Page 20 of Structure of Love

Riggs’s eyes danced with mirth. “No difference, from what I’m seeing. He that good of a conversationalist, to the point he’s making you laugh?”

“He sent a bad pun.”

“Oh, you love bad puns.” Asher looked at Riggs with his damn knowing face again. “He’s going to get nakedsofast for this man.”

“Bet on it?” Riggs asked.

“Hey!” I protested.

“I say two dates, at most. You?”

Riggs deliberated on this for a second. “Four, max.”

That meant I now had two bets going on my dating life, as Zar had made the first one public. Why were all my friends like this?

Since they were ignoring me and being brats, I picked up a couch pillow and chucked it at their heads. It landed as intended, smacking Riggs in the head, but it also landed in his popcorn bowl.

He grabbed the pillow out, protesting, “Hey! Respect the popcorn!”

I glowered at them and hunkered down some more, texting Logan back.I love bad puns, keep them coming. Also, if I’m not texting back immediately it’s because Ash and Riggs are being bastards.

Kryptonite:Why? What are they doing?

Me:Teasing me about texting you

Kryptonite:Are they jealous or something?

Me:Riggs, maybe. He’s single. Asher, no, he’s dating Zar. Who’s also here and thinks Asher ribbing me is funny.I almost left it at that and then realized he had no context.Ah, so to clarify: Ash, Zar, and I are childhood friends. We’ve known each other since diapers.

Kryptonite:Oh wow, that’s kind of rare in this day and age. Wait, your two friends did that best-friends-to-lovers trope?

Me:They sure did. With our blessing

Kryptonite:Whoa I thought that only happened in movies and books

Me:Seriously

I settled in more, happy to text with him while occasionally looking up at the screen. They’d gone with the classic black-and-whiteFrankenstein, huh? Not a bad choice. It brought great joy to make fun of it.

I munched on popcorn between texting, then abruptly hit the bottom of the bowl. Hmm. Did I want more salt or did I want sweet? Surely there was something sweet in this house. Asher lived on sugar. Potty break sounded good, too.

The second I stood, Asher whistled like I was a stripper heading for a pole.

“There he goes for the bathroom, the sexting is getting wild and intense.”

I aimed a kick at his knee, which he dodged, cackling.

“Why are you such a brat? What, is Zar not giving you enough attention?”

“Hey!” Zar protested. “Leave me out of this. I sext him plenty!”

“TMI, dude, so TMI.”

“Says the man who gave me the gay sex talk.”

“Goddammit, what’s wrong with you? I had almost successfully erased that memory!” I glared at Zar, but he didn’t even look apologetic. Bastard.

I stared down loftily at them. “I have better things to do than banter with you—”