44B was in an entirely different building, and Will was late to class. Luckily, it seemed he wasn’t the only one—as others were shuffling their way into chairs. He wandered down the tiered seating until he found a free spot: right at the front. Professor Heil placed a roll-call sheet in front of him. Trying not to go red, Will signed his name, and handed it back.

“Like I said, we won’t be doing anything major today. Rules, classrooms, the syllabus and sorting the presentation groups is about it. You guys are my only mixed group of the year. Chances are, the people sitting next to you aren’t in your course, but I always like a bit of variety.” Professor Heil sat against his desk at the front of the room. With the air of someone who’d done this a thousand times before, he outlined the marketing course. All the grade depended on a presentation that would be delivered at the end of the year. Already, Will thought, college was completely different from secondary school.

“I’m Tara.” The girl at his side, a brunette with dark eyes, whispered to him.

“Will.” He introduced, worrying suddenly about the crinkled state of his shirt when her eyes dipped to his body.

“I’m guessing sports major?” She raised an eyebrow.

Will relaxed. When people asked if he did sports, that usually meant they liked how he looked. At least he thought it did. “Yeah. What about you?”

“Business.”

“Bachelor of Commerce? My friend is doing that.”

“Yeah, no way, what’s their name?” Tara looked at the empty seat next to him, then to him. “Don’t tell me they're skipping the first lecture?”

“Dune’s not one for skipping class. He’s got a different class today—Something Behaviour?”

“Organisational Behaviour.” Tara nodded, “I tried to get into it, but the class was full. Dune. Nice name, unusual.”

The slide changed, drawing their attention back to the board.

“Now then—groups.” Professor Heil clapped his hands. “Make your own. Four or five people to a set. Exchange names, numbers, emails, however you want to do it, and hand me up a sheet with your names and student ID’s in ten minutes. Off you go.”

Right into the deep end.

“You want to make a group?” Will turned to Tara. She nodded. On her far side, he could see the students had already turned away, so he twisted around to the pair sitting behind them. “Hey, you guys want to join me and Tara for this?” The boy looked relieved and nodded. The girl smiled at him.

“I’m Veronica.”

“Will.”

“Stephen.”

“Tara.”

Tara got them out a sheet, and they wrote their names down.

“So we just hand this up?” Veronica held up the sheet.

There was a pause, and everyone glanced in Will’s direction.

“I’ll bring it.” He offered, taking the sheet. He shook off the feeling of eyes following him as he went down the front of the room to the professor. “Sir,” He greeted, “We’ve formed our group.”

Professor Heil took the sheet. “Remind me—is it Simon?”

“Will Simmons.”

“That’s it. Sorry, only read your name in a file.” Professor Heil nodded to himself, “I’m the sports-scholarship liaison this year. First year doing it actually, still working out the kinks.”

“Oh.” Will blinked, “Oh, so were the one who emailed about my schedule earlier in the week? Sorry Sir, I didn’t realise.”

“How are you settling in to Dublin?”

“Alright. Only been here a day, but it's already completely different from living in the middle of nowhere.”

“And your schedule works out? Nothing clashes with volleyball training? Nicolas contacted me already about the Varsity tournament next month—you can get leave no problem, just email me the classes you’ll be missing and I’ll sort out the work for you.”

Will warmed to Professor Heil immediately. “I’ll do that, thank you.”

“It’ll be your first match, won’t it?”

“First one that’s not practice.” Will said. Four weeks away, but even mentioning it summoned up enough nervous energy to make him antsy. “Looking forward to it.”

“I heard you’re good. You going to join any of the sports clubs?”

Will started to answer, but a growing line of students made him pause.

“We’ll talk later, I have to meet up with all my scholarship students at some point in the week—don’t forget to check your email.”

“I will, sir.”

Back with his group, everyone was adding each-other on Facebook.

“We’re putting together a group chat.” Tara said, “Will Simmons… found you. Who’s the cutie?”

Will knew without looking that Dune was in his profile picture. “The friend I was telling you about, in the business course.”

Tara was examining the phone closely. “Is he gay?”

Was there anything on Will’s profile that implied Dune was gay? Was it the picture? “He is.” Will answered slowly.

“I’ve got a friend. He’s into smart dudes. Dune single?”

A small bit of unease tightened on Will’s lungs. “He is, but you’d have to ask him if he’s looking. Not sure if he is.” At no point in the summer had Dune expressed any interest in anyone. It was the only thing that Will couldn’t talk about with Dune. He didn’t know how. Dune had feelings Will couldn’t return—or he had a few months ago—and Will just didn’t know a way to approach that topic without hurting Dune somehow. Cassie was better at it than him, so he left that area to her.

“Okay, okay. Sent the request.” Tara put her phone away.

They talked in their little group for the rest of the class, and Will felt good about working with them for the rest of the semester.

“Why don’t we meet up later?” Tara suggested as they headed for the exit.

“In the library?” Will questioned.

Veronica and Stephen both said: “In the college bar?”

Tara shot Will a grin. “We should probably wait until we get the assignment before hitting the library.”

