I grinned.

Me: Boredom and emotional numbness.

Reese: You’re not high?

Me: emoticon sad face, followed by emoticon thumbs-down

Reese: You didn’t have to type that out. Could just do the actual emojis.

Me: But what’s the fun there?

Reese: I gotta go. We’re warming up.

Me: During your winning interview, give me an Easter egg.

Reese: I like your cockiness. And what do you want?

Me: Flick your ear, from behind.

Reese: Okay. Ur with good friends tonight, right?

Me: You’re starting to more than care for me. Watch yourself, son.

Reese: Serious.

I sobered, because damn, the knot in my gut started to thaw.

Me: This was supposed to be an entertaining relationship. I entertain you. I am the gnat. You’re not supposed to care about the gnat.

Reese: I do what I want. And I’m being serious. If you’re drinking tonight, you’ll be safe right?

Me: That’s not proper grammar.

Reese: This is texting. I don’t give a shit. Answer me.

I sighed as I heard the sound of tires covering gravel from behind me.

Me: I’ll be fine. Probably be bored even. Gotta go. My Uber just got here.

Hadley rolled her window down. She was on the passenger side, a bright smile on her face. “Hey! Ready for some margaritas?”

My phone buzzed again as I got inside. “Margaritas? I thought you were all about the martinis?”

Owen laughed as we pulled away.

“Not at Grant and Sophia’s. Sophia makes amazing margaritas. You’ll see. You’ll love them too.”

My phone kept going so I pulled it out.

Reese: So a llama isn’t mistaken for a lama, which is also a Tibetan monk. Google.

Reese: I have actually. She pinched my ass and I offered her some Ensure.

Reese: Drapes: Juan. Nothing gets past him when he’s playing defense. Shades: Carzoni because he does his job, but he’s a softy inside. Curtains: Lestroy because he wears his heart on his sleeve so you can see through him at times. Blinds: Crusky because the Cruskinator is hard as nails, though sometimes his humor is sideways.

Reese: I’m THE goat. You figure out why.

I barked out a laugh, but covered my mouth quickly. Jesus. I hadn’t expected him to answer, but he always did.

Hadley twisted around in her seat. “Is that…”

She bit her lip as I put my phone away. The smart-ass answers could come later, when I was buzzed with even more attitude.

“Yeah,” I answered. “It was Reese.”

She glanced to Owen.

Coughing, he rolled his shoulder back. “So, uh…” His voice was strained.

Hadley’s wasn’t. Her eyes were big, and her tone was gushing. “What’s the deal with you two? Are you really not sleeping with him? Because, I mean—”

“Hadley.”