Page 12 of Fluffed and Folded

Layla rolled her eyes. “It’s not like it’s drugs; it’s all natural, an actual plant. And you will feel so good, I promise. Like you won’t even need sleep. I haven’t slept in three days, and look at me.” She beamed a smile at him, showing all her teeth.

His phone rang. “Excuse me, I have to take this.” He turned away from her slightly as Josie spoke.

“What’s going on? I got your SOS.” They had prearranged an out for him, in case any of the dates became too crazy or intense, and Eli was glad for that, almost as glad that Josie had answered and called him back, exactly as they planned.

“What? Oh, no. Of course I can come, I’ll be there right away,” Eli said.

“Oh, it’s like that,” Josie said. “Hey, you should actually be here right away. Tristan and I are having dinner with Jordan and Gaines. We’re atPaddy’son eighth street. Say yep if you’ll come or nope if you need Tristan to show up with his gun and rescue you.”

“Yep,” Eli said and set aside his phone. “So sorry, Layla, but I have to go. This has been…this has been so informative. Good luck with the mushrooms and everything.” He stood.

Layla stood, too. “Wait, I didn’t get your number so we can reschedule. I’m pretty much available whenever because I can’t work and I don’t sleep.”

“Wow, that’s…okay, but my schedule is really tight, so….” He backstepped a few paces, then turned and darted out of the restaurant, jogging a little as he reached the street. He supposed it would have been more gentlemanly to tell her the truth, but how could you reasonably tell someone that she was too crazy to possess your number, much less see a second time? She tried to get him to drop acid on a first date; next time she would probably try to get him to sell his possessions and join a cult.

Not until he was locked in his car did he take a deep breath and unclench his fists. The few minutes it took him to drive to the next restaurant and find parking eased enough tension so that he was able to laugh about it as he approached.

“Not a love match?” Josie guessed, using her foot to push out the chair they had obviously added to the table for him.

“Hopefully not even a plasma match, should the need arise,” Eli said. He sat. “Hi, thanks for inviting me.”

“No problem, good to see you,” Gaines answered cheerfully. Eli met Gaines and Jordan at the July Fourth party Josie and Tristan hosted. Or rather, Josie hosted and made Tristan suffer. He had manned the grill all day with predictable precision and attention, talking mostly to Gaines, his only contribution to the guest list. Gaines had seemed all too happy to stand watch with him, tossing out unheeded suggestions for better grilling techniques. He had paused teasing Tristan to talk to Eli, entering into a chatty discussion about goats, of all things. His daughter wanted a pet goat and Josie had told him that Eli’s uncle owned them on his farm. After that they’d set up a date for everyone to visit the farm, much to the delight of Gaines and Jordan’s children. Now Jordan was hugely pregnant, ready to deliver their third. Or rather, as Josie had told him later, Gaines’s first and Jordan’s third; Gaines was her second husband.

The fourth of July party was also the first time Eli began to suspect that he didn’t actually have feelings for Josie, muchto his relief. It hadn’t pained him to watch her with Tristan, to see all the little looks and touches they traded. Instead it made him feel happy for Josie that she had found someone, especially after so many years of enduring Gabe’s ill treatment. For all his stoicism, Tristan clearly adored her, as witnessed by the fact that he lit everyone’s sparklers that night without complaint, saving Josie’s for last and presenting her with a special box of colored sparklers, much to her obvious delight.It’s not Josie I want,Eli had realized as he watched Josie toss her arms around Tristan and Tristan receive her like she was a box of priceless gold.It’s what they have together.Josie was known and comfortable and wouldn’t have required him to leave his safety zone and venture into the unknown. He realized, after that party, that he would need to take more steps, if he ever wanted to find anyone. But his current path didn’t seem to be the one, if the crazies he’d been presented were any indication.

“Tell us a story, Grandpa,” Josie said, clapping her hands in delight as she waited for Eli to unload the latest round of insanity. Even Tristan sat entranced as he told them about guinea pig girl and magic mushroom lady.

“Whoa, that is…wow,” Jordan said.

“See, this is what I tried to tell you,” Gaines said to her. “What the dating world was like, and why I didn’t do it.”

“I had no idea,” Jordan replied.

“That’s why when you find a good one, you latch on and don’t let go,” Gaines said, resting his hand on her arm.

Tristan didn’t say anything, but he also reached out and touched Josie’s arm, as if confirming to himself that she was real and still there.

How nice for them,Eli thought with uncharacteristic sarcasm. He was genuinely happy that his friends had found love, but it also made him sad for himself because he was still in the cycle of loneliness to insanity and back to lonelinessagain.Maybe this is all there is for me,he thought suddenly.And maybe that’s okay.He had a good job, a nice family, kind and inclusive friends. Was it wrong to want more?Maybe I should travel.What if he didn’t want a relationship so much as he wanted adventure and some sort of change? He had settled into a nice, safe, ordinary life. For a while he enjoyed the peace and satisfaction of that. But now… Something inside him stirred restlessly, and he didn’t know how to make it settle down and go away again.

“Anything else?” Josie asked, studying him a bit too keenly. Over the last year he and Josie had spent a lot of time together and become close enough to read each other’s moods. Fleetingly he thought about his landlord, but something stopped him from bringing it up.

“Nope,” he said, and tried to believe it was true, that there was a reasonable explanation for Darby’s behavior, that someday he would get his life together and have everything figured out. Josie looked like she wanted to press him further, but his food arrived then, saving him in more ways than one.

CHAPTER 8

Eli didn’t sleep well, despite having stayed out late. After supper at the restaurant, Jordan and Gaines invited everyone to their house so they could relieve their babysitter. Eli tagged along, curiously not feeling like a fifth wheel, despite the fact that he was one. They drank coffee and ate cookies and it felt like being an actual adult, doing adult things. Maybe that was because Jordan and Gaines were older, or maybe it was because they were already established with their third child on the way. Maybe it was because they had an actual house, with multiple bedrooms and a yard. Or maybe it was because they were different from the people Eli usually hung out with, fellow bachelors like Gabe and the other men who lived in his apartment building. Maybe it was everything. All Eli knew was that he had fun, not the sort of fun he’d wanted in high school, some sort of grand adventure he could photograph and humble brag about on social media. Instead it was a more subdued kind of fun, the type where genuine connections were made. Nothing exciting happened, but he felt like he’d spent time with people who liked, accepted, and understood him. Somehow that was better. After feeling like a kid stumbling through life, henow began to feel like he was easing into maturity, in the best possible way. It was a good feeling, one he wanted more of.

Despite the rough night of broken sleep, where he woke tense and expectant, listening hard for any unusual sound, he woke with that same feeling of contentment. He made himself a cup of tea, feeling like an English gentleman as he sipped and stared at the crummy courtyard, watching his neighbors come and go. When he saw Darby enter the laundry room, he set aside his tea and left his apartment.

As before, she stared at the dryer, watching it spin without really seeing anything. What should he say to her? Where should he begin?What’s a hot woman like you doing breaking into my apartment? Stolen anything good lately?Though, to be fair, she hadn’t taken anything. Did that make the break in better or worse?

In the end he settled for a soft, “Hello.”

Darby jumped and whirled, clearly skittish. “Hi,” she said before turning to face the dryer again.

“So,” he drawled, but she continued to ignore him. “Um.” Still no response. “Are we going to talk about it, or no?”

Slowly, she turned to face him, blinking as if she had just woken from a deep sleep. “What?”

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