Page 18 of They Were Roommates

Diego’s hands were so sweaty they were leaving marks on his pants. He went to wipe them on his thigh, and accidentally brushed Frankie’s hand. To his shock, Frankie linked their fingers together. Clarice took note and her smile turned curious.

“I did not know you had so many partners, Obadiah. I thought it was just the one.”

Obie choked on his coffee and quickly put down his nearly empty mug. “No, ma’am, it’s just Seth. He’s at work right now, but he has signed off on this business investment. We live with Frankie, and Diego is his business partner.”

Clarice eyed their hands but said nothing. “Well, you know I love keeping businesses in the family, and it seems like you are quite close with these men?”

Obie nodded enthusiastically and turned to smile affectionately at them. “Yes ma’am. I’d count them as two of my closest friends.”

Diego felt all warm and squishy inside anytime one of his friends admitted they cared for him anywhere near as much as he cared for them. Every time Frankie and Seth announced that they loved their little band of misfits he wanted to capture the moment in resin and put it up on his shelf. Maybe then he could take a picture of all of them and send it to his family so they’d know he was worthy of love and true friendship… even if it had taken him a while to get here.

“Well, they seem like very nice young men. I’d be more than happy to approve your loan. Let’s talk numbers.”

They spent the next two hours discussing rates, and payment plans, and by the time they’d finished, Diego had anxious sweat through his nice shirt, but they officially had a loan.

“We fucking did it!” Frankie yelled as soon as they got out to the sidewalk.

He threw his arms first around Obie, and before Diego could even start to feel jealous, he threw his arms around Diego’s neck and pressed their bodies together. Frankie was always careful to keep their bodies a respectful distance apart when hugging, but Diego didn’t want to be respectful. He was going into business with this man and he was going to give him a real hug.

He wrapped his arms around Frankie’s lower back and pulled him flush against him, burying his face in Frankie’s neck, taking in his warm, almost sweet scent. At first, he’d thought Frankie smelled like the sweet coffee he was always drinking, but eventually he’d come to realize that was just how Frankie smelled – like a whiskey laden cup of coffee, drunk while he and Frankie snuggled against each other on the couch.

“We did it,” Frankie whispered right in Diego’s ear. Frankie must have been able to feel the way Diego shivered from head to toe, seeing as how they were pressed together, but he didn’t comment on it. He just held Diego until he was finally ready to let go.

Obie drove them over to the site he’d seen go up for sale, and somehow it was absolutely perfect. It had been a comedy club, but that had been going out of fashion, at least in their city, and the tenants had terminated their lease without warning. The owner had spent some time, and a lot of money, trying to refurbish the place, but had apparently given up halfway through, leaving a semi-deconstructed bar in the front room and a stage in the back room.

Obie had been watching the space for a while, planning to bid on it and do a complete gut job to open a second tattoo parlor. He’d reached out to the owners a while ago, but then he’d switched to wanting to help finance Frankie and Diego’s cafe and forgotten about the space. A week ago, the owner had reached back out, informing Obie he was willing to rent the space for cheap so long as the new tenants took care of the rest of the refurb and any upgrades they wanted to make.

Frankie walked into the middle of the space and spun in a circle. “It’s perfect, isn’t it? It’s absolutely fucking perfect.”

Diego didn’t have quite the imagination that Frankie did, but even he could see the potential for the space. Right by the front door was a small alcove they could use as a cozy seating nook. A little farther in and on the right was the bar, which they would obviously repurpose for coffee, and more space for seating. In the back was the barebones stage, more room for seating, and a backroom once used as a green room. Now, it was large and empty. Diego envisioned turning it into a storage room and office. Frankie had begun doing research into industrial kitchen appliances and had decided all he would really need was a set of ovens, an industrial sized mixer, a sink, and a fridge. It looked like there would be enough room to build a wall, a door, and an exhaust vent in the corner to create a small kitchen.

What Diego wasn’t expecting was an additional door leading off of the backroom.

“Hey, Obie? What is this?” he asked as he approached the door.

Obie scurried forward with surprising agility and blocked Diego from approaching the door. “Oh… well… this is sort of a little bonus surprise. I only found out about it a few days ago and didn’t want to say anything in case the loan didn’t come in time to put an offer on the space, but there is actually a small two-bedroom apartment upstairs. It comes with the space.”

Diego was floored; Frankie looked just as shocked. “Do… do we need it?” Frankie asked looking between the other two men.

Need? No. Want? Maybe?

For a fleeting moment, Diego let himself imagine waking up with Frankie, not in his bed like his prior fantasies, but in the same apartment. They would come downstairs together to prep for the day and go upstairs together at the end of the night.

“Trust me. When I opened the shop, I was there almost 24/7. The little studio wasn’t ideal, but it was a life saver. Before you make any decisions, why don’t we take a look?”

They obediently followed Obie up the backstairs and arrived at another door. Obie jingled the key ring they’d retrieved from a lock box out front, and opened the second door.

The space was definitely utilitarian. The entryway led directly into the living room, which was separated from the kitchen by a small butcher block island. The counter had enough space for a few appliances, and there was a decent looking fridge, oven, and range.

The rest of the apartment was ordinary but cozy. The bedrooms were rather disparate in size with the smaller of the two being only a little bigger than the small kitchen, but still large enough for a bed, a desk, and maybe a dresser.

“I’m assuming this would be my room as the undergraduate?” Frankie joked. He walked around the periphery of the smaller room like a jailed man counting out the dimensions of a cell.

Was Frankie considering moving in? With him?

“I would be happy to take the smaller room. I don’t have a lot of stuff.”

“No, D,Idon’t have a lot of stuff. You have your beautiful clothes and all your accessories.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com