I got off work early for a Saturday night.

Baker and I had rolled 600 sets of silverware in record time, desperate to escape our day shifts and the onset of the three-day weekend. With the extra time on my hands, I thought I'd drop in on Theo and surprise him with my new set of lingerie.

It was the first time I'd purchased anything like that for us, and I felt a little brazen for wearing the item under my clothes, but if he got excited over a cheap bra and cotton thong, I couldn't wait to see how he reacted to a lacey one-piece.

Would he start salivating the moment I unbuttoned my shirt? Would his eyes go blank with lust? Would we even make it to the bed, or would we end up wreaking havoc in the kitchen like last time?

Excitement brewed in my gut as I made my way up his apartment stairs. But when I knocked on his door, it wasn't Theo who greeted me at the threshold.

Instead, a dark-haired man in his fifties smiled down at me, seemingly delighted by my arrival. He was attractive for someone twice my age—the kind of man who'd earn double-takes from college students and elderly women alike. He had the build of a cyclist and a lean, shaven face, and there was no doubt in my mind he was Theo's direct relative.

"Oh," I said stupidly, retreating a few steps. "Hi."

"You must be here for Theo's birthday party," he said.

I grinned to hide my surprise. Birthday?

"Yeah, I was just stopping by to...wish him well," I lied.

"Well, by all means."

He stepped aside to let me in, and I tentatively peeked my head into the warm, well-lit studio.

Theo sat in the living room with a blond guy who who either surfed, skiied, or brewed beer for a living; a handsome black man in thick glasses; and a young woman covered in tattoos. Collapsible camping chairs joined the dining set around the coffee table, and I buried a snicker. Clearly, it was a well-known fact that Theo didn't have enough furniture to host a party.

As the group burst into laughter over an inside joke, Theo finally caught sight of me in the doorway. His eyes widened, and he straightened in his seat.

"Moe," he got out. "Hey."

His older twin swept me inside and closed the door behind us, probably sensing my instinct to scurry off.

"I just wanted to say hi. And happy birthday." Apparently, my eyes said.

Theo stood from his chair and crossed the room to meet me in the kitchen. He wore a simple crewneck tonight, his sleeves rolled up at his elbows to expose the ink notes on his arms and the pretty veins spiraling down his wrists. "Thanks. I don't really like to celebrate, but these guys are adamant about getting together every year, so..." He glanced at his friends, then back at me. "I thought you'd be working tonight." I wasn't expecting you to drop in like this, he meant.

I waved away his concerns. "No worries. You guys should get back to it. I have a lot of homework, so—"

"You could stay," he offered, and he looked a little surprised by his own request. "If you want."

I squinted at him, unsure if he was putting on a cordial front before company, or if he genuinely wanted me to be here. "I..."

"Oh my gosh!" Charlotte cried, stumbling out of the bathroom in a sweater dress and velvet booties. "Is that Ramona?"

I gave her an awkward wave, and she scurried over to us in tiny, wobbly footsteps, yanking me into a fierce hug like we'd known each other for decades.

She smelled like peppermint patties and alcohol, and the empty wine bottle on the table suggested that Theo approved of his underage sister drinking in the safety of his apartment. Surrounded by good company. Barred from unnecessary risk.

And I loved that.

As an only child, I'd never had an older sibling looking out for me that way. No close cousins to teach me the do's and don'ts of beer, liquor, and hangovers. Really, none of my dauntless peers had ever been there to catch me if I fell— except Baker, I supposed, but I'd surely crush her if I lost my balance.

The blond friend twisted in his seat on the couch, pursing his lips. "Are you gonna introduce us or what, bozo?"

"Right." Theo pulled me further into the room, and his nervous smile made me feel like I'd stumbled into a job interview. "This is Mona." He gestured to his guests, one by one. "Mona, meet Van, Adora, Walker, and...my dad, Ed."

The group stared at me for a moment before exchanging looks.

"So is she like...your lab assistant or something?" Adora asked, her scratchy voice baiting, yet kind. She appeared to be the same age as Theo, and she wore a mustard yellow beanie over braided brown hair, an oversized flannel, and the most beat-up pair of Converse I'd ever seen.

One glance at her, and I just knew she was one of those people who were effortlessly cool and equable. Anxiety had never plagued her.

"I'm a friend," I answered for Theo, watching him exhale in relief. They clearly didn't know about our arrangement, and I wasn't about to explain our friends-with-benefits contract to his father. "And a frequent customer, of course."

