We all sighed (or at least those of us who’d been to the man cave did) just at the thought of the man cave.
“Are we done talkin’ about the important shit?” Tex demanded.
“If you mean our possible new mission, yes,” Raye told him. “Though, now I’m switching Titus to Jess and Shanti, and Luna and I’ll take Jinx and Clarice.”
“Fab.’ Shanti smiled.
“I’d be proud a’ you girls for your show of growth when it comes to outlining the opening of an investigation if you weren’t so fuckin’ annoying,” Tex mutter-boomed.
Aww!
He stomped off.
Tito silently followed him.
Tex headed to the coffee cubby where he reigned supreme as barista because his coffees were otherworldly (and the line at the door that formed before we even opened laid testimony to this).
Tito went to his “office,” which was the back corner table by the windows where he had books, plants, journals, and where he spent his days scribbling, reading, playing games on his iPad or silently butting into Angels Confabs.
Since the downer was gone (meaning Tex, Tito wasn’t a downer), I turned to Shanti.
“Are you really gonna go there with Titus?”
“Are you gonna go there with Gabe?” she retorted.
“No,” I said.
“Yes,” she said (but she was talking about Titus).
I beamed, liking this.
“Why no on Gabe?” Harlow asked me.
“Because men suck,” I told her.
“Javi doesn’t suck,” she returned.
“I haven’t done any research, except anecdotal, but it seems you hit a jackpot akin to Powerball with that one.” I looked to Jess. “And you.” Then to Raye. “And you.” Back to Harlow. “The rest of us aren’t so lucky.”
“Every guy isn’t Kev, honey,” she said softly.
“Uh, they totally are,” Joey decreed.
“Or versions,” Gemma added. “I had a date last week, and he said he had to make a detour to the restaurant. And that detour was him scoring coke off his dealer.”
“Gross!” Harlow exclaimed.
“Did you finish the date?” Shanti asked.
“I went to the restaurant with him, but I called a Lyft from outside,” Gemma told her. “He couldn’t believe I wasn’t cool with him taking me to his dealer on our first date. I couldn’t believe he was such a tool.”
“Last date I had swore it was a ‘joke’ when he asked if me ordering a dessert meant he was going to get a blowjob along with getting laid at the end of the date,” Joey piped in. “And that was a first date too. PS, after that, I demanded we split the check.”
“Ohmigod, I’m so glad I have Javi,” Harlow breathed.
“And I’m glad I have Cap,” Raye said.
“Ditto, Eric,” Jess put in. “We haven’t been together that long, but he’s so awesome, I completely blanked out what a wasteland the dating world is.”
