The Code of The Alpha

Chapter Twenty-One - Like Normal People Do

He turned to Blaine.

"Do you want nachos?"

Blaine shook his head.

"Two plates of nachos," Bates told the waiter.

Norah laughed.

"Well it doesn't look like the rest of us need to order since Bates is eating enough for all of us," Ben said.

"I'm not sharing," Bates told him.

The rest of us ordered, Norah and I deciding to share a plate of boneless honey barbecue wings and Luca ordering a slice of pizza instead.

"You don't like wings?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"Not all the time. They disagree with my stomach."

"They're not supposed to agree with your stomach. They're supposed to agree with your tastebuds, that's all that matters," Bates interjected.

Luca rolled his eyes as he reached forward to take a drink of his water.

I was about halfway through my martini when the food came out.

The boys' hockey game started not long after this, which occupied them while Norah and I talked.

I found myself leaning into Luca before putting my head on his shoulder. He responded with a hand on my thigh.

It made me feel giddy, like I had butterflies flying around in my stomach.

As soon as the game had reached the end of its second period, Luca pulled his card from my purse and picked up the check.

"We can watch the rest of this at my place," he told Blaine and Bates.

Outside, he hoisted me into the passenger seat before getting in on the driver's side of Blaine's car, who didn't seem to mind as he got into the backseat.

Luca reached across me to buckle me and I laughed, pushing his arm away.

"I'm not drunk," I told him, earning a wink.

We rode home listing to the radio, singing along to young Kelly Clarkson.

I looked into the rearview mirror at one point to see Bates wince. I leaned forward to turn down the radio.

"I liked that song," Luca muttered.

Ignoring him, I turned to Bates.

"Are you okay?"

"I've got to use the outhouse something fierce," he said, tightly gripping the handle above his head.

Norah and Ben both began to laugh hysterically, even Blaine chuckling to himself.

"It's not funny, guys," Bates defended. "That shit went right through me."

"Literally," Norah mumbled.

"I told you not to order that second round of wings," Luca said.