AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Trey blinked in confusion, rolling his wooden skewer between three fingers. “So then why the hell are we sticking all this stuff in the fire to begin with?”
“Because it’s cool,” said Dante.
“And it’s fun,” I added with a smile.
It was the second night we were all back together. The first, we’d spent doing… other things. It felt good though, to be a foursome again. To be hanging out late after work, even if most of us had to get up early the next morning.
“So what’s that stuff under the flames?”
“You mean the bright blue chemical we’ve all been cooking on?”
“Yeah…” Trey replied, wrinkling his nose. “That.”
“It’s bright blue chemical,” said Dante, spearing another chicken wing. “Don’t worry, it’s good for you.”
“Perfectly healthy!” Adam laughed.
I waited until we’d all finished eating, until every tray on the pu-pu platter’s Lazy Susan was empty except for crumbs. Dessert came, some sort of strange custard surrounded by flambeed pineapple and candied cherries. I’d had it before and it was always delicious.
I told myself I was waiting for a lull in the conversation. What I was really doing was stalling for time. It was time to bite the bullet.
“So I have a confession to make,” I said. “Or rather, more of an update.”
Trey pulled the stem of a cherry from his mouth and regarded me thoughtfully. Dante halted his spoon mid-bite.
“I changed all of our names when submitting my infamous article,” I said. “Even Hannah’s.”
Adam leaned back a bit, into the shadows of the booth. Trey frowned.
“Awww, I kinda liked Hannah.”
“Me too,” I said. “But after what happened, I just wanted to distance our relationship from the whole thing. Let the article be the article. Let us be us.”
Adam and Trey remained silent. Dante continued with the spoon however, smacking his lips afterward. “Sounds fair.”
“Yeah…” I said hesitantly. “But here’s the kicker…”
“Oh boy,” Adam groaned.
“My boss isn’t having it.”
There really wasn’t any good way of saying it. Rather than be misunderstood, I’d gone with the ripping-the-Band-Aid-off method of delivering bad news.
“What do you mean your boss isn’t having it?” Trey asked.
“Exactly that,” I said. “Chloe already submitted part of an early draft to Cosmo. That included the ‘real’ names.”
“But they’re just first names,” said Adam. “They could be changed to anything.”
“I tried to tell her that. But our deal with Cosmo is tenuous, and she doesn’t want to ‘confuse’ them.”
The guys took the news the same way I had, with smirks and lot of head shaking.
“It’s shitty, I know. I even offered to reach out to the other editors myself, but Chloe’s forbidden me from making any sort of contact.”
We’d decided it all together; that I’d still put out my article. That I’d still give it to Chloe and she’d give it to Cosmo and we’d put the whole thing behind
us. Changing the names was a no-brainer. Only now…
