Page 41 of Calculated Chaos

I grab a pair of basketball shorts from my drawer and sit on the edge of my bed, pressing the button next to Sara’s name.

“Hey, boss,” she answers, chipper as usual. “Is something wrong? You never call early.”

“No, nothing’s wrong. Um…” I take a deep breath. “I’m not gonna be in today.”

Sara is dead silent on the other end.

“Sara? Did you hear me?”

“I heard some words that don’t make any sense at all coming out of you. Did you say you’re not coming in today?”

“I did, yes.”

“You’re calling out?”

“I am.”

A surprised laugh is what I hear next. “I better go buy a lottery ticket or have my cards read or something. Surely, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Maybe Mercury is off its axis. The planets are shifting. That’s the only reasonable explanation. Wait. Is Axel holding you hostage? Should I come rescue you?”

I laugh, scratching the scruff on my cheek. “I don’t know what the planets are up to, but I’m fine. Axel isn’t doing anything against my will. I just decided I deserve a long weekend.”

“The second one in a row.”

“Huh. Yeah. I don’t think I have any meetings today.”

“You don’t. Guess the intervention really worked?”

“More than I can even express right now. Hold the fort down?”

“Of course. I mean, the team is gonna lose it, but I’ll assure them you haven’t been the victim of an alien abduction. Probably.”

I laugh. “Thanks, Sara. See you Monday.”

“Yeah. Enjoy.”

Chuckling, I end the call and shuffle out to the kitchen, the smell of fresh coffee luring me like a moth to a flame.

Axel smiles as he stands at the island stirring pancake batter. “Your mug is by the machine.”

“Thanks.” I fill my mug with coffee, inhaling before I take a sip. “Oof, I needed this.”

“The coffee?”

“All of it.”

Axel smiles but doesn’t say anything else.

“You washed me up last night, didn’t you?”

He nods. “Yeah. Figured it would be pretty gross to sleep in our jeans with the way the night ended.”

“Good call. Thanks.”

“I got you, Holl. You know that.”

“I do.” Taking another sip of coffee, I think about how to phrase my next question. “Is it weird that it took us this long to discover these other parts of ourselves? I mean, the Dom and sub stuff.”

“I’ve been thinking about that too. What I think is that there were clues, we just didn’t notice them. Not just sexual either, but if you really look at our dynamic as friends and roommates, it’s always been an undercurrent.”

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