Page 45 of The F*ck-It List

He huffs out a small laugh and goes to his front door. I wait until he comes straight back with the shaggy grey dog trotting happily beside him, no lead. When Darcy sees me, he overtakes his master and comes to a stop at my feet, looking up at me with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and his whole body wiggling with the force of his wagging tail.

“Hey gorgeous boy,” I coo, bending to give him much appreciated head pats.

“I think he likes you more than me,” August grumbles.

“Why wouldn’t he? I’m a delight,” I tease, and he tries to give me a flat look, but I see the way his cheek twitches like he’s trying not to smile.

The cottage is naturally quite dark, so I flick on the lights as we go in, despite it still being the middle of the day. Heathcliff meows in protest and unfurls from where he’s been napping on top of Pedro on the couch. Great, now my emotional support peen has black hair all over him. When my fickle cat sees his new best friend pitter patter in, he seems to brighten up and comes to weave between Darcy’s paws. Igo straight to the coffee machine while August heads to the couch and flops down, his head falling to rest on the back cushions.

“You want to talk about it?” I hedge, keeping my focus on the task at hand.

“Nothing to talk about,” he groans.

“Sure, just a regular Saturday at the rugby.” I nod.

“You say something about brownies?” He narrows his eyes at me.

“Smooth dodge.” I smile at him and bring our coffees over to the small table. I open the tin I left there this morning and offer August a small square of chocolate heaven and he takes one out, inspecting it thoroughly.

Popping the whole thing in his mouth, I watch with rapt interest and a slight tug of apprehension. He stops chewing for a moment, eyes going wide, and I wonder if he’s contemplating spitting it out again but his brows dip and he starts to nod, his jaw working once again. “Fuck, they’re good,” he says when his mouth is clear. “May I have another one?”

“Yeah,” I giggle, finding his manners following his curse quite endearing.

He takes another square and bites this one in half, savouring it. We eat in companionable silence for a few moments, and I pass August his coffee, black americano, before cradling my macchiato in my palms.

“Ross Purcell bullied Eli all through school, made his life hell. Even when Eli lost his parents and was going through the worst shit a kid can go through, Ross was there throwing disgusting names and goading him into fights.” August looks into his half empty cup.

“That’s…awful,” I breathe, feeling a weight of emotion for Eli, not realising he lost his parents so young and also not imagining anyone wanting to hurt such a kind and joyful person.

“Yeah.” August nods. “So, I’ve always hated the prick. I’m not a violent person; I want you to know that—”

“I do,” I tell him earnestly. I don’t know August well, but I feel the truth of that in my bones.

“Thanks,” he croaks. “He just uh…he pushed me too far today, and I lost it. I’m sorry you saw that.”

I curl my legs under me and turn so I’m facing him on the couch, his head turning so we’re face to face. I watch his eyes trace over my features and a tiny thread of intrigue pulls at my brain, wondering if there could be more than friendship lurking in his golden-brown irises. “I’m sorry he made you feel like that,” I say gently. “And I’m sorry your friend was going through that in school, that must have been hard to witness.”

“Nothing compared to what Eli was going through,” he matches my soft tone.

“Thank you for sharing with me.”

“You’re easy to share with.” He sighs almost like that little admission annoys him.

“That’s because we’re friends,” I say overly solemn.

“Sure,” he agrees begrudgingly.

“Bestfriends.” I push his buttons with a smirk.

“Easy, sunshine, I already have a best friend.” He fake glares at me.

“So do I, they never have to know,” I whisper.

He gasps, placing a hand to his chest and I stifle a laugh. “We’d be the talk of the ton.”

My head throws back on a laugh. “Was that aBridgertonreference?”

“Eli made me watch; he’s a secret sap.” He’s smiling and it seems carefree; I love it a whole lot.