Gavin watched as the other students filed out of the classroom, then slowly unfolded himself from the lotus position and approached the instructor. “Great class,” he announced.

“Thanks,” Adrian responded with a grin. “You enjoy yourself?”

Letting his gaze wander over the other man, Gavin nodded appreciatively. “Oh, yes.”

Adrian rolled his eyes. “Why do I get the feeling that your mind was not quite as emptied as I instructed?”

Gavin’s face immediately took on a penitent look. “I’m sorry. But you know it’s very hard to concentrate on not concentrating when there’s someone as sexy as you wandering around the room.”

“No doubt.” With a shake of his head, Adrian reached to pick up his jacket.

“You’re leaving?” Gavin questioned, the hint of a pout on his lips.

Adrian smirked. “Need to be at my other job soon. But you’re welcome to walk with me if you like.”

“Cool.” Quickly gathering his things, Gavin followed Adrian out of the room, then out of the building. “So how did you get into this business?”

Adrian shrugged. “I came to a class once, a few years ago, and apparently I was good at it. After a while the other instructors left, and decided to leave me in charge. And I’ve been here ever since.” Again he shrugged. “I enjoy it. It’s good exercise, and another source of income is always helpful. And then you know, there are the students like you who make life interesting.”

Gavin grinned. “I can make your life much more than interesting, you know.”

“Oh, I’ve no doubt of that,” Adrian said, chuckling. “But I’m really not looking for that right now.”

“Oh, so you do look for it sometimes?” Gavin inquired, one eyebrow raised in interest.

“Not from guys,” Adrian responded, then patted the other man’s shoulder. “But don’t worry, I’m sure there are guys hotter than me who do.”

“If there are, I can’t find them,” Gavin sighed.

Adrian chuckled, but said nothing, and the two men walked in silence for a while. Eventually they came to an apartment building, and Adrian turned back to Gavin as he opened the door. “I need to get ready for work, but you’re welcome to come up and hang out if you like. Rory should be around.”

“Mm, intriguing,” Gavin murmured, then flashed a good-natured smile. “But I’m told that flirting with him is a waste of my time.”

“Yeah, I’d advise against it,” Adrian agreed, holding the door for the man to follow him. “But he’s a pretty cool guy if he can get past being afraid of you.”

“How could anyone possibly be afraid of me?” Gavin wondered, brown eyes wide.

Adrian smirked. “Sometimes it’s best not to ask questions.”

Gavin laughed as he followed Adrian into his apartment. It was a shame that the other man was straight, but at least he had a sense of humor. They’d be able to be friends, and he’d just keep working on him slowly but surely. Something might just come of it, in time. And Adrian was worth waiting for.

Biting back his delighted grin, Gavin turned his focus to the introductions Adrian was making.

“You remember Rory, of course…and this is Ari.” He gestured to a lanky brown-haired girl seated on the couch. “Ari, this is my brother’s roommate, Gavin.”

She eyed him up and down with interest before offering a polite hello. He smirked and returned the greeting, then turned to Adrian again. The other man was smiling fondly as he watched his headphone-clad younger brother typing furiously at his laptop. He glanced at the screen over Rory’s shoulder, then clapped a hand on the boy’s shoulder as he turned back to his guests.

“I’m sorry, Gavin, but this one probably won’t be much for company. He’s in one of his writing fits.”

“He’s barely spoken a word since I got here two hours ago,” Ari affirmed, shrugging.

“You poor thing,” Gavin sympathized. “You can hang out with me.”

“Good,” Adrian said, disappearing into his room. He reemerged a moment later with a towel in his hand and no shoes on. “You kids get acquainted, and I’m going to get a shower and then head to work.”

Gavin smiled toothily as he settled himself onto the couch. “If you need any company in there…”

“I’ll be sure to let you know,” Adrian laughed as he disappeared into the bathroom.

Gavin grinned and slowly turned his attention back to the girl sitting next to him. She was shaking her head as she regarded him with a half-amused, half-reflective expression.

“It seems such a waste,” she said sadly. “Couldn’t even give us girls a shot, could you?”

He nodded sympathetically. “It’s rough, I know. Hang in there, though.” Cocking his head to the side, he studied the girl’s delicate countenance, the pale green eyes and the pouty lips. It seemed a shame that such a promising face should be offset by such a pasty complexion and gangly build. Someone needed to teach the girl how to dress to draw attention away from her limbs and toward those pretty eyes. He liked her, though. She didn’t beat around the bush. “If it’s any consolation, though, if I were straight, I would totally do you.”

Ari laughed. “I suppose that’s something. As it is, I’ll just have to be content looking at you, eh?”

“Can’t be helped, dearie,” Gavin said with a shrug. Then he raised an eyebrow slyly. “Although…you know, I wouldn’t make this offer to just anyone, but if you and your boyfriend over there are open to experimenting, I might-”

“Rory?” Ari interrupted him, sending a glance to where the young redhead was still engrossed in his typing. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just a means to an end, really. I’d prefer getting to know his brother.”

