of the car and releasing it immediately. The tingle is still there, reminding me why I’m here with these guys.
I look around the property. There’s a waist high black metal fence surrounding an inground pool. It butts right up against the house with a large patio area between the pool and a couple of French doors.
I feel a tug on my fingers. Milo tilts his head, beckoning me to follow Dante and Milo, who are disappearing through a side door of the garage.
I plunge my straw in and out of my drink a few times, stalling, then trail after Milo.
The door opens to a set of stairs leading up. I can’t see into the garage, but there’s another door to the left that looks like it leads in that direction.
“Laura,” Oliver calls down from somewhere above me. Milo waves his hand for me to go ahead of him up the flight of stairs.
I rush up, feeling self-conscious about him being behind me. I’m not even sure why, it’s not like he’ll be checking out my butt.
At the top it opens to an expansive loft. My eyes immediately land on a big bed that Dante is hastily throwing covers on to make the bed.
Milo searches through the numerous bags on a low table in front of a leather couch. Satisfied, with his hands full, he drops back onto the sofa with a humph. “Come grab your food,” he says around a mouth full.
“Do you mind if I use… is there a bathroom? So, I can wash my hands,” I stammer and set my half full coffee on the table next to someone else’s drink.
Dante gives up fixing the bed. “Yeah sure, right here.” He kicks at something. I hear it slide across the hardwood floor before he hurriedly opens the only door I see.
“Shit,” he curses as soon as the door opens. His eyes find mine as I approach. “Give me like, one second.” He doesn’t wait for my reply, just flies through the door, closing it behind him.
I hear a few drawers and cabinet doors opening and closing before he comes out a brief moment later. Face red.
“Sorry, it’s just usually me and the guys,” he says, not meeting my eyes as he gives the explanation.
I leave the door open as he passes by, heading back toward the others.
There’s a toilet against the far wall with a tiled shower directly across from it. A few bottles of soap sit on the ground, with a single bar of yellowish soap placed on a small ledge built into the wall. I inhale, pulling the clean musky scent of the soap in.
Surprisingly the bathroom is really clean. A few small white smears surround the sink and a couple spots dot the mirror, but that’s the only defect I can find.
I make my way over to the long black counter and note the three toothbrushes, all resting upright in a tumbler.
Do they all live here? There’s only one bed. That I saw anyway, well and the couch. Maybe they just stay over often enough to have them here. What even is this place, his apartment? Who lives in the house?
When I exit, the guys are close together whispering fervently. I clear my throat and they stop immediately.
It’s Oliver, not surprisingly, who breaks the awkward silence that follows. “Come eat, it’s already pretty cold.”
Milo is on the floor in front of the table, his legs spread wide as he leans on one hand while eating a burger with the other. Dante grabs a box of fries from the table and sits on the arm of the couch. He digs in, fully engrossed with his food. My cheeseburger is out next to Oliver’s food.
I sit as near the middle between the two boys as I can, putting me on two cushions, then grab my sandwich.
The uncomfortable silence is back, and the same feeling I had when we first sat together at the diner invades my body. I’m super self aware, and hyper alert of them as well. My wrapper seems loud as I pull back the paper, making me slow my movements.
Milo stretches out more on the floor, leaning on his side to look over at us. His head his propped on his hand, while his other arm is draped over his side, leaving his hand low on his stomach. He reaches up to brush something off his shirt and the fabric lifts up, exposing the waistband of his dark gray jogger pants. He doesn’t seem