Monsters and Men ~ Rosenwalker & Richpez

Chapter 25

"First of all, you are an absolute asshole for calling me out on that. Second of all, no, but you just admitted that you do." Joe said, smirking.

Lauren shook her head. "What?"

"You asked me 'do you also find Joey cute?' So you find Joey cute?"

"I—what—no!" Lauren stammered, her face flushing. "I meant also as in Joey as well as Rosenthal!"

"Mhm, sure Lopez."

xXx

Brian resisted the urge to rest his head on his desk. The day had been long and miserable, and it was nowhere close to being over. The only positive attribute was what had felt like a semi flirty conversation that he'd had with Joe. He sighed to himself sadly, reminding himself for the millionth time that Joe was straight and dating the most popular girl in their school.

His phone buzzed. Brian pulled it out to find a text from Joe asking if he wanted to rehearse when he got out of class. He smiled to himself, texting him back excitedly.

"Ooh, who you texting?" Joey whispered, anything to avoid actually doing this history assignment.

"Walker. Looks like I'm rehearsing with him right after class." Brian said happily.

"Ooh-la-la," Joey mused, making a kissy face at him.

"Shut up, aren't you bringing Lauren over to your bedroom after this?"

"I wouldn't phrase it that way, but she will be seeing the bedroom."

"I bet you were up all night cleaning it like a motherfucker," Brian said matter-of-factly.

"You're an asshole," Joey responded, blushing.

Twenty minutes later they walked to the choir room together, both trying to calm the other one down over the notion of hanging out with their crushes.

"The almighty duo enters." Lauren chanted as Joey and Brian walked into the choir room.
Joe laughed, applauding the pair. "Everyone's favorite sophomores."

"Aw, we're your favorites?" Brian asked Joe, sitting down next to him.

"Which one of us do you prefer?" Joey asked, smirking. "Which one of us is sexier?" He laid down on the floor, propping one leg up and posing dramatically.

"Don't make me choose between my favorite handsome boys!" Joe teased, reaching over and ruffling Brian's hair.

"They are handsome boys," Lauren teased, walking over and pushing Joey on to his back.

"Rude," Joey laughed, before sitting up and jumping to his feet. "Ready to learn about technology?"

"Not at all. I'm basically a cavewoman." Lauren groaned, waving goodbye to Brian and Joe.

Brian shifted his legs, already feeling nervous. "So—not that I'm complaining—how come you were able to come back earlier?"

Joe bit his lip. "Zoey just had some stuff to do. So I figured we could get a head start on practicing. Maybe if it's going well we can take a coffee break later?"

Brian ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Beanies?" He asked, knowing that he couldn't go with Joe if Zoey was there.

"Nah," Joe said, acting like he wouldn't be mutilated by Zoey if he showed up there with Brian. "I need a break from shitty coffee."

"So we are admitting that it's shitty," Brian said with a laugh, pulling sheet music out of his bag.
"Shut up, stand up, and sing with me," Joe teased, standing up and offering him a hand.