While the Sun Shines

11.

Nick, Lara, and the others played a few more rounds of Exploding Kittens. Nick won two more times, causing everyone to gang up on him with their cards in the fourth round, kicking him out of the game almost immediately. 

Lara and Mia actually cheered when Nick lost because of their stacked sabotage cards, and Nick jokingly rolled his eyes at their antics. "Yeah, yeah, congratulations. You got me out of the game," he laughed. 

"Don't forget to drink, Nick!" Mia pointed out, because somewhere along the way, Carson had suggested they turned Exploding Kittens into a drinking game (drink whenever you get attacked, noped, or die).  

Nick looked down at his glass. "I'm out," he said, showing the others his empty glass. 

"Get more then. No excuses." Alex smiled teasingly at him. 

"Yeah, yeah, going." Nick chuckled as he got up and trudged towards the kitchen. It'd been a while since he drank, and he had to admit the buzz was kind of nice. It made him relaxed and smile more easily. Still, mostly out of habit, Nick walked to the tap first and poured himself a glass of water. 

He'd always taken good care of his body. He kept himself hydrated to ensure he wouldn't miss a gym or field day due to a hangover. There wasn't really a reason to prevent a hangover now, but Nick noticed the Sambuca was hitting him hard. The world was already turning. It was probably the exercises he did earlier that day combined with a very light dinner. 

Nick stuck to the rules of the game, however. After chugging down the water, he poured himself another glass of Sambuca and took three sips as the drinking game dictated. As he walked back to the living room, his eye fell on the balcony doors behind the half-opened curtains. He'd been here a few days already, but never looked at the view from there. 

The Sambuca made him feel hot, so Nick slid the glass door open and stepped outside for a moment. The balcony was a boring and grey block of cement, the metal railing looked old and worn, and so did the two reed chairs. Leaves and cigarette butts were scattered all across the ground, and cars zoomed by on the road nearby behind the oak trees. 

The view was nothing special, but Nick stepped closer to the railing and watched the cars in the distance anyway. He stood there for a few moments, just sipping his drink and enjoying the wind playing with his hair, until the sound of the balcony doors sliding behind him made him turn.

Alex stepped outside. "Hey," he greeted Nick with a lopsided smile, pulling the balcony door shut behind him. The laughter and screaming coming from inside, presumably because someone got blown up by a kitten again, muffled. 

"Hi," Nick replied, taking another quick sip from his drink as an awkward feeling crept up his neck. Being in a group was fine, but being alone with Alex felt weird now. Well, had it ever not felt weird? Nick had definitely not been at his best that night at the gay bar either. 

Alex stood next to Nick at the railing and sighed. "Look, I know you don't care, but I want to correct Carson anyway: I don't just go for every guy I see. I have taste. You know I do." Alex pointed at his glass of Sambuca. "This is evidence enough of that, right?" 

Nick snorted, grateful Alex had turned the conversation lighter with a joke. "Right. It's all cool, don't worry," he said. "But despite what Lara might've said, I'm not gay. Blake, my roommate is, though. So you'll probably have better luck going after him." Nick jutted a thumb over his shoulder. "He's in his room."  

Alex laughed. "Gee, thanks for the tip, but I'm really not as desperate to get laid before I fly home as Carson made it sound. I'm not going to burst into some random guy's bedroom. And besides, he's not really my type." 

"Wow, so you're really not playing the numbers game and going for everyone," Nick teased him. It was partly the Sambuca speaking, but it was also simply fun to rile Alex and watch him pull a face because he was so embarrassed about what Carson said before. 

Alex clacked his tongue in fake annoyance, then leaned in and bumped his shoulder into Nick's. "No," he said. "I only hit on the hot ones." 

"But you hit on me at that bar," Nick blurted. 

"Yes?" Alex raised a brow. "Oh, I see what you're doing. Yeah, right. I'm not falling for the fake modesty act," he said, before taking a swig of his drink. 

Nick didn't know Alex well enough to protest, so he only chuckled and turned his gaze to the road below. Nick wasn't acting like anything—he'd only said what he thought without filter. 

People hardly ever gave Nick compliments. Not about his looks, anyway. Sure, Emma had said his body looked good when she was his girlfriend, but otherwise women didn't really say anything about his appearance except if it was his mom or aunt or something. They didn't count because they were pretty much obligated to like him. 

Women didn't compliment him, let alone men. The only two gay men Nick knew would probably only tell him if he was getting out of shape or that had something on his face. 

Nick had to admit Alex' attention was still flattering. It had been at the gay bar and it was now, even if Alex was a guy. But then again, it wasn't that strange because who didn't like to be called hot? Who didn't want to be called hot again? 

It was a spur of the moment decision, fuelled by alcohol and a desperate need for validation, no matter who it was from. Nick knew he would probably regret it, but for now he smiled at Alex as he reached for the rim of his shirt. "And here I was, noting I was losing my six pack and should work out more." 

Nick lifted his shirt slightly, revealing a strip of skin. Enough to show off he was definitely still toned. He'd have to hope Alex didn't actually get turned off by fake modesty, because this definitely was. Nick knew his body still looked good, even after a month of two of couch sitting. 

Nick watched, satisfied as Alex' gaze shot down to his bare stomach. Nick let go of his shirt so it covered his skin again, thinking to himself he was definitely going to hell for this. Deliberately showing off for a gay man while he wasn't interested and only fishing for more compliments. 

Alex looked up at Nick's face again. There was a sparkle in his eyes that hadn't been there before. "Now you're definitely doing it on purpose," he muttered. "I hate it when guys know they're hot." 

The way Alex smiled, however, made Nick think he didn't hate it at all. It also made his stomach lurch with nerves. Nick was fully aware he'd started this, but he had absolutely no moves to manoeuvre himself out of it again. In fact, usually when he hit on women it didn't even work in the first place. He wasn't used to success. 

Thankfully, Alex seemed to sense his awkwardness and took a literal step back. "Let's go inside," he suggested. "They're probably about done with their kitten game, and Lara wanted to head to the city after."