I really hate him sometimes. Banks can be such a little instigator. What the hell does that pretty boy know about relationships with women, friend or otherwise? Not a damn thing, that’s what. The only reason he even brought that girl Megan was to use her connection to some photographer. That’s not even friendship. And I literally can’t remember the last time he had an actual girlfriend.
Maybe I’m more pissed off at the fact that he’s possibly right. Lyric and I do spend a lot of time together. We eat almost all our meals together and have a couple of smoke sessions a week. Neither of us have gone on dates with anyone else. We’re having… a lot of sex. That’s… that is dating. Sort of. Fuck.
This is all I’m going to be able to think about for the rest of the day. Maybe I should cancel tonight’s festivities and say I’m busy or something. Wait, wait. We have rules and we’ve followed them. No falling asleep together. Check. Mostly, anyway. I guess that’s the only rule we have. Well, we had the first rule. No hooking up. But that didn’t exactly work out. Now, we have this rule, this boundary that helps us keep things separate.
Is it working? That’s a good goddamn question. Banks opened his mouth, and now I’m all turned around about it. I mean, I wanted a roommate I could hang out with. I wanted more than what the previous ones were giving. But now, maybe I’m getting too much.
I pull out my phone and send a message before I can give it any more thought.
ME
Actually, rain check. I’ve gotta do another thing tonight.
She replies a second later.
LYRIC
Oh ok.
I’m not sure what I expected. I don’t know if I was thinking there’d be more or… maybe moreisthe right word. Why am I even worried? I should focus on what the hell I’m going to do now since I can’t go home.
“Hey, you wanna get drinks later?” I turn to Banks, who looks at me quizzically.
“Uh, sure,” he says.
He’s probably wondering how the hell I went from “shut the fuck up” to “let’s hang,” but we’re guys so we won’t talk about it. Ever.
“I’ll text Killian and Ridge, see if they want to go,” he says.
“Cool.” Fuck. If Ridge comes, Darcy will know and she’ll tell Lyric. Wait. So what? She’s not my girlfriend. It should be totally fine if I want to hang out with the guys. I’m overthinking this and it’s all Banks’ fault.
I’m just going to keep my head down for the rest of the day and try not to think about anything at all. That’s my sweet spot.
“I’m telling you,man, we should definitely do Las Vegas for the bachelor party,” Banks says. “I bet we could ask Avery for a ride on his wife’s private jet.”
“I think it’s his private jet, too,” Ridge says. “They’re married.”
“You don’t think she had him sign a prenup?” Killian asks.
“I mean, maybe she did, but honestly, if you spend more than an hour with them, you’ll be convinced that they’ll never leave each other. Ridge and Darcy are annoyingly in love, right? Well, Avery and Helena put them to shame. Disgustingly in love with each other.” Banks takes a swig from his longneck.
“Hey, fuckface, I love Darcy a disgusting amount, too,” Ridge says.
“This isn’t a love-measuring competition,” I say, chiming in. “No need to whip it out and grab a ruler.”
“Yeah, because you’d need a yardstick,” Ridge says. “Pfffft. Ruler.”
“This is a weird conversation,” Killian says.
“Yeah, so tell me, Waylon, how’s the new roommate situation?” Ridge asks.
“What? Fine. Why?” I take a sip from my beer.
“Uh, I’m just asking, dude,” he says.
“Awfully defensive…” Banks says, his words trailing off.
“No, really, it’s fine. She cooks, which is great. We hang out,” I say, shrugging. “Not much else to tell.”
