Free Lonely Hearts by Heidi Cullinan

heated, and he vowed the next time he felt like measuring how much food the cafeteria wasted, he’d lie down until the urge passed. “Nothing.”
    â€œIt looks like a pizza sauce can full of half-eaten chicken.”
    â€œYeah.” Elijah set the can beside the Dumpster and kicked it out of the way. “It’s…for the cats.”
    â€œGreat, so there will be more of them the next time I come out for a smoke.”
    Elijah thought about pointing out Lewis shouldn’t smoke out here anyway, but he’d sound too much like Aaron. He looked around for something to wipe his hands on and settled for his apron. Watching Lewis smoke reminded him he hadn’t had a cig in over twelve hours, and the yearning hit him upside the head. Fuck the rules anyway. “Hey—can I bum off you? I’ll pay you back inside. Mine are in my locker.”
    At first Elijah thought Lewis would say no, but Lewis pulled a pack out of his pocket and passed it over, followed by a lighter. “You’re Elijah, right? Elijah Prince?”
    The way Lewis said Elijah Prince made Elijah pause with the lighter at the tip of his borrowed cigarette. Great. He’d almost forgotten about his unwanted celebrity. He inhaled, shut his eyes while he breathed the smoke out, and nodded. “Yeah.”
    Lewis ashed his cigarette. “Sorry. I mean—I heard a little about the whole thing with your dad in the parking lot—” He winced and put his cigarette in his mouth. “I’ll shut up now.”
    Elijah shrugged. “My parents are religious nutjobs. I ran away when I was sixteen, went home because it was too rough on my own, and faked a conversion. Last year in the middle of second semester, it all caught up with me, and when my dad found out I’d made a fool of him, he came to campus with a gun. Now my mom is in the process of being committed, and my dad is awaiting trial for attempted murder and terrorism.”
    â€œShit.” Lewis ground the butt of his cigarette into the dirt and pulled out a new one. “He shot the guy with the sunglasses, right? Baz Acker? The one whose dad is a US Senator or something?”
    â€œUncle. And yeah.”
    â€œDamn.”
    They smoked in silence for a few beats, and Elijah used the time to study Lewis at closer range. He was cuter up close. Nice bone structure. Pouty lips. A little too groomed for Elijah’s liking—lots of eyebrow plucking going on. Possibly some makeup. Lewis’s clothes were off the usual queer wardrobe as well. His jeans were wrong, to start. Clubwear should be so tight a dance move threatened to split a seam, and everyday attire should have freedom of movement but an emphasis on the package and ass. The ass was fine, but still not right, and either Lewis had nothing to declare, or he’d gone out of his way to disguise his package. Which was odd.
    But it wasn’t only the jeans. Gay guys wearing Hot Topic Maleficent tees wasn’t unusual, but this one all but had hey, this is a girl shirt stitched on the hem. Same for the shoes: a pair of Keds with flowers on the edges. When Elijah spotted two rhinestone studs in Lewis’s ears, he thought, hmm.
    â€œYou’re Lewis, right?” Not Louise?
    Lewis cocked an eyebrow. “You know me?”
    â€œOf you, more like. Seen you around.” He waited for more from Lewis, got nothing. Fine. Small talk. “What’s your major?”
    Lewis flattened his lips. “I was going to do elementary ed, but…I guess I’ll do English.”
    A huge-assed story hung in the I guess , and it promised to be something Elijah didn’t want to get involved in. This was why he’d given the guy a wide berth. “I might do English too. Taking some lit courses first semester, and if it goes well, I guess that’s what I’ll do.”
    â€œWho do you have, Ronson or Keil?”
    Elijah had no idea. “Is one better?”
    â€œKeil