Page 35 of Silver Sweet

Is Phoenix like Ben? Is that why he gave his name to Birdie? I don’t…see it. I can’t really get a good read on him, and it’s driving me batty.

“What if his brother took it without asking?” Ben theorizes.

“Hestolehis name?”Fuck.What do I know about Birdie? He’s a prick. But I would say the same about Phoenix. Two peas in a rotting pod.

Ben moves his laptop over to his nightstand. I think he’s been working on a college assignment since he’s in his sophomore year at Manhattan Valley University. I can’t remember which classes he’s enrolled in this semester.

A sudden wave of brotherly guilt hits me.

I should know this about him.

I know stupid shit about Eliot, like how many pairs of shoes he has in his closet. So remembering Ben’s courses shouldn’t be hard. I’m about to get all the info when he looks up at me and asks, “Do you still talk to that RJ guy?”

RJ.The name conjures a wave of complicated feelings.

“Occasionally.” I sink back down on my bed and face Ben. “Why?”

“Just making sure you’re not avoiding a hookup with RJ because I’m rooming with you now. The whole ‘tie-on-the-door’ rule applies to you too.”

I’ve hesitated to kick Ben out of my room foranyreason. Having sex is up there. It’s unnecessary. Does not need to happen. I could hook up literally anywhere else if I really need to, but I won’t die from lack of dick. I would be the same Tom if I were still a virgin right now.

“I’m aware of the rule.” I shift the tab of my can back and forth. “I just don’t know if it’ll ever come to fruition. RJ and I arelike a seasonal thing, and the current season is nuclear winter. A desolate, barren landscape of cold, lifeless nothing.”

Ben frowns. “Why is that?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t texted me in weeks. We’ve never been serious. When we first met, that’s what I wanted too. Just a hookup, but I guess it changed for me and not for him.”

Ben looks surprised I’m admitting this to him, but it’s not some big secret. I am, mostly, an open book with my brothers. There are such few things I wouldn’t share. Now, my little sister is a different story. Audrey—no.

She’s almost seventeen and a blabbermouth. I curate my life with her because she will tell all the other young girls in our extended family every single detail, and my teenage cousins don’t need to know about my abysmal dating life.

Ben reaches for his blue stainless-steel water bottle. “So is he averse to relationships or is it something else?”

“It could be something else. I just know he wants to keep it casual, and what we have has been purely physical.” I pry the metal tab off my can. “It’s not like I know him that well. But I started wanting to know him.” I stretch over and toss the chunk of metal in the trash. “I think I wanted him to be interested in me on that level too, but it’s not looking likely, dude. He’s shown no signs of intrigue in anything other than my dick. Which I can’t blame him—I am a great lay.”

Ben laughs. After he swallows a swig of water, he nods over to me. “You know what happens after nuclear winter though?”

I do know. But I want him to tell me. So I fake a guess. “Spring?”

“No,” he says. “Heat. Intense,ragingheat. With a destroyed ozone, the sun would have killer ultraviolet rays. It’s more like a nuclear summer.” He motions to me with the water. “Maybe your situation with RJ could thaw out. Turn molten.”

“Sex with RJ is hot,” I mutter in thought.

“See.” Ben smiles and extends an arm at me. “So text him.”

I squint. “You do know I’m best friends with the mastermind of ploys, and I see what this is, Ben Pirrip. You’re just feeling guilty because you’re kicking me out of the room to bang the demon.”

“Harriet,” he corrects.

Just like that, the door opens, and in walks the five-foot-one, scowling, butter-blonde nuisance. Her chopped bangs hide her angry brows. She shuts the door very gently with her back. Careful not to bang it.

“You summoned her,” I grimace.

Harriet grimaces back at me.

Ben isthrilledto see his girlfriend.“Fisher,” he greets.His eyes glitter as his warm smile expands, and I know, I know, I’m not the love of his life (not trying to be), butfuckI wish I got him to smile like the whole world went green.

“Harry,” I capture her attention and extend a hand. For my brother. I can play nice.