Page 39 of Unlocked Dive

“We could be if you give me a minute.”

“Fine. If Elke goes to the store,Iwill jack you off in the shower. But you’re buying the new coffee.”

“Twelve bucks for a hand job? Totally worth it.” I lean over to steal a kiss before heading to the kitchen. “You could definitely charge more.”

In the evenings, when the three of us eat dinner at Byrd’s family-sized farmhouse table, Elke peppers me with questions.

“How many boyfriends have you had?”

“Boyfriends? None.”

“Girlfriends?” She snorts at my horrified expression. “Fine. Relationships. More than one-night stands.”

“Um…” I glance at Byrd, who’s eating homemade Pad Thai and smirking at me over his chopsticks. “One?”

“Oh my god, you’re talking about Coen?He’syour ‘one’?” Now it’s her turn to look horrified. Byrd appears to be trying not to laugh into his noodles, and I shoot him a dirty look.

“The guy you don’t fuck on the first date but still go back for more? Yeah.” I throw a chopstick at him. “Still waiting for that to pay off.”

He snatches the chopstick out of the air and throws it back at me. Elke pokes me in the shoulder with hers.

“So you usually fuck on the first date, then?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Not that I’ve ever been the kind of guy to go on dates. Byrd is turning out to be a lot of firsts. Elke narrows her eyes.

“Exactly how many guys have you slept with?” she asks.

There’s no way I’m answering that, but since I’m already failing whatever test this is, I give her my best degenerate smirk.

“At once? Or in total?”

She gapes at me while Byrd chokes on a bite of chicken.

“Elke,” he says when he can breathe again. “How about we extend the whole no dick-talk thing to Echo for the rest of your trip?”

The next time, she asks about my family.

“Tell me about your childhood.”

“Are your parents still together?”

“Do they have a good marriage?”

“Do you get along with them?”

She gets as far as “What about siblings?” before Byrd steps in and rescues me.

My favorite nights are when the two of them get drunk and tell stories about growing up in Tilburg—mostly a young Elke getting into scrapes and a flustered teenage Byrd trying to navigate the repercussions. It makes me nostalgic for something I’ve never even had—not the memories, but the secret language of ashared past, saturated with laughter and stupid jokes. I wonder how long you have to love someone to get like that, and if I’ll ever know the answer.

When she convinces Byrd to break out an old-school photo album, I almost forgive her for the rest of it. We sit shoulder to shoulder on the couch while Byrd lies on the floor, a throw pillow over his face, and pore over shiny fragments of his past, trapped in cellophane. Byrd with chubby, scabby knees and no front teeth. Byrd lanky and awkward with braces and a buzz cut. Teenage Byrd in a suit with a Zac Efron shag, leaning against one of those tiny European cars.

I steal the last one while Byrd is brushing his teeth after Elke’s gone to bed and slip it behind the case on my phone.

I’m playing Elden Ring on the PS5 when Elke walks into the living room.

“How was Café Beaujolais?” I ask, glancing at her without pausing the game.

“Delicious. Coen brought you the sturgeon and some kind of chocolate torte.” She throws herself down on the cushions next to me, and I set the controller aside.