“That’s what I’m telling you,” Willa said. “We’re best friends. You don’t sleep with your best friends.”
“I’d sleep with my best friends if they looked like your best friends,” Brielle muttered.
The server returned to our table and dropped off our drinks, and another server trailed behind her. He set down several plates of pork and vegetable dumplings.
“Enjoy,” she said.
“Thank you.” Brielle smiled up at her.
Jazz took her chopsticks and reached for a dumpling and set it on her plate to cool. “If I had a friend who cooked this way, I’d definitely be sleeping with him.”
“Yeah, too bad Seb bats for the other team,” Brielle joked. “Otherwise, I’d totally sleep with him for his dumplings.”
“I’m surprised Slash let you out of the house,” Jazz said to me.
I frowned. “Let me out of the house? He may be protective, but he’d never stop me from having a girls’ night. In fact, he encouraged it.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Jazz said. “I meant, I can’t believe he let you put on clothes and leave the house.”
“Well, thank God for dim lighting, because I think you just made me blush.” I put a hand to my cheek.
“Yeah, that guy—whew,” Willa said. “Totally has it bad for you.”
“How’s the cohabitation going?” Brielle asked. “Didn’t he just get back into town?”
I nodded. “It’s going well, I think. No complaints on my end, anyway.”
“Does he pick up after himself?” Willa asked. “Or does he, like, leave his socks in the living room after he takes off his boots?”
I frowned.
“What?” Jazz asked. “What’s that frown for?”
“I just realized, it’s like he doesn’t even live there,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Willa took a drink of her full martini.
“I mean, he never leaves dishes in the sink. He never leaves his boots strewn about in the middle of the floor.”
“What about beard hairs in the sink?” Brielle asked.
“Guys do that?” Jazz asked.
“I have three brothers,” Brielle said. “I know about all the things. So?”
“Not those either,” I admitted. “Although, I’ve never seen Slash actually shave. He just seems to have perpetual scruff.”
“Do you think—well, is he commitment shy?” Brielle wondered.
“He askedmeto move in with him.”
“He let you pick out the furniture,” Jazz said slowly.
“Yeah, he did.” I sighed. “Fuck.”
“Hold on a second,” Willa said. “There’s got to be an explanation for all of this. It’s probably stupid simple.”
“I’ve never lived with a boyfriend before,” I said. “But I’m pretty sure you leave your crap lying around and the other person is supposed to get annoyed by it.”