I went to my tiny freezer box to find the ice from behind the ice cream and a bag of assorted frozen veggies I liked to throw into my ramen sometimes. As I listened to Bucky loving on Lake, who seemed very happy to have some dog therapy, I made our drinks. Since I didn’t want to drink much, I made mine with half the alcohol compared to his and poured some water in it to dilute it.
I glanced at the half-full bottle and shrugged before leaving it on the counter. When I handed Lake his tumbler, he sighed and took a tiny sip, before exhaling. The action seemed to release about half the stress in him.
“What’s going on?” I asked, leaning back against the corner of the couch. I nodded at Bucky, who was giving me puppy eyes. “Go on then.”
He jumped on the couch between us, snuggling under Lake’s arm, before doing his usual flop and letting out the longest, happiest doggy sigh I’d ever heard.
“So it turns out that Ben is this guy River has mentioned a few times in the past. He’s like…” He gestured vaguely with his hand as he tried to find the words. “River had a crush on him when they were teens. Apparently Ben was oblivious or didn’t believe it or something. And then before River could make sure Ben understood that he really did like him like that, something happened and he never saw Ben again.”
I hummed thoughtfully. “Any idea why Ben wouldn’t have believed him?”
“They were both on the definitely-not-a-jock scale in high school, but apparently Ben was this chubby kid with freckles and he got bullied a lot.”
“Ah…” I could relate to that somewhat. I hadn’t been one of the cool kids at school, and if a cute girl or boy had showed an interest in me, I would’ve likely not believed them.
“Yeah.” He took a longer drink and hissed at the burn. “I mean, I love River. He’s my best friend. But I feel like he gets so dramatic about stuff sometimes that he’s his own worst enemy.”
“How’s Ben taking this?” My eyes widened when I realized why Ben was here in the first place. “Shit, he’s going to stick around, right?”
Lake grimaced. “He’s feeling awkward, because when he tried to talk to River, Riv refused to, and hid in his room. And of course, poor Ben is like,how can I have this effect on this guy I haven’t even seen for agesand it’s gonna be so much fun in that house!” The sarcasm dripped off Lake.
I smiled. “Well, just so you know, this is a rant zone, not a rant-free zone. Ruth used to come over sometimes for the same reason, because she didn’t like ranting in the house.”
Lake blinked a couple of times. “Really?”
“Yup.” I chuckled. “It’s like she wanted to keep the house free of her own ranting. If someone else needed to vent, she’d always listen, but she tried to take her own stuff out of there.” Smiling, I reminded Lake, “She was my best friend, after all.”
Lake sighed and sipped at his drink in silence for a while.
I relaxed, too, the weird sort of camaraderie between us settling something within me. Bucky wacked me with his tail and wiggled on his back to get belly rubs.
Lake smiled at him, the expression tinged with so many emotions I couldn’t fully read him.
“Do you ever think it would be nice to have a simple life?” he asked quietly.
“I thought I had one,” I blurted out, then felt like a heel when he frowned and kept his gaze on the dog between us.
“I wish I could give her back to you. Solve everything instantly.” When he turned his gaze to me, I could see that the two thirds of his double had gone directly to his head.
“Did you have dinner, Lake?” I asked carefully.
He frowned and thought for a moment. Then he looked at his tumbler and grinned. “Nope!”
I laughed. “Okay, so you have a choice.” I finished my own drink. “Either I pour you another and then give you a sandwich after so you won’t feel too bad in the morning, or you just have the sandwich and sober up.”
He gnawed on his lower lip, thinking about it.
When he made eye contact, there was something new in his gaze. “Can I stay over tonight?”
For a moment, I wondered if he was a flirty drunk, but then he clarified. “To sleep? I can sleep on the couch.”
Part of me was disappointed, even though I wouldn’t have taken advantage of the situation when he was tipsy. Consent was everything to me.
“Of course you can.” Then, throwing caution to the wind, I added, “Hell, I’ll even throw in a cuddle and you can sleep with me in my bed.”
The way Lake beamed at me—albeit tipsily—made something in my chest unfurl like I hadn’t felt before.
“Okay. Make me another, and then a sandwich, please,” he said, throwing back the last of his scotch before happily crunching on the ice. I laughed and went to fix him the drink.
