It was slightly bizarre having the other students back in the workroom the next day. Koby kept glancing at the desk he and Vince had fucked on, grinning to himself. It was quite exhilarating, having a secret like that. Obviously he had wiped down the area afterward, just in case. But still, he was glad nobody sat there today.

He’d arrived early, feeling motivated to continue with Vince’s sculpture, then been joined by Yu Yan. Her still-life project was growing by the day as she expanded on her drawings, becoming bolder with her pencilwork. Gareth was also progressing with his graphic novel designs, but Wendell was a no-show and Alanna was late.

When she did come in, however, she and Zane came straight over to Koby. “He wanted you to be the first to see.” They both held out their hands.

“Momma and me got matching manis!” Zane bounced in excitement as Koby looked at his and his mom’s blue, sparkly nails.

Koby’s face broke into a big, goofy grin. “Wow! Those look awesome.”

Alanna bit her lip and smiled at Koby. “The woman in the shop thought it was a bit odd I was there with my son. But…I told her that was what he wanted.” The way she was looking at Koby clearly expressed she was proud of herself. Koby was proud of her too.

“Hell, yeah.” Koby nodded. Then he looked down at Zane. “You guys have fun?”

The little boy nodded emphatically. “Momma said we can go again if I do my math work.”

Koby watched on happily as Alanna set herself up at her usual desk with Zane underneath.

Sometime around lunch, Koby looked up from where he’d been fiddling with the Vince-sculpture’s hands, trying to get the left fingers just right. Gareth was standing awkwardly in front of him with his tablet.

“You said Lumberjack was cool, right?” Gareth averted his eyes like he couldn’t care less what Koby’s answer was. The way his foot was twisting around suggested differently.

Koby nodded. Something funny flickered through his chest. He wasn’t sure how to describe it. But hearing someone else talk about Vince when that person didn’t know what he and Vince had done was…strange. Did Koby want people to know what they had done?

He quashed those thoughts and smiled at Gareth, encouraging him to continue. “Yeah, he’s a really down-to-earth sort of guy.” Koby meant it. It was one of the things he liked most about Vince, actually. His complete lack of pretentiousness.

Gareth huffed and shrugged his shoulders, then thrust out his tablet to show Koby a page from a comic book in Gareth’s style. Koby tilted his head, wiping his hands on a cloth before taking the tablet to look closer.

The comic page was currently missing the words from the speech and thought bubbles, but even without that, Kory could tell it was of Vince. This must have been the play he’d made that had gotten him his head injury. It showed him saving the quarterback from a dirty tackle, then all the fans cheering for Vince while he was knocked out cold on the field. How the medics rushed in and got him to the hospital in a storm of flashing blue lights and sprinting feet. Then people’s happiness when Vince woke up in a bed.

Koby swallowed and realized there was a lump in his throat.

“It’s so fanboy, I know,” Gareth said suddenly, rolling his eyes and trying to take the tablet back.

Koby yanked it out of his reach, still absorbing the graphics. It was obvious just how much admiration had been poured into the comic. Gareth really did see Vince as a hero.

“Can you send this to me?” Koby asked. “Vince would love to see it. The linework is really compelling, but your use of color is outstanding. I love how gray it goes in the panels where he’s in the ambulance and they’re rushing the gurney through the hospital-”

He stopped talking. Because his voice caught.

This wasn’t just a piece of art. This was real life. Vince had almost died from his brain swelling. Another injury like that could kill him or give him permanent damage.

The idea that Vince could be lying on another gurney, gone from the world, hit Koby like a brick wall. A wave of nausea rolled over him and he handed the tablet back.

That hadn’t happened. Vince was fine.

He forced a smile. “If you send it to me, I’d love to show him. He’d be thrilled to see you made that for him. I’m sure he’d want to share it on his Twitter and Instagram.”

“Oh, no.” Gareth immediately clutched the tablet to his chest. Then he relaxed his shoulders and a small smile crept on his lips. “I mean, only if he wants to. That would be incredible exposure.”

Koby beamed at him. “I’m sure he’d be delighted.” He was pleased Gareth was choosing not to hide anymore. “Tidy it up with the text and send it over to me.”

Gareth grinned and practically skipped back to his desk. “I wish Whiney Wendell heard you say that,” Gareth said gleefully as he sat down. “He doesn’t think anything other than watercolor is actually art. He’s so stuck up.” Gareth looked around the room. “Where is he anyway?”

“He visits his wife’s grave on Fridays.”

Koby, Gareth and Alanna all looked over at Yu Yan, who was engrossed in her drawing. But she glanced up when she sensed them staring.

“Did I say the wrong words?” she asked in her thick Chinese accent.

“No, no,” Alanna assured her. “Just…”

“I didn’t know his wife was dead.” Gareth sounded guilty.

“I didn’t know he had a wife,” Alanna added.

Yu Yan nodded sadly. “Last year, I think. That why he come to paint. He want company. But he never say so.” She shook her head and added definition to the edge of her sketch. “He have no kids. My mom say he lonely so try to be kind to him.”

Gareth and Alanna shared a look.

Koby hardly noticed, though. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he suddenly felt a bit sick and like he needed to get away. He’d done enough work for the day. So he loosely organized his supplies into less chaotic piles and grabbed his satchel.

“I’m going to head off for the day.” He didn’t really catch anyone’s eye. “Y’all have a good afternoon.”

They said their goodbyes and waved, but Koby was already out the door. A quick call to his sister established she was at their mom’s house, so he drove his Toyota Corolla straight there.