"Wait...a customer?" said Walker. He adjusted his glasses and sat forward in his green camping chair, and the impish smile on his face told me I'd said too much. "Is this...the sugar addict? This isn't Caffeine Chick, is it?"

My amused gaze slid to Theo's. Charlie wasn't yanking my chain, then; I'd earned myself an official title among his friend group—long before I'd ever met them.

He cringed at the name drop. "The one and only."

The group gasped, but their joy and excitement pried Carl off my shoulders. "What a fucking legend!" Van exclaimed. He slapped his knees. "Theo used to complain—" Adora smacked him in the arm, and he backtracked, "talk about you all the time! I think you were the only thing keeping him going some days. He refused to die before you did."

I snorted, grinning at Theo's huff of annoyance. "Well, the antipathy was mutual. I enjoyed making his life miserable."

The barista side-eyed me. "Past tense, huh?"

"For now. Keep that attitude going, and we'll see what happens."

He rolled his eyes, but his friends looked enthralled by our repartee.

"Caffeine Chick in the flesh," Walker marveled. "I'll never forget the time you brought all those Mason jars full of cane sugar to the shop. Theo lost his mind."

"Theo refused to put an adequate amount of sugar in people's drinks," I reasoned, ignoring the flat look the barista sent me. "Something had to be done to avoid civil unrest."

Charlie beamed at me. "Did you really pay for an order in pennies?"

She tittered into her hand as I nodded. "It was payback for the day he blasted metal music his entire shift. I asked him to turn it down so my study group could focus, and he'd kill the music for five minute stints, then crank the volume again. For hours."

Adora shook her head at her menace of a friend, and he shrugged. "What? I compromised!"

I tutted in dissent.

"So...how'd you two overcome your feud?" Ed asked. He leaned against the kitchen's partition wall with his arms folded over his chest, and the mannerism was so familiar, I felt as if I'd time traveled to Theo's abode in the distant future.

I hesitated, searching for a half-truth, but it was Theo who came to my rescue.

"A little rum and Coke fixes everything," he said simply, and we shared a knowing grin. Charlie was smiling too—a sinister, tipsy kind of smile—and Theo narrowed his eyes at her, warning her to keep her mouth shut.

"Well, I think Mona should join us for the evening," Charlie decided, staring straight back at her brother with fabricated innocence. She wiggled her eyebrows at me. "We've got some amazing sweet potato tacos in the oven. And brownie cake. And other good things I can't think of off the top of my head, but ones you'd definitely enjoy."

I glanced back at the birthday boy, waiting for him to jump in with an excuse or prompt me to come up with one on the spot. But when he merely raised his brow, endorsing my invitation, I shrugged.

"Well...I can't say no to tacos."

I held a hot cup of coffee in my hands, the beverage slowly melting the brownie mix on my tongue. It was well past 11 o'clock now, but it hardly felt like any time had passed since I'd stepped through the door. Theo's friends were some of the most entertaining people I'd met here in Reno, and their ongoing roast of the now 24-year-old had me crying tears of laughter.

"Okay, but remember the first time you showed up to school wearing eyeliner?" Van said, giggling through his words like a little kid. "Grebb ordered you to take it off, and you refused. And when he said he was going to send you to the principle's office, you literally—" He pretended to lick the pads of his fingers and then dragged his hand down his face. "Proceeded to smear it over your face in fat streaks of black goop. He was so fucking appalled, he just let it go!"

Theo laughed into his hands, his face red with embarrassment.

"You two go all the way back to high school?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. 'O and I grew up together in San Francisco," Van said. "I've seen him through all stages of life, the fucking Tootsie Pop."

Mr. Landing shook his head, chuckling to himself, and I had a feeling he'd grown used to Van's large personality and offensive language over the years. Something told me he even found it rather endearing these days.

"Van moved up to Tahoe after school," Theo supplied, using his crewneck to dab at his eyes. "He works at the ski resorts now."

"You can just call him a ski bum," Adora said. "That's what he is. A bum."

Van kicked at the bottom of her camping chair, trying to get her to tip over, but his attempt failed, and she scoffed.

Walker, Theo's long-term college roommate, smiled at me. "Unlike Adora and I, Van also knew Theo the Bachelor, long before Alyssa came into the picture."

"Oh, man. Before Alyssa," Van sighed dreamily. "What an era."

