“I would never tell you not to go to work for a friend,” Paige said, “but that sounds a little sketchy. Does the website have income?”
“From ads, I assume.”
“How long has she been in business?”
“A few months.” Lindsay sighed. “That’s what’s giving me pause. I should probably stick with writing restaurant reviews for now. I don’t think my friend is making enough to pay me much. She has implied that the per-article fee could go up when she starts making money, but right now she wants me to work for a low fee and ‘exposure,’ and I can’t afford to work for that. At least restaurant reviews pay really well.”
“That’s something. Anything good coming up?” asked Evan.
Lindsay shrugged. “My boss atDine Out NYwants me to go to that new hipster food court on Nevins and try all the offerings there.”
“Hipster food court?” said Lauren.
“Yeah. You know. It’s a fancy food court. Someone bought a store that used to be a laundromat and converted it into a big open space that looks like a warehouse, and there are a half-dozen food booths around the inside perimeter. And it’s not, like, normal food court food. No soft pretzels or fast food or any of that. If I remember correctly, there’s a ramen restaurant, a sushi place, a taqueria, a Filipino place, and a couple of other things.”
“Oh,” said Evan. “Is it the Filipino chain with the ramen burger? I can’t remember what it’s called. They have one over by my apartment.”
Lauren laughed. “I feel like I’m on a different planet. Ramen burger?”
“They make the bun out of ramen noodles, then instead of ground beef, the meat in the middle is pork belly, and there’s also some kind of secret sauce. It’s a sodium bomb with I’m sure, like, seven thousand calories, but it’ssogood.”
“Anyway…” said Lindsay. “The food court just opened on Nevins near the intersection with Whitman Street, so I’ve been assigned to try one thing from each restaurant and write it up.”
“Uh, if you need any help with that, I’m your man,” said Evan.
“Noted.”
“Well, this makes me feel better about everything,” said Evan.
“What’s going on with you?” Lauren asked.
“Absolutely nothing, which is kind of the problem. I met a nice fellow at the library last week, of all places. We got to talking about our mutual love of this esoteric book I read last month. I thought it was going well. Then his girlfriend came by to pick him up.”
Everyone groaned.
“I’m sorry, honey,” Lauren said, patting his arm.
“And what about you, Lauren. You’re a few martinis into the evening. You feel up to sharing anything?”
Lauren wanted to talk about what happened, but she didn’t even know how to start. To stall, she said, “What do you mean?”
“You think you’re pulling a fast one over on old Evan, but let me tell you, things have been super weird between you and Caleb all week, and I want to know why. He referenced some conversation you had when he came by the other day, and I want to know what you talked about.”
“Wow,” said Paige. “That’s bossy of you.”
“You have to admit, you must be curious.”
Lauren sighed. Caleb was right, she was a little tipsy. There was just enough vodka in her system to make her think telling the truth was a good idea. “Okay, I’ll tell you everything, but don’t be mad.”
Evan crossed his arms over his chest, like he felt vindicated.
So she gave them theReader’s Digestversion: She and Caleb had been secretly sleeping with each other for nearly six weeks now, and they’d been spending a ton of free time together, Lauren thought they were finally getting somewhere and thought he’d be willing to go public with their relationship, but he’d balked, so she’d ended it.
“I’m so sorry for not telling you guys,” she concluded, “but I was trying to follow Caleb’s wishes and he wasn’t ready for us to go public.”
Evan, Paige, and Lindsay were silent. Evan and Paige glanced at each other.
“Well, that wasn’t what I expected,” Evan said.
