Arya’s parents were a lot, too, or at least they used to be. They’d mellowed some, since Arya had been smart with his finances and became a partner in his event planning company. Now they were proud parents of a business owner.
It probably helped that Arya was the baby of the family, not the eldest.
“By the way, what are you doing Monday?”
“Huh?” Farzan was used to Arya’s rapid changing of topics, but sometimes his mouth needed a moment to catch up to his brain.
“Monday night. You free?”
Technically, Mondays were when he was supposed to meet up with David. For study sessions. And possiblede-stressing.
But David had texted asking if they could postpone this week’s, due toa prior commitment, which Farzan tried very hard not to read too much into.
“What’s with that look?”
“What look?”
“You’ve got this look, like…” Arya gestured. “Like someone burned your tahdig.”
Farzan rolled his eyes. He never burned his tahdig.
“If you’ve got something going on, I won’t be offended.”
“I don’t!” Farzan said. “I was supposed to, but it got canceled.”
Arya raised an eyebrow.
“What, exactly, got canceled?”
“Nothing.” Farzan stepped back.
Just because tiny devil Arya on his shoulder gave him advice, that didn’t mean he needed real Arya knowing about his situationship with David.
But Arya stepped closer, eyes fixed on Farzan’s. His whole face lit up with glee.
“Oh my god, you got some more dick, didn’t you?”
“Dude…” Farzan glanced behind him, but they were alone in the front of house, Elmira having returned to the kitchen. Still, he didn’t exactly want to talk about getting dick while at work. Especially if his now-employees could hear. His ears burned. “Keep it down, would you?”
Arya waved him off. “Was it Wine Bae?”
“We’re not calling him that.”
Fuck. That wasn’t ano.
Arya gasped, his eyes widening comically. “Oh my god, it was, wasn’t it?”
Farzan groaned but nodded. “He’s helping me learn about the restaurant business. And I’m helping him study for his test.”
“Plus you’re fucking.”
“We’re trying out a friends-with-benefits thing.”
“Huh.” Arya’s smile faded. He cocked his head to the side, staring into the middle distance.
Farzan expected Arya to be happy for him. He constantly extolled the virtues of a regular influx of Vitamin D. As if to punctuate that, Arya’s phone chose that moment to emit the telltale sound of a Grindr notification.
But Arya ignored it and looked back to Farzan.
