broke up with me, remember? And it wasn’t like we were ever really dating to begin with. We were … I don’t know. Make-out buddies, or whatever.” Nick winced. “Wow. That makes me sound easy.”
“I know. We were all there to witness it.”
Nick shoved Seth. “Don’t be weird. Just because you haven’t kissed anyone—”
“What makes you think I haven’t?”
“—doesn’t mean you get … to … tell—wait, what?”
“What makes you think I haven’t kissed anyone?” Seth repeated.
Call it, Doctor. Time of death: 1:37 in the afternoon. Cause? Seth Gray. A strange, twisted knot in Nick’s chest began to tighten, his hands still sweaty. Rationally, Nick knew that it was possible that Seth could have someone who wanted to kiss him. And if he really thought about it, of course people should want to kiss Seth. He was funny and smart, and when he smiled, it was like literal sunshine. He could recite pi to the 126th digit, owned a bonsai tree that he’d managed to keep alive for seven years, once climbed a fire escape to rescue a trapped cat near the park, and when Nick was sick with the flu a few years back, Seth had brought him his homework, medicine, and the latest issues of Marvel’s attempt at an event series that was supposed to change the face of the world but in actuality had made Captain America look like a Hydra agent, which made Nick’s illness worse until he was convinced he was going to die.
Add in the fact that Seth wore bow ties and ascots, so yes, someone would want to kiss him.
In fact, who wouldn’t?
Well shit. What the hell was he supposed to say now? He went with the first thing that popped into his head. “Oh. That’s … nice.”
Seth shrugged as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on him. “I suppose.”
“So … nice.”
Seth squinted at him. “You okay?”
Nick nodded furiously. “Fine. Great. Wonderful.”
“Good. So, idea board?”
Focus. Focus. Don’t think about Seth’s— “Um. Right. So. Idea board. I’ll … talk about it. Because that’s the thing to do. Right now. With you. And I—okay, I can’t do this. Who did you kiss?”
Seth patted Nick’s arm. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
“What?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
That terrible thought struck Nick once again. “Do you have a secret girlfriend and/or boyfriend?”
“No, Nicky. I don’t have a secret girlfriend and/or boyfriend. I already told you that.”
Nick stepped closer, staring at his friend. He leaned forward until their faces were inches apart. Seth’s breath smelled like toothpaste. Nick’s probably smelled like pepperoni, which, in retrospect, probably wasn’t the best thing to be breathing on someone, but there wasn’t time to worry about that now.
Seth didn’t move away. His eyes widened a little. He licked his lips. He had nice lips. Really nice. Nick didn’t know why he hadn’t noticed that before.
Nick whispered, “Then who did you—”
“Your dad told me the door needed to be kept open,” Gibby said from behind them. “I laughed at him, but now I see why.”
Nick screamed as he jumped, almost falling to the floor.
“I didn’t know his voice could go that high,” Jazz said, looking over Gibby’s shoulder. “He could be a diva. Or make a living doing impressions of a cat getting strangled.”
“I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“Anything is a thing if you want it to be,” Jazz said, pushing past her girlfriend and into Nick’s room. “My grandma told me that. And she married into nineteen million dollars, outlived her husband who cheated on her with a badminton instructor named Edward, and then turned it into thirty million.”
Gibby sighed. “I’ll never understand that kind of money.”
“Neither does she,” Jazz said. “Which is why she’s given half of it away to save the whales. She really does like the whales.”
“Speaking of whales,” Gibby said, eyeing Seth and Nick deviously. “Moby-Dick and all that.”
Nick blinked. “What are you talking about? That book was terrible. I’ve never read it, but I did see the Chris Hemsworth movie that was based on it, and even he couldn’t make me care.”
“Seth?” Gibby asked sweetly. Well, sweetly for her, which