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"Damn if he's this annoying after two mornings, how bad is he gonna be next week?" Joel teases.
"You remember how annoying he was after she left him?" Mal shakes his head. "This is a blessing."
"True." Joel takes a seat at his drum kit. He shoots me an I hope you know what you're doing look then turns to Ethan. "Don't fuck it up again."
Ethan's smile widens. "Tell me something I don't know." He places his guitar pick between his teeth, does one last check of his strings, then strums a few chords. "We went to Ikea yesterday."
"Fuck, please tell me that's the end of the story," Joel says.
"You don't want to hear the part about Violet coming on my hand in one of those tiny rooms?" Ethan's eyes light up as he falls into the memory.
Joel shakes his head. "That's tacky."
"And it's bullshit." Mal chuckles.
Ethan shrugs wouldn't you like to know?
"I've got things to do later. If we could start practicing sometime before one..." Joel nods to the clock on the wall that reads five to noon.
Mal chuckles. "Let's start with Better Days." His eyes meet mine with a serious expression. "Unless you have something to say, Kit."
"Let's start with Tied up with You." I don't give anyone a chance to disagree.
I play my first note.
Despite the bickering and the tension, by the time we're at the first verse, we're all lost in the music.
We're all where we should be.
By some miracle, we stay on task enough to finish before three.
Mal sets his guitar in its stand then his eyes find mine. He's wearing his usual poker face. He motions to Joel and Ethan then to the door.
He wants to talk privately, without drawing attention to it.
That must mean he knows.
Of course he knows—he came to my apartment Saturday morning. He saw her dress on my floor, my clothes on her body, her neck dotted with hickeys.
Only question is how he's this fucking calm.
Joel shoots me a curious look. "You coming?"
I shake my head. "Need to fix a string."
"Sure." Joel looks to Ethan. "Heading home to put the roast in, Martha Stewart?"
Ethan smiles. "There's only one thing I put in—"
"Fuck, please stop." Joel cringes. He nods goodbye to me and Mal. "Until next time."
Ethan laughs. "I thought you liked details."
"Sexy details." He leans in to whisper. But Joel's whisper is as loud as normal conversation. "You really finger Vi at Ikea?"
"I wouldn't make that up." Ethan smiles.
"No fucking way."
