Page 36 of Inevitable
“Why wouldn’t you—”
“What about you?” Ezra interrupted. “Have you always wanted to be a lawyer?”
Drew frowned, but he figured they could revisit the topic some other time. Ezra looked about ready to bolt.
“I don’t think any kid dreams of being a lawyer, but I like it.”
“Why sports law?”
“That was an accident,” Drew said with a smile.
Drew lost track of time as they talked. Hours passed. Somehow they ended up sitting on opposite ends of the couch with their feet tangled together in the middle.
Ezra was smiling as he told Drew about wacky demands some of his professors had and weird customers from the coffee shop. Drew responded with stories of his own. Some of them anecdotes about work. Some of them about Bas.
He was so absorbed in their little bubble that when Bas stumbled into the room late at night, it took Drew a moment to clue in to the reality.
“Hey,” he said from his spot on the couch. “That was a long session. Did it go all right?”
Bas didn’t reply at first, his gaze glued to Drew and Ezra’s entwined feet of all things. The silence went on for a long time. Ezra seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden as he tucked his feet under himself, separating himself and Drew.
“Bas?” Drew prompted, straightening himself.
“Huh?” Bas looked at him and blinked as if just realizing he’d been addressed. He swallowed and smiled, but it looked all wrong. It was somehow both too bright and too dim.
“I have to get back. I just stopped by to grab my laptop.”
Drew frowned. “It’s almost midnight. Can’t you just—”
“Nope. Way too much stuff to do.”
Bas was gone a few minutes later, this time only peeking his head inside the living room to call out a quick “Bye” before he was gone again.
Drew turned back to Ezra, only to find him staring at the empty doorway. The easy conversation had left the premises with Bas’s strange disappearance, so after a few more moments, they both quietly got up.
“It’s getting late,” Ezra said. “I should get to bed. Early day tomorrow.”
Drew nodded, not knowing how to bring back the earlier relaxed atmosphere, and maybe he even couldn’t. Maybe it was broken for the moment, and it’d be better to let it go for now.
That didn’t stop him from standing in front of Ezra’s door for the longest time, trying to listen and figure out if he was still up, before he shook his head at the ridiculousness of his own actions and went to his cold, lonely bed.
12
“Fuck!”
The cast-iron skillet clattered as Ezra threw it onto the counter.
“Do not touch the handle, you idiot,” he muttered as he grabbed a towel to pick the skillet up and put it in its rightful place.
The sizzling sound of something hitting the stovetop alerted him of the next disaster.
“Shit!” He’d forgotten the sauce because of course he’d forgotten the sauce. Cooking dinner had sounded like a good plan in theory. He knew how to cook. Had fended for himself for a long time and had learned a few tricks here and there along the way, but you would have never guessed it looking at him now.
He heard the front door open and close. Listened carefully to figure out if it was Bas or Drew. They had different styles of entering the apartment. Drew did everything quietly, whereas Bas stormed in like he was ready to intervene in a home invasion every single time.
Ezra closed his eyes. He had really hoped Drew would be late so he’d have time to eliminate some of the chaos. No such luck, it seemed.
Drew had gone to visit his sister and drop his gifts off for his nephews before Ellie and her family went to Drew’s parents’ place for the official Christmas celebration. Drew had been very serious for the last few days, and all Ezra really wanted was to cheer the man up. Instead of a nice, relaxed evening, he was now greeting Drew with a messy kitchen and half-finished dinner. And no Bas. Ezra had texted him, but there’d been no reply.