Later that night, Ryan shrugged a flannel shirt on over a white t-shirt, ran his hands through his hair, and tried to decide if he wasn't putting enough effort into this. His reflection in the bathroom mirror was doubtful.

"Are you going on a date or something?" Pete asked when Ryan returned to their room to swap the flannel shirt for a college sweatshirt he had felt compelled to buy despite not having a ton of extra spending money.

Jordan, who had just come out of her room, squealed to a halt in the hallway. "What?" she snapped.

"No, it's definitely not a date," he said to both of them.

"Then why are you getting all dressed up?"

"Dressed up?" Ryan looked down at his sweatshirt and jeans.

"You're going out, though," Jordan said. "So where are you going?"

"Marina wants me to be her wingman at some fundraiser thing," Ryan explained. "It is not a date." He looked at himself in the mirror again. "Do you think I look like I'm going on a date? That's the last thing I want."

"You look fine," Jordan proclaimed. "But does Marina want to date a closeted gay? That's the real question."

Pete nodded. "Yup. That's exactly what's going to happen. Guys will see you and be attracted to you. It's inevitable."

"I'm not sure what exactly she means by being her wingman. We haven't talked about that yet." Ryan sighed. "Do you guys want to come? She said it's all free."

Jordan narrowed her eyes. "But it's a fundraiser."

"Did she said it's free or it's all free?" Pete asked.

"I'm bringing some money just in case," Ryan admitted. "Just for food, maybe."

"I'll go," Pete said, getting up.

Jordan was on her phone. "Oh yeah, the Fall Festival. I went last year. There's tons of free stuff. There's some kind of donation thing but it's not required."

"You want to come?" Ryan asked carefully.

"Sure," Jordan said, and Ryan tried not to grin. The roommate meeting had gone a long way in repairing things between them. "I'll see if Sam and Harper want to go to." She walked off, texting. "When are you leaving?"

"I'm meeting Marina at six," Ryan called after her.

Pete was already jamming his feet into his sneakers and pulling on a corduroy jacket. In a low voice he asked, "You ready to see Charlie again if Harper decides to come?"

"It'll be fine," Ryan said, counting how much he had in his wallet. Barely enough if there were food trucks. "We can always split up if things get awkward." He headed to the kitchen to eat some leftover pizza so he wasn't immediately hungry at the scent of food.

"If you say so."

Harper wasn't home, but according to Jordan, she'd meet them there. If there was mention of Charlie in Harper's text, Jordan didn't say. Sam put on her flannel and they all headed out.

For early November, the evening was unseasonably warm, and there were lots of people out on the streets heading to restaurants and bars and shows. Ryan fell into step with Pete and texted Jacky What are you up to tonight?

Ice skating, Jacky responded right away.

There's ice where you are???

No, it's some fundraiser thing at the hockey rink. Ryan recalled that Tufts had an ice hockey team, too. I'll let you know if I survive.

You better survive. I'm off to a fall festival with the roommates and Marina. Should be fun.

That sounds cool. And much less dangerous.

Ryan smiled down at his phone. Suddenly, someone covered his eyes from behind. "Uh, what?" he asked, stopping dead in his tracks.

"You're going to need to stop texting your boyfriend if you're going to help me find a man!" Marina uncovered his eyes and danced around in front of him. There it was again, that weird pang of people assuming Jacky was his boyfriend again. "What's the plan?"

"The plan?" Ryan asked. Ahead of them, Jordan and Sam glanced back with amused smiles. "I thought you had a plan."

"What kind of wingman are you?" Marina teased. She was wearing an autumn orange sweater that made her eyes look extra green. Her hair fell in loose waves.

"The kind that has never been a wingman before," Ryan said. "Honestly, do you even need my help? You look great."

"Thanks!" Marina linked arms with him and tried to drag him into the fair faster. "Here's what I was thinking: you pretend to be my boyfriend, and all the other guys will be super jealous."

"Lord," Sam muttered under her breath.

"I don't think that's the best tactic," Ryan said.

"Yeah," Pete chimed in. "Ryan's a ten. If everyone thinks you're with him, they'll give up."

Marina squinted back at Pete. "You think he's hot?"

"He's not gay," Ryan said quickly. "Just a supportive friend. And roommate."

"Suuure," Marina said, before extending her hand. "Pete, right? Ryan's mentioned you before."

Pete, absurdly, took Marina's hand and lifted it to kiss the back of it. "Enchantée."

"You haven't met before?" Ryan asked. "Sorry, I guess Pete's been at work whenever you've come over." Jordan and Sam were already up ahead. "You've met Jordan and Sam, right?"

Marina waved him off while giving Pete a smile. "Yeah. Where's the angry one?"

"Who?"

"You know, the one who looks like she wants to murder everyone," Marina explained. "That how I remember them: the lumberjack, the angry one, and the jock."

"You remember their names, too, I hope," Ryan said.

Marina shrugged.

Jordan and Sam were far enough away now for Ryan to say, "Harper is best friends with Charlie, so I'm not exactly her favorite person right now."

