Page 83 of Try Me
“They’re definitely banging.” I dropped my feet from the desktop.
“Definitely. Think they say the same thing about us?” Chet picked up a pen and rolled it idly over his knuckles.
“They probably will now.”
“Oh, the irony.”
“Brutal, yeah.” I neatened my desk and picked up my messenger bag. “Thanks for the assist, by the way. I had it covered, though.”
“I know. I just…never mind.” Chet wet his lips and looked away. “I know you can handle him.”
All week we’d avoided being alone with each other, so the elevator ride down was steeped in more of that awkwardly heavy silence.
“You sleeping?” I finally asked, desperate to punch a few holes in its weight.
Chet shrugged. “Not a lot. I guess that’s not anything new, though. You?”
“Why d’you think I asked?”
“It’ll get better,” he said, speaking aloud the inner monologue I’d had running on repeat to no avail. It was the first time I was ever 100 percent certain he was lying, though, and it was painful to witness.
The elevator stopped, and as we waited for the doors to slide open, Chet’s lips twitched up at the corners, tinged with humor and so familiar that I felt my own responding immediately.
“Full flavored?Really?”
* * *
I layon Nate’s floor with a box of pizza on my chest and a Budweiser in my fist. “Did you just take a picture of me?” I lolled my head in Nate’s direction and shot him an accusing look.
He beamed and tossed his phone on the table. “Just in case I ever need it.”
“Thanks, you’re a real friend.” I groaned and pushed the pizza box aside.
Deadpoolplayed on Nate and Eric’s TV. We’d already gone throughThe Avengers. I hadn’t been in the mood for Frat House Friday, but I wasn’t sure coming to Nate’s and Eric’s had been the better option. It was just…even when simply hanging out watching movies, they were so obviously a couple.
Eric wandered in from the kitchen, half a pizza slice stuck in his mouth. When he dropped onto the couch, Nate immediately sprawled, resting his head on Eric’s thigh. That was exactly what I was talking about; they were so perfectly attuned to each other. I looked away as envy and loneliness stole through me.
“Do you want to do something? Go out to a bar or a club or—”
“No. I just want to wallow and eat pizza and drink beer. But not enough to be hungover.”
From the corner of my eye, I could see them exchange a glance. I’d spent my first beer and half a pizza catching Nate up on everything that had gone down with Chet. He still seemed stuck in a state of disbelief. “Do you want to talk about it some more?” he suggested tentatively, then snatched the pizza in Eric’s hand for himself.
“I just need to get through the next few weeks, then fall semester will start, and I’ll get busy and…” I trailed off as Eric and Nate exchanged another look. “I see you. What’s that mean? You disagree?”
They did it again, and I threw a pizza crust in their direction. “That’s obnoxious, you know. Share with the fucking class or quit eye-gossiping.”
“You think your dad would really do all that stuff? Take away your inheritance, try to mess up Chet’s chances of getting into law school?” Eric asked.
“Hard to say. My mom has a good amount of sway. I don’t think she’d let that happen.” The one thing I’d give my dad credit for was that he and my mom took care of each other in their own way, and my mom wasn’t the pushover her introverted nature might have made her seem, though there were also times when she was too busy fighting her own demons to worry about someone else. I couldn’t pretend to understand the dynamics of their relationship, but never once had my dad made a disparaging remark about her mental health. “I’m not willing to try to call his bluff and possibly screw up Chet’s life more.”
“I would,” Nate said, then tilted his head back to eye Eric as he shook his head. “What the fuck? Why not?”
“I’ve been friends with Chet since freshman year,” Eric started. Though we’d shared a house for a year, along with Nate, we’d been hardly more than cordial. But his gaze landed on mine with an unexpected gentleness. “Not as long as you’ve known him, I know. He’s worked really fucking hard to try to dig himself out of the hole his dad left them in. And I think—” He paused, inhaling a breath and then blowing it out. “Actually, what I think doesn’t matter. It’s a shitty situation to be in. For you both,” he added.
“Have you talked to him lately?” I shouldn’t have asked. But I couldn’t help it.
Eric nodded slowly. “I have, but I don’t know that I should share—”