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Great! You’re working from home, right? I’ll pick you up at five-thirty.
She replied with a thumbs-up emoji and a smiley face next to it. To make the moment even better, Melody arrived with my burger, setting it directly in front of me. It looked perfect, extra juicy, the crispy strips of bacon sticking out the sides.
I lifted it up and took a big bite.
* * *
It was hard not to smile like an idiot on the way over to Dream’s. I loved spending time with her. Really, she was my favorite person to hang with outside my brothers.
When I pulled up to Clarissa’s apartment, Dream stepped out wearing a pair of tight-fitting slacks and a blouse that hugged her curves. I was reminded that she did things to me no other woman could. I mean, how the hell could I even lay eyes on a woman like her without noticing how beautiful she was? When she turned to lock the door, giving me a glimpse at her perfect, round ass…God, I went from nothing to hard in a second flat.
As she approached the car I pinched my upper thigh, doing the old trick to make a hard cock go soft. Once I was ready, I hopped out and made my way over to the passenger door of my Jeep, opening it for her.
“Such a gentleman,” she said with a cheeky grin. “Good to see you, Evan.”
We hugged; her petite body pressed against mine.
“When am I not a gentleman?” I asked with a wink. As we hugged, I couldn’t help but imagine what other things I could do with her, what her body would feel like totally naked, my arms wrapped around her. I pushed those thoughts out of my head before they grew too out of control.
Moments later we were on our way to the restaurant.
“How’s work?” I asked.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dream biting her lower lip before turning to look out the window.
“It’s fine.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Dream, that’s about the most unconvincing ‘it’s fine’ I’ve ever heard in my life. Even if we hadn’t known each other since we were kids, I’d spot it as BS right away.”
She turned back toward me, a small smile on her face that suggested she was relieved that I’d called her out.
“Sorry, not trying to lie. It’s more that I don’t want to dump boring stuff about work on your lap while we’re going out to have fun.”
“I didn’t ask just to fill the air,” I said. “I asked because I want to know. You moved to a new town, and you’re doing your job remotely. I’m curious how it’s all going.”
“It’s going the same,” she said. “Once I did the online onboarding and got used to handling all my communication with the rest of the staff in Slack and on Zoom, I was fine. Hell, if anything it was a little better. Now I don’t have to worry about commutes or rush hour or anything like that.”
She sighed. “But once the novelty wore off, I realized it was…well, it was the same old job it’s always been. I click around in Photoshop, I touch up ads, and that’s about it.”
“You’re not sounding all that enthused about it.”
“That’s because I’m not. And it makes me feel like a spoiled brat, you know? There are people who’d kill for my job, for the sort of stability I have. But all I can think about is…well, what you guys all talked to me about.”
“Quitting your job to pursue art full-time?”
“That’s it,” she said with a smile. “I’d always dreamed about it, right? But when I did, it only lived in my head. Talking about it with you guys, having you encourage me, that made it real in a way it hadn’t been before. And now it’s all I can think about.”
“Here’s something else,” I said with a smile, beyond happy to hear that she was still thinking about going for art as a full-time job. “You said that you feel spoiled having your job when other people could, right?”
“Right.”
“Then…why not give it to them? If you were to quit, that’d mean your job is open. And that would mean someone else, someone who’s passionate about the work, or just wants a steady job, could take it.”
She opened her mouth to speak, as if there were some point I’d missed that she was about to refute.
“That’s…that’s actually a good point. Here I am, whining about the job and talking it up all at the same time!”
We reached downtown by this point, and I pulled in front of the Ethiopian joint. The interior was dimly lit, the scents of bread and spices in the air. A host led us to a table near one of the front windows, the view of downtown Charmed Bay on display. We ordered some tea and sambusa appetizers, and once that was done the conversation picked up right where we’d left it off.
