DOING ZUMBA
I’ll email you the tix, you can still go without me!
sorry sorry
Fuck, that sucked. David’s stomach gave an uncomfortable twinge as he imagined his own mom breaking a tailbone. Granted, his mom would no doubt walk it off, dust herself off, and still be at work at six the next morning. David could barely remember his mother even taking a sick day. Or his father, for that matter. Both of them had spent their whole lives showing David the value of hard work.
He’d had grand plans of buying them each a house—a mansion, even—with maids and butlers and whatever fancy shit they wanted. Plans he’d had to modify when he’d realized he couldn’t keep going to a high-paying job that made him miserable. He wasn’t hurting now by any means—he more than took care of himself—but he wanted to take care of them, too, the way they’d always taken care of him.
Like he’d told Farzan, that would be way easier on a salary from somewhere like Le Bernardin. Which is why he was studying so hard.
Shit. He’d only agreed to this museum thing to prove to Kyra (and Jeri) that he had a social life. But with no witnesses, he might as well head home, dive into his flash cards, maybe—
“David?”
David shook himself. “Farzan?”
“Hey.” Farzan smiled, and David’s stomach gave a different kind of twinge. He knew they were keeping things casual, but that hadn’t stopped him being a little disappointed when he realized he had to take a raincheck tonight.
But now here Farzan was. Looking absolutely stunning in a black sweater with a V-neck that gave just a hint of chest hair, and dark-wash jeans that looked dressy yet also showed off his thighs and ass.
David snapped his mouth shut. He hoped he hadn’t drooled. Butdamn.
“Fancy seeing you here,” David finally managed, sounding totally awkward. He tried again. “If I’d known you were coming to this, too, I wouldn’t have felt so guilty about canceling tonight.”
He mentally kicked himself. Like that was any better.
“You look nice.”
Farzan’s eyes crinkled up.
There. Third time was the charm.
“You too.” Farzan looked David up and down.
David had opted for charcoal dress pants, a hunter-green sport coat, and a white button-up with soft pink pinstripes. And though the lobby was cool, he felt Farzan’s gaze like a heat beam.
“Thanks. So you got tickets to this, too?”
“Yeah. Arya—one of my best friends—did some work for the museum a while back, so he got tickets. He said he’d meet me by the gift shop.” Farzan pulled up his phone and frowned. “Aaaaand he just texted me that he can’t make it. Some sort of floral arrangement emergency.”
David laughed, and the air between them didn’t seem so thick anymore. “Floral arrangement emergency? Is that a thing?”
Farzan turned his phone so David could see. Sure enough:
Arya
Dude I’m so sorry, I got a call from Bitch
*Mitchell omggggg
There’s a floral arrangement emergency I need to take care of
Convention Center… could be hours
Sorry dude. Go without me!
There should be free champagne!!!!
