The party was easy to get into. He just snuck in through a side door when he spotted one of the bar staff heading back in after a smoke break. He probably could've paid at the door without issue, but this reminded him of his old school days where he snuck around more, and it was exciting.

Nick was so relieved to be in this atmosphere now. While his parents' anniversary went well enough, fielding all of those questions was a pain in the ass. At least here he was amongst peers. It was already louder and wilder than the anniversary, so Nick was right at home. Back in the city, he did enjoy hitting the clubs whenever he could, although those nights were far and few between these days. The high school reunion was nowhere near as exciting as a gay dance club, but it still had its pickings of handsome people.

Almost immediately, people came up to him and clapped him on the back. Even without his name tag, which he claimed already broke and was in his pocket, people recognized him. In high school, he was never alone. He’d always been surrounded by people, although there were only one or two people he would have called his close friends at the time. Even so, despite trying to keep in contact with people in the beginning, life went on and conversations died off.

“Hey, Nick! I didn't know you were coming! I didn't see you in any of the Facebook discussions,” a classmate named Daryl greeted.

“I saw that you were a part of the groups, though,” another classmate named Josh commented.

“Yeah, I know. I'm terrible for lurking,” Nick said. In reality, he just didn't use his personal Facebook much these days. His life revolved around his work, so he spent a lot more of his time using his professional aliases. Most of his Facebook conversations revolved around romance books and the art of marketing them.

“Do you have a special someone in your life yet?” Daryl asked with a grin.

Nick shifted, glancing away briefly while shrugging. “Nah, man.”

“Why not?”

“I just haven't found anyone yet,” Nick said more sharply than he intended. He already endured all of these questions at the family reunion. He had hoped that the school reunion would open up some new conversations.

“Ah, well, join the club,” Daryl said while clapping him on the shoulder. “A lot of us here are probably single. It seems to be like that nowadays with our generation and younger.”

“You make us sound so old!” Nick laughed as he shoved Daryl and took a sip from his drink. His eyes washed over the crowd as he drank everyone in. How many of them were single? Did they enjoy being single? Nick thought he enjoyed being single but now and again, something scratched at him.

It was then that his eyes fell upon a gorgeous man standing close to the bar. The guy was well-dressed with his light hair brushed back. He looked like he was a shy guy type, although why the hell would he be with those stunning looks?

“Excuse me,” Nick said as he parted from Daryl and Josh to make his way to this stranger. Even as he got closer, something nagged at the back of his mind. This guy looked familiar, but Nick wasn't quite sure how.

“Hey,” he greeted the stranger as he stopped in front of him. “How's it going?” He tried to play it cool for now until he figured out how exactly he knew this guy.

The guy raised a brow. “Nick Morgan, you don't know who I am, do you?”

The question was a dangerous one, and Nick had no real way to get out of it. His heart pounded and he wracked his brain while still trying to remain casual. “Of course I do! You're, uh...”

“George Bennett.”

It was like someone took a sledgehammer to Nick's face. His jaw dropped as he stared at George.

This man was George? Now that he had the name, the rush of memories helped him fill in the blanks. George was bulkier now than when they'd known each other in high school, that was for sure. While he wasn't huge by any stretch of the imagination, he'd always been scrawny, so any muscle mass was more than what Nick had seen on him before.

His shoulders had filled out as well, filling out that blazer nicely. His neck was thick, his facial structure more squarish. Those eyes behind his glasses were the same and should've been all Nick needed to tell who it was. Guilt hit him now since there was obvious hurt reflected back to him.

“Sorry, man. With the lighting and the drinks...” Nick tried to excuse himself.

“Forget about it,” George grunted.

“You look great,” Nick said without missing a beat. He had to recover from this. “I just didn't recognize you right away. You changed a lot since high school.”

“In a good way, I hope.”

“In a very good way,” Nick agreed, his tone more suggestive than he meant.

George really did look amazing. Nick's heart pounded as something deep inside was triggered by seeing George after all of this time. He wasn't entirely sure how to sort out exactly what he was feeling but he went with it. It just felt incredible to see him again.

George opened his mouth as though to protest but closed it. He looked very much like a deer caught in the headlights. “Are you hitting on me?”

Was he hitting on George? “Uhh...”

“How about we catch up first?” George said, his eyebrow still raised high with skepticism.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Nick agreed easily, pushing down the fleeting moment of lust to focus on his friend. They had been so close once before, and it'd be nice to catch up with him after all these years. Guilt hit him, too, that he'd let George fall out of his life over the years. “How are you?”

“I'm doing pretty good,” George said as he sipped his drink. “I just came in for the reunion.”

“Me, too. Well, it's also my parents' thirtieth anniversary.”

“Oh, wow! Congratulations.”

“I'm not the one that should be congratulated, but I'll pass it along,” Nick laughed. “Have you met very many people here yet?”

“Not many. I haven't been here long. I feel kind of bad because I've already ran into at least one person that I don't remember,” George moaned. “It was so bad. By the way, when did you decide to come? I didn't see your name anywhere.”

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” Nick explained, just before someone bumped into him from behind. He tried to catch himself before he slammed into George, but it happened too quickly.

Their bodies collided, and heat flashed through Nick despite the chill of George’s piña colada spilling between them.

“Oh, shoot!” George lamented as he stepped back and stared down at his front where the drink had splashed. It was all over his shirt. Although it was dark, Nick spotted redness to George's cheeks. Was the color from embarrassment, or had George felt that spark, too, when their fronts were pressed briefly together?

“Sorry,” came a gruff voice behind them. Nick glanced back. The guy who’d bumped into him was already wasted.

“Don't worry about it,” Nick said. These things happened. It wasn't the end of the world.

“I've got to go wash this out and change my shirt,” George said as he set his near empty piña colada glass down on a nearby table.

“Are you staying nearby?” Nick asked.

“I'm staying at a motel down the street. I'll be back as quick as I can so that we can keep catching up,” George insisted.

“How about I go with you?” Nick suggested before he'd even thought the offer through. “Might be easier to catch up away from the crowd.”

George's eyes widened and his cheeks grew pink. “Sure,” he agreed easily as he adjusted his glasses and straightened up. As he worked his way through the crowd, Nick wasn't far behind.