Page 68 of Slew Foot
“Sure. What do you want to watch?” Mickey asked.
“I dunno. Maybe more of the show we’ve been watching?” Rafe took another sip of hot chocolate.
“Sounds good. You get it set up while I?—”
“You losersarefucking home!” Tanner said from the hallway, his voice accusatory.
Rafe jumped because he hadn’t even heard the front door open.
“Where did you think we were?” Mickey asked, setting down his mug.
Tanner’s jaw dropped as he stepped closer. “And you’re drinking hot chocolatewithout me.”
“You like hot chocolate?” Rafe asked, happy to hear it. Tanner shouldn’t miss out. “Because Mickey made the best?—”
“There was only enough for two,” Mickey said tightly, opening the dishwasher and dumping the empty pan in.
“Yousuck.” Tanner pouted. His face brightened when he peered into the bowl. “Ooh, but there’s whipped cream. Tell me I can have that.”
“Fine.” Mickey sighed. “Have at it. But if you leave it on the counter when you’re done, instead of putting it here in the dishwasher, I will straight upmurderyou.”
“Harsh,” Tanner said, but he was already clutching the bowl to his chest and swiping his finger through the whipped cream. “But deal.”
“I get the whisk!” Rafe said, grabbing it from the cutting board before Tanner could argue.
“That’s not fair! You got a whole-ass mug of cocoa!” Tanner protested.
“Shows what you know,” Rafe said, feeling very smart for once. “Hot cocoa and hot chocolate aren’t the same.”
“Oh, fuck you,” Tanner said. “And fuck you both for not checking your phones all night. You invited me to dinner and then fucking didn’t tell mewhere.”
“Whoops.” Rafe reached for his phone, realized he didn’t have a free hand, then looked at Mickey.
Mickey sighed and held out a hand.
Rafe passed over his mug of hot chocolate, then fished out his phone. “Oooh yeah that was a lot of texts,” he said when he realized how many there were. “Sorry. We were talking aboutwhat we did over bye week and then we went for a walk and made cocoa. It was really fun.”
“Yeah, rub in how cute your littledatewas,” Tanner grumbled.
Ithadbeen fun, Rafe thought, absently licking the whisk. Kind of the perfect night, honestly. The sort of night he’d spent with Logan … and then Tanner’s words hit and he stiffened.
Ahh fuck. Rafe glanced over at Mickey who was staring at him with a red face. Had they gone on a date tonight?
Like … accidentally?
“It wasn’t adate,” Mickey snapped. “I invited you to it, Tanner. Trust me, if I was going to date Rafe,youwouldn’t be there.”
“Harsh,” Tanner said with a sigh. “Totally harsh.”
Relieved, Rafe licked the beater again, trying to get his tongue in between the spokes. Or whatever the fuck the metal pieces were called.
Mickey let out a strangled noise, thumped Rafe’s mug down on the counter, then stalked toward his bedroom without another word.
Rafe lifted his head. “Hey, where are you going? We were going to watch?—”
The sound of Mickey’s door slamming shut was the only answer he got.
“Dude,” Rafe said, deflating.
