“I like you, Alexei,” she said.
Ben felt himself blush. With a small grin, he said, “Me too.”
Their waiter approached the table as Reina was saying, “Aww,” and Julie was saying, “God, everyone I love is gross now,” and then they were finally ordering their food, the tension of the moment dissipating.
“Alexei, tell us more about yourself,” Dahlia said once the waiter had left. “Where are you from? What do you do?”
“I’m from Washington State originally, but live across the river now in Portland. And I’m a data analyst.”
“That sounds smart,” Dahlia said. “Numbers stuff.”
“Yeah,” Alexei confirmed. “Numbers stuff. What about you?”
Both London and Dahlia froze. Ben jumped in.
“Oh! Yeah, I meant to tell you. Alexei has never watchedChef’s Special.”
London exhaled, leaning back in their chair.
“I’m sorry,” Alexei said, his face regretful. “That’s right. Congratulations on that.”
“No,” London said immediately. “Please don’t apologize. This is awesome.”
Dahlia smirked. “You are officially London’s best friend now, Alexei.”
“It’s just,” London sputtered, waving their hands in frustration, “the show isover. I don’t understand why everyone still wants to talk about it so fucking much.”
“By the way,” Julie chimed in, lifting her chin, “that table over in the corner has been staring at you since we walked in.”
London made an indistinct muttering noise.
“Aw, poor baby,” Dahlia cooed, patting the top of London’s head. “Itisso very hard to be rich and famous.”
London glared at her. But Ben swore their mouth twitched, like they were suppressing a smile. It was possible Ben had never seen London look happier in their life. He couldn’t describe how glad he was for them.
“Anyway.” London looked back at Alexei. “Extremely weird and surreal television appearances aside, I’m actually a sound engineer at a local music studio.”
“Really?” Now Alexei’s eyebrows lifted. “That sounds cool.”
“Alexei’s a musician, too,” Ben said, draping an arm around the back of Alexei’s chair. Alexei looked at him in surprise.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a musician,” he said.
Almost at the same time, London said, “I’m just a sound engineer.”
Dahlia looked from London to Alexei and back again, leaning her chin on her palm once more.
“Soul mates,” she whispered.
“Seriously,” Ben went on. “This one stole some dude’s guitar when we were in town once and serenaded me with a killer rendition of ‘Wonderwall.’”
“Oh my God,” Reina said from the end of the table. “I’m obsessed with that.”
“Yeah, ‘Wonderwall’ still slaps,” Laynie said.
“I know, right?” Ben smiled. “Although word on the street is he’s better at the piano.”
Alexei blushed, and it lit Ben up inside.
