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“Hey,” said Decker. “Uh, I hate to ask for favors after, uh, everything, but can you not tell anyone about, um, about this?”
Larissa’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, this was a secret?”
Essence’s heart sank.
Decker cringed. “You already told someone?”
“I mean… maybe just Joanie in the advertising department,” said Larissa. “She and I got close while you and I were together, from the Wednesday night wing things? And, so we text, and I just had to tell her, because she always thought you were into Essence, and—”
“Yeah, okay, whatever,” said Decker, laughing softly.
Essence rounded on him. “See, you’re doing it again.”
“What am I doing?”
“Being hard on her,” said Essence. She turned to Larissa. “Wasn’t he just always putting these entirely unrealistic expectations on you?”
“I mean…” Larissa shrugged. “I figured he was just annoyed that I wasn’t you.”
Essence shook her head. “No, it’s more than that. You remember that time that you bought him that hat?”
“Oh, yeah,” said Larissa. “And it was a totally honest mistake, really. They’re both birds. They’re both from Baltimore. How was I supposed to know it was not the baseball team, but the football team?”
Decker snorted. “Okay, no one on earth confuses the Ravens with the Orioles. No one.”
“Except Larissa,” said Essence.
“You would never have done that,” said Decker.
“But not because I care about the differences between football and baseball,” said Essence.
“Uh, you could not make so many jokes about how little you know about sports if you didn’t actually know quite a bit about sports,” said Decker.
“Well, true, but I don’t like sports,” said Essence. “I’m forced to know about sports because everyone around me likes sports. I mean, I really could have done it is all I’m saying.”
“If you’d done it, he would have forgiven you,” said Larissa.
“No, he wouldn’t have,” said Essence. “Decker is not the forgiving type.”
Larissa furrowed her brow. “He does, um, have high standards, doesn’t he?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” said Decker.
“It’s not,” said Larissa.
“It is when they’re impossible to reach,” muttered Essence.
Larissa held up the key. “Well, I’ll leave you two to hash this out. You want me to text Joanie and tell her not to say anything?”
“Oh, right, because if you do that, then everyone in the office will know by Sunday morning,” said Essence.
“Just don’t tell anyone else,” said Decker.
“We’re not even together,” said Essence. “This is just a…”
“What is it?” said Decker, wounded.
“An experiment,” said Essence.
