Nathan Marsh's State of Being

Chapter Twenty Two

"They do, for short sometimes. Less of a mouthful than LGBTQIA+," Dylan garbled with a shrug. "And, I do go sometimes. I have some friends there. It can be really fun and informative and since I know how much you like to learn shit, Nate, I thought you might be interested."

I raised a brow at his reasoning, but simply shrugged in return.

Harley reached the front door to the dining hall first and pulled it open. Dylan bounced passed him, earning a scowl from Harley who had to step out of the way. I sidestepped him too and beat him into the warm entryway.

"That's what you get for denying that beautiful soul," I said with a laugh.

Dylan grinned and took his hat off. He ran his hands over his short, coarse curls that sat on the top of his head, bringing them back to life after being squished down. "Thanks, cutie."

Harley gagged and moved ahead of us, getting in line.

Dylan and I just exchanged an amused look and snickered behind his back.

With the way schedules had changed for the Spring semester, Harley and I usually ate lunch with Dylan since the three of us had the noon to two p.m. slot wide open. Sometimes Noel or Rex dropped by but they had a class at one and tended to eat after that.

Over the last few weeks, I'd been getting to know a lot more about Dylan and found that not only was he a huge sci-fi nerd, but he was probably the sweetest human I had ever met. He had the spirit of a puppy, and probably the innocence too.

We finished lunch a while later, making plans to meet up for the lecture.

At a quarter to five, I arrived and saw the tall guy standing in an empty space in the middle of the room. I noticed there was a long line forming in front of the small presentation theater's door.

"Hey, Dylan," I said cheerily as I approached.

He looked up from his phone and smiled. "Hey, glad you came." He dragged his eyes around slowly and then his dark brown gaze landed back on me. "I'm just waiting for a couple friends before we go in."

I jerked my head towards the line. "Shouldn't we...?"

Dylan chuckled and put his phone in his jacket pocket. "Nah, my friends are the hosts, so we'll just slide in with them if they ever come out here."

I could tell his irritation was light-hearted. "So...you got a crush on any of these friends?" I asked, getting the sense that it was the main reason we were there.

Dylan gave me a deadpan stare, pursing his lips. "None. Of your business," he said, emphasizing the gap in his statement.

I chuckled, enjoying how his lack of an expression said everything I needed to know. "Come on, I'm just surprised you're so into coming to this type of thing. It's not like it's an alien thing or a Star Wars convention."

Dylan sighed but I could see he was smiling a little. "Fine. Their name is Georgie. They're non-binary, and you'll be meeting them hopefully soon."

I nodded slowly, taking in his words. I'd never met someone who identified as non-binary before, but I was excited to meet them. Dylan was an absolute sweetheart, so anyone he was interested in, I was sure would be awesome.

A moment later, a group of three people walked up to us from the side. Someone with a lean body and short--barely a centimeter off their head--tight, curly bleached hair sidled up next to Dylan. They threw their hands up to clasp over his broad shoulder, pulling themselves up to stand on tip-toes. Something inside me assumed they were Georgie.