Chapter 25
TROYE
There was no reason at all to be nervous.
None whatsoever. It was only the official meeting of my best friend and my boyfriend.
I had dreams about it all going wrong. About Charlie interrogating Matthew until he had enough and broke up with me.
In some of my dreams, Matthew was the one who hated Charlie.
Why? I have no idea why. But if Matthew didn’t like Charlie, then I had to break up with him.
That was the ultimatum Charlie gave me in my dreams.
We decided to meet on neutral ground. Our location was a little restaurant near my apartment that had a homey feel to it.
It had been there for longer than I’d been alive.
The wood tables were dented and scratched, their damage telling stories of years of love and laughter.
The lighting was low, and there was an impressive hanging plant at the front of the restaurant whose leaves hung down and brushed the floor.
Charlie and I arrived first, and I chose a table away from the bathrooms and away from the noise of the kitchen.
Charlie had dressed up for the occasion as far as Charlie was concerned.
He’d traded out his usual wrinkled graphic tee for a nice, brand new plain black tee.
It looked like the kind that came in a four pack, but it was clean, hole-free, and didn’t have any video game characters on it, so that was a win.
“I want you to know that I appreciate the effort you put into this,” I told him as a server approached.
“Can I get you gentlemen anything?” he passed out a couple of menus.
“We’re waiting on our friends, but I’d love an iced tea.”
The server nodded and slid their gaze over to Charlie. “And for you?”
“I’ll have the same, thanks.” When the server left, Charlie turned his attention to me and narrowed his eyes. “Friends? That sounded plural.”
“I promise it’s not a set up, but I told Matthew that he should bring his best friend, Jett. See, I’ve only met Jett a couple of times, and they were both when I went to the office with Matthew. I figured it would be nice of me to get to know his best friend too.”
Charlie took a deep breath and let it out like a sigh, exhaling all the weight out of his chest. “Fiiine. I believe you. For a second, I worried that this was some sort of double date fix-up.”
“No double date. Just four people having dinner. As friends.”
“Except two of those friends fuck like rabbits.”
Heat flashed through my face. “Well… be that as it may, it’s not like we’ll be fucking at the table.”
“Can you imagine? Harder, yeah, right there, hey… can you pass me a breadstick?”
“It depends on what you intend to do with the breadstick.” Matthew’s voice made me jump, and it had a similar effect on Charlie, whose face now closely resembled a tomato.
“You made it.” I stood to greet him, somehow resisting the urge to fling myself at him and climb him like a spider monkey. Instead, I brushed a kiss against his cheek and then turned to introduce him to Charlie. “Where’s Jett?”
Matthew rolled his eyes. “He’s up front admiring the plant.”
“That’s Ferdinand. He gets a lot of attention. I think he’s been here as long as the restaurant. Anyway, uh, Matthew, this is my best friend, Charlie. Charlie, this is Matthew.”
Charlie stood and reached across the table to shake Matthew’s hand. Already this was going better than it had in any of my dreams. Jett appeared then and clapped Matthew on the shoulder before he slid into a chair. Not waiting for introductions. “That’s one hell of a nice Pothos.”
“Jett is obsessed with plants.”
“Obsessed is such a strong word. It’s merely a hobby.”
“Jett fancies himself a plant doctor. He’ll buy the scraggliest, most dead-looking things and bring them back to life. He once took a plant out of the office trash and nursed it back to health.”
Matthew took a seat at the round table. With him on one side, and Charlie on the other, my head was going to feel like it was on a swivel by the time the night was over.
“Jett, you know Troye, and this is his best friend, Charlie.”
“Good to meet you, Charlie. And it’s nice to see you, Troye. I’d invite you to the office more, but Matthew gets nothing done when you’re around. And your presence whips some of the staff into a frenzy.”
“Me?” My voice squeaked. “Why?”
Jett looked at me, then at Matthew. “Is he for real?”
“Troye doesn’t believe in his fame.”
“I’m just a gamer.”
Jett and Charlie made similar scoffing sounds.
“Yeah,” Charlie said. “But you’re like… hot.
You’re a hot, young gamer who is also a nice person.
And I don’t want to say like wow, that’s so rare, because that’s not true, but people are still talking about the charity marathons you did last summer.
And then there was that time you wrapped a game in under five hours because the company said their game was unbeatable. You’re a celebrity in some circles.”
I looked to Matthew for support, which was silly of me. Because Matthew was just as big of a cheerleader as Charlie was.
“Get used to it, sweetheart. People like you.”
For the life of me, I didn’t know why, but I kept that question to myself for once. There was a time where I wouldn’t have. I’d have challenged both of them on their opinions of me. I’d point out all my flaws and all the reasons people shouldn’t like me.
I turned my attention to Jett because I didn’t know how to face Charlie or Matthew in the aftermath of them gushing about me.
“I’m sorry if I caused problems in the office. I can meet Matthew in the lobby when we get lunch and stuff if you’d like.”
Jett just stared at me like I’d said the dumbest thing he’d ever heard. Though his expression said you’re an idiot, what he said out loud was, “That won’t be necessary. Besides, I’d have a mutiny on my hands if they found out I had anything to do with you not coming into the office anymore.”
Charlie, in a bid to save me from the discomfort of having the whole conversation revolve around me, jumped in to try and rescue me.
“So, how’s the foster game coming along? Troye told me all about it, and it sounds amazing. I bet it’s going to be a hit.”
Jett’s face darkened like a thundercloud, and he pinned his gaze to me. It was hard and piercing, and I shifted uncomfortably. Matthew reached for Jett, putting his hand on the man’s arm, but he didn’t flinch.
“Jett, it’s fine,” Matthew said.
God, I wished I knew what was going on.
“You weren’t supposed to discuss the game with anyone. It was in the release you signed. Or did you not read it?” Jett’s voice was icy cold, and even the server, who’d been on the approach, turned and fled when he heard.
“Charlie is his best friend. Of course, he told him. You need to calm down.” Matthew tried to reason with him, but Jett was single-minded and over-protective of anything he deemed to be his. Which definitely included the company and often extended to include Matthew.
“Yeah, of course he told me,” Charlie piped up. “And of course I kept my mouth shut about it. But I figured it would be a safe topic to ask you about, seeing as how my boy Troye was getting super squirrely with everyone talking about him and how great he is.”
“Charlie,” I hissed, trying to get him to stop, but he just looked at me and rolled his eyes.
“Troye, you might be able to take a dick, but you can’t take a compliment. I know it, you know it, and Matthew knows it.”
“And now the whole restaurant knows it,” I muttered, wishing I could disappear.
Jett stood and cut Matthew a hard look. “A word,” he said, before storming away.
My stomach sank into my shoes. If my insides liquified anymore, I’d need to be carried home in a bucket.
“Go,” I told Matthew, who looked angry and sick and conflicted. Like he wanted to stay to comfort me but had to go after his volatile best friend. “Go, I promise it’s fine.”
Charlie scooted his chair closer and slung an arm around my shoulders. “I’ve got him.”
Matthew stole a kiss. “I’m sorry about him. I’ll fix it, I promise.”
Unable to speak, I nodded and watched Matthew speedwalk out