“Why not?” Francesca reached for Paola’s hand and twined their fingers. “We fell in love in a day. And every morning for the last twenty years we fall in love all over again.”
Ramin stared at them.
Twenty years ago, he was in high school, crushing on Noah, closeted and lonely and grieving and afraid.
No, not just crushing.
He’d loved Noah.
Loved Noah to his core.
So it was the easiest thing in the world to fall in love with him again. Even if it had only taken a week.
Ramin loved Noah. Fuck. He loved him.
“Allora, there’s the little lightbulb,” Francesca said. She stood abruptly and brushed off the front of her dress. “We’d better go. Tell us how it goes, will you?”
Ramin’s head spun. They couldn’t just… just drop a logic bomb on him and then leave. Could they?
They could, kissing him on the cheeks and ushering him out the door and then leaving him staring after them, gobsmacked, as they squeezed into the elevator, gave a little wave, and descended.
forty-one
Ramin
Ramin managed—barely—to wait until the afternoon before calling his friends back home. He hoped he didn’t wake them. But even if he did, this was kind of an emergency. They’d understand.
Arya answered the call first, nestled in rumpled gray pillows and bedding. Ramin didn’t recognize what glimpses of the bedroom he could make out. It wouldn’t be the first time Arya had taken a call from some random man’s bed, and it probably wouldn’t be the last, either.
“Hey, Ramin. You okay?” He brushed the sleep out of his eyes. “What time is it?”
A muffled voice out of view said, “A little after eight.”
“Not you, I’m on the phone,” Arya said, looking to his left. “It’s my friend, sorry, I’ve gotta take this.”
The background whipped around, though Arya’s head stayed more or less stationary, as Arya got out of bed shirtless. Probably naked on the bottom too, but thankfully Ramin couldn’t see. He’d never actually seen Farzan or Arya naked, and he had no desire to start now.
“Okay, sorry,” Arya said as he settled in an unfamiliar living room. “Everything okay? Oh, is that Farzan?”
Sure enough, Farzan popped up. Unlike Arya, he was dressed. Ramin recognized theFinal Fantasyposters and filing cabinets of Farzan’s office at Shiraz Bistro.
“Sorry, I was grinding spices. Didn’t hear the phone. What’d I miss?”
“Nothing yet,” Arya said. “What’s up, Ramin?”
“What about David?”
“He’s out with his mom, he probably won’t answer,” Farzan said. “Everything okay? It’s early. Well, for us.”
“I know,” Ramin said.
Now that the moment was here, he hesitated. A cold fist closed around his heart.
About a year and a half ago, he’d been out at brunch with his friends when he told them he loved Todd. They’d been happy for him, excited and supportive. But it turned out they’d seen the red flags long before he did.
What if Noah had red flags Ramin couldn’t see? What if two years from now they were sayingFucking Noahover glasses of wine?
Ramin shook the thought away. This was different.Hewas different.