Adora's face pinched like she'd smelled something rancid, and I got the feeling the group harbored mixed feelings toward Theo's ex. It wasn't my place to ask, but I was itching to know how they felt about the breakup. Did they see it as a good thing? Did they hate her guts for cheating on him? Or had they grieved the six-year relationship like three children of divorce?

"Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't met the bi—" Van caught himself, wary of Theo's pointed glare, "the blond back in junior year? You might have married Ryan Shultz for all we know!"

I blinked, unsure if I'd heard him right, but I noticed Theo's facial muscles tighten with fear, and I realized Van hadn't misspoken.

...Ryan?

"I'm telling you, 'O, you should've dated more guys before you settled down," Van complained, oblivious to his friend's subtle shift in body language.

Theo frowned, jumping back into the conversation before his friends suspected anything. "I didn't even date anyone. I just...sampled some of my options."

His sister made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, and he shoved her into the couch cushion.

"Exactly!" Van cried. "You don't know what you're missing, dude."

"How would you know?" Walker murmured. "You're painfully straight."

"And? I still know who would make a good match for my best friend. And Alyssa was never endgame."

The others carried on as if Theo's sexuality was an established fact, not something to hide or reveal, so I did my best to act unaffected by the news. But when I peeked over at the barista again, he was watching me, searching my face for an emotional response. And perhaps most upsettingly, some form of rejection.

I shot him a warm smile to convey that his bisexuality didn't change our relationship any. He had nothing to worry about with me, and it pained me he even felt the need to question it.

I'd just figured he was confident enough in his masculinity to wear makeup to work, but perhaps the eyeliner was more akin to a badge of honor than a statement on gender. And to be honest, knowing he wasn't just another white, cis, heterosexual man made him even more attractive to me. As a mixed kid, I'd also faced judgement from my peers and neighbors for something completely outside my control. We'd both tasted the sting of prejudice.

So, the truth definitely altered my perception of him, but only in the best of ways.

Theo grinned back at me, realizing I wasn't going to cut him off out of disgust or piety, and the tension bled from his shoulders. "I don't know. The guys I interacted with were a headache," he confessed. "I don't think the majority of men have the emotional capacity for a relationship, straight or otherwise."

"Yeah, but those were boys. It's time you give some grown men a chance," Van insisted. "Let me hook you up with someone hella cool."

"There's no such thing as a grown man," Adora dismissed. "You're all babies."

Van waved her off. "Don't listen to the lesbian."

"Actually, Van has a point," Walker said. "There's this guy, Joel, who works at the record shop, and—"

"J names are a red flag," Adora cut in. "Next."

"You're a red flag, Dora."

"Wow. Good one, Van. Gold star."

"Piss off."

"I'm not interested in dating anyone right now, anyway," Theo interjected, avoiding eye contact with the group. "I'm just...trying to find myself again. I lost who I was. I'm figuring it out right now, okay?"

His admission was the killing blow to their matchmaking services, and his friends let it go.

Well, two out of three, anyway.

"So...you're saying I can't create a Grindr profile for you and match with every stud in the valley?" Van clarified. "Because...I may or may not have something to confess."

Theo threw a pillow over Van's face, and their slapping and shoving and kicking escalated into a full-blown wrestling match, forcing Charlie to flee her peaceful spot on the couch. Mr. Landing cleared his throat after someone's shoe almost took out a ceramic cup, and the boys detangled themselves like they'd done this a thousand times in his presence.

I snickered into my mug. I'd never seen this side of Theo before—the Theo surrounded by people he adored and cherished. It wasn't so much that he acted different in their presence, but they seemed to unlock another chamber in an every-growing palace of personality traits.

"I have your gift, Theo," Ed said once the boys settled down and concluded the last of their vengeful finger flicking.

Theo frowned at the pile of presents on the coffee table. "You already got me a gift."

The man shook his head, digging around in his jacket pockets. Then he tossed his son his car keys.

Theo stared down at the object in his hand, bewildered. "...You got me a car?"

"No. Your mom did."

Theo's lips parted in shock, and his gaze snapped from the keys to his father. "No fucking way. You're...giving me the Jaguar?"

The room let out a chorus of gasps and jealous curses, and while I didn't know much about the brand, I knew Jay owned a Jaguar once. He'd totaled it a few years before he'd acquired his motorcycle, and if he hadn't loved his whiskey so much, he probably would have sold his left kidney to repair it.

"I don't have much use for it now that I'm up in Truckee," his dad explained. "I'm snowed out for three quarters of the year. She's all yours—"

Theo launched himself across the room and nearly wiped his father out with the force of his hug. "Are you serious?"