“DJ?” Gavin questioned, only slightly offended that his offer had been so casually tossed aside. “He’s delicious, I agree, but he has a girlfriend, you know.”

“Not that brother,” Ari said impatiently.

Gavin’s eyes widened as he glanced toward the bathroom door. “Oh, come on, Ari, don’t do that to me. How are we supposed to be the best of friends if we’re competing over the same guy?”

“It’s nothing against you,” she pointed out. “I never met you until today, and I’ve been thinking about this for a while. We can still be friends while I date Adrian.”

“Ari, Ari, Ari,” Gavin sighed. “My dear Ari…Arielle? Ariella? Ariadne? Aria?”

“Arianna,” Ari supplied.

“My dear Arianna,” Gavin continued. “What makes you so sure that you’ll win if we must compete over this man?”

“It’s fairly simple,” Ari said with a smirk. “For me to get him to date me, all I have to do is convince him that Rory and I are not an item. For you to get him, you have to convince him that you’re better in bed than I am.”

Gavin’s eyes glinted. “We can easily pose that challenge to him.”

“True,” Ari conceded. “But I doubt he’ll take us up on it. I think that’s a good way to make sure that he doesn’t date you and probably doesn’t date me.”

“This is all so problematic.” With a dejected look, Gavin collapsed backward onto the couch. “I told myself to stop liking guys who liked girls.”

“Maybe that’s some weird convoluted way your inner self is trying to tell you you’re actually straight,” Ari suggested.

Gavin shot her a withering look. “I doubt it.”

She shrugged. “Worth a shot.” She fell silent for a minute, then glanced back at Gavin. “So how often do you tend to fall for straight guys?”

“This is pretty much the first time,” he confessed. “But my ex was bi, and he dumped me for a woman.”

“Oh, that sucks,” Ari sympathized.

He nodded. “We were living together at the time, too, so I had to stay there and see them together all the time until I could get a new place. So DJ was pretty much a godsend.”

“I bet his girlfriend thinks so, too,” Ari remarked, then chuckled lightly. “Yeah, if he weren’t attached, I’d probably let you have Adrian and go after him. That would work out for everyone.”

“Except poor Caitlin,” Gavin pointed out. “She’s a nice girl. We can’t be offing her. She’s gonna get me a monocle!”

“That’s hot.” She cocked her head to the side. “Think she could get me one, too?”

Gavin shook his head. “Wouldn’t really suit you. You need something more like a lorgnette. And you and I can go shopping for the white gloves to wear them with together.”

“And then we head off somewhere all classy, eh?”

“You should go see an opera if you’re gonna be carrying a lorgnette,” Rory put in from his corner. The worried look he’d worn the last time Gavin had seen him was replaced with an overly satisfied expression. He pulled the headphones off his ears and ran a hand quickly through his hair. “You guys up for food?”

“Little pleased with yourself there, aren’t you?” Ari observed, smirking.

Rory beamed. “I certainly am! I finished the first act, and I’ve got all sorts of plans for the second. This is definitely my best play ever.”

“How many have you written?” Gavin inquired.

“Eh, five or six,” Rory responded with a shrug. “It’s been too long since I’ve written, though. And now I need some sort of food to celebrate. Want any?”

“Is celebration food the same as brain food?” Ari asked warily. “Cause that stuff is terrible, I hope you know.”

Rory waved this off. “No, I was thinking more along the lines of dessert. Adrian doesn’t keep anything like that around, but Caitlin brought over brownies the other day, I think. There should be some left.” He rummaged in the cabinets for a while before producing a plateful of brownies. After offering some to the other two, he plopped down at the table with the brownies and a jug of milk. “And this is why she is going to be a fabulous sister-in-law,” he declared happily.

“But they’re not engaged yet?” Ari questioned, grabbing a cup from the kitchen and pouring herself some milk.

“They will be soon enough,” Rory declared confidently, taking another brownie from the plate. “DJ’s head-over-heels in love with that girl. Once he gets around to going ring-shopping, he’ll propose. He can certainly afford a nice ring, he just doesn’t like shopping.”

“Why don’t you go with him?” Ari suggested.

He shrugged easily. “I don’t like shopping either.”

“What about Adrian?” Gavin offered. “He seems like he could handle it.”

“Yeah, probably.” Rory shrugged again. “Maybe I’ll mention that to them at some point.”

“What are we mentioning?” Adrian asked as he emerged from the bathroom. He was clothed to the waist, drying his hair with his towel. Gavin and Ari were hard-pressed to remember what the conversation had been about, but Rory was unaffected.

“You going ring-shopping with DJ,” he responded. “We need to hurry up and make Caitlin a permanent member of this family. She brings us brownies!”

“You are far too easily swayed by food,” Adrian laughed. “Yet still so thin. Seriously, Rory, how do you do it?”

Rory shrugged amiably, and Adrian shook his head.

“I’ll see what DJ was thinking about rings…it is about time he proposed, isn’t it? They’ve been going out for two years now…yeah, it’s time.” He grinned. “It’s also time for me to go to work. You kids have fun now.” Grabbing a shirt from his room, he threw it on, shook out his hair, and inspected himself in the mirror before dashing from the apartment. “So long.”

