“Show me. I want to see it. Can we go now? I’m free.”
A smile breaks free on my face. This is why bringing Nate with me to see it is important. I’ve never had someone as consistently in my corner as he is. He’s just as eager about this as I am and that makes me feel good, reassured even, that this isn’t some wild unattainable dream.
“Yeah, actually that’s why I was calling, I wanted to see if you can come look at it with me. I know it’s last minute, so I wasn’t sure if you had plans or a date or something…”
His bright blue eyes meet mine through the screen and he smiles. “Yeah, of course I’ll come see it with you. And… uh, no dates for me lately.”
“Oh, okay. Well thanks. I’m not too up to speed on your dating life these days. You haven’t shared anything since before Hawaii.”
“Not a whole lot to share.” Nate shrugs, and out of nowhere, I see Hendrix barrel his way into Nate’s chest.
“Hi Henny!” My greeting causes Hendrix to get even more excited and before I know it, something happens. And I’m seeing all sorts of things that I should not be seeing.
Nate’s body twists to the side and his phone falls at the perfect angle against the bed or the nightstand—I’m not sure which one—but it’s giving me a view of something I’ve never seen before. The towel that was securely—or so I thought—wrapped around Nate’s waist is now on the floor and the bare ass of my best friend is center stage on this FaceTime call.
I shield my eyes, calling out to Nate. “Towel, Nate, towel! Grab the towel!”
I might sneak a peek between my fingers as they cover my eyes because curiosity wins. So, he’s got a nice ass and some killer back muscles, but that’s no surprise, he’s an athlete.
“Ahhh, Hendrix, buddy relax, relax!” I hear Nate’s voice, and slightly uncover my eyes as he reaches for the towel to wrap it back around his waist, but he turns too soon to face the phone and there it is.
Front and center.
A full view of something that Idefinitelyshould not be seeing.
“Oh, God!” I blurt out and swat at my tripod, knocking it down along with my phone.
“Hang on!” Nate calls out.
“I’ll just text you the address!” I yell while frantically reaching for my phone to end the call with one hand still covering my squinting eyes.
Is that allowed? I’ve never seen a naked Nate, and while I am impressed, I know that was a major oops. I need to erase that from memory. Do I wash my eyes out with soap now or later? I don’t know what just happened, one minute the towel was there, and the next it wasn’t and things happened so fast. I lean back against my bed and press my knuckles directly into my eye sockets.
Erase.
Delete.
Backspace.
Seeing Nate’s bare ass… fine, whatever, we’ve all got one. It was firm and nice, but I could have guessed as much.
Seeing Nate’s… other part… those poor women he sleeps with…Well, actually maybe not poor women, I’d say that they are probably pretty satisfied with… all of that. But how do they… I just… I have so many questions.
A faint blush feels like it covers my face causing me to bring the palms of my hands to my cheeks and cup them. My head shakes back and forth as I let out a slow and steady breath. Why is that sending tingles down my legs?
Okay, moving on. I can’t focus on any of that right now. It was an honest mistake; a towel fell and it’s just a body part. A body part of my best friend that I've never seen before, but again, it’s the human body… nothing weird about that.
That’s definitely an image I need to quickly forget. Although I’m not sure how the hell I’m supposed to do that now.
“Hendrix, my man, I think you just gave Mia more than she bargained for.” My eyes narrow, looking down at my golden retriever wagging his tail at my feet. I quickly throw on jeans and a t-shirt and walk into the kitchen to grab my keys. Mia texted me the address of the building she wants me to look at with her and it’s close enough to walk to. The door closes behind me and I see Connor Hughes, my neighbor, about to walk into his apartment. He just moved in a month ago, but I’ve known him for a while. Most recently, I saw him at the Rec Center dinner where he was chatting it up with my best friend.
“Connor, hey,” I say, as I’m approaching the elevators.
“Campbell, what’s up?” My hand extends to shake his.
“Nice game the other day, I caught the end of it.”
“Just trying to bring a trophy home to the city like you guys did.” He laughs and I shake my head.
