Maybe the near-miss last night had been a turning point. Maybe that was the bottom that he had had to hit before he could fight his way back up.
Yeah, sexytimes with Rox had probably been a low point of Cash’s life.
He had probably been disgusted with himself for getting all hot and bothered with the chubby girl, insta-regret for porking the porker. She’d never seen a guy actually driven to consider suicide by her thunderthighs, but she’d never gotten down with a guy as hot as Cash before, either. He probably had much higher standards, and last night must have driven home just how far he had fallen.
Rox gripped the water glass more tightly because her palms were sweating.
She bet that he would probably get out of the house in the next few days, maybe pick up a skinny California girl in a bar soon after that, and they could have pretty porno sex instead of the grunting and jiggling that no one wanted to watch.
Maybe Rox shouldn’t have narced to Cash’s sister quite so fast. He seemed fine now.
Maybe those two guys, Arthur and Maxence, would take him out when they saw the fluffy girl he was shacked up with, an intervention to make sure he didn’t get involved with a woman of curves.
She wasn’t going to feel sorry for herself, though, and she filled the glass with water from the fridge dispenser.
It was better that the real world intervened now, before Rox got her heart broken or anything.
Outside the window, the sun was drifting down, just touching the Pacific Ocean.
Cash said, “We need to start preparing for your next performance as a lawyer. The meeting with DiCaprio’s people is in a few days.”
Her hands went through the motions of gathering flatware and wine glasses while she tried to think of anything to say. “You could be disbarred if we got caught.”
“No one will think anything of it.”
“We could both get in serious trouble.”
“It’s just one more time. Easier to ask forgiveness than permission, right?”
Maybe it would be just one more time.
The front doorbell rang, echoing chimes through the house. The cats crouched on the floor, suspicious of the tolling.
Rox said, “Oh good, there’s supper. I’ll grab the bags and meet you in the media room.”
SUPPER
Rox set the stack of Styrofoam boxes on the coffee table and turned on the television, flipping to find their favorite comedy news program that they watched while they ate supper every night.
The cats swarmed under the table, jockeying for optimal begging positions, another bad habit they had picked up since moving in with Cash. They used to lay at Rox’s feet under her table until she had finished eating, and then they all went to the kitchen for a little nibble. Now, they were pathetic little beggers.
Cash followed her in, carrying bottles of wine, and Rox didn’t even notice how many bottles he was carrying until he set them on the table with a solid thump. The bottles clanked together.
“Three?” she asked. “I think your fiendish plan just turned into a diabolical plot.”
He laughed, his ringing chortle sounding almost like normal. “Not a diabolical plot. Just making sure that I sleep tonight.”
The blue light from the television glistened on the wine bottles. “Those will certainly do something.”
He smiled at her, cocking his head to the side. “You’re going to help me, right?”
“Sure. I’m solid like that.”
“Then I’ll go get a bottle for you.”
“Oh, stop.”
They sat on the couch in their accustomed spaces, close enough for conversation, not right next to each other, not touching.
They laughed through the show, just like normal, and the thought insinuated itself into Rox’s head that maybe they could just go back to normal. All the sexy stuff and his depression were just aberrations, just a bad night, and now they were back to their usual routine of hanging out and joking around.
See? Everything was fine. Maybe Cash would actually make it to some of those client meetings, and then he would really be back to normal.
Maybe he would take that bandage off his cheek soon.
As their shows finished, Cash said, “Look, about last night—”
“It’s okay,” Rox said. “Whatever you’re going to say, it’s okay. It was just a slip.”
A smile played around the edges of his mouth. “That’s not what you said about the first time that we ‘slipped.’”
“You were obviously upset that we slipped this time, and I don’t want to lose you as a friend. You were the only person who was there for me when the beasts and I had nowhere else to go. You can rely on me to hang around when you’re hurt. No matter what happens, let’s keep this, okay?”