Page 68 of Fun Together
“I’m sure we could make something work. I went to a house last month and the lady had three Dobermans.” He takes a sip of water. “I was so exhausted after that I don’t think I moved for a week.”
“I’m kind of jealous you have an active job like that,” Eli says. “I hate sitting at a desk all day.”
I snort. “As if you sit at your desk all day. You need to start wearing a sign at work that says, ‘Don’t talk to me unless you want to waste two hours.’”
Eli gives my foot a playful knock under the table. “Someone has to provide the office morale.”
I make the mistake of looking over at Rett at this moment and she mutters the word, “Denial” under her breath.
Neither Eli nor Chris notice because they’re now busy talking about how Chris once got an appointment to groom this guy’s cat, and it went about as well as you’d expect. Chris found himself in urgent care requiring stitches because the cat had treated his torso like its very own scratching post.
“Well, if you ever want to help me out on weekends or anything, I could use it,” Chris says to Eli. “Can’t promise you won’t also sustain any cat-related injuries.”
“I might just take you up on that,” Eli says. “You’ll have to put an injuryclawsin my contract.”
We all laugh at his stupid pun, even Rett giving a begrudging snort, and Eli beams at us in the way he always does when he’s got all eyes on him. He loves being the one to make everyone laugh.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Chris says.
Chris seems like the kind of guy who probably gets along with everyone, easygoing in a way that makes you immediately at ease with him.
We continue eating and talking, and before we know it, it’s almost ten o’clock. I can’t stifle a yawn.
“I thought you were a night owl,” Eli says, reminding me of our late-night phone conversations that have become something we regularly do now, almost every night. I hope we talk tonight because I kind of want to ask him about Dani.
“I may stay up late, but I have to do proper pre-sleep marination first. I’m usually queuing up a relaxing rug cleaning video right about now.”
“Have you ever seen the yard mowing ones?” Chris asks me.
“Yes! I love those.”
“They’re just so satisfying,” he says.
Rett leans back in her chair and crosses her arms. “This is why Faye has to do the fun list.”
“What’s the fun list?” Chris asks.
“It’s nothing,” I say, shooting daggers at Rett.
“It’s not nothing,” Eli says. “Which reminds me, what’s next?”
I look around at them, vowing to kill Rett and Eli with slow and painful deaths and say, “Um, I think it’s the small get together.”
“I have an idea,” Eli says. Hearing these words from Eli’s mouth sends a spike of equal parts excitement and dread through me. “You should have a game night.”
Rett looks skeptical. “A game night? Like Monopoly?”
Chris seems excited about this idea. “Game nights are the best. My friends and I used to have them all the time back in school.”
“I guess I could do that? Would you guys come?”
“I’m in,” Chris says. “Let me give you my number so you can give me the details.”
He puts his number in my phone while I run through everything I need to do to prepare for this. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, though. Just a few people over to my apartment. It will give me a good reason to do a good deep clean. Plus, Chris does seem really nice and maybe it’ll be a good way to get to know him more.
Maybe it will end up being fun.
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