Page 99 of Revelry

“About nearing thirty, or wasting our sexual prime?”

“Nearing thirty. I’ll have you know that my sexual prime is going awesomely.”Or, at least it was.

“Well, yeah, I guess it would have to be when you’re fucking two of the hottest rock stars on the planet.” He grins like a maniac, and I laugh despite myself.He’s such a fucking dork.

“Was fucking. You’re missing the past tense there.”

“I gotta say, I didn’t quite believe it when Brad texted me the video.”

“Brad texted you that?” I raise my brows in disbelief. “Jesus, Tim. Please tell me you didn’t watch it?”

“Of course I watched it. Come on, Ali, you think I’m not going to watch a video of my old roommate banging two guys? It was fucking intense.”

“Actually, it was in an elevator.”

“Ha. Tents, funny girl.” He laughs and leans in, pressing a kiss to my temple. “It’s good to see you. We’ll do drinks and bond over our misery.”

“Sounds good.”

Tim starts backing away as he says, “I’m calling you Monday so you better answer.”

“I’ll answer,” I tell him with a mock shut-the-fuck-up-and-go-away-you-douche expression. “I’m looking forward to the catch up.”

“Ali, for the record, they’re all fucking idiots for letting you go.” He winks and disappears into the crowd and I walk back to my table, resolute in preparing to tell my workmates to shut the hell up and mind their own business.

Monday, Tim had called just as he’d said. We’d decided on beer and pizza at his apartment.

I lie back against the couch, my belly distended from too many carbs, and I study the room.

“You’re like all grown-up and shit,” I say.

He unscrews the bottle cap from his beer and tosses it at me. “I know, right? It’s fucking weird. All of this shit was Cloe’s. I think she felt sorry for me so she just left it all here.”

“Oh, thank god. I was beginning to think you’d completely been domestic and rearranged knickknacks around the place.”

“Fuck no. I don’t even like half the shit on those shelves.” He points to the huge entertainment unit lining the wall. It contains several turquoise ornaments, from empty vases, to glass-blown bowls, to a pair of dinted metal balls that just look like testicles.

“Why don’t you get rid of them then?”

“I don’t know. When I’m feeling particularly miserable, I like to take them down and stroke them. She had a thing about not touching anything and leaving fingerprints all over the glass.”

“You’re such a child.” I shake my head.

“Look who’s talking. How in the hell do you go from being with someone like Brad, and never putting out, to winding up in a polygamist relationship, Jones?”

“Hey I would have put out if he’d wanted it, but that was the problem. Brad didn’t want me; he wanted a fantasy.”

“And how did your fantasy go? ’Cause I know his wound up biting him in the arse.”

I sigh. “It all came crashing down hard, like all good fantasies do when reality hits home.”

My phone rings. It takes me a moment to realise that it’s mine, because no one ever rings me. I pull it out and glance at the screen, balking when Levi’s face appears on it. I stare at it for far too long, thinking that if I just leave it long enough it will go away and I won’t have to deal with it.

“You gonna answer that?” Tim asks, and I frown.

“I don’t know.”

“You want me to do it for you?”