I realize I missed the entire conversation happening in front of me. I nod and shove a forkful of lasagna in my mouth.
Elliot leaves his arm there, sipping his wine with his left hand.
“Do we have any updates on the case?” Oliver asks me, in a bid to involve me in the conversation.
But the topic hits me in all the wrong places. “Not really. We’re still collecting evidence,” I tell him. He’ll get to hear a lot more about it when I eventually bring my Bureau team in on the case. It’s definitely heading that way. But I don’t want to do that until I’m sure the investigation needs to go in that direction. And once I do, Matt will blabber everything to him anyway.
Elliot turns to me. “The body was found at his home, right? There wasn’t a lot of information on the news. Are you guys sure it was murder?”
I nod. “It’s murder, all right.”
“So weird how anyone could do something like this to another human being,” Oliver shakes his head.
“And to an actor from a werewolf show made for teenagers at that,” I stress, keeping an eye on Elliot. It was right there, Ihadto take it.
But when I look at the people in front of me, Matt has an eyebrow up, and Oliver is glaring at me. Elliot continues to eat.Ugh.
“As if you didn’t binge on the first two seasons last year,” Oliver accuses.
Elliot turns to me then, a smirk firmly in place.
“What? You worked for the show,” I accuse him instead.
Heraises his hands in surrender. “I never said it’s a silly show,” he says.
My jaw hangs open.
“Silly show?” Oliver gasps.
“I never said that,” I say quickly. “Tell him I never said that,” I nudge Elliot, poking my finger on his shoulder.
“Ow,” he overreacts. “Why would I lie about that?” he says casually.
“Wow. That’s cruel, Nick,” Matt shakes his head in mock disappointment. When did Elliot and he become so buddy-buddy? “My boyfriend works really hard on those scripts to make good television. Sorry, it’s not up to your standards.”
Oliver narrows his eyes at me.
“Oh my god, you knowhim,” I point at Elliot. “He’s a menace.”
Oliver turns his glower to Elliot, who just shrugs.
“I’ve binged all the seasons. I lied that I stopped after two,” I admit in an attempt to soothe Oliver. I would never disrespect his work. Besides, it’s a fun watch, in an unserious way.
“You did?” Oliver looks suspicious.
“Of course, I picked right back up when you guys started dating.” I hate Elliot for making me spill my secret like that. He keeps eating happily like he didn’t just nearly cost me several delicious meals a week and free dog-sitting every other day.
The dessert comes with an extra serving for me. I resist the urge to stick my tongue out at Elliot.
“Did mom call you last week?” I ask Matt when Elliot and Oliver start talking about someone neither of us knows.
“Yes, is this your way of bringing up Mrs. Laney’s niece?” he rolls his eyes.
As if he isn’t dying to talk about Mrs. Laney’s niece. “Dude, she planted poison ivy in Mrs. Gibson’s garden just because she refused to give a ball back. That’s a psychopath in the making,” I point out.
He smiles. “But it’s so funny. I mean, it must have taken a strongcommitment to wait for them to grow up. Girl has too much patience for a seven-year-old,” he says. “Unless it was Mrs. Laney who gave her the plants in the first place. They didn’t get along all that well.”
I tilt my head.Interesting.
