“Like those things fromShrek?”
“Exactly.” Rhett nodded once, sharply. “Now don’t talk to me. I have to figure out how to get to the Ten from here.”
forty-three
Farzan
Ireally think you’ve got it,” Ramin said. He and Farzan were seated in the booth closest to the kitchen at Shiraz Bistro. It was still an hour before closing, but the crowd was dwindling, just a few late eaters and lingerers. Firouz had made good on his promise to join the card players at the table in the far corner.
“You think?” Farzan said, thumbing through the stack of papers on the table between them.
“I do.”
Farzan’s loan interview was tomorrow, and he was filled with the same weird anxiety he used to get before the first day of school, when he looked over his empty classroom, imagined it filled with students, and felt totally unprepared.
Unprepared and exhilarated.
He still missed it, sometimes.
But what he was doing now, at Shiraz Bistro, felt right. It felt like he finally knew where he was meant to be and what he was meant to be doing. It had just taken him a while to get there.
Farzan blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. Thanks for doing this.”
Ramin waved away his thanks.
“I mean it. I know you’re busy.”
“This is important to you,” Ramin said. He’d spent the whole evening helping Farzan prepare for his interview, even though Tuesday was supposed to be his date night with Todd. “And Todd and I live together now. Every night is date night.”
Ramin waggled his eyebrows in a very un-Ramin way. Farzan nearly spat out his tea. He pounded on his chest to stop himself coughing.
“Sorry,” Ramin said, cheeks red. He rubbed at the tattoo on his left wrist. “I must be hanging around Arya too much.”
“Ah, after twenty-seven years of friendship, he’s finally rubbing off on you.”
“Twenty-eight,” Ramin corrected.
“Is it really?” Farzan blinked and did the mental math. “Shit. You’re right.”
Twenty-eight years. Wow.
“I’m happy for you,” Farzan said.
Ramin smiled, deepening his dimples. Farzan loved seeing Ramin happy; he could tolerate Todd’s eccentricities, if it meant his best friend would be happy. And, apparently, getting extremely regular dick.
“Thanks,” Ramin said softly. “I’m happy for you too.”
Farzan nodded and stared into his tea. “We saidI love youon Saturday.”
Ramin’s face filled with wonder. Like he’d just witnessed the aurora borealis.
“That’s amazing,” he said. “I really like him. As a person. And I really like him for you, too.” But Ramin’s wonder seemed to dim. He bit his lip. “What are you going to do when he moves? Long distance?”
“I don’t know. But we’ve got to figure it out soon,” Farzan said. “He’s in LA right now. Looking at the restaurant. Maybe apartment hunting, too.”
Farzan’s anxiety was back in full force; it felt like a raccoon was tryingto claw its way out of his chest,Alien-style. He loved David. He wanted David. And he wanted to be enough to keep him here in Kansas City.
But he could never stand in the way of David’s dream.
