Mike became painfully aware of how close his mate was. He groaned.
"So..." Matt trailed, vying for Mike's eyes, "you're going back to Claire."
Mike noticed how Matt's voice had a longing to it, despite trying to phrase it as fact. He found Matt's eyes.
"I...I don't know." He said, and his throat ran dry. "I mean love her, but..."
Matt's gaze went askance.
"I get it," his voice came, but his face remained elsewhere. "I don't blame you, hell, I'd date her if I were straight."
Mike blinked. "You think...I'm still straight?"
Matt seemed to shrink at the pointed question. His voice came out with a slight quiver. "I mean...it's not the first time I've been an experiment to someone."
Mike bit his lip. He narrowed the gap between them, the proximity causing Matt to swivel his head and look Mike in the eyes. Mike sighed, forcing his voice to soften despite his own conviction.
"You were never a phase, Matt. Not there, not here..."
His fingers found Matt's, lacing them together.
"Not ever," he finished, managing a small grin.
Matt scoffed, but his lit up eyes betrayed his intentions. "That was corny as hell, dude."
Mike grinned back. "You've dated far worse corny people."
The other man chuckled. "Rhett practically breathed in prose and bad romance novels."
His grin widened. "Who's the one that put 'hopeless romantic' in their Tinder bio again?"
The laugh that followed made Mike feel great, euphoric even. But as the noise died down, the crickets that followed reminded him of how late it was, and how Claire was worried sick about him. Matt unlaced their fingers, his hand going limp at his side.
"So..." Matt tried again. Mike clicked his tongue.
"You always fill the silence when you're nervous, man." He found himself saying, suprising both of them. Matt scratched the back of his neck.
"You've gotta admit, this situation is nerve wracking. I mean we just went from having sex behind your girlfriend's back to literally having a phone call with said girlfriend."
Mike raised a playful eyebrow. "'We?'"
Max groaned exasperatedly. "You know what I meant. Just because I didn't talk to her doesn't mean I wasn't there to witness it."
Mike's playful demeanor faded. "Yea, you're right."
"So...are we just going to pretend this didn't happen forever or...?"
"Nope. Nuh-uh. I'm gonna talk to Claire like an adult about what happened, and we'll go from there."
Matt rolled his eyes. "Sureee, because saying 'nuh-uh' and talking to your girlfriend about cheating on her is Maturity 101."
Mike punched his best friend's arm. "Hey!"
Mike chuckled.
"That's what you get for being a smartass."
Matt shrugged as the duo looked to their car on the other side of the street.
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