Hehated to be miserable alone. That was why he’d come here.
Declanstepped through the door, laptop bag slung over his shoulder and dark circlesunder his eyes.
Hehad dark circles a lot these days, which made Ash’s heart hurt.
Hehated to see Declan tired and overworked. If anyone deserved better than that,it was him.
“Ash?”Declan looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. Then his eyes went to the tub ofice cream Ash was guarding jealously, and understanding dawned over hisfeatures.
They’dbeen here before.
“Oh.Breakup?” he asked.
Ashsighed, digging his spoon into the tub again. He wasn’t heartbroken, exactly.Troy had been fine. Fun, even. But… he’d never expected to end up marrying theguy.
Itwas more thewayhe’d been broken up with that bothered him.
“Yeah,”Ash said. “Apparently I spend too much time with you. Which is a stupid thingto say, because you’re my best friend and I’m allowed to have friends. I don’thave time for controlling assholes. Is it weird that I have a key to yourapartment?”
Declanshrugged. “I have a key to your apartment.”
“Right?It’s not weird,” Ash said, remembering the surprisingly long lecture Troy hadgiven him.
Infront of customers, just as he was finishing his shift at the bookstore.
Thathad made himangry. Breaking up with people in public like that was unfair.
Well,he was angrynow. And hurt. And confused. But at the time, he’d justbeen scared. Scared and humiliated.
Ithadn’t been a good day for positive feelings, so he’d decided to replaceemotions with ice cream. Enough of it, and there wouldn’t be room for anythingelse.
“Ifit helps at all, I quit my job today,” Declan said.
“Why?”Ash asked.
He’dbegged Declan to find something else a half-dozen times after watching what hisjob was doing to his previously cheerful, warm best friend. It’d turned himinto a constantly tired, sad man who never wanted to go anywhere other thanwork and home these days.
Notthat Ash minded hanging out with him in his apartment, but it wasn’t good forDeclan to only have work in his life. He wasn’t sad at all to hear Declan hadquit.
“Well,I was in the middle of getting fired, so I figured I’d beat them to it,” Declansaid, heading into the kitchen. “Which was probably childish, but I don’treally care.”
Declanextracted a spoon from the cutlery drawer and came to sit next to Ash. Withouta second thought, Ash pushed the ice cream over to him.
Itwas probably better not to eat the whole pint, anyway. He’d make himself sick,and then he’d be sickandsad, which was a terrible combination.
Besides,Declan’s presence was already making him feel better. Even if Declan wasmiserable too, being around him was soothing.
“Sothis hasn’t been a great Friday afternoon for either of us,” Ash said.
“No,”Declan said around a mouthful of ice cream.
“I’mnot sorry you quit your job,” Ash continued. “I hated to see how it was suckingthe life out of you.”
“Yeah,well… I didn’t like Troy, so I guess we’re even.”
Ashsnorted. In hindsight, he hadn’t really liked Troy, either.
He’dliked a very specific part of his anatomy, but if the guy was going to startdictating who he could and couldn’t be friends with, well, there were otherfish in the sea. Ash wasn’t so hopeless that he had to settle for one that wassub-par at best.
