Page 23 of Evergreen

“Uh-huh.” He pulled open the heavy door. “That bad, huh?”

“It wasn’t bad,” I shot back, immediately jumping to Linden’s defense.

“So something did happen,” Nerion grinned. “Spill the beans. I want every detail.”

“He showed me the grove,” I finally said as we walked toward the pool. “It was... nice. Pretty. The northern lights were cool too.”

Nerion raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” I confirmed, stepping up to the edge of the pool. “It was pretty uneventful.”

Nerion stepped up beside me. “Uneventful, huh? Is that why you and Linden wouldn’t even look at each other?”

“Because we’re both tired,” I said, stripping off my shirt and kicking off my boots. “Long day of work. Not everything has to be some big dramatic thing.”

“Right,” Nerion said, clearly not buying it. “And I’m sure the fact that you two were gone for nearly two hours just to grab some plants has absolutely nothing to do with the way you’re avoiding eye contact with me right now.”

“It was a long walk to the grove,” I countered.

“Sure,” Nerion nodded, stripping off his clothes. “A long walk.”

Teddy stepped up beside him and began to strip as well. I realized, fairly quickly, that neither of them had swimming trunks. I expected them to just swim in their underwear. However, Nerion, clearly the most unshy person in the world, was naked in a matter of seconds, dick to the wind before he dove into the pool. Teddy glanced over at me with a grin before kicking off his underwear as well and falling backward into the pool.

I stood there for a long moment before I decided, fuck it, and stripped down to nothing as well. When in Rome or whatever. I dove into the pool along with them, but kept my distance. The only reason I was there in the first place was to get away from Linden.

“So did you two make out or fuck or what?” Nerion asked when he resurfaced, his voice reverberating off the tiles.

“Oh my god,” I sighed. “Can’t you just drop it?”

“No,” he grinned. “Linden is my best friend. I have to look out for him. And sometimes that means making sure he gets laid.”

“Is that what this is all about?” I asked, glancing over at the pair of them. “Getting your friend’s dick wet?”

“It’s not just that,” Teddy replied this time, cutting off Nerion before he could speak. “Linden is shy and pretty solitary. Dryads are like that. But he works really hard, and he helps everyone else before taking care of himself.”

“So you want me to sleep with him? As what? A consolation prize?”

“I’d like him to have sex at least once before he leaves college,” Nerion grunted. “I thought he was going to hook up with that chick last year, but nothing came of it.”

“Are you telling me he’s a virgin?” I scoffed. “A big muscular handsome guy like that hasn’t just had people lining up to suck his cock?”

“As far as I know, nobody has. And he tells me everything.”

“And you haven’t slept with him?”

Nerion, for half a second, looked almost offended. “Oh believe me, I offered plenty of times. But he never wanted to.”

Teddy stared at his boyfriend for a long moment. “I didn’t know you offered him that.”

Nerion just shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I help out my best friend? Just seemed like the right thing to do.”

I stared at Nerion, processing what he’d just said. “Wait, so you and Linden have never⁠—”

“Nope,” Nerion said cheerfully, doing a lazy backstroke. “He’s always been pretty firm about keeping our friendship platonic. Which I respect, even if I think he’s missing out.”

“So… you’re just trying to get him laid,” I said slowly.

“Bingo,” Nerion grinned. “And based on the fact that you two were gone for two hours and came back looking like you’d been making out against a tree, I’d say my plan is working so far.”