Page 66 of Business or Pleasure

Finn seems to relax the instant we slide into a vinyl booth across from them, his shoulders softening. I’ve never seen him this light, this unburdened.

“It’s been too long,” Krishanu says as a server drops off a foamy pitcher of beer.

“What, three months?” Finn says. “You really missed me that much?”

“Nah, I was just being nice. I barely think about you.”

I learn that Krishanu was also a huge LOTR fan as a kid, one of the things that bonded him and Finn early on, and the most popular part of his class is a unit on Middle-earth.

“Is he making you regret taking this job yet?” Krishanu asks.

Finn crosses his arms over his chest with a practiced defiance. “I’ll have you know, I am an utter delight to work with.”

When I let out a snort, Finn holds a hand to his heart. “No, no, you’re great. Obviously. It’s the best job I’ve ever had.”

“The sarcasm. It hurts.”

“The way I’m dying for this book,” Derek says, taking a sip of beer. “When Krish told me he not only knew you but that you’d survived puberty together, I told myself I couldn’t screw things up with us or I’d never get to meet you.”

I tilt my head toward Finn. “I’m sure Krishanu could write a much more fascinating, scandalous book.”

“I’d definitely have to go into witness protection if he did that.”

“You have to tell me what he was like as an awkward teenager,” I say to Krishanu. “Don’t leave out a single pimple.”

“Unfortunately for you, I’ve always been blessed with flawless skin.”

“He probably hasn’t told you about the first show he performed in, has he? Eighth grade?” When I shake my head, Krishanu’s smile turns wicked. “Our school was putting on Beauty and the Beast, and he was Cogsworth.”

“Never mind the fact that I can’t sing,” Finn puts in and I assume he’s just being modest.

“Anyway, we didn’t have a huge budget, so his costume was essentially just this big, kind of flimsy piece of cardboard painted like a clock that he wore. And during the last performance, right in the middle of ‘Be Our Guest,’ a dancing napkin stumbled into him and tore it right off.”

“Oh no,” I say. “Please tell me he was wearing something underneath.”

“Just a pair of boxer briefs with elves on them.”

“That definitely doesn’t need to go in the book,” Finn says with a groan, dropping his head to the table.

“Oh, it’s already there. It’s chapter one.”

Krishanu meets Finn’s gaze with a quirk of one eyebrow. Finn gives a slight but firm shake of his head, and I get the feeling I know exactly what conversation I’ve just witnessed. Are you two—? And Finn immediately shutting it down.

I’m not sure why it makes a pit settle in my stomach. We’re not a couple. We’re colleagues who are also sleeping together, which is a bit more difficult to communicate with eyebrow twitches.

“Enough about me,” Finn says. “You two just closed on a house?”

Derek nods. “It’s a bit of a fixer-upper, but we’re excited about it.”

“We’ll see if we still feel that way after we knock out the attic to add a second bedroom,” Krishanu says.

When his name is called for karaoke, Krishanu gets up to sing “Werewolves of London,” much to Finn’s horror, really going hard on the howls. Derek and I chime in on a few, Finn burying his head in his hands and swearing that he’ll never speak to any of us again. Derek goes next with a solid rendition of No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak.” Then Finn looks at me, a challenge in his eyes.

“I’ll do it if you do,” he says.

I glance at the stage. I don’t have nearly enough alcohol in me for this to be a comfortable proposition. “That’s not fair, you’re... confident. You do this professionally.”

“Sing? Absolutely not.”

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