"Oh, right, you broke up with them. How's that going? Or do you not feel bad about the breakup because you're already back with your ex?"

Wishing he had never told Marina anything about his love life, Ryan tried to deflect. "Wow, they have a bouncy house here?"

"Where?" Pete demanded. Ryan pointed. "That's not a bouncy house, that's a fucking bouncy castle! Let's goooo!" He shoved past the people in front of them.

"Sorry about him, he's just excited," Ryan apologized, trying to follow Pete.

"Are we seriously going to the bouncy castle when I look this cute?" Marina said at his side. "I doubt that's where the hot guys are."

When they arrived at said bouncy castle, Ryan had to stop and take in Marina's facial expression, because the bouncy castle was exactly where all the hot guys were. It took him a few moments more for his protective instincts to kick in, upon realizing exactly why all the frat boys were lined up around a bouncy castle full of sorority girls jumping around.

"Uh, maybe we should just watch," he said, as Pete pushed his way to the front of the crowd and eagerly took off his shoes to be admitted into the bouncy house.

Marina flipped her hair. "I'll have Pete to protect me."

Pete, with his slight beer gut hanging out over his pants and his Sonic Youth t-shirt and his Converse? At least Ryan knew Pete wasn't like the guys standing around. Ryan let her go, stepping close enough to hear what the frat bros were saying, which was exactly as pervy as he'd expected. One word about her and there's going to be trouble, he thought with clenched fists.

Someone blew a whistle for people to exit the bouncy house and a new crowd to go in, which consisted of Pete and Marina and about twenty sorority girls. As soon as they started bouncing, there were catcalls and howls from those watching. "Who let that jackass in there?" a guy near Ryan shouted.

"Well, isn't this the most misogynistic thing I've ever seen," Harper said in her characteristic deadpan voice.

Ryan noticed Charlie on her other side and tried not to be weird. "I told her not to go in."

But the catcalls died down when everyone began to realize that they'd played it too cool: Pete, the only guy in the bounce house, was the one getting all the action. The girls were all laughing as he cannonballed and sent them flying, then he and Marina grabbed hands and started jumping in tandem. When the whistle blew, and everyone inside piled out, the girls surrounded Pete and peppered him with questions. Marina kept her arm linked to his possessively. They walked off in a huge posse, leaving the crowd of frat bros who thought they'd join in with a bunch of hot girls alone in a bouncy house full of only dudes.

"Where's Jordan and Sam?" Harper asked.

Too late Ryan realized he was now alone in a crowd except for Harper and Charlie, the two people he had imagined he'd be avoiding at all cost. "Uhh..." A quick glance around revealed nothing, since Sam and Jordan were both on the short side. Then he saw something. "They have a Just Dance booth."

"That's where they'll be," Harper agreed.

Ryan started walking, letting Harper and Charlie follow behind him. As he made his way, he kept his eyes peeled for Marina and Pete, who seemed to have been spirited away by the sorority. Pete seemed like an unlikely candidate for most eligible bachelor, but he was light years different than the frat bros.

Sure enough, when they reached the booth that consisted of a TV blasting Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night," Jordan and Sam were among the crowd of dancers busting moves on the grass. It took Ryan a minute to realize that only four of crowd, the four closest to the TV, had controllers; the rest, including his roommates were just dancing along for the fun of it.

"You oughta get out there," Harper monotoned.

Ryan looked at her, unsure who she was talking to. It sure wasn't Charlie, who stood with arms crossed and gazing anywhere but in Ryan's direction.

"Me?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you have the rhythm of a deaf old white man," Harper said.

As Ryan was still digesting that insult (did he have no rhythm? No one had ever called him out on it), Harper stepped forward and joined Jordan and Sam, seamlessly picking up the familiar choreography, albeit in Harper's signature style where she moved like a stiff insect.

Ryan glanced at Charlie. This seemed as good a time as any to check in and have a real conversation, but that was hard given that Charlie was doing everything in their power to avoid eye contact.

"You doing okay?" Ryan finally asked.

"What do you think," Charlie snapped, still not looking at him.

"I'm sorry," Ryan said reflexively. "I wish this had all gone down differently."

Charlie finally turned their head to glare at Ryan. "Oh, you wish you'd broken up with me better? Is that it?"

"No," Ryan said. "No, that's not... Look, I didn't break up with you because I don't like you or care about you. I just know it'd be worse if I wasn't in it one hundred percent. Before Jacky showed up, I wasn't sure he even wanted to get back together. And I like spending time with you."

"Why?" Charlie grimaced. "I don't even like spending time with me."

"Haven't you ever just met someone who just felt comfortable? You just connect with them?" When Charlie's face didn't change, Ryan continued. "You're a great listener. You're easy to hang out with. And I want you to be happy." He paused. "I'm not going to make you happy."

The song "Rasputin" started up, and the crowd around them rushed forward to join in with whoops of excitement. Charlie and Ryan backed up a few steps to give them more space.

Finally, Charlie asked, "Did you really like me, or did you want to fix me?"

---

Well, that's a loaded question... What do you think?