She licked the icing from her cinnamon roll off her finger. “It’s like when you’re in need of a bang so bad that you’re irritable and angry. You know, like hangry? But you’re hungry for sex, not food.”
My latte burned my tongue as I took a sip. “I’m not bangry. I’m well taken care of in that department. I—”
“Ah nope!” She cut me off. “I don’t want details. It’s like listening to my little brother talk about sex.”
“I’m older than you.”
“You know what I mean.”
I nodded, picking at my muffin. “Yeah, you are sort of like the annoying little sister I never wanted.”
Over the last two years, she and I had become like family. She had needed someone when she first started at CHMG, and I’d been a listening ear.
Nora’s life was more complicated than she let on to anyone at work. As far as I knew, I was the only one who knew about the younger siblings she had to raise instead of going to college like she’d wanted.
“Are you just sour because I didn’t take it easy on you on your morning run like Jack does?” she taunted.
“It wasn’t meant to be a competition, and you run marathons. I was clearly never going to beat you,” I pointed out.
“Half marathons,” she corrected before taking a drink of her green smoothie.Who the hell willingly drank kale?“I bet you ran harder this morning than you have in ages.”
“Of course I did. You know how competitive I am. I couldn’t help it, and now I’m gonna be sore later. That’s not why I’m cranky, though.”
My head was a mess lately, filled with constant thoughts of Eve and confusion over why I was so enamored with her.It felt like my chest was flayed open, everything exposed and vulnerable.
“Are you going to make me keep guessing or tell me?”
I glared at her over my steaming latte. “Eve and I had sex.”
“Okay...”
“A lot of sex. Like crazy good sex.”
She covered her ears. “I said I didn’t want details, Ben! Why is crazy good sex making you cranky?”
“It’s not. I’m just... I don’t know. It’s making me flustered. And I keep thinking I don’t want this to end, but we aren’t dating, so it has to have some kind of time limit on it, right?”
“So, you’re doing the fuck buddies thing with Eve now?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. We said it’s just sex. Just fun. No expectations, ya know?”
“Still failing to see the problem. That sounds right up your alley.” She stabbed her fork into the cinnamon roll.
I huffed out an irritated breath. “I know. It doesn’t make sense to me either. Hence my frustration. We have fun together. I want to hang out with her more. But not just to fuck.”
Her face lit up with a knowing grin. “Oh. My. God. Youlikeher.”
“We’re friends. Yeah, of course I like her.”
“No. Youlikeher like her.”
“You say it like emphasizing the word makes it mean something different to me. It doesn’t.”
“You have a crush on your fuck buddy, Ben. And you don’t have a clue what the hell to do with the feelings you have brewing.” She pointed, making vague circles toward my chest.
“You thinkI’mcatching feelings?”
“The writing is on the wall. I’m just reading it.”
