Mom and Niko come find us at the front of the auditorium soon after, and I exchange hugs with them, too.
I’m surprised to see a man I don’t recognize walk up behind Mom a moment later, and she turns to bring him into a little circle with us.
“Sev, this is Shawn,” Mom says. “We’ve been seeing each other at the ceramics class I’m taking, and I invited him along tonight.”
Shawn shakes my hand. He’s a tall guy with brown, slightly greying hair and a kind smile. “These projects were amazing to see. I minored in mechanical engineering, but we never made anything this cool back then.”
Mom’s cutting me a look and I can tell she’s waiting for me to take her aside.
I used to cast judgment when she started dating a new guy too soon, but the only thing I feel for her right now is sympathy.
She hates being alone. And even if I didn’t understand that for the longest time, I’m not the one who should deny her a chance at something good.
When Shawn breaks off into a quick conversation with Niko, I take Mom aside.
“Shawn seems really nice,” I tell her.
“You like him?” she asks, with a sweet smile. “Things are still new, and I’m not jumping into anything fast. But he’s a lot different than any guy I’ve dated before.”
“He seems like it.”
There’s no certainty that it’ll work out, but I’m able to be genuinely happy for her.
Strange.
As the judges ring their little bells to call everyone back to their seats, Weston gives me a little pinch on my hip.
“Hey,” he whispers in my ear, “if you win, you get to fuck me tonight in your car.”
“And what if I don’t win?”
“Then you have to fuck me in your bed, instead.”
I bite my lower lip. “Maybe I’ll just forget this whole competition and just pull you into some supply closetright this moment.Tie you up. Fuck you raw?—”
“Sevan,” the announcer calls to me from the stage.
Wes blows me a kiss, and I head back up.
When I endup getting the second-place prize and first place goes to the girl with the robotic arm, I’m not surprised.
She deserved it fully, and it’s clear that she spent a boatload of time on her project.
Taking second place in stride feels different for me, though, after a lifetime of competitive edge filling my veins at every moment.
How am I still so fucking happy?
Even now?
The answer is right out there in the crowd, though.
I look out and see Weston’s face and I just don’t care about being first place in a competition. I havehim.
And he actually wants to be mine.
After accepting my silver trophy I start to head back down into the crowd, but get pulled aside for a moment by one of the professors. She’s going on and on about how impressive my project was and that it was a very close decision for who got first place, but I can’t stop looking at Wes out in the crowd.
Roman’s talking to him.