Page 63 of Happy Endings

Andre:Catching up on paperwork until we prep for community dinner tonight.

Trixie:Can you tear yourself away from such fun work for an hour or so?

Andre glanced at the stacks of paper on his desk and the red numbers in his spreadsheet. Thanks to Trixie’s pop-ups, the rednumbers were going down, but not as fast as he’d like. The fryer was still acting up, and their supplier had raised chicken prices after a recent bird-flu outbreak. Things he couldn’t control but nevertheless hurt their bottom line.

Worst of all, Mr. Jackson was still selling the building. The emergency meeting Andre had called confirmed his worries; they didn’t have the money to buy the building. Like Mama Hazel’s, his neighbors were barely making ends meet.

Rubbing his eyes, he closed the spreadsheet. He needed a break from numbers and computers. Spending time with Trixie was a hundred times better than paperwork.

Andre:As long as I’m back by 3.

Trixie:You got it! I’ll swing by in 30 minutes.

Maybe he’d convince her to get cozy on the futon in his office again. If that was the case, he needed to wash his face. The bleary, staring-at-the-computer-all-morning look was not sexy.

When the bell to the back door rang, he looked at his watch. Thirty minutes had not passed. Was she here early to surprise him? He got up to let her in.

“I hope this favor includes an encore from last week, Trixie!” Andre swung the door open and met Xavier’s confused expression. Andre wiped the grin off his face.

“Whoa, bro!” Xavier stepped through the door and walked through the kitchen.

“Go ahead. Make yourself at home,” Andre muttered sarcastically.

Andre tried to keep the disappointment from his face, butXavier didn’t notice. Andre shut the door and walked briskly past Xavier into his office.

“Back up, Tre. An encore of what?” Xavier ran after Andre. “Did you two hook up?”

“It wasn’t a hookup.” Andre scowled. “Don’t talk about Trixie like she’s one of your one-night stands.”

“Those one-night stands were one-hundred-percent consensual. With a little sixty-nine.” His friend winked.

“Save your fuckboy act. I know you care deep down. I’ve read your poems.”

“Hey, I let you read those in confidence.” Xavier leaned closer and whispered, “If word gets out that I write about feelings, I’ll lose my street cred.”

Andre almost laughed but realized Xavier was serious. He hoped Xavier would share his talent with others someday. Those poems were tight.

“I’m not going to tell the world you actually have feelings that don’t involve your dick.”

Relief flooded Xavier’s face.

Andre closed the door to his office. He might as well tell Xavier, since he practically let it slip at the back door. “We’re back together. But you can’t tell anyone.”

For once, Xavier was speechless. His mouth gaped open and closed, like a Muppet.

“I want Keisha to hear it from me. If you breathe a word of this to her, I’m going to tell her that you’re the one who cut off her Barbie dolls’ hair when we were kids.”

“You helped, too, if I recall.” Xavier chuckled. “Man, we were some troublemakers back then.”

“Who will she believe ruined her dolls, me or you?”

“That’s low, man.” Xavier plopped down on the armchair in Andre’s office. “You better tell her soon. We all see how you look at Trixie during the pop-ups. Now tell me everything.”

“We called a truce after her last pop-up. After everyone was gone. One thing led to another and things got hot between us.”

“I knew you still had it in you!” Xavier reached out for a fist bump.

Andre glared at his friend until he dropped his hand. Xavier shrugged, unfazed by the rejection.

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