“Okay, butsomethinghappened.” Fuck, even Farzan could tell?
When Arya and Farzan ganged up on him, he always gave in. He blew out a breath.
“You guys remember Noah Bartlett? From high school?”
Farzan scrunched his eyebrows, but Arya nodded right away. “Hard to forget Noah’s Ark.”
Well shit.
“Oh yeah,” Farzan said. “I do remember hearing some of the girls talking about his… ah. Ark.”
“I’m pretty sure that was just a rumor,” Ramin muttered. Even though he’d definitely heard more than one girl giggling about Noah being well hung. Part of him had wondered if it was true, but the noble part of him was mad at people talking about Noah behind his back in general.
And the closeted, horny part of him had wondered just how big they were talking, anyway.
But Noah had looked out for Ramin, stood up to bullies for him, and Ramin had always felt just as protective. He cleared his throat. “Even if it’s true, it’s his body, his business.”
“Listen, I agree in principle,” Arya said. “But I’m just saying, Ididsee him in a wrestling singlet freshman year, and I don’t think he was done growing.”
Ramin sincerely wished he had never brought this up. That he had gotten too drunk on wine and jet lag and had promptly fallen into bed and forgotten everything.
“Can we focus, please?” he asked, trying not to think about how his knee had brushed Noah’s under the table during dinner.
“On what?” Arya asked. “Why are you asking about Noah Bartlett anyway?”
Ramin sighed and blew out a breath. “Because I ran into him at a gelateria.”
Arya dropped his phone, if the clatter and sudden blackness was any indication. Another cracked screen protector, no doubt. Arya was keeping AppleCare in business single-handedly.
“Really? Noah Bartlett?” Farzan asked. “How do you know it was him?”
“Because he came up to me and asked if I remembered him from high school.”
Farzan’s jaw dropped.
“He was there with his son, who is adorable by the way, and his ex-wife. I guess they went to therapy and stayed friends.”
“Gross!” upside-down Arya said before righting himself. “Fuck Todd by the way.”
“Fuck Todd,” Farzan echoed. “So,didyou remember him?”
“Of course he did, Ramin had a huge crush on him. How’s he looking? Still hot?”
Ramin nearly spat out his tea. “I did not.” Except that obviously wasn’t true. “Okay, well, I didn’t know it back then.” He sighed and fell back against the couch. “He’s aged like fine wine.”
Farzan’s eyebrows arched upward. “Ooh, you get a picture?”
Arya cut in. “You get his number?”
“There wasn’t time. He had to get back to his hotel.”
“He couldn’t take thirty seconds?”
“His son needed dinner.”
Farzan cocked his head. “I thought they just had gelato.”
Fuckety-fuck. Why did he have to have such observant friends?
