"I—this was a mistake," he made a go for the phone, but Glenn dodged him easily. "It's um, I just; it's a joke, that's all."

Glenn adjusted his glasses, mumbling to himself—things Auggie couldn't quite make out, save for, "No, no, no, no... what the hell?"

Auggie's eyes grew watery with anxious tears, and his heart felt like it might explode out of his ribcage at the thought of what Glenn might say.

"I-I can explain!" he sniffled, making a go for the phone once more. "Just give it back and I'll explain."

Glenn stood up and stared at Auggie; his eyes were wider than he'd seen them yet, but he didn't exactly look angry... maybe stunned?

"Look, I'm sorry I lied about it being a girl, but I um—I felt awkward admitting that I'm into guys." August stammered, voice damn near pleading with the man.

Glenn looked around the immediate area, attention falling to the Koi pond. "Your drink, dude."

Auggie gave him a double-take, glancing from the remainder of his Vodka-Soda to the stressed-out-looking Glenn. "U-um... but I'm not finished."

"Dude please," he beckoned with his hand and sighed. "Just hand it over."

August swallowed hard, finding it pointless to even argue. Glenn looked rattled, but he wasn't sure if it was due to the nature of his dirty text, sexuality, or maybe all three. Either way, he passed it off without saying another word, and in return received his phone.

Glenn wasted no time tossing back what was left of the drink, he even eyed the empty glass, as if he were hoping more alcohol might reappear any moment. When that obviously never happened, he went to rolling the tumbler between his hands, gaze still fixed on the Koi pond.

"I-I'm just gonna go..." August mumbled, wanting nothing more than to disappear into thin air. "I'm sorry."

Glenn groaned, body language softening as he shifted his attention to August. "It's not that you're gay, man. I don't give a fuck about that sorta thing."

Auggie turned halfway and faced Glenn, raised his brows. "... uh, okay... is it the, uh, the spit thing? Was that too weird?"

Glenn shook his head, ears turning pink as he produced his own phone. He inputted the passcode and handed it off to August. "Something tells me you're a fast reader."

Auggie put his hand up and shook his head, "whoa look, it's not like we gotta be 'even' or 'fair' about this or whatever. I don't gotta read yours just because you read mine."

Glenn pointed at the phone again, pearl-blue eyes widening for affect. "Read it."

Shaken, August forced himself to do as Glenn had asked—read—but as he did, he felt his stomach do a flip so violent that a puking session might just follow. Glenn's facial expression hadn't changed much, only he appeared to be watching August for something specific. As if he needed to confirm the authenticity of the smaller man's reaction.

"I..." Auggie's eyes watered as he began to taste bile in the back of his throat. Maybe that vodka-soda wasn't a great idea after all. He grabbed at his stomach and retched lightly. "I um, I need to sit down."

Glenn arched his brow and didn't say much, but it was like an entire shift in identity was unraveling behind those fair eyes. As if everything he thought he knew about himself, the way he interacted with the world, and those around him, everything he thought he knew about his sexuality... well, it was like that shit had come crashing down on Glenn all at once.

What's a straight guy to do when he finds out he's been flirting, and sexting with another guy the whole time? What's a 'straight' guy do when he's feeling an odd sense of sexual attraction toward the actual guy he's been sexting?

Glenn couldn't seem to stop himself from staring at Auggie with a sense of disbelief, confusion, frustration... although the cause of that frustration didn't seem as straightforward as he'd expected, because much of it stemmed from feeling intense sexual confliction.

August began shifting nervously under Glenn's intense gaze, so Glenn forced his attention back to the Koi Pond.

Silence.

"So, you're not Isabella Flores..." Glenn's eyes widened thoughtfully. A sense of disbelief, and slight sarcasm behind his voice.

"Obviously not," August let out a shaken, teary exhale, and wiped his eyes. "It was obvious that y-you had the wrong number at first, and I really was gonna say something..." his voice trailed off, mind racing to fill in the blanks.

Glenn tilted his neck either way, pale eyes fluttering closed with a pained grimace. "Right... sure thing, man."

"No, really!" Auggie pleaded, wiping at his watering eyes. "I-I've never done anything like this before. I've never even um, like... like talked dirty..." he gestured weakly with his phone, "not um, ever with anyone before."

Fat tears began to pour, then, which August hated... no, loathed! Because the last thing he wanted was to find himself crying like a baby in front of another guy, let alone hot, not-so-stranger-now, Glenn. Yes, crying felt far too personal, too intimate. In fact, Auggie hardly ever cried in front of Naomi; he hated crying that much.

Glenn scrubbed both hands over his face and let out a gruff exhale, but the expression in his eyes seemed to soften, only a little. "You mean to tell me you've genuinely never talked dirty... with anybody before? Or that ya don't usually play the role of a massive catfish?"

Auggie's slim shoulders collapsed with shame. "... both." Then his weepy eyes snapped to Glenn's. They carried some hurt, even angst. "It was fucking stupid, I know... and I'm a loser, I know that too, okay?" He sniffled, voice trailing off as if to reinforce it to himself, "I'm fucking stupid; no need to tell me what I already know."

The taller man's shoulders relented, untensing further as he studied his new 'friends' slumped over frame and considered the explanation. Glenn didn't really know what to think, but for some reason, he couldn't find it in himself to be angry—at least not in the way most of the guys he knew might have found themselves.

"... I would say it was stupid of you," he sighed, stuffing both hands into his pants pockets. "And while I would say it was stupid to lie to me," he added, tone softer than before, "I'd also say that part of me sorta understands why you did... it probably felt good to, I dunno, feel desired, wanted."

