Page 40 of If the World Was Ending

Colby was following until Leandra said, “Sorry about that gay thing. That was uncalled for. He just gets me so…”

She didn’t finish that sentence. Colby looked at her, and she offered him a smile that was almost soft. Almost. He understood why Hunter had liked her. She was pretty, with a smoke show of a body, and when she liked you, she was genuinely pleasant. But she only liked you when she could get something out of you.

“You’re not sorry,” Colby replied. She opened her mouth to argue, but he didn’t let her. “It’s fine. I honestly give less than zero shits about what you think, Leandra. I just want you to leave Hunter alone.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Leandra sighed dismissively.

Hitching his gym bag strap higher on his broad shoulder, he said, “Have the day you deserve.”

Colby turned and walked out of the gym. Hunter was brooding on the sidewalk. “What else did she say?”

“Nothing of value,” Colby replied and smiled. “Fuck her.”

He dropped a hand on Hunter’s shoulder and squeezed as they walked to the car parked in the lot behind the building.

Once Hunter was behind the wheel and Colby was in the passenger seat, he said, “You don’t have to pay her.”

Colby shrugged. “I have the money, and I live there now, right? I mean… this would kind of make it official. If you’re okay with it being official.”

Hunter took his foot off the gas and stopped reversing out of the parking spot. “Yeah. I don’t want you to go anywhere. And I’m not just using you to pay the rent. I like having you, specifically, as a roommate. I could find someone else. My friends Brendan and Will offered to let me move into their guestroom in their townhouse in Studio City when they found out Leandra left, but I wanted to be your roommate.”

“Cool. Then let me Venmo Cheater McCheaterson, and it’ll be a done deal.”

Hunter nodded and continued the drive back to the apartment. “Sorry, she inferred we’re fucking.”

“Whatever.”

“She’s never been like that before. I don’t know where that came from. She was on the gym’s Pride float last year for fuck’s sake.”

Colby just shrugged and watched people wander in and out of the CVS on the corner of Fairfax and Sunset as they waited for the light to change. Finally, Hunter said, “It didn’t freak you out?”

“Her insinuating we’re fucking?” Colby asked, and he huffed with a wry smile on his lips. “After what happened last night, I’d say it wasn’t a bad guess. But who gives a shit if she thinks we’re gay? It’s not an insult.”

Hunter didn’t respond. The light changed, and he got into the turn lane and went right on Fairfax. Colby wondered if this was where everything blew up, like he thought it would. “You think it’s an insult?”

“No. Not at all. Dude, I told you. I’m into it,” Hunter said quickly as he turned onto Norton. “But I don’t think I’m gay. Maybe we’re both like… bi?”

“Maybe.” Colby really liked to think he was because then, he might actually fall in love with a girl and his dad would like him again. One day. Maybe. But probably not.

Hunter’s phone started ringing. “Can you check it?”

Colby picked it up from where Hunter had dumped it on the console and checked the call display. “Marge.”

“Put it on speaker.” Colby did, and Hunter said, “Hi Margo.”

“Hi Hunter. Guess what?”

“You’re quitting Hollywood to become a basket weaver in Nepal.”

“What? No.”

Hunter turned into their apartment driveway, but he gently brought the car to a stop in the driveway rather than turn into their parking spot, where the reception sometimes cut out because it was half under the building. He threw the car in park but left the engine running.

“You won the lottery and are using the funds to open an In-n-Out Burger run strictly by trained Alpacas.”

“Hunter.”

“What? They’ll look so cute in hair nets.”