It was so ridiculous. But seeing those pictures of Vince on death’s door and then hearing poor old Wendell’s wife had passed away had done a number on Koby’s mind. It was like he’d fallen into a bit of a tailspin. He barely noticed the drive to his mom’s house. When he got there, he said his hellos to the dogs as usual, automatically picking Pac-Man – who for some reason had still not been adopted – up and heading to where Ginger was working in the kitchen.

She had a cup of tea ready waiting for him.

“Come on then,” she said with a knowing smile. “What’s up?”

Koby tried his best to explain the situation to Ginger as she worked at the kitchen table.

Having been miserable slaving away in an office for almost ten years, Ginger now had a small business handmaking colorful soaps that was growing at quite an alarming rate. By this time next year, Koby predicted she’d have doubled her supply contracts and would have staff of her own. She listened to Koby pouring his heart out as she fussed over her latest molds.

“So, you don’t know why the idea of Vince dying upset you?” She arched an eyebrow, brushing glitter from her hands, then sipping a mug of coffee.

Koby placed Pac-Man on the floor, folded his arms and frowned. “I know, it’s dumb.”

A mangled dog toy bounced off the side of his head with a feeble squeak. Pac-Man grabbed it off the floor and brought it back to Koby with a wagging tail.

“Ow!” he cried indignantly, rubbing his face and glowering at his sister. “What the hell was that for?”

“You are so hopeless sometimes,” she said in exasperation.

She and Koby were alike in many ways. Both vegan and pan. She preferred the label genderfluid rather than agender, but that just meant some days she felt more ‘like a boy’ and others ‘like a girl’ and dressed accordingly, so it fell under the same nonbinary umbrella as Koby’s label. They were both creative and loved freely.

But how they differed completely was where Koby was aromantic and didn’t always understand other people’s feelings and emotions at times, Ginger was so empathic she was practically a mind reader. That was why Koby had told her about having sex with Vince. There was no way he would have been able to keep it a secret from her.

Besides, he had wanted to tell at least one person. He’d been on such a high yesterday. But now he was totally bummed out.

“Fine, what?” Koby snapped, raising his eyebrows. He leaned down and obliged Pac-Man with a game of tug-of-war with whatever the battered toy was. Possibly a rabbit.

“You like him.” Ginger rolled her eyes.

Koby frowned, confused. “I know I do.”

“No,” she said, like she was speaking to a stubborn child. “You like him like him. It wasn’t just sex. These are called feelings. Romantic feelings.”

“They’re ikky.” Koby frowned as Pac-Man grunted and made the rabbit squeak. “My chest hurts and I feel sort of vaguely ill all the time.”

Ginger smiled and shook her head, going back to measuring out ingredients for her spiced berry soap batch.

“What?” Koby asked.

“You’ll hit me if I say.” Ginger didn’t take her eyes off the measuring cup. “Look, you like him. So do something romantic so he knows you do.”

“Do what?” Koby felt like she was speaking in riddles.

She sighed. “Well, I don’t know, but I’d guess you want to spend more time with him? Maybe you want to suggest not having sex with other people? Holding hands?”

Koby blinked while Pac-Man kept tugging on the toy in his hand. “You mean date?”

It was true that Koby had been thinking it would be nice to meet someone and have more with them than just sex. That was all he seemed to have had recently with his relationships. But he couldn’t have that with Vince, could he?

“I can’t date Vince.” He frowned. “He’s a fucking football player. You know how horrifically homophobic sports is. Besides, he’ll be going back to Oklahoma to his team in the new year.”

The idea of Vince playing again and risking another injury twisted in Koby’s guts. But that was his job and that was what he wanted to do, so there was no sense fighting it.

Ginger huffed at Koby. “I’m not saying you announce your relationship in Us Weekly. “Just hang out while he’s here. Eat a few meals together. Have sex as well as those things. You might enjoy it.”

Koby was immediately torn. He really wanted to hang out with Vince. If it was easier to call that dating, then, yeah, he’d actually love to give that a try. But Vince wouldn’t want that, would he? He’d never want to risk being outed. It was probably just a onetime experiment for him.

But if Koby wanted more and didn’t tell Vince…he’d never find out if he might be interested in more as well.

“I could ask him to hang out,” Koby said, nodding. “That would be real nice, actually.”

Ginger wagged a finger at him. “This guy’s just working out his sexuality, right?” Koby nodded. “Then make sure you talk to him and explain how you’re feeling. Do you want to be exclusive?”

Koby chewed his lip. “Yes. If that’s what he wants.”

Ginger slapped his knee. “Wonderful. Get him a gift, go all gooey on him. Make him see how special he is.”

“Like flowers?” Koby got flowers were pretty, but he’d never really understood the concept of getting something for someone that would just die. He just did it for his friends and his mom on Mother’s Day because that was what other people seemed to like.

Ginger rubbed her chin. “Have you got time to make him a little something? Do you think he’d like one of your pieces?”

Koby smiled. “Yes,” he said warmly, thinking of Vince’s praise from the market last weekend. “And yes, I’ve probably got time.”

Ginger squeezed his leg with genuine affection. “If this guy is special, show him.”

Koby beamed at her.

Yeah, maybe Vince would be leaving in a month or so. But Koby felt like they really did have a connection going between them. Why not make Vince feel spoiled while he was in Hidden Creek? They didn’t have to shout about it. no one needed to know.

But they would know.

“Thanks, Ginger.” He hauled Pac-Man into his lap so the puppy could happily gnaw on the table and lick Koby’s hands. Koby was already thinking what he could make for Vince.

Yeah, that could work.