Page 33 of If the World Was Ending

After Colby lit it, Hunter reached out and took the smoke, sliding his hand against Colby’s until he could pinch the butt and take it away. He lifted it to his own lips and took a long drag. Briar handed Ford her phone. “Take our photo!”

She moved behind Colby and wrapped her arms around his neck, popping her head over his left shoulder. Colby smiled. It was tense because he knew Briar was going to put this on Instagram, but then Hunter leaned in. His back to Colby, he bowed his back and dropped his head on Colby’s right shoulder, blowing another plume of smoke into the air. Then Colby’s smile softened, his body relaxed. Hunter turned his head for the second shot, so his cheek was on Colby’s shoulder, and he was smiling at the camera too.

Briar snatched her phone from Ford, who immediately suggested, “I think the first one with the two of you is awesome.”

Briar nodded at Ford and went back to tapping on her phone. Colby reached to take the remainder of his cigarette back from Hunter, not because he wanted to smoke but because he wanted their fingers to brush again. Briar flipped her screen to face him again and smiled triumphantly. “Ta-da!”

Colby took her phone and looked at the post. The caption read: Great Night at Go-Go’s. Come see us here again next Wednesday. The first three photos were of the band on stage. The last… was the final shot with Hunter’s head on Colby’s shoulder and Briar smiling over his other one. Hunter looked… gorgeous. Colby had his head kind of tilted toward him, which he didn’t realize at the time. If Briar was cropped out, they’d look… They would look like a couple. A very happy one.

Fuck. That’s ridiculous, Colby chastised himself and handed the phone back to Briar. “Thanks. I need a drink. Who else?”

“Celebratory drinks!” Briar announced. “For the new Insta.”

Colby led the way back into the bar.

Chapter 10

That was a lot of word vomit

Hunter was laughing so hard his sides hurt. It didn’t help that today was a core day, and he did, like, 500 sit-ups at the gym earlier. He held his middle and squeezed his eyes shut, his chest heaving. Tears leaked from his eyes, making trails into his hair because he was lying flat on his back on the linoleum kitchen floor next to Colby.

“Fuck man, that’s… I mean…” Colby snorted. Hunter laughed harder.

“Fuck you! Have you ever wondered how the fuck you’d ever get rid of that smell?” Hunter asked. It was really his own fault for telling Colby he had a phobic-level fear of skunks. “You don’t know. I haven’t even seen a skunk since I moved to California, but they’re all over Canada. And this dude from high school was sprayed once, and he had to shave his head because he couldn’t get the smell out of his hair. Even then, I swear to Christ he stunk for over a year.”

Colby giggled. Hunter turned his head to look at him. His long blond hair was pushed up behind him, fanned out in squiggly waves. His dimple was so deep as he smiled widely at the ceiling that Hunter had to fight the urge to poke it with his finger. His skin was clear, but dewy from the heat. Colby’s pale stubble from lack of shaving was barely visible, but Hunter thought it might feel scratchy against his skin. It’s the weed, he told himself and turned away so he was looking at the ceiling again.

“You have a weird thing with smells,” Colby announced. “Like you are obsessed with smelling good.”

“I am. Funky smells make me anxious… or something.” Hunter shrugged, the bare skin on the backs of his shoulders sticking to the floor because he was sweating. “Like Leandra sometimes wears… wore this perfume that smelled like floral cheese, and it used to make my heart race it was so gross.”

Colby let out a snort of laughter again. He had the best laugh Hunter had ever heard, and he heard it a lot because they amused the shit out of each other, even when not high.

“Floral cheese?”

“I don’t know how else to describe it.” Hunter giggled. “Fuck. It’s still too hot.”

“I know. It’s nuts. We need to fix the AC,” Colby said. “At least one of them. I can use part of my insurance money from the van.”

There were two AC units in the rundown apartment. One in the bedroom and one in the living room, and both had busted a week before this killer heatwave. “But don’t you need a new van?”

Colby didn’t say anything at first, so Hunter looked at him and found Colby’s gray-blue eyes staring back. His pupils were huge. “It’s been months, and I’ve been procrastinating on buying anything. Because I need a car, but like… if you’re okay with me couch-surfing a little longer, then I don’t need a van. I’m making okay money now with the shows and Trader Joe’s, so, like, I could maybe buy something I don’t have to live in. That would give me AC unit money.”

“You don’t have to move out or rush to buy something. We’re doing fine sharing my car,” Hunter replied, surprised Colby thought he even had to ask. “I’d have to move if you left. I can’t afford this place on my own.”

“Or get another girlfriend.”

“Fuck no,” Hunter groaned and refused to let that heavy blanket of failure he’d felt for weeks infiltrate his chest. “I’m focusing on my career, not women.”

“So, you’re going to be celibate?” Colby asked, lifting a lock of his hair off the floor and staring at the ends like he’d never seen his own hair before.

“I kind of am already. I haven’t hooked up with anyone since Leandra left. I just do not want a new person in my life to tell me to give up, you know?” Hunter replied, and Colby locked eyes with him again. “My dad and mom are kind of like, ‘Gee, Hunter, when will you give up this silly little dream?’ I mean, they don’t say it, but they say it, you know? And Leandra acted like she was cool with me pursuing acting, and then suddenly it was my biggest fault. So no dating. But maybe I’d have sex with someone if there were no strings. No expectations. No need to get to know each other.”

Colby didn’t answer for a minute, and Hunter couldn’t blame him. That was a lot of word vomit. And the silence made Hunter want to word vomit more, so he did. “I think Leandra was supposed to be a one-night stand, or just a fling, and I didn’t leave well enough alone. So, like, maybe women aren’t the problem. Maybe I am. I do get attached way too easily. Exhibit A, you’re my best friend, and I haven’t even known you a whole year.”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t your decision.” Colby’s voice is low and deep. His eyes are closed. “That was fate. The universe wanted our worlds to collide, dude. An earthquake and a falling tree? In twelve hours? We were meant to be.”

Colby and Hunter were meant to be? Hmmm… the thought rolled around lazily in his head and made him smile. Hunter liked the idea that the universe brought him Colby. Maybe a little too much. He sat up suddenly. “We should swim.”