1. Dylan

DYLAN

When I finally got home from work, all I wanted to do was curl up on the couch and chill all weekend. I'd heard about a new-to-me series that had a few seasons online, so I was prepared to binge on junk food and cheesy TV until I had to go back to work on Monday morning.

We were in one of the rare seasons when people weren't desperate for hot or cold air. Those were my favorite seasons as an HVAC technician, but they were also exhausting because I did a lot more commercial maintenance, which was boring as hell. Spending days—and sometimes weeks—in giant buildings, cleaning every duct, replacing every filter, and inspecting every thermostat was mindless and monotonous.

But work would pick up soon enough, and I'd be back to sliding around in crawl spaces and making people happy by replacing their broken equipment. Until then, my TV was calling.

My first order of business was always to strip out of everything in the doorway, take the contaminated clothing to the laundry room, and then go straight to the shower. I didn't always get covered in dust, mold, or bugs…but I usually did. And the building I was working in all day was abandoned and had squatters in there on and off over the past year, so I couldn't even imagine what kind of drug or bio waste I had crawled through.

I finally got to the bathroom in nothing but my light blue briefs and turned on the water. Showering was purely functional. I lathered everything, rinsed off, then got out. No fun or playtime. That's what baths were for.

But I hadn't taken a bath in a long time.

Not since Kurt moved back to his hometown and suggested I stay behind because he had an old flame he was hoping to reconnect with. That was good for him, but it was bad for me. Although, he and I weren't going to be long-term anyway. We were always just a fun-for-now situationship, and I was okay with him leaving.

I just hated being alone. Which was why I sometimes made bad decisions…or went along with my friends' bad decisions. Like when Augie caused me and a few of the guys to get drugged and assaulted recently. Well, Augie had the worst experience, and the rest of us were just lucky that Max's Daddy showed up when he did. He and his Daddy friend saved us.

At least one of us had someone who cared enough to keep us safe. Not me, of course. Not yet anyway.

But maybe someday.

I grabbed my phone to see if Augie or Brayden had texted about getting together. Since they were still single, they were my best chance at company for the weekend.

But there weren't any messages or missed calls on my phone, so I was on my own. As per usual.

With my stomach rumbling, I shuffled to the kitchen to see what I had. There wasn't much in the fridge, and I wasn't in the mood to cook, so I pulled a frozen pizza out of the freezer and sighed. Not exactly what I was in the mood for, but I was too lazy to order delivery. On a Friday evening, the wait would be hours, and I hoped to be asleep or nicely buzzed by then.

And bonus, as long as the oven was warm, it would be easy to toss some cookie dough in later.

It just took a few minutes to get the oven preheated and my pizza in it. Once that was done, I flopped back on the couch and grabbed the remote. I'd been adding movies to my watch list all week, and I was excited to finally start going through them. The first one was a rom-com, but that felt a little too depressing for my mood, so I kept scrolling. Then I came across a silly comedy about Pop-Tarts, which was one of my favorite snacks, so I pressed play and pulled my blankie down from the back of the cushion.

I was pretty hungry by the time my alarm went off, but now I didn't want pizza. I didn't even want cookies. Well, I kinda still wanted cookies, but first, I wanted Pop-Tarts. And also…bourbon. I drank the last of my bottle last night, and I couldn't fall asleep without it. Not since the incident with my friends.

Which meant I needed to get out of my jammies and walk to the minimart down the street.

Then again, if I put on a jacket, maybe no one would notice my Minion flannels.

Once I had all my supplies for the weekend, I was guaranteed to sleep well.

Just as soon as my movie was over, I planned to head out for Pop-Tarts and bourbon and…maybe some cookie dough. And ice cream. Or cookie dough ice cream.

The only thing I knew for sure was that it was gonna be a gluttonous weekend.