"Chapter eight," Bean says, the enjoyment evident all over his face. "Right under the section about hearing your roommate fucking through the shared wall."
"This isn't funny."
"I'm sorry. You're right. You're right." He tries to stifle a giggle. Can't. Then bursts out laughing. "It's freaking hilarious! Wait 'til I tell Kimball."
"No. Donotbreathe a word of this to him. They work together."
TD is technically Kimball's boss, and I don't want to put him in a situation where he has to deal with something that happened at home, and is a very private matter, at work. Why should he pay for me only having two people in my life I'm close to?
"Okay, okay. I won't."
"Promise."
"Pinky swear."
I actually make him hook his pinky around mine so I know he’s not just saying it. "Thank you."
"What are you going to say to TD when you go home?"
"I have no idea." I slide my panini closer and take a bite, desperate for some comfort. Although, maybe comfort is thewrong word. Needing comfort implies there's some distress involved, and catching TD coming wasn't distressing. It was…hot. But wrong. But also hot. But also wrong.
"I don't want him to feel bad, that's for sure. Especially since…" I suck in a breath. Since I've already secured Bean's secrecy on this issue, I decide to come clean on an adjacent, semi-related matter. "I may have cranked one out to TD myself."
Bean's mouth drops open. "For real?"
"Yes." I slump in my chair. "You don't have to tell me how pathetic I am because I already know."
"Hey." His voice sharpens. "I would never think that."
He sounds slightly hurt, too, so I say, "I know. I didn't mean that you would. Sorry."
"I love you so freaking much, and I think you're the greatest best friend in the world."
I smile. "And you're the best at cheering me up."
He takes a beat, smiling, too. "And I say go for it."
"Go for what?"
"This thing with TD."
"There is no thing with TD."
"Why not?"
"Hmm. Let's see." I drum my fingers against the table he made from repurposed pallet wood. "For starters, there's the fact that he's straight."
"Do you know that for a fact?"
"Well, no, but…"
"But what?"
"After all the digging I did on him, I never came across anything suggesting he wasn’t."
Oops. I probably shouldn't have revealed that, not really helping my cause here.
"Uh-huh," Bean mumbles around a mouthful of lobster roll. "What else you got?"