"She's waiting for you in the garage. You can come get her anytime."

Theo pulled away, and I was startled to see fresh tears in his eyes. "Thanks, Dad. I'll take good care of her. I promise."

"I know you will." Ed smiled at him, and it was so full of love and warmth and pride, my own eyes stung a bit. "Your mom loved that thing. She'd want you to have it in your twenties. You've earned it."

They gazed at each other for a few more seconds, and I felt a strange pang in my chest. I'd never shared this kind of bond with my father, or either of my parents, really. It was heartwarming to see what an immediate family could look like, even after suffering the death of a matriarch.

"Just no driving under the influence, or she goes to your sister," Ed tacked on.

Theo's gaze trailed to mine, reliving a painful, life-altering memory under a streetlight. "Deal."

Grateful for the free food and entertainment, I snuck into the kitchen to do the dishes while the others reminisced over college. It was weird how comfortable I felt among this crew, even as an outsider looking in. They hadn't singled me out to ask any personal, anxiety-inducing questions, but they also hadn't excluded me from the conversation. I could laugh among them without feeling like an imposter, and Theo and his sister continued to shoot me knowing looks and private smiles like I belonged in their inner circle.

I'd never felt that way before in a group dynamic: visible, welcome, and immersed.

A few minutes later, Theo entered the kitchen to help me finish the dishes, and I shooed him away. "You're the birthday boy. Scoot."

"I need a break from Van and Adora. They're relentless." He glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one had followed him into the kitchen, and then he swept in to peck me on the lips. "Thanks for sticking around tonight. I'm glad you could be here."

I hummed and tilted my head at him. "Why haven't you told your friends about our situation? Are you embarrassed?"

He sighed and placed his hands on my hips to pull me closer. "No. Not at all. I just...don't think they'd get it."

I waited for him to elaborate.

"I'm enjoying my time with you. I don't want their unsolicited opinions and advice. Nothing good can come out of Van's mouth, trust me."

I could sense that he wasn't being entirely transparent, but I decided not to push him tonight. Just because Baker was on board with our casual relationship didn't mean his friends would be. They'd seen him in the aftermath of Alyssa, and bringing another girl into the mix was probably the last thing they wanted for him—plus, Van was literally rooting for a dude.

"So...for the time being, am I just Caffeine-Chick-turned-college-friend?"

He groaned. "You're going to hold that nickname over my head forever, aren't you?"

"Obviously."

Hot hands slid under my sweater to squeeze my waist, but when he didn't find skin, his whole body went stiff. His palms rose a little higher, exploring the lace encapsulating my torso, and his brow creased in surprise. "What's that?"

"Your present."

He closed his eyes and smiled at the ceiling. "Fuck. I'm sending everyone home right now. Help me think of an excuse. Quick."

Ed walked into the kitchen then, and Theo immediately removed his hands from my ribcage, busying himself with the dishes as if nothing had occurred between us. His father didn't seem to notice the awkwardness, but he did shoo his son away—just as I had.

"Go mingle with your bickering friends," he said. "Mona and I can take it from here."

Theo sent me an apologetic glance, but I just snapped the towel at him. "You heard your dad. Beat it."

He sauntered back to the living room, exasperated, but he snuck in a surreptitious glance before he disappeared. And it said everything he couldn't verbalize.

Ed smiled at me. "You're good at ordering him around."

"Thanks. I take pride in it."

He offered to wash the remaining plates while I dried them off, and we worked in companionable silence for a minute or two. Then he cleared his throat and passed me a kind, appreciative look. "I wanted to thank you, Mona."

Confusion parted my lips. "What for?"

"Theo and I both have terrible coping mechanisms when it comes to grief, and neither one of us is particularly good at expressing pain...but there's a reason why he's handling this breakup so well." He glanced at me, and his gaze was warm and nonjudgmental, just like his son's. "I don't fully understand the nature of your relationship, and I don't need to, but I can tell you've helped him through this. More than you know. So...thank you."

I shook my head, unsure how to respond to the praise I didn't earn. "I just...listen, really." I also provided a good amount of stress relief for the horny bastard, but that wasn't leaving the vault any time soon.

"I think that's the most valuable thing you can give someone. Your time and attention," he said as he handed me a clean plate. "He's lucky to have met you."

Heat rose to my cheeks, and I busied myself with the drying rack. "I don't know about that."

He grinned down at the sink. "I do."