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The cool, March wind whistled through the air and tousled the hair of hundreds of college students as they filed out of buildings. A tall blonde girl ran down the steps of a building. She was still seething from the Philosophy exam she had just taken. It was brutal, and she thought for sure that she would barely get a passing score on it.

“Hold up, Ayden!” a boy called out to her in a moderately deep tone.

The blonde girl turned and her frown immediately transformed into a smile when she saw her best friend following after her. The brown haired boy met her at the bottom of the steps where he stood an inch shorter than her. His indigo eyes looked into her light green ones before he scowled slightly.

“Remind me never to take another Philosophy class again,” the boy said in distaste.

Ayden chuckled and grabbed her friend at the crook of his elbow before they started to walk away down the concrete path.

“Carson,” she said, her voice coming out in her sweet lilt, “You’re a Philosophy major...”

The boy gave her a steely glare, but there was no malice behind it. “I don’t remember asking for your criticism, Ayd.”

Not intimidated at all by Carson’s snark, Ayden laughed once more. Pushing her blonde locks behind her ear so the wind would stop tossing them around, she said, “Okay, whatever. It’s your death wish.”

Carson dropped his act of anger and his bright blue eyes sparkled. He pulled his grey, knit scarf tighter around his neck in an effort to block out the cold. “I just hate midterms. They’re so stressful!”

Ayden gave the boy a look. “But you really know your stuff. I, on the other hand, do not. I don’t know why I let you talk me into taking an upper level Phil class.”

“One,” Carson said matter-of-factly, “you needed the elective, so don’t even. And two, so we could spend more time together, duh.”

Ayden shook her head at her friend’s sarcasm, but she had a smile on her face. “Right. Like we don’t already live together and see each other everyday.”

“Where’s Josiah?” Carson asked, changing the subject. He glanced around as they made their way through the campus. “I thought we were meeting him somewhere.”

Ayden nodded her head. “Yeah, he’s in the library. He got done with his English midterm early and sent me a text saying he’d be there.”

Carson quirked his lips. He picked up his pace until he was almost dragging Ayden along after him. “Good, let’s go. Are we doing anything tonight? I need to do something.”

Ayden was watching her friend curiously as they walked briskly down the sidewalk in the direction of the library. She didn’t like how anxious her best friend sounded. He didn’t usually act so stressed unless there was something going on.

“What’s up with you?” Ayden asked.

Carson shook his head. “Nothing. I just really don’t wanna be alone all night, since we both know you’ll be staying at Josiah’s tonight.”

The blonde eyed him. “Hey, I don’t sleep at his place that often. I’m your roommate, Carson. You’re my best friend.”

Carson smiled fondly at his friend. He loved Ayden precisely for this reason. Yeah, she had a gorgeous boyfriend who was nearly perfect, but she still had time for her best friend of nearly a decade. And the three of them hung out all the time without it being weird. Carson was technically a third wheel to their relationship--except for when he had his own boyfriend--but he never felt like it was a bad thing.

Josiah always treated Carson like any other guy, not like his girlfriend’s gay best friend. The older guy regarded him like a best friend--which it was easy to say they had become that close over the last year that Ayden had been dating him.

Carson’s only problem was that Josiah was too nice sometimes. The three of them had gone to high school together, and back then, Carson had a little bit of a crush on the older boy. Josiah was smart, and popular, but not nearly as much of a jerk as his other friends. In truth, Carson thought the other guy was totally gorgeous with his light brown skin tone, sage-green eyes, and his friendly smile. Josiah seemed different from the other teenagers Carson had known in school.

Carson kept all of his confusing thoughts to himself and never told anyone about his crush on Josiah. Not even Ayden knew her best friend was gay until the summer after graduation. It wasn’t that hard to hide, since Carson played basketball, was relatively well-muscled, and wasn’t anywhere near feminine. Ayden had actually been kind of shocked when her best friend finally spilled his secret, but luckily she wasn’t weirded out by it, she was only supportive.

By the time Ayden and Carson were in their second year at the University, the younger boy had almost forgotten all about Josiah. But then Ayden so kindly reminded him about the older guy when she came home one day saying she’d run into him on campus and that they were already planning to go out sometime. Worried about interfering with his best friend’s love life, Carson had kept his mouth shut and never admitted that he used to have a thing for her new prospective boyfriend.

That was one of Carson’s weaknesses. He didn’t like to complicate things, and he certainly didn’t like taking things away from people. He was a bit of a kind soul, and he cared about Ayden more than almost anybody. So if he ever felt like he’d be hurting someone by doing something, he simply wouldn’t do it; even if it meant putting his own feeling last--especially if it was between himself and his best friend.

The toughest part for the blue-eyed twenty year old was that he still couldn’t get over how beautiful he thought Josiah was. And the fact that the older boy was so genuinely nice and extremely intellectual--he was majoring in English and he wanted to be a professor just like Carson--wasn’t helping the matters at hand.

