I pushed the window open and leaned out, shock practically slapping me across the face.
"Blue?" My voice came out strangled. "What are you doing here?"
Because standing outside someone's second-floor bedroom window at almost midnight was obviously a totally normal hobby.
Blue just smiled up at me.
Not a guilty smile. Not an "I know this is insane" smile.
Just a calm, devastatingly confident smile like he wasn't one pebble away from being arrested.
"I came to see you, of course."
Of course? Really?
Right. That explains everything.
I had spent the entire day searching for him like some emotionally unstable detective, and now here he was. Midnight edition. Window delivery.
"Can I come up?" he asked. Still smiling like he wasn't defying gravity and common sense.
"You want to come up?" I repeated, because clearly my brain needed time to reboot.
He nodded.
And against every survival instinct I possessed… I nodded back.
I couldn't believe it. I was actually happy to see him. Giddy even.
It felt like someone had turned on air conditioning in a suffocatingly hot room. Relief. Cool. Immediate. It was a completely irrational feeling but it was happening to me in real time.
I stepped back as he climbed with ridiculous ease, gripping the edge of the window and pulling himself up like he did this every Tuesday. My heart pounded the entire time, loud enough I was concerned he could hear it over his own breathing.
He landed inside my room smoothly, straightening up like this was a scheduled visit.
He looked… happy. Glowing, almost. Like something incredible had happened today. Something he couldn't wait to share.
"What are you doing here?" I tried again, aiming for casual. Of course I missed.
Blue tilted his head and smirked — that unhinged, dangerous smirk that made him look like he knew things. Things about you. Things you didn't even know about yourself.
He bent slightly to meet my eye level.
Let me clarify something. I wasn't short. I wasn't tiny. But next to Blue, I felt like a middle schooler asking for permission to breathe.
Heat crept up my neck before I could stop it.
Why was I blushing? This was a home invasion and not some fantasy movie.
"Can't I visit my friend?" he asked softly, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief as he stared into mine.
Friend?
I scoffed automatically, even though the word slid straight into my chest and warmed something I hadn't realized was freezing.
Blue and I were not friends.
He was the guy who stared at me in hallways like he was deciding whether to fight me… or kidnap me.
He was the guy who once choked me in the boys restroom, almost squeezing the life out of me for no apparent reason.
Yesterday, he'd dragged me into the woods, introduced me to his wolf parents, nearly gotten me killed — technically — and hosted a forest party.
That was not friendship.
That was… whatever Blue was.
"Yeah. Friends," he repeated, like it was obvious but something inside me snapped. Not because of the word 'friend' in particular but because when I needed him yesterday he was nowhere to be found; and now he was claiming we were friends.
"If we were friends," I shot back, "I would've known you weren't coming to school today. I went to your classroom so many times I practically memorized the seating arrangement. You disappeared all day and now you show up at midnight, climb through my window, and call us friends?"
The words came out before I could stop them. My feelings were completely irrational. I knew that but I couldn't control them.
Blue froze.
His eyes widened.
"You were looking for me today?" he asked, stunned — but smiling.
Oh no.
No, no, no.
That was not what I meant to emphasize.
Embarrassment crawled up my neck, across my cheeks, into my ears. I could practically feel myself turning red.
I had just admitted I missed him.
After just spending half a day together, I was suddenly acting like I couldn't breathe without him.
What was he going to think of me now?
That I was chasing him? Flirting with him? That I was trying to "infect" him with my gay disease too?
Because apparently that was the narrative now.
What Caleb taught me the hard way was this: people can preach acceptance all day long—right up until your sexuality steps into their world. The moment it touches them or someone they love, that open-mindedness vanishes like smoke.
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the backlash—for anger, for disgust, for something that would cut deep.
But instead?
Blue.
Blue Gem himself.
He stepped forward and pulled me into his arms, hugging me so tightly it knocked the embarrassment right out of my system and replaced it with pure, dizzying confusion. His sweet scent wrapped around me again, warm and familiar, flooding my senses like it had done yesterday—only now, it felt impossible to breathe for an entirely different reason.
My brain short-circuited.
"I'm glad you missed me," he murmured into my hair, voice low and warm. "Relax. Next time I ditch school, I'll give you a heads-up."
Next time.
Like this was established behavior.
Then he let me go.
Shocked didn't even begin to cover it. I was confused, disoriented—mentally buffering. But this was Blue Gem. And with Blue, the chaos never stopped at just one explosion.
"Alright, come on. We're going to be late," he said smoothly, grabbing my hand like this was the most normal thing in the world. "Let's get you into something worthy of the occasion."
My brain tripped over itself.
"Late for what? What occasion?" I demanded, eyebrows knitting as he dragged me toward my closet.
He opened it like he paid rent here.
I yanked my hand free. "What are you talking about? Where exactly are you planning to take me in the middle of the night?"
He flashed that reckless, infuriating smile. "We're going to a bachelor's party."
He said it like he'd just announced we were going to the grocery store.
Silence took over.
Then I blinked.
"You're joking."
He wasn't joking.