Auggie wiped his nose, heart doing a weird flip-flop of its own at Glenn's reaction. Auggie hadn't expected this, and he especially hadn't expected that Glenn wouldn't want to break his nose first chance he got.

"I... what? But-"

"-you're still a dude, obviously." Glenn cut him off, voice growing tense. "I literally been flirting and sexting with you. You. Not 'Isabella', but, fuckin'... a random dude named August. And like, if I'm honest, you actually seem pretty cool; I even believe you for some reason? But all the same this shit's... it's messin' with my head." 

August didn't know how to respond, except to just stare wide-eyed at the pond. He expected a beating, maybe, perhaps a black eye... anticipated yelling, cursing, perhaps he anticipated getting tossed in the Koi Pond itself; or that Glenn would knock him out cold and leave him in a bloodied heap on the bench.

But this? August didn't know how to handle what was actually happening. And the fact that he didn't have a busted-up face or a broken phone at this point threw him for a complete loop.

"I um, don't know what else to say," August murmured, wiping his eyes hurriedly. "Except, that I'm sorry. I shoulda told you the truth in the beginning... Naomi was right."

Glenn sighed, turning his face to the dark, starry sky. "...Naomi the best friend? One of the bridesmaids?"

"Yeah."

"Gotcha."

August shifted nervously on his feet. He didn't know what to do with himself any more than he knew what to say to the taller man.

"Fuck, this is weird." Glenn grimaced under his breath, crossing his arms as his brows knit together in deep thought.

Auggie's cheeks burned with shame, but the unexpected presence of redness on Glenn's face and neck... well, it made August's heart race in a way he'd never quite felt before. He pressed his hand to his chest and exhaled slowly, told himself to just breathe.

"So, you're August." Glenn finally murmured aloud, more like a statement than a question.

Auggie blinked slowly. "Yes... and you're um, Glenn."

The men stared at anything but one another for god knew how long, neither really knowing where to take the conversation next, or perhaps both being too afraid to speak plainly.

"How 'bout we just pretend that never happened?" Glenn blurted out, eyes wide, face still warm and pink.

August swallowed hard. "Y-you mean like, pretend I don't know you? Shit... yeah, of course. I'm so sorry."

Glenn waved August off and let out a shaky exhale, but their eyes had yet to meet. "Nah, man, like... let's just start over. From the beginning. I'm cool with that."

Start over? As in, pretend they'd never spoken such intimate, sexual details to each other before? Pretend as if August had—in fact—not catfished Glenn? As in, just... like, be friends?

August didn't know what to think. Why would Glenn really want to be his friend after all was said and done? After finding out the truth? At least he didn't beat Auggie's face in.

"I'm so sorry," August let out a breath, heart racing so badly he felt dizzy. "I don't understand, you want to be, what, friends? After all that? Why?"

Glenn finally looked at August... really looked, and the way in which he looked, again, made August feel incredibly exposed. The man looked at him like no one ever had—and Auggie was afraid to admit what that could mean.

"Guess I just like you," he shrugged. "You're a curious little fellow, shy, squirmy, awkward, but it works for you somehow..." his voice trailed off, as did his gaze, drifting to the pond again.

August could only stare, but he felt a strange sense of hope rush through him and at the same time an anxious sweat broke upon his brow.

"... anyhow," Glenn cleared his throat and eyed August. "I feel like you'd be a cool dude to chill with. Pretending I never met ya doesn't feel right, but being friends does. So, um, yeah..." '

August felt as if he'd gone mute, and before his brain even had the opportunity to try and piece together a response, Glenn stepped in close. August thought he might go into cardiac arrest.

"B-but, um..." Glenn lowered his voice so that only August could hear. "You um, wouldn't have to tell the guys how we really met, right?"

He blushed, dropping his face, because despite swearing this to secrecy, he could feel an unfamiliar smile tugging at the corner of his lips. A hopeful smile. "N-no... fuck no! Of course, not. We can um, pretend that never happened."

Glenn nodded, seeming relieved, nervous, but also oddly... content. What in the world was happening? Since when did a hot guy want to be friends with August? Let alone after everything he'd done to fuck it up from the start?

"Sweet..."

"... you sure?" August murmured. "I'm... I'm complicated, Glenn."

Glenn shrugged, his pale eyes leveling August with a single, sincere look.
"Aren't we all..."
 
Auggie didn't know what to say, but he nodded, sniffled. Fidgeted.

"... out of curiosity." Glenn eyed the glass tumbler in his hand, the one that had been Auggies, before offering it back. "Did you really have me in your phone as 'Mr. Wrong Number'?"

As August's slim fingers plucked the glass from Glenn's large, worked hands, he found himself chuckling. "... yeah, so?"

Glenn smirked. "So, that's kind of adorable."

"Fuck off," August rolled his eyes, whole face feeling as if it'd never return to a normal temperature. "Anyway... I could use another drink, since somebody went and drank mine."

"In that somebody's defense, your drink was super watered down, so you weren't missin' much. How long were you nursing that thing, anyway?"

Auggie pursed his lips to hide a smile. "Feel free to guess."

"Won't have to," Glenn laughed and clapped August on the back. "Cause we're gonna get refills and Imma find out soon enough how long it takes you to finish a drink... I'm also ordering your ass some bourbon. Vodka's shitty."

"If Vodka's shitty, then Bourbon tastes like piss, but hey, maybe it'll put some hair on my chest," August smirked.

Glenn slid a silver cigarette case out of his pocket and grinned. "We'll see about that."

It wasn't at all how Auggie imagined, neither was it how Glenn must have, but neither man could have truly guessed where the night, nor where this chance encounter, would take them.