Basically, Carson had been hiding his pathetic little crush for the better part of a year now, hoping it would just go away. What he realized, even after dating plenty of guys, was that none of them ever seemed to be as appealing to him as Josiah was. And that was a problem for everyone unless he took the secret with him to his grave.

“Thanks, Ayd,” Carson said in regards to his friend’s previous words.

“You’re welcome,” the blonde chirped. “But seriously, I thought you were going to be with Gabriel tonight?”

Carson scoffed. Gabriel was his current boyfriend, and they had been going out for the last month and a half. Carson had met him in the gym when he was working out with Josiah back in January. Gabriel was hot and everything, but he was kind of a douchebag. At first, Carson had really liked how confident the other guy was, but after going out with him for a while and having to put up with all of his crap, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go out with him much longer.

“Gabriel’s kind of a jerk,” Carson stated bluntly.

Ayden smirked. “Took you this long to figure that out?”

Carson rolled his eyes and watched his feet walk along the pavement. “No. Well, kind of. Like, he’s not that bad. I just don’t know if he’s right for me.”

“You say that about all of your boyfriends.”

“Jeez, don’t make it sound like I’m such a little man slut,” Carson said sarcastically.

Ayden finally released Carson’s arm so she could take her phone out to text Josiah. She wasn’t sure where in the building he was, just that he was there. Distractedly, she said, “You’re not a slut, Carson. You’ve only had sex with, like, two guys.”

“Oh, so now I’m a prude?” Carson asked his friend with raised eyebrows. He wasn’t actually offended, but he was enjoying the teasing nature of the conversation.

Ayden flicked her green eyes up from her phone to glance at the boy at her side. “Don’t be a drama queen, Car. Josiah said he’s in the coffee shop.” She tucked her phone back in her pocket and then kept walking with her hands in her coat. “But in all seriousness, you’ve gone through ten boyfriends since you came out.”

“Did you count Gabriel?” Carson asked casually.

“So you’re gonna break up with him?” the blonde asked. Carson shrugged. He honestly didn’t know what he was going to do yet. “Fine, it’s eleven, then. And half of them were in the last year alone.”

Carson sighed exasperatedly. “I know. They just weren’t--”

“Right for you,” Ayden finished. “That’s your go-to line. I think you’re just too critical. You only dated Parker for a week before you dumped him.”

“He had a weird obsession with graveyards. What was I supposed to do?”

Ayden laughed just as they approached the doors for the campus library. She pulled open the door and let Carson walk through as she said, “Touche. But then what about Pete?”

The brunette crinkled his nose as he walked into the lobby with Ayden close behind. “Okay, I dated him for almost a month.”

“And?”

“And, he didn’t even know how to cook ramen. I was surprised he could manage a bowl of cereal. Plus, his apartment was so dirty. I don’t think he’s ever cleaned a day in his life.”

Ayden hummed as she walked them towards the coffee shop. Carson followed behind his best friend and when they saw Josiah through the window, the pair stopped outside the room. Josiah was standing in line behind another guy and two girls to order his drink. He turned slightly and broke out into a grin when he noticed his two friends waiting for him. Ayden waved enthusiastically at her boyfriend through the glass while Carson smiled and gave a little wave of his own.

When Josiah turned away and stepped up a place in line, Ayden returned to their previous conversation.

“Sometimes I swear you just purposely look for a reason to break up with people, though.”

Carson scoffed and tried to look intimidating as he turned to stare right at Ayden. He crossed his slightly muscular arms and gave her a pointed look. “That’s ridiculous. And before you say anything, I was with Jayden almost my whole Freshman year here.”

Ayden nodded, thinking back two years. “True. What was wrong with him, again?”

Carson blanched and gawked at the blonde girl. “He cheated on me!”

The memory practically flashed across her face and she let out a short guffaw of laughter. “Oh yeah! I kind of forgot about that.”

“Really?” the indigo-eyed boy asked rhetorically. “Thanks for your concern.”

Carson turned away, actually a little offended this time. Ayden only smiled and bumped into him with her hip. Carson didn’t acknowledge her at first, but after a few times, she succeeded in making him laugh. On the other side of the glass, Josiah was finally getting his coffee from the barista. Carson tried not to, but there was a small smile on his face when he noticed Josiah had gotten three cups instead of just his or even only another for Ayden.

It was moments like that, that made Carson feel really pathetic. His best friend’s boyfriend knew his coffee order and his own boyfriend was constantly forgetting that Carson even liked coffee. The brunette sighed, shaking off the comparison’s. That was another of his biggest problems. He was constantly picking out the differences between whoever he was dating, and Josiah.

Josiah balanced the three paper cups in his hands as he made his way carefully out into the hall where his friends were waiting. He smiled a white, toothy smile at Ayden and then at Carson. Josiah’s dark brown eyes lingered on his girlfriend for a while. She was looking as beautiful as always.

