“Yep—ready!” Dylan nearly shouted, almost jumping out of his skin when she appeared.
“What’re you guys talking about?”
“You.” Mike! So blunt.
The three walked into the dining room. Mike had even lit candles. How romantic. How unnecessary, given the cockblocking.
“Me?” she asked.
“How great you are,” Dylan jumped in, eager hands slipping around her waist, his lips reaching out to press a kiss against her temple. The way she melted into him gave him more information than 1,000 words uttered from her lips.
Mike frowned at him. She pulled back from Dylan and said breathlessly, “Well, this is one amazing dinner.” Pulling out her own chair, she settled into what would normally be Mike’s seat. Dylan grabbed Jill’s old place and Mike settled into what they called the “guest” spot. No need for formalities, right? Tradition and habit were thrown out the window now anyhow. Everything they knew, from domestic life to finances to dating had gone out the window over the past two years.
Live a little, he thought. Shake it up. Sit somewhere new.
Ah, Dylan, you wild and crazy guy.
Homemade pasta, meatballs, salad and garlic bread was probably the most stereotypical Italian meal he could have cooked, but it seemed to hit the spot for everyone. Laura ate with great gusto and Dylan admired that. So many women he dated ate like they were competing in American Idol: Anorexia Edition.
She couldn’t possibly eat more than Mike, though, who managed to eat the share of a seventeen-year-old football player going through a growth spurt. With a tapeworm. And a hollow leg.
Three plates later, Thor pushed himself back from the table and finished off his wine. “Amazing, Dylan. Really.”
“Thanks.” Dylan’s stomach stretched just enough to make him want to unbutton his jeans. And he would have, if Laura weren’t here.
“Oh,” Laura groaned, setting down her fork. “I give up.” She turned to Dylan and put her elbow on the table, chin resting in her palm. “That was the best dinner anyone has ever cooked for me.”
“Ready for dessert?” he asked. They both groaned and put up their hands in protest.
“How about a movie, first?” Mike asked.
“Which one?” Mike liked some really weird shit, like those Christopher Guest movies. Not “The Princess Bride,” which was a classic even Dylan liked, but the ones where people talked to each other like they were on some pretentious stage doing improv designed by a philosophy professor at a dog show as filmed by the Farrelly brothers.
“Let’s let Laura pick.” Mike bowed slightly, in deference to her. Mike always knew what to say. It made Dylan feel like an idiot sometimes. So, in retaliation, he totally hogged the spot next to Laura on the couch, grabbed the remote, and turned on the television, flipping to an on demand service.
“Comedy?” Dylan suggested. Laura looked between the two men, reading them. Her cheeks were a bit flushed from the wine and she seemed to have let down her guard a bit, relaxing into the sofa with a patterned throw pillow in her lap. He loved seeing her like this. Just being. And there went his body, tingling and rising to the occasion.
The occasion Mike had squashed. Squash this, he thought, wiggling just enough to take the edge off his discomfort. Mike nudged past their knees and took his place on the other side of Laura. She looked to the left and to the right and seemed bemused.
Grabbing the remote from him, Laura’s soft touch made him close his eyes and exhale. Garlic. Elephant amounts of garlic on his breath. Mammoth levels of garlic.
Leaning in toward her, he smelled it on her breath, too. Mike probably reeked, too, which made him relax. OK. It was all good. If everyone smelled like an Italian restaurant, then there was no need for breath mints.
Laura settled on a comedy he and Mike happened to have watched a few weeks ago. They exchanged a wordless glance of understanding; don’t question it. The film was funny enough to enjoy again, and she seemed to be a bit nervous suddenly. Whatever it took to keep everyone happy was what they needed right now.#p#分页标题#e#
Even if it meant laughing all over at a movie they’d thought was just OK. Besides, right now, his attention wasn’t exactly focused on the television screen, with Laura’s warm body next to his, the rise and fall of her chest in his peripheral vision, her fingers worrying the wine glass stem. She wriggled and settled in place, crossing and uncrossing her legs, finally gulping the last of her wine and leaning forward to place her empty glass on a coaster.
Heat from her body disappeared and left him feeling colder than he’d expected, and then Mike burst into laughter, followed by Laura’s surprised giggle. Something funny in the movie. He could only give it half his attention because the entire room came into sharp focus suddenly, as if he were watching them from above. A quiet night, capped with a decent, funny movie about some modern woman who was insecure, some man who’d hurt her accidentally, some big misunderstanding that needed to be unraveled, supported by each person’s best friend as plot devices.