“Probably.” Will chuckled, ducking his head to hide his embarrassment.

“So, college bar everyone?”

“I’m in,” Veronica nodded.

“Me too.” Stephen said.

They looked at Will. He hadn’t planned to go out tonight, but he did want to get to know his classmates. “Sure.” Will agreed, “Mind if I bring a few friends along?”

“I’ll do the same.” Tara nodded.

They broke apart, and Will left to find his next class.

*

Young women dressed for clubs, guys in nice shirts and white-washed jeans, and then the opposite, people in sport shorts and trackies, all mingled together in the college bar. Luckily, Tara had saved them seats around a bar-table. Veronica was there, alongside a guy who introduced himself as Luke.

Will sat in the centre and Cassie popped up into the seat next to him.

“What is your drink of choice?” Tara tapped the edge of a glass-jug, half-filled with beer. “Pitchers are cheaper to share, if anyone wants in?”

“I could go for beer.” Cassie said with a smile.

Tara looked expectantly at Will and he shook his head. “No drinks for me tonight, early start tomorrow.”

“Okay, coke or 7up then?”

“I’ll just have water.”

Tara looked over him speculatively, then nodded. “I get it sports-boy. You’re a health nut. Body is a temple and all that?”

“And all that.” Will confirmed, shifting in his chair.

“What about you?” Luke nodded at Dune. “Your body a temple?”

Dune let out an amused breath, “When I’m driving home, it is.”

“Okay, another pitcher, water, coke? 7up?” Tara directed the question at Dune.

“Pepsi.”

“Pepsi, and for you my man?” Tara slipped off her chair, moving around Luke.

“Vodka coke.”

Will did a mental tally, and got up too. “I’ll help carry them down.”

Dune caught his arm as he went by and placed a twenty into Will’s palm. “For mine and Cassie’s.”

There was a throng of people crowding the bar. Will stepped closer to Tara, keeping a close eye on the jostling bodies around him.

Tara was paying more attention to their table. “So what do you think, Luke and Dune, huh? They’d suit each-other.”

Will cast a glance back. Luke, red-headed, pale, and serious-looking, had both Cassie and Dune’s attention. But that didn’t make Will think they suited each-other. And he didn’t see how Tara thought that either. “Why do you say that?” When she only looked at him, he continued. “Sure you know Luke well, but you’ve only just met Dune. He could be a total jerk.”

“He gave you money for his drink, even though I was getting the round.”

She saw that?

“And I showed Luke his Facebook before you guys got here. I know him pretty good after that. Although more from other people posting about him, than him putting up pictures. Except for nights out, actually. He hugs when he’s drunk, doesn’t he?”

Uncomfortable, Will averted his gaze. “I guess he does.”

“He hugs you, anyway.” Tara said, off-hand. “You’re gay too, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And are you—”

“We’re not together, no.”

Tara smiled. “Luke will be thrilled.”

When they got back to the table, Will still felt uncomfortable about how much Tara knew about Dune. In a lull in conversation, he even looked up Dune’s profile, and sifted through the photos. Sure, there were a few of him and Dune. A barbecue in June, pier jumping in July—and there was Cassie’s background photo—the three of them in Dune’s bed, with a bowl of popcorn between them.

He thought, suddenly, of Gabriel. Had he been keeping tabs on Will online? Had he been seeing these? Did they bother him?

Cassie rested her chin on Will’s shoulder and looked at his phone. “Best night ever.” She said, seeing what was open.

“It‘s up there.” Will agreed.

“It’s the nicest drink in the world.” Luke nudged Dune’s shoulder, “I promise.”

“It sounds disgusting.” Dune said back, amused.

“It isn’t, I’ll order us two.”

Dune was grinning. “I, uh,” His grey eyes flicked to Will, and Will understood the look immediately. Tara had bothered Will earlier, but Dune was good at sussing people out for himself, so Will nodded. He held out his hand to Dune.

“I’m not drinking anyway.” He said.

With a grateful smile, Dune gave over his car keys.

Dune and Luke went up to the bar, and Will could only ignore Cassie’s pointed look for so long. “Yes?” He asked.

“You’re just going to let that happen?” Cassie tilted her head toward them, “You’ll have to lay down the law, Will. Power move it up. Pull Dune into your lap when he comes back.”

Will, despite himself, let out a bark of laughter.

Cassie grinned. “I’m serious.”

“We’re friends.”

“Boyfriends without the benefits.” Cassie shrugged, “Basically dating, just no banging—and that’s cool, some people take their time with it.”

“Cassie—”

“Emotional boyfriend.”

“Supportive friend.” Will gave her a look. Cassie threw up her hands in surrender.

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

Will got the feeling she didn’t get it. But he couldn’t exactly tell her he already had a boyfriend. Cassie knew that Gabriel was Will’s teacher, and if he told her they were dating now… But he didn’t want to keep it a secret. He took in Tara and Veronica, deep in conversation and titled his body toward Cassie. She was the coolest person he knew, and she wouldn’t do something to get Gabriel into trouble. He knew she wouldn’t.

But Will couldn’t figure out how to say it.