Theory of Attachment [18+] [mxm]

20. Do NOT Press The Red Button.

Micah couldn't yell. He couldn't scream. But he also couldn't look at Benny without wanting to do both.

    So he didn't look or talk to Benny at all.

    And Benny... for what it was worth, knew why and proceeded to look pitiful about it at every encounter. Before class, after class, on campus when they normally would walk together. Micah avoided him like the plague so he wouldn't have to look at Benny's doe eyes and speak his mind.

    It also didn't help that, at every opportunity they did have to walk together, Micah could vaguely see Benny's shadow trailing with him.

    Hunter.

    Micah wanted to snap that little twig's head right off.

    The guy had managed a glow-up of sorts since their breakup. He kept his dark, longish hair in a bun with baby hairs framing his face and a smile that looked too fake for Micah's preferences. Hunter was always socially awkward, but for some odd reason, Benny found this beyond attractive.

    Micah glared at a distance whenever he saw them. He couldn't look away. Eyes fused on their joined hands, Micah thought to himself, Why hold hands when it's this cold out? Get frostbite. I don't care. Too stupid to wear gloves. Put them in your pockets, for Chrissake.

    Kennedy extended the dinner invitation over text on Monday knowing that, come the day, Micah would vacate the apartment and avoid responsibility. Benny never texted, never checked in, and likely believed he was in the wrong but also, for once, didn't want to apologize.

    Micah responded to Kennedy's complaints about bailing by saying, "I'm saving you from having to pay my bail."

    "Asshole," was all she said, and that was that.

    That very same evening, just as Micah suspected Kennedy, Benny, and Micah's Arch-Nemesis were paying the bill, Micah's phone rang. It was an unassigned ring, which meant Micah would probably—

    Alistair.

    —ignore it.

    Micah set his phone aside as he left it ringing. Was this... a booty call? The odds were high. They hadn't fucked since Thursday, and Micah was primed to say yes. He'd been too frustrated by Hunter being in his life again against his will to risk sitting in silence a moment longer. His weekend, when it wasn't spent avoiding parties suspecting Hunter's attendance, was spent at other peoples' flats watching movies and making out. Giving handjobs. Screwing on couches with roommates just in the other room.

    Micah rolled his eyes so hard his entire head lolled. Slouched over his desk, he picked up the phone, answered, put it to his ear, and sunk his head along his forearm. "Yeah?"

    "So I met Hunter."

    That little—! Micah thought, livid with Kennedy. Evidently, Micah's absence from the intro dinner could just be replaced.

    Micah cleared his throat, straightening in his chair. He slouched the opposite direction—far back with his feet making the front two legs of his chair airborne. "And?"

    "Is that seriously the guy you told me about?"

    "The very one."

    "How are you taking this."

    Poorly. "I'm leaving soon to avoid Benny," he confessed. "I don't know if he's been bringing Hunter around the apartment. I don't want to risk punching the guy and causing World War III."