The warm, salty breeze from the bay blustered through the car’s rolled-down windows providing momentary relief from the sweltering heat of the parking lot. Even for southern California, the mid-November heatwave was unrelenting. It was 4:30pm, and Dominic, who we all called Dom, was late. Seven of our fraternity brothers had decided to cut Friday classes to head to the desert park for a long weekend of rock climbing, scrambling, and, of course, heavy drinking. We split into two cars for the drive, five heading out earlier that day, and Dominic and me meeting them at the campsite.

I looked down at my phone, expecting to see some kind of message explaining his delay, but it was Dom, the shittiest texter I knew. He was the kind of guy you could text in the morning, and hear nothing back until later that evening. That was, of course, assuming he hadn’t started the conversation by texting you in the middle of the night. It was never “wyd” or anything carrying that sort of connotation, although the frequency of his late-night text to me increased dramatically after he learned I wasn’t, strictly speaking, ‘straight.’

I tapped mindlessly through Snapchat, seeing our brothers’ stories posing next to the park entry sign—they had already arrived, and we had yet to even leave. A thud against the car made me jump, dropping the phone into the footwell of my Escape. My hand grasped my chest as I inhaled deeply, peering to my left to find Dom distorting his face past the point of terrifying, looking instead ridiculously stupid. Yet still, his striking features managed to somehow enable him to retain some level of attraction, even in this crazy state. His sharp jawline outlined a handsome face, now absent its forced distortion and replaced by his classic dimple-producing side smile. His beautiful blue eyes, hidden slightly by his black-framed glasses. Dom’s build was similar to mine; both just over 6’3 and athletic, although he was slimmer in frame whereas I was more muscular.

Having calmed myself from my instinctual fright, I opened the door to greet Dom.

“What the fuck, Dom?” I asked jokingly. “You’re thirty minutes late.” He opened his arms wide and we briefly embraced, as was typical in our friendship.

“What? You didn’t notice? I got it for you,” Dom said with a wink while stroking a hand through his fresh mid fade. “I thought for sure you’d notice I looked different than how you were imagining me in your fantasy last night.”

“Surprisingly, I don’t spend all my time checking you out, cocky bitch.” I shot back. “Besides, you know I was out with Natalie last night. Why fantasize when I had a girl with me—all alone—late at night?”

“Yeah? I didn’t realize you two were still talking… Let’s hear about it.”

“Yeah, sure. But get in. We can catch up as we drive.”

Dom tossed his gear in the back of the car and hopped in the passenger seat. As we left the lot and started on our way towards the campsite, I caught Dom up on the latest in the year-long saga that was Natalie’s and my relationship, finally clarifying that nothing had actually happened between us the night before, but letting Dom spend nearly five minutes guessing what Natalie and I could have been up to.

—

Nothing was ever official between Natalie and me, largely because our romantic feelings for each other developed and waned at different times, but the physical chemistry always remained. Not until last summer had we ever acted on it, but shortly after we secretly swore to never let it happen again. Besides Dom, Natalie was my closest friend, and I couldn’t risk that relationship over some stupid FWB situation, especially when our first and only time hooking up was predicated on my overly intoxicated self having just seen Dom being lead upstairs at a party by the girl who was grinding on him.

The week before that summer party, I had, for lack of better words, came out to Dom. The two of us had steadily grown closer ever since the first day we met and instantly became best friends.