Nathan Marsh's State of Being

Chapter Twenty One

disoriented

part one

At the dining hall the next day, Harley was relentless.

"So how did it go?" he asked loudly.

Noel, Rex, and Dylan glanced over at us, thanks to Harley's annoying mouth. I smiled tightly and they went back to their conversation about whether or not aliens built the pyramids.

"How did what go?" I asked Harley quietly.

His volume didn't match mine. "Your date with Theo last night."

I saw Noel's jaw clench from the corner of my eye. Rex looked like he was out of it. Dylan kept talking.

I shot my best friend a disapproving look. He knew what he was doing.

"We can talk about it later, moron."

Harley booed. "I wanna talk about it now."

"Fine, then I wanna talk about Dante. How's his dick doing?"

Harley narrowed his eyes, but didn't give in. "Just fine, thanks. How was Theo's?"

My jaw dropped.

"Harley, my dude," Rex said, smacking my friend on the arm from where he sat next to him. He sounded sleepy and I knew he was stoned because under normal circumstances he was sharp as a tack. "What are you going on about?"

Harley feigned innocence. "Nothing. Nate had a date last night with a super hot guy. Just wanted to know how it went."

Rex looked at me and nodded in approval. "Sweet. Hope you got laid."

Dylan looked like he wanted to say something, but Noel sucked him back into conversation. He didn't look at me.

"You're such an asshole," I muttered under my breath to Harley.

"If he's jealous he should do something about it," he said quietly with a shrug. I was glad he had the decency to speak at a volume that only I could hear.

"He's not," I quipped lowly. "And since you're not gonna shut up, the date was good. Theo wants to go out again this weekend."

Harley grinned. He was no longer trying to instigate. He seemed genuinely happy on my behalf. "That's awesome. Do you like him?"

"As much as I can for someone I barely know. He's...pretty great, though."

"Did you guys kiss?"

"What the fuck is this, kindergarten?" Noel snapped, surprising everyone at the table.

I blinked at him. His eyes were narrowed at Harley and I thought back to the only time I'd ever seen Noel angry. The day he found out about his sister's pregnancy. He wasn't that mad, obviously, but there was a very faint echo of that emotion on his face.

"Excuse you? We're having a private conversation, Noah."

Noel made a face of disgust at my best friend's stupid jab and then looked at me as if to say, what's his fucking problem?

I shrugged. I had no idea what was happening anymore.

Rex looked like he was going to fall asleep and Dylan looked about as bewildered as I felt as he glanced between Harley and Noel over and over again.

Harley ignored my roommate completely and asked me again, not bothering to keep his voice down anymore. "Did you and Theo kiss last night?"

"Uh, n--"