That would be bad. Very bad.
Nix deserves my honesty, especially since we have several more nights together, at least. Plus a lifetime of being in each other’s orbit. Russ will always be his best friend, which means Nix will always be around. I can’t avoid him no matter how far I run.
“I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Oh, you don’t have to come in today.”
I frown. That’s not right. I’m scheduled to work today. “Nix, about this morning?—”
“I meant because you might want to work on your coaching program. You could probably get a whole module done in those hours.”
Ah, we’re not talking about the elephant in the room then. “No, I want to be helpful around here. I’ll see you at one.”
For a second, I think he’s going to argue with me, make a case for why he desperately wants me to stay here. Instead, he gives me a curt nod. “One.”
The door closes behind him, leaving the cat and me in bed. “Nick, you’ve been here a while. Any chance you know how to approach Nix about this?”
Nick looks at me disapprovingly—which is his default—before licking his stomach and curling up in a tight ball.
Furry little thing has a point. The sooner I do this, the better. That means I have six hours to come up with a decent plan. Challenge accepted.
NIX
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” I ask Nick. As usual, he has no opinion as long as the food is in his bowl and his bed is in a sun spot. Otherwise, he has no interest in my life. Especially my love life.
Lack of a love life?
Fantasy love life?
No matter what you call it, Nick has the right idea. It’s not worth discussing. Especially when it’s one-sided. What happened this morning was just one of those things. It’s been a long time since I had a roommate—since I was a sophomore in college. In that time, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to share suchclose proximity to another human being. This was bound to happen at some point. Now that it’s done, it’s out of the way, and we can move on.
Oh my God. We have another three nights together. Minimum. And that’s only if the water comes back on in my place on schedule. How likely is that to happen?
The answer is nearly zero. Between Aunt May’s home and the shop, I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of different home-improvement projects. Not a single one of them has been done on time or on budget. Given how badly I want to be back in my space, it’s unlikely this is going to be the one.
I briefly consider going home anyway. If I buy enough bottled water, I can probably make it work. Sure, bathing is going to be a bit of a problem, but maybe I can think of it like an adventure. Almost like a glamping trip. Indoors, but with all the fun of basically living outside.
Okay, I’m not doing that. I’m far too high-maintenance for something like that. There’s still the option to call around town, see if any of the inns have openings for me. It’s not the most cost-effective option, but it’s better than living through the awkwardness that’s bound to ensue tonight.
“Hey, Nix.”
Oh, God. Is it possible to get sucked into an alternate dimension? One slightly less embarrassing than this one.
All the books saymaybe, but they’re strangely devoid of any real help in the details. Not that I would understand them. The two days I spent in advanced physics before promptly dropping the class to spend more time on my English studies in high school did not leave me with much knowledge.
“What do you have for me today?”
“What? Um…I mean inventory. You can do inventory.” In part because that takes place in the backroom. With the doorclosed. Far away from me. The perfect location for both of us. As long as I don’t make it weird.
“I’ll admit that I have no idea how to do that, but I’m sure I can learn.”
“It’s not hard.” Shit, don’t sayhard. “Difficult. It’s not difficult. You’ll catch on fast.”Mouth meet foot.
“Great. Want to show me?”
No. Definitely not. Trapped in a small, dark room with little space to maneuver? Yeah, not going to happen. I think I’ve managed to embarrass both of us enough for one day. Plus, I’m likely to keep talking to fill the space, and who knows what I might say. “You know, it’s super easy. You can write the title of each book on this paper and then put little tick marks next to it for how many books are in the back.”
Is that actually how we do inventory?Nope. But this is a fake task, so it doesn’t really matter. I hand over a clipboard with blank paper. It’s technically mine to jot down general notes, but I’ll do without it for the rest of the day.
