Evan laid back on the couch. The apartment wasn't small, but with four people in it, he thought it was claustrophobic. That was, he supposed, the cost of living in the city. Aside from the actual costs, which he preferred not to think about when it wasn't time to pay the rent. He still had two more weeks on that, which meant that he wasn't due to give it any thought for at least another ten days.
"Come on, man," Colin growled. Maybe he was irritated at Evan for laying on the couch where he mostly slept, these days. Maybe he was irritated because these nights always ended one way. "Let's get going."
"Just one minute," Evan said. He let out a breath. Walked through his notes from the day. They were talking about presentation. It was one of the few things that Evan Park had never needed to be taught. Not in college, anyways. He had plenty of experience with what it meant to present himself in the world.
He let out a breath, ran his hands through his hair. When he was out of school at the end of next year, he would have to cut it short. Though it was hardly what anyone would call 'long' at this point, it was too moppy for someone hoping to get a job working in a Senate office. Then again, a lot of things were going to have to change. Presentation was important, and he was the master of presenting himself as the right kind of person.
He sat up and shook his head. Colin waited quietly, impatiently.
"Come on," Evan said. "We've got to get out there early if you want to find any girls tonight."
He grinned. "Finding them isn't hard."
It was starting to cool down; Evan still stalwartly refused to wear a jacket. He'd owned one before, of course. It was a nice thing, and didn't damp his game. Then it had gotten a wicked tear all through it, and replacing it had been a long time coming.
"No?"
"It's finding the ones who don't automatically go for you."
"Tell them about your dad," Evan offered.
"Encourages the wrong kind of girl."
"Only if you call them after," Evan said. "There's no girl who's 'the wrong kind' for a few long hours of vigorous 'getting to know you' time."
Colin eyed Evan sideways, but they went out of the apartment. Jesse was waiting outside.
"I thought we said we were meeting there."
"I thought you'd died," Jesse growled. His broad shoulders stretched a shirt that was a size too small for them. It was hard to blame him; his waist tapered so thin that the same shirt was a little loose around the midriff. "So I came to check on you."
"Is that how they do it in the Marines?" Colin's voice was low, almost threatening.
"At least some of us in the Marines 'did it' at all," Jesse said coolly. Evan watched the gears in Colin's head turn as he tried to think of some way to come back. Neither of them were in the military, not any more. But the time served had been formative for both, and now they had a rivalry a mile wide.
"Hey, now," Colin finally said. "The Army gets plenty!"
"Well, I guess if I imagine the Army to be anyone other than you," Jesse said, letting the words come out slowly, "Then it's a little easier to imagine. A little."
"Why you…"
Evan opened the passenger door of his car, and practically shoved Colin inside. He slipped in with minimal protest. "We'll see you there, Jess," Evan said. The big guy smiled that tight-lipped smile of his, and nodded.
"Yeah."
Evan got into the driver's seat, turned his car on, and knew in his gut that it was going to be a race. It wasn't a race he was going to win, because that was the exact sort of youthful indiscretion that he needed to protect his future image from.
As if the scores of women weren't.
"You know he's just messing with you," Evan said as they pulled onto the street. Sure enough, behind him, Jesse's engine roared. He tried for a moment to resist. Then he eased onto the gas a little harder. Maybe just a little racing.
"I know," Colin said.
"You don't have to let it get to you, man."
"He doesn't get to me." They both knew it was a lie, and both knew the other knew. Both also had the good taste not to mention it. Everything got to Colin. Which was ironic, because of the three of them, he was the one who was the least vulnerable moving forward.
Evan had his political career; in the end, anything that really damaged that future was something to be avoided at all costs. A little sleeping around was one thing. As long as it was all consensual, and nobody was too hammered to know what was going on, that was just a little harmless fun.
On the other hand, going twenty over…he looked down at his speedometer. Ten over, he could try to push. He moved around a slow-moving car. He thought that he'd see an old woman behind the wheel, someone in no special hurry. Something.
But no, the guy in the driver's seat was their own age. He wrote it off. Maybe he just wasn't in a hurry. When he checked the rear-view mirror, though, there was an indisputable shape sitting up in the passenger seat. One that hadn't been there before. Well, he thought, if you're going slow, at least let it be for a good reason, right?
They rounded the last corner. Jesse, on the other hand, had plenty of dangers to face right then and there. In high school, they'd all met at some prep place. It wasn't talked about how they all got in. Jesse was the odd one out, though, and everyone knew about it. His parents, when they visited, couldn't even try to put a happy face on their situation.
There was no amount of scraping that could have gotten the money together to send him to a school like Westmoreland. Colin's parents had money coming out their ears; Evan's parents had tightened the belt a little. If Jesse's parents spent every dollar that passed through their hands, it wouldn't have made up the difference.
The fact that he was the top of his class didn't stop him from hanging out with other kids, at least. Sometimes, Eric, thought, it could. But more surprisingly, it hadn't availed him to anything. He'd gone straight into the Marine corps, and from there, he'd gotten into body guarding.
At some point, maybe, there was going to be a school future for him. There should be. He was fucking smart. But he hadn't said anything about it, or his time in Afghanistan. Not one word. When he was ready, maybe that would change.
But for now, Evan's eyebrows knit together. Only another half-mile to go, and if he didn't lose his concentration, there was no way that–
Jesse's car slid past. Evan watched it go.
"That son of a bitch," he growled quietly. "I had him."
"That's exactly what I've been saying," Colin said. "He's a son of a bitch."
"Well, apparently, you were right."