Page 45 of All Our Nevers

“You mean with sex?” Owen asks bluntly.

“No,” Nolan replies. “Well… I mean, we did have sex, but—”

“Will you stop beating around the bush and just tell us what happened?” I say, hoping to cut the discussion about my brother’s sexual escapades short.

And Nolan obeys, summarizing a first date that went well enough to end with her inviting him back to her place. But apparently, after passing out in her bed and waking up there the next morning, the first thing he did was ask her to be his girlfriend. She said she was hoping to keep things casual at first, and he hasn’t heard from her since.

“You asked her to be your girlfriend on the first date?” Andy asks. “Nolan that’s… really early.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Sophie says. “You have to follow your heart with these things. I’m just sorry she didn’t feel the same.”

“Okay, don’t ever listen to Sophie about normal relationship timelines,” I say. “That was obviously way too fast.”

“I think you should ask out that bartender from Marianne’s,” Sophie pivots. “The cute one with the pink hair. You obviously like her.”

Ignoring this last comment, Nolan turns towards Owen in search of a modicum of support. “What do you think? Was that too fast?”

“Oh…” Owen replies. “You don’t want my advice on this. I rarely even go on a second date.” Then, with all the subtlety of a parade float, he changes topics. “And actually—sorry, I should know this—what do you do for work?”

“I’m a financial analyst,” Nolan says, tone like an apology. “It’s a super unsexy job. I just kind of like math, and the salary is good and my team is cool, so I feel like I’ll probably stick it out for a few more years at least."

No one jumps in to reply, and in the safety of the dark sky and the late hour, I eventually admit, “Financial stability does sound nice.”

My friends go silent. I can practically hear them calculating the intersection point of supporting my freelance artist career and agreeing with my objectively true statement.

Sophie’s the one who braves the topic first. “You were thinking about focusing more on fashion, right? Is there a path to financial stability there?”

I sigh. “I don’t know. I mean there’s always a path, but it helps if you’re already in the right neighborhood. If I’m serious about it, I would have to start doing things differently. I need different networks. Gotta find a way to break into those bougie circles, you know? The museum directors and fashion industry people and frankly just rich people who like spending their money on clothes and art. Getting seventy percent of my income from social media is fine until it’s not.”

“There’s, um—” Owen clears his throat, and his nervousness reminds me so much of Andy that I’m momentarily softened. “One of the partners at my firm, her wife is on the board of the ICA. She’s the one who convinced me to get a membership there. She’s nice. I could introduce you sometime, if you want.”

Now it’s my turn to sit up, looking across Sophie and Andy towards the man at the end of our line. “Why would you do that?”

“Look, I’m not gonna twist your arm. Don’t do it if you’re not interested.”

“No, I mean, that’s like… really nice of you. Would you really?”

Through the faint yellow illumination of the string lights, he says, “Yeah, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Anything for the SALON, right?”

Then he winks at me, the little sleazeball. But for the first time, it kind of feels like I’m… in on it. Like it’s a friendship wink. A we’ve got this wink.

And this idea of his…

It’s not in my plan for the month. Not in my plan for the year. I don’t really know how it fits into my goals and what the return on my time would be, but it seems like a good opportunity, right? I should probably take him up on it, as long as I can set the terms.

“How?” I ask. “I mean, would I come to your office? I would want to be there for the initial conversation. I don’t trust you to explain what I do.”

He sighs, long-suffering. “We’re having a fiscal year end party next weekend. You could come meet her there if you want.”

That’s when Nolan sits up. “Wait, what’s happening right now? Are you trying to date my sister?”

“No!” I yell.

“Noooo…” Owen echoes.

“Ew!”

“I would never. I’m not that stupid.”