“Shut the fuck up. First of all, that would make it a four-year plan?—”
“Or you’re behind schedule,” Thad pointed out.
Graham glared. “Secondly, there’s nothing wrong with havinggoalsto work toward. It’s called being responsible and proactive.”
Thad scoffed.
“Third, I amnota good little boy. Just because I prefer to invest my time in a relationship instead of?—”
“And how does that work out for you?” Thad asked with a pointed look. “Because this is the third woman you’ve dated since we became friends. Which has been, what? Five months or so?”
“Well, sometimes it takes a while to find the right one. And if you want to talk numbers, let’s talk about the number of people you hook up with, dude.”
Thad snorted. “Yeah,well, if you’re smart, you’ll stop looking for something serious and enjoy playing the field like me,dude.”
“If I was smart, I’d never have become friends withyou,” Graham said with a sigh.
Unfortunately, he didn’t mean a word of it.
“Ugh, I should get home.” Graham yawned. His shoulder bumping Thad’s as he shifted in his seat, setting his empty beer bottle on the dresser serving as both clothing storage and a side table.
After lunch, they’d come back to Thad’s studio apartment to hang out. They’d played video games, had dinner, then parked themselves in front of the TV on Thad’s very small sofa.
A loveseat, really. It was all that would fit in the space.
“Game’s almost over,” Thad said lazily. “You might as well stay until the end.”
“True.”
They were watching basketball.
Thad wasn’t a huge fan, but Graham was and after Thad had won the usual argument over what they were going to order for dinner, Graham had wrestled the remote away from him and put on the New York vs. Pennsylvania game, then sat on the remote so Thad couldn’t change it back to the god-awful reality dating shows he liked.
“Ugh, Travis Rogers is too good this season. He should’ve stayed in Toronto,” Graham muttered as he made another basket.
“You wouldn’t be saying that if he were playing for Penn.”
“Don’t remind me.”
The Pennsylvania Havoc were down seventeen points, and it didn’t look there was any chance of them turning things around. Not with three minutes left in the final quarter.
Sure enough, the game ended a few minutes later, with New York victorious. As per usual.
Thad crowed about it until Graham threatened to smother him with a pillow. “I don’t even know why you root for New York,” he said, disgusted. “You grew up in Pennsylvania and live in Boston now, you tool.”
Thad shoved the pillow away. “Give me the remote.”
“No!” Graham protested. “You’re going to put on that stupid show again.”
“What do you care? You said you were going to leave!” Thad darted forward, sliding his hand between the loveseat arm andGraham’s thigh, reaching for where he’d stashed the remote. “Give it to me!”
“I am! Just notyet.”’ Graham said with a laugh, trying to shove Thad away with his right shoulder while simultaneously keeping his weight on the left side of the cushion so Thad couldn’t wedge his hand under it and get the remote.
“Who invited you here, anyway?” Thad grumbled, leaning in farther.
“You,” Graham reminded him.
“Yeah, well, we both know I make bad choices,” Thad countered, sounding a little breathless as he rooted his hand around, fishing for the remote.
