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He leaned forward and brushed his fingers along my cheek. “You look tired too.”
I laughed, moving away from his touch. “Thanks, Benny. That’s just what a girl likes to hear.”
Just as I was about to ask him more about the way he’d been feeling lately, Tino burst into the door with the same flourish he always had. Juan trailed behind him, amused by his over-the-top boyfriend.
“Good evening, kiddies,” Tino said.
“Hello, my love,” I answered. “Come join us. We have popcorn and water. Enticing, right?”
He and Juan took seats on the sectional, cuddled up together, as adorable and sappily in love as ever.
“How was your weekend away, Natalia?” Tino asked.
“Good. Too fast, though. We actually left the apartment during the day this time and rode the Staten Island ferry.”
“Did you freeze your asses off?” Juan asked.
“Yep, but then we went home, and Jude warmed me right up.” Flashes of him pressing me against the wall of his bedroom and fucking me hard while he held my throat made me shudder.
Tino waggled his eyebrows. “I bet he did.”
Ben groaned. “I’m gonna go if this is going to be the topic of conversation.”
I grabbed his hand. “Stay. We’ll talk about anything else.” Truthfully, Ineededto talk about something other than my eternally absent boyfriend.
Juan stole the popcorn bowl from me, grabbing a fistful. “When we were in the car, the DJ on the radio asked people to call in with their desert island songs. What’s yours?”
I didn’t even have to think. “Easy. ‘Hurt’ by Nine Inch Nails.”
“Dark choice,” Tino said.
“I’m trapped on a desert island, going to die alone, I’m going full-on emo.”
He held his hand out, palms up. “Well, okay. I can’t argue with that.”
“Ugh, I’d take something peppy,” Juan said. “There’s nobody around to judge my musical tastes on my island, so I’ll go all Jimmy Buffett and waste away in Margaritaville all by myself.”
Tino pressed his hands to his cheeks, resembling Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” “I am aghast. I don’t even know my own boyfriend.”
He shrugged. “Don’t judge. What would you choose?”
“Something that would motivate me to get my ass off the island. If Oasis was blasting on repeat, pretty sure I’d swim across the ocean to get away from it,” Tino said.
A lot had changed, but not Tino’s hatred for all things Oasis. That was comforting in an extremely strange way.
“What about you, Benny?” I nudged his knee with my foot. “What’s the one song you’d listen to for the rest of your life while you’re stuck on a desert island?”
“I’m alone on an island forever? I’m going to be super depressed, right? Do I lean into my depression, or go the opposite way?” He clicked his fingers. “‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ That shit is timeless, and like four different songs in one.”
“Respectable answer.” Some of the light had turned back on in his eyes, and it made me happy. Hopeful. Maybe he was having a rough patch, but he’d be okay.
We talked music for a while longer before I had to throw in the towel. Upstairs in my room, I was unpacking my bag when Tino tapped on my open door.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” His voice was soft and gentle, which immediately put me on alert.
“Of course. Come in.”
He sat on the edge of my bed, watching me put things in their rightful places.