Rory waved after his departing brother, then turned to his companions. They were both staring at the closed door, eyes slightly widened. “Oh, god,” he muttered. “Yes, he’s a model, guys. Yes, he’s good-looking. Now both of you stop lusting after him!”

“Sorry, can’t do that,” Gavin said with a shrug. “If I’m not allowed to lust after you, it must be him.”

Rory fought back a nervous laugh as the color rushed to his face. “Fine.”

---

Rory stared glumly at the empty brownie plate. It had taken him over a week to get into the second act of his play, and he hadn’t even finished it, but he’d wanted to encourage himself with more of those brownies. Why couldn’t Caitlin have brought more over?

Not that that would’ve made a difference. Truth be told, it was impressive the brownies had lasted this long. Even though Adrian didn’t eat them, Rory himself could easily devour them without the help he’d received from both Ari and Gavin. Gavin had only come over the one time, last week, but Ari continued to show up with gratifying frequency.

Back when they’d first started hanging out, Rory had told himself that he’d just sit back, be Ari’s friend, and wait for her to realize that maybe they could be something more. But now, almost a month later, it seemed that he might wait a very long time if he didn’t speak up. Wouldn’t it be better to just talk to her, see if she’d be open to dating him? It didn’t seem unreasonable to think that she would be; after all, half the time she was the one initiating their get-togethers. Maybe she was just waiting for him to ask. Rory knew that he was bad at picking up on hints; could it be that she’d been dropping them, waiting for him to say something?

Well, she wouldn’t have to wait much longer now. Next time they were alone together, he’d bring up the subject and see what she had to say. What was the worst that could happen?

“Well, you’re intent on something,” Adrian remarked, regarding his brother with a smirk.

“Eh, not really.” Rory waved the comment off, then cocked his head. “You been standing there long?”

“No, I just got in,” Adrian assured him, reaching into the fridge for a bottle of water. “And I’m headed out again soon, so I’ll be out of your way.”

Rory frowned. “I thought you’d already been to work twice today.”

“I have. Now I’ve got a date.” Shooting his brother a wink, Adrian disappeared into his room.

“A date?” Rory questioned, following him to the doorway. “With who?”

“Ari,” Adrian responded as he opened his closet and began perusing its contents. “Wouldn’t do to show up still all dressed for yoga, you know.”

“Right,” Rory replied, then shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. “So…Ari? You asked her out?”

Adrian shook his head. “No, she asked me. Why, would you prefer I not go?”

“No, no, you should go,” Rory insisted. Watching absently as his brother got dressed, he racked his brain for some sort of explanation. “Whatever happened to Ellen?”

“What do you mean?” Adrian asked, buttoning up his shirt and making his way to the bathroom.

“I thought you liked her.” Rory watched his brother desperately for a reaction.

“Sure, I liked her.” Shrugging, Adrian examined his reflection in the mirror and began to fiddle with his hair. “But I only met her once. And all I really know about her is that she’s young.” Again he shrugged. “Besides, it’d be sort of awkward to turn a girl down, then go out with her younger, prettier half-sister. What kind of a jerk do you want me to come across as?”

“You think Ellen’s prettier?” Rory questioned, latching onto the one thing he could.

“I thought we’d been over this,” Adrian commented, leaving his hair alone and running his fingers along his chin. “Yes, I think Ellen’s prettier than Ari. But what’s that got to do with anything? I’m not that shallow.”

Rory snorted. “Yes, you are that shallow. Look at you. And no, you don’t need to shave again. Besides, she seemed to like DJ’s beard. Maybe you should try that.”

“Don’t really think work will approve of that,” Adrian laughed. “And neither would I. It’s alright, I guess. I look good, as always.” He smiled, the glimmer in his eyes gainsaying the arrogance of his statement.

Rory rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Go on your date.”

“You’re sure you’re ok with it?” Adrian questioned, searching his brother’s face. “You know I’ll cancel if you’re not. Ari’ll understand.”

“I’m fine,” Rory assured him. “Go.” Adrian smiled and nodded, then headed out the door. Rory stared after him for a minute before kicking at the ground and collapsing onto the couch. “Damn it.”

---

Well, kids, it’s only been a month, eh? Could’ve been worse…eh. Sorry about the delay, but I got caught up with one thing and another…but here’s a chapter for you! Can’t write you guys the individualized notes today, because I’m tired, but mainly because my internet’s down so I don’t have the reviews in front of me. I’ll have to go searching for internet to post this. If you don’t get it till morning, that’s why. Right now it’s ridiculous late at night.

As for upcoming posts…I’ll try to be much faster than I have been so far…the pacing for last book is desirable. Don’t know how that’ll work, though. Also, just so you know, I’m going away for the summer on June 3rd…I don’t know if I’ll be able to write from there. If I can, it won’t be very frequent, but hopefully I’ll be able to give you guys something during the summer. But we’ll see, eh?

Anyway, I have things to do, and you kids probably do, too, so I will leave you in the care of the review button! Treat it well!

Hehe, until next time!