Page 30 of Inevitable

“I guess it’s settled, then. I’ll make a sign for our Leisure Lounge,” Bas said as he yawned, got up, and started to clean the table.

“Did you sleep last night?” Drew asked.

“Yes.”

“Naps don’t count.”

“You know, in the Middle Ages people had entirely different sleeping patterns. They’d wake up in the middle of the night and do stuff and then go to bed again. Has it ever occurred to you that I might just be following in the footsteps of my ancestors?”

Ezra tried to hide his smile at the bickering, but Bas did look like he needed sleep.

“Actually, people in the Middle Ages went to bed when the sun set, slept, then woke up for an hour or so, and then slept ’til morning, so they still got the required eight to nine hours of sleep that allowed them to function normally,” Ezra said.

“Whose side are you on?” Bas sounded affronted.

“Just go to bed. I’ll clean up.” Ezra took the empty pizza boxes from Bas’s hand and pushed him toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

Bas turned around just before he was about to disappear behind the corner. “I don’t appreciate this two-against-one deal.”

“Too bad,” Drew and Ezra said in unison.

Bas’s brows lifted almost to his hairline. “Okay, that was exceptionally creepy. Did you practice it?”

Ezra rolled his eyes. “Yes. What did you think we were doing here while you were hiding away in your studio?”

“I guess it’s a good thing we’ll be spending evenings together from now on, although I kind of presumed you two were fucking not practicing synchronized speaking.” Bas let it drop so casually like it was no big deal, sauntered out of the living room, and after a little bit Ezra could hear the bedroom door close after Bas.

He tried to glance in Drew’s direction as surreptitiously as possible. The man was scrubbing the glasses like his life depended on it.

“He was joking,” Drew said as he placed the last glass on the drying rack and busied himself with putting away the leftovers.

“I know,” Ezra said quickly.

They finished cleaning in silence, Bas’s words lingering around them, loud and out of place like a marching band at a wake.

“I think I should hit the hay,” Ezra said. “Long day,” he added as an explanation.

Drew nodded. “It is getting late.”

Why was it so awkward all of a sudden?

Their gazes clashed, and then they both looked away.

They started walking at the same time, heading toward the hallway. There was the awkward walk to the bedroom, which was only a couple of steps but felt like it lasted an hour.

They stopped in front of their bedroom doors.

“Well,” they both said at once, and then they both smiled like they actually had spent their evenings trying to synchronize their speech.

“Sweet dreams,” Drew said as he disappeared inside his bedroom.

Ezra stood for a long time, staring at the wooden surface of the closed door. An unexplainable feeling of regret was playing havoc inside him.

He sighed and went to his own cold, lonely bed.

10

“Hey.”