Ari straightens a cushion and plops down on the couch, making the springs creak. “I had to clear my busy schedule of quietly moping.”
Ari:you were in a long-distance thing.
You slept alone for most of your relationship
“So, that’s where you’ve been.” Rad glances at Ari’s phone suspiciously. It does feel slightly illicit to sit in Radhya’s apartment, texting with Josh. “Are we still on for Ikea next weekend?”
“Oh.”Shit. “I already went,” Ari says carefully. Slightly guiltily.
Radhya frowns. “You went by yourself?”
“Now I can enjoy a tiny bit of lumbar support with my despair,” Ari says, sidestepping the actual question. “I’m the proud owner of a shoddily constructed, hastily assembled, untreated-pine bed frame.”
“I need a new duvet cover.” Radhya lets her boots drop onto the rug with a thud. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going?”
“Now you don’t have to help me complete a construction project with those tiny hex wrenches.” Ari hasn’t been hiding her shopping partner, it just…hasn’t come up organically.
A louddingsounds through the Bluetooth speaker. Ari plops down onto the now-orderly couch and glances at the message.
9:26p.m.
Josh:Yes, but she was there in theory.
Radhya’s expression shifts from confusion to detective mode. Avoidance doesn’t slip past her. Distraction it is.
“You look amazingly hot in that dress,” Ari says, nudging the conversation in a new direction. Radhya’s wearing one of those loose-but-sexy sweater dresses that always look like shapeless tents when Ari tries them on. She glances down at her own jeans and old T-shirt. “And I look like the babysitter you hired to watch your fashionable toddler.”
“Wanna borrow something?” Radhya asks as she puts on chunky gold earrings.
“Anything Ari borrows is guaranteed to come back with a whiskey sour stain on it,” Gabe warns.
Ari:having a bed to yourself is the best
I would think you of all ppl would appreciate never having to find a loose hair in your sheets
Josh:Or crumbs.
Ari lets out an inadvertent cackle. Gabe and Radhya glance at each other.
“Okay, out with it,” Rad says. “Why are you smiling at your phone? Who’s the rebound?”
Ari forces her face to slacken into something neutral. “It’s not a rebound. Jesus.”
“The bartender?” Gabe asks.
Radhya continues to press. “Was Ikea a date?”
“No!” Ari insists with more vehemence than the question demands. “I havefriends.”
Rad takes the seat next to her. “No one makes new friends after a breakup. It’s hard enough to be likable when you’re actually happy.”
“This is a person I can be miserable with.”
“So, thereisa person,” Gabe says.
Ari stands up. “Why are you interrogating me?”
“The goofy smile? Hiding your phone.” Radhya steps into one of her torturous-looking boots with a grimace.
