He opened the phone as he rounded the island. “Are you hungry?”
Qylar drained the last of his coffee. “I suppose food could help absorb some of the alcohol sloshing around in my stomach.”
“You might actually end up sober. I’m surprised the coffee’s done so well already.”
“We metabolize alcohol differently,” Qylar said. “We have to drink a lot, really fast or we can’t get drunk—and then it burns off faster, too, so we have to drink even more to stay drunk. It’s why I rarely touch hard liquor.”
“Maybe that’s why I’ve never really been able to get far past tipsy,” Kenji said. “Hmmm… learn something new every day.” He eyed the restaurants listed on DoorDash and landed on one Qylar apparently ordered from a lot. Oodle Yunnan Noodle. “This noodle place any good?”
“Oh, yeah… that soundsamazingright now,” Qylar said, scrubbing his face. “If you’re interested, of course. You pick.”
“I can go for some noodles.”
“Put in what you want and hand it over and I’ll add some more.”
Kenji made a pick and slid the phone back over. Qylar scanned his phone and pressed the screen a few times before completing the order. He sat the phone down on the counter and eyed Kenji. “Thirty to forty minutes.”
Kenji hadn’t been sure he’d even stay that long before he’d said his peace. He hadn’t expected to have to sober Qylar up before doing that, either.
“So…?” Qylar murmured.
“So…” Kenji said.
“You showed up at my door. I assume you have something you want to talk about.”
“I do,” Kenji replied. He drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Is it too late to have these eggs removed?”
Qylar’s eyes lost their glimmer, and his expression went numb. “Technically no, it’s not too late, although it’s usually done much sooner than this.”
Awkward silence filled in around them.
“Why didn’t you come to me sooner?” Qylar asked quietly.
“I think I was in an ‘ignore it and it might go away’ mind state but now it’s gotten to a point where I can’t ignore it anymore, especially when folks are mentioning me getting fatter by the day—and by folks, I mean my shitty roommate.”
“You need to get away from him.”
“I’m working on that, but finding affordable housing in this city isn’t exactly easy.”
“You could move in here,” Qylar replied.
“And exchange one problem for another. No thanks.”
“I’m a problem?” Qylar asked. He nodded.“Okay.”
“I clearly needed time and space—but you wouldn’t let up. The more you pushed, the more I avoided you. And now,” Kenji said, waving at his stomach. “I’ve waited way too long to take care of this, simply because I didn’t want to come here and get pushed even harder.”
“I’m sorry,” Qylar murmured. “I was just worried about you. And… I missed you.”
“We only had one night and one interrogation. That wasn’t enough for you to know me well enough to miss me,” Kenji said, ignoring the ache inside. He’d missed Qylar, too, and he was pissed he did. They barely knew one another. How could he miss someone he didn’t know?
“I think we had a little more than that. We had a connection. One I still feel.”
I do, too.“You’re pushing again.”
Qylar inhaled deeply before rising with his cup in hand. He poured himself another and sat back down, silent.
“When can we go get this handled?”