Josiah liked that Ayden didn’t have to be all extravagantly dressed or covered in makeup to look good. He thought she looked just as attractive in one of his sweatshirts and a pair of jeans as she did in heels and a dress.

Josiah wasn’t really picky when it came to his relationships. He was just looking for someone with character and a great personality. Josiah wanted someone he could connect with and spent the rest of his life with; he didn’t really set his standards too high, and he thought he found everything he wanted in Ayden. She was cheerful and easygoing; she wasn’t high maintenance or bossy. The blonde girl was something else--something special. She was probably the easiest person to talk to he knew, besides Carson.

Josiah let Ayden take her latte out of his hands and then he handed the other cup to the shorter brunette boy standing in front of him. He smiled as he passed over the hot mocha. The younger boy looked so happy by just being given a coffee that Josiah almost wanted to laugh and hug him.

The thing about Carson was that he was always so upbeat. He had that in common with Ayden. And it was a trait Josiah really admired about the guy. Josiah spent a lot of time observing people and situations and it only took him a matter of minutes of hanging out with him to realize that Carson was probably one of the most selfless people he knew. Even Ayden wasn’t quite on the same level as her best friend.

The blonde wasn’t controlling or mean, but she wasn’t always so quick to roll over and let someone else win like Carson often did. That in particular made Josiah so fond of the younger boy. Carson was funny and kind, and Josiah considered himself lucky to have both Ayden and the brunette as friends.

“Thanks, babe!” Ayden said after taking a drink of her coffee.

Josiah turned his smile back to his girlfriend. Snaking an arm around her, he pulled her close for a quick kiss. “No problem.”

Carson hummed in approval after taking a sip of his own drink. Josiah watched in amusement as the shorter boy’s eyes fluttered closed and then opened, locking on him.

“Yeah, thanks, man,” the blue-eyed boy said. Then he pointed at the cup in his hand. “This is exactly what I needed.”

Josiah raised an eyebrow and looked between his friends, searching for an answer to his unspoken question.

Catching on immediately, Ayden said, “He’s stressed.”

“About?”

Ayden stared pointedly at her best friend. “Midterms, Gabriel, and past relationships.”

Josiah quickly looked at Carson who frowned and rolled his eyes at the girl’s words. “What’s going on with Gabriel? Do I need to mess him up?”

“Easy there, tiger,” Carson said with a laugh. “Ayden’s just being dramatic.”

Ayden pointed an accusing finger at Carson. “No, you were.” To her boyfriend she said, “He’s probably gonna break up with Gabriel.”

“Well, good, he was a jerk anyway,” Josiah said easily.

Carson gaped at the older boy in a little bit of disbelief. “Am I the only one who didn’t think this before now?”

Josiah and Ayden shared a look before nodding affirmatively at their friend. Carson shook his head. He wasn’t really sure why he never picked up on it before, but he probably was too caught up in how attractive his boyfriend was.

“Wow, well thanks for letting me in on that bit of information,” Carson said sarcastically.

Josiah smirked. Honestly, he’d never liked Carson’s latest boyfriend. He seemed like he was just using the younger boy for sex or something. That was the kind of thing Josiah despised about people. If you didn’t actually like who you were with, you shouldn’t be with them. And taking advantage of someone was definitely not okay in Josiah’s books.

“Sorry, thought you knew,” Josiah said.

Carson sighed. “Clearly I didn’t, otherwise I wouldn’t have wasted a month on him.”

Ayden laughed. “Whatever, at least you know now instead of like another few months down the line.”

Josiah ran a hand through his wild, black hair that sat in long poofy curls atop his head. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to stand another week of Carson dating Gabriel, let alone a couple more months. Whenever they had double dates, Josiah always got a weird vibe from the brunette’s boyfriend. He couldn’t explain it, but it certainly wasn’t anything positive. Josiah had actually been counting down the days until Gabriel did something to hurt the younger boy, and he was fully prepared to defend Carson.

“Anyway,” Carson drawled while Josiah drank from his cup. “Can we hang out tonight?”

“What about Gabriel?” Ayden asked, arching an eyebrow.

“You never let anything go. I just don’t want to deal with him yet.”

Josiah squeezed Ayden closer to him and then said, “You know he’s gonna be pissed if you just ditch him though, man.”

Carson shrugged. “Then I’ll deal with him later.”

Ayden shook her head. “You’re just asking for drama.”

“Ayd, just because I’m gay it doesn’t mean drama is the main part of my life. So chill with that word, will you?”

Ayden held up her hands in mock-defense. “My bad. Well, let’s get out of here if all we’re going to do is stand here. I’m bored.”

Completely alright with that suggestion, Josiah grabbed his girlfriend’s hand and started to lead her down the hall towards the lobby. Carson happily followed along, more than ready to get his mind off of the day’s stress.

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