“It is.” Patrick’s smile was wide as he turned to meet Simon’s gaze again before looking back to Dion. “Life couldn’t be better, actually. And a lot of it’s due to this guy here.” He tilted his head in Simon’s direction.
Heat crept up Simon’s cheeks at the words. He reached out and placed his hand on Patrick’s knee, giving a small squeeze. God, it felt good to have Patrick acknowledge their new relationship out loud.
Dion sat up straighter. “Oh, you’re serious about each other?”
Patrick smiled wide and nodded. “We are. It’s a new thing, but I think it’s got a lot of potential.”
“Iknowit’s got a lot of potential,” Simon couldn’t resist adding, giving Patrick’s leg another squeeze.
“So you didn’t move in here because you were together?” Dion looked across the table between the two of them as his brow furrowed.
Simon opened his mouth to speak, but Patrick got in first. “What? No, of course not. I didn’t even properly know Simon back then. We really only met when I moved in. Actually, it was amazing he let me move in at all, given I was a relative stranger.”
“You came with good references.” Simon chuckled.
“And lucky for me, you listened to Josh and Charlie’s idea of offering me a room.”
“As if I would have turned you away; you needed a place to stay.” He gave Patrick’s knee another reassuring squeeze then shot Dion a dark look. “And what about you, Dion? Are you seeing anyone? Are you still with that guy you were dating when Patrick lived with you?”
Dion tore his gaze away from Patrick and paled. He shook his head. “Not since a couple of months ago.”
“Good—”
“Simon.” Patrick placed his hand over Simon’s where it rested on his knee, forestalling any other words.
“Anyway, I’d better get going,” Dion said, his gaze flicking between Simon and Patrick. His chair scraped as he quickly pushed back his seat and rushed to his feet. “Please thank Mike for the meal—it was appreciated.”
Patrick pushed his own chair away from the table and Simon reluctantly removed his hand as he stood. “It’s been good to see you again.”
“Yeah, it’ll be nice to do it again. I’ll give you a call and we can set something up.” It pissed Simon off that Dion made the statement. What if Patrick didn’t want to see Dion again or didn’t want him to call? The fact the guy just assumed all would be forgiven irked him.
Patrick didn’t seem to have the same problem, judging by the friendly smile on his face. “That’d be great.”
Patrick followed Dion to the doorway, where Dion stopped and turned. “See ya, Simon. It was really nice getting to know you.”
“’Night.”
Thoughts jumbled through Simon’s mind as he started clearing the table, leaving Patrick to walk his friend out. Maybe he was being too hard on Dion, but something didn’t feel right. Should he trust his gut or go with what Patrick wanted? Eventually he decided to give Dion the benefit of the doubt. After all, it was Dion’s boyfriend who’d freaked Patrick out, not Dion himself. Dion had just been a friend whose priorities were in the wrong place at the time. And as Patrick had pointed out, sometimes it was easy to let the flush of love cloud your judgment.
