“That’s not funny.”
“I thought it was pretty funny.”
Soon we were sitting at the table, drinking, eating, and chatting. Every few minutes, Danny kept looking at his phone.
“I’m sorry. Am I boring you?” I teased.
“My bad. It’s this guy I hooked up with the other night.”
A boulder dropped into my gut. Not that Danny didn’t hook up with guys often. I mean, obviously he did. We both had our fun when we wanted, me less than him, but he didn’t typically chat with someone during BFF Tuesdays. “Is there something we need to talk about?” I asked, hoping my voice sounded calmer than I felt. My pulse was currently running a damn marathon, and I didn’t like it one bit.
“Huh? No. It’s not serious. Just someone I had a good time with.”
“Then I would tell me my lasagna is awesome.”
Danny smiled. “Your lasagna is awesome.”
He set his phone down, and we finished our meal. When it was over, we stacked the dishes in the kitchen and went to the couch to find something to watch. “A new show or a movie?” I asked. Sometimes we watched a show together, and if we did, we made a commitment not to watch episodes any other night of the week without each other. We were so fucking cute.
“Eh, let’s go with a movie tonight.”
“Or a true-crime documentary.” I was a bit obsessed with those.
“Boring.” He nudged me.
“Fine. Whatever.”
We settled on a horror flick, which were Danny’s favorite. His phone was glued to his hand the whole time. I’d hear the tap, tap, tap of his fingers across the screen, which would make me sigh, and then he’d set it down, only to pick it up again.
Snatching the remote from the table, I hit Pause. “You’re clearly not into this tonight.”
“I know. I’m sorry. He was just a really good lay. Can we do this another time?”
Wait, what? That wasn’t supposed to be how he answered. He was supposed to put his phone down and say he could talk to that guy later. “Um…yeah?”
“Thanks. You’re the best, Eli. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.” Danny stood, bent over and kissed my forehead, and then he was out the door, while I sat there trying to figure out what in the hell just happened.
It took a good few minutes for the shock to wear off, and the moment it did, I was jerking my phone off the arm of the couch and calling our friend Brooklyn.
“Wait. Isn’t it BFF Tuesday?” she said instead of hello.
“Yes, yes it is, but Danny left because of someone he’s fucking!” That wasn’t what Danny and I did. How did he suddenly not know that?
“Oh…”
“Exactly! What is going on here? I don’t understand.”
She sighed. “I don’t know. It’s different, obviously, but you know you and Danny are better off as friends, right? You’re not in love with him.”
Anger spiked inside me, making my body flush with heat. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you know my feelings better than I do.”
“I’m not trying to be an asshole, and you know it. I think you feel a lot of things for Danny because his friendship made you feel okay socially about being who you are. And I think you’ve been best friends with him so long, you’ve blurred the lines of your relationship. And I also think that you’ve always been looking for love, and I think maybe your brain has played a trick on you.”
“That’s a lot of thinks, Brook!” I shouted. From the moment I told her how I felt about Danny, this has been her reaction. “How much do I owe you for this session? And wait, when did you get your therapist license?”
“Ha-ha, be nice to me. You’re the one who called me. I’m trying to be supportive.”
I sighed, because I knew she was. Brooklyn lived two floors up from me, and outside of Danny, she was my best friend. “Can you like, be nice by coming down here, bringing ice cream, and telling me you understand rather than lecturing me on how I feel?”
She chuckled softly. “Yeah, I can do that. I’ll be right there.”
Brooklyn came down. We watched a documentary, ate ice cream, and it helped. Maybe.
CHAPTER TWO
Shaw
“Hey, man. Can you go out tonight?” my buddy Will asked the moment I answered his call. It was a Friday night, and I spent the majority of those going out, oftentimes with him.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Shaw, what the fuck, dude?”
I laughed. “I’m kidding. Just a bit perplexed by your question. Don’t we always go out?”
“Yeah, apparently a little too much,” he answered, and my smile suddenly turned the other direction.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. I’m over it. Whatever. We’ll talk tonight. I’ll be at your place at ten.”
Okay… Will was being slightly weird, but he was known for being overdramatic sometimes, so I let it go. I hoped it didn’t have anything to do with Lisa, this new woman he’d been dating for a couple of months. It was obvious she didn’t like me, and maybe didn’t like Will as much when he was around me, and holy fuck, whatever was going on with Will was definitely about me and Lisa.