“Looks like it, yeah. Let’s dig in.”
They ate in silence for a while, just enjoying the food and the relative privacy the small balcony provided them.
Eventually they started to talk again, this time about likes and dislikes, and somehow Dev felt as if he was on a date.
“Have you ever even seen anything by Lars von Trier?” Seth scoffed as he pushed away the plate, then patted his stomach contently.
“May I remind you my brother is an art history major, sir.” Dev sniffed delicately. Then he grimaced and admitted, “I’ve only seenDancer in the Darkand it traumatized me enough not to really care to see his other films.”
“See, that’s the thing, though. They’re all so different. But I would still agree that they’re an acquired taste,” Seth pondered out loud while Dev finished his pizza. “This was fun,” he said after draining his beer.
Dev nodded. “Very. I haven’t had lunch company in a while. Angel tends to grab something on campus, and I work from home, so I do the same in the kitchen.”
“What do you do? I somehow forgot to ask.”
“Our dad is one of the founders of Nemo Gaming, so I lucked out in a way. I beta test for them and do some coding and so on. Nothing important, but I have a knack for figuring that stuff out and I like gaming, so….”
“Oh, I’m not a gamer, but even I know Nemo Gaming,” Seth mused.
“Yeah, a lot of people do. With the competitive gaming scene starting to gather attention, they’re getting a lot of publicity among nongamers too.”
Seth glanced at his cell, which he’d put on the edge of the table and—now that Dev thought about it—hadn’t glanced until then. “I should get going. I have another lecture in an hour and I need to figure some stuff out,” he said apologetically.
“It’s okay. I should head back too. See if my brother is alive or has succumbed to his cough.”
“Where do you guys live?” Seth asked while standing up and pulling his coat on.
“We’re in Country Club Village, actually. I know it’s pretty weird for two twentysomething guys, but it was ‘an investment’ of our dad’s. He wanted us to have a good house, and since he has the money….” Dev shrugged.
Seth hummed. “They want you to be safe, your parents.”
“Yeah. We did give him an upper limit when he started the house hunting. But yeah, we have a nice three-bedroom place with a small backyard. It’s pretty ideal. A bedroom for us both and guest room when the parental units visits. Attached two-car garage and all. Which is ridiculous because we share one tiny old car.” He grinned.
“Sounds like a good deal, though. I’m glad you have a place like that,” Seth said, ducking his head in the way that Dev recognized meant he was feeling bashful.
“Yeah.” Had this really been a date? Dev wasn’t sure, nor did he want to be the dweeb to ask.
“Oh, you’re already done. I’ll run your check to Olivia and you can pay there, since you’re on your feet and all,” Sammy said from the top of the stairs, then vanished down again.
“That’s one efficient boy,” Seth commented.
“Yeah, Sammy is awesome.”
They went down the stairs and through to the front desk, where Olivia smiled at them.
“Together or separate?” she asked, gesturing at their check.
“Together, please,” Dev and Seth said at the same time, then turned to frown at each other.
“Well, one of you has to pay for it, boys,” she said, despite being younger than Dev and definitely more than a decade younger than Seth.
“I’ll take this one; you’ll have the next, okay?” Dev risked.
Seth’s face did something complicated, but then he nodded and made the surrender gesture with his hands.
Dev paid and kissed Olivia’s cheek, then went out through the door Seth was holding open for him.
“So, we’re doing this again?” Seth asked, nodding at the restaurant door.
