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“Nathalie, what? What’s your full name?” Ortiz asked. I closed my eyes.

“Uh… Bouchard. Nathalie Bouchard. It’s Nathalie with an H, too, in case you’re writing this down for later.” She was teasing. Definitely too good for me.

“Great seeing you guys. Nathalie and I are heading for drinks. Christian, don’t forget to text me that restaurant you recommended… Marisol, you look beautiful as always,” I said. Her responding smile was fake as fuck, and I had to hold back a real one of my own. I love you! I mouthed over my shoulder, but she just shook her head.

Lucky the night was too chilly for sandals.

“Can you hear me now?” Lou was asking Hasan when I got home from class the following evening. “Your screen is frozen, so I can’t tell if you’re nodding, Has.”

“What does it matter if I’m frozen?” Has said to her while rifling through his engineering notes. “You have like five loads of laundry to fold, and I have a presentation tomorrow. I just need you for moral support.”

She was perched in what looked like the beginnings of a hoarder’s nest on her bed, wearing her prescription Shock Jock goggles from middle school and an oversized sweatshirt with the hood up. Louisa did not give a fuck.

I reached over his desk to grab the half-empty bottle of water behind his computer and took the opportunity to pop my face on camera real quick.

“What up, sis?” I said, grimacing when I caught her wrestling with the biggest pair of granny panties I’ve ever seen. Of course, she wouldn’t be embarrassed in the slightest; she never was.

“How’d your date go last night, big guy?” she said, raising an eyebrow over the top of a panty veil and swaying her head like a belly dancer. They looked like something my sociology professor would wear, but my cock twitched all the same.

“I wouldn’t say it went off without a hitch, but she’s cool. We’re going out again,” I said. “Your idea worked, so thanks for that.”

“Aaaaanddd…” she coaxed, “I’m waiting for the big reveal here, Jerry. ‘Bout to get into a slap fight and throw F-bombs at the audience if you keep stalling.” She leaned forward. Her goggles looked ridiculous.

“Her name is Nathalie, with an H apparently. It’s French.” I winked, holding the water bottle up to my lips to take a drink. She grinned and waggled her eyebrows.

“Nattthhhalie…” she said, emphasizing the dental fricative with her tongue against her top teeth, “oooh she sounds even hotther now.” I exhaled sharply from my nose and bit the inside of my cheek to stop from laughing out loud. Gotta give it to her, girl was quick. The joke went right over Hasan’s head.

“Are you thinking about bringing her to the Marine Corps Ball?” he asked.

“I guess I could, but we’ll see how it goes. I’ve still got about a month to fuck this up.”

“You tap that, Will?” Louisa asked, mischief written all over her face. Louisa was more of a bro than Hasan most of the time.

“I don’t kiss and tell.” I smirked and took a big swig.

“Blink twice if she at least put your penis in her mouth.”

I choked on the water halfway down my throat and narrowly avoided spraying it all over Hasan’s notes.

“Oh my god, Lou!” he cried. “Say ‘suck your dick’ like a normal person. You sound like Rose Nylund teaching sex ed right now.” He wiped water droplets off his computer screen while I sputtered and coughed. Who the fuck is Rose Nylund?

“What?” she said, hands up, incredulous. “One, Betty White can get it. She was and is a total babe. Two, it obviously would have been Blanche teaching sex ed, and I take that as a compliment.”

Has rolled his eyes and started packing up his things.

“Sorry, Will. It’s been a bit for me, and my kitty’s getting rowdy,” she sighed, flopping back into her laundry.

I ignored her apology and cleared my throat again. “Speaking of it being a bit, when are you coming to visit?” I asked. Hasan stopped packing, turned, and raised an eyebrow at me pointedly. I kept my face still through the discomfort and looked back at the screen. Wouldn’t her dry spell end as soon as she visited Hasan? “Has told me you’d be here all the time, and I have yet to meet you in person.”

“I’m still working through this lampshade order, and I can’t go anywhere until it’s done. But there is actually something I wanted to ask you both about.” She rolled over to sit back up. “The program director of our group home asked me to attend an event a couple of Fridays from now. Any chance you guys want to fill a few obligatory seats with me?”

Has looked at me first, but I must not have responded quickly enough.

“Yeah, we’ll be there,” he said to my surprise. Why drag along a third wheel when they haven’t been together since August? “Gotta go, babe.”

Ah, for feck’s sake, two lovebirds and my boy, the poor sod in the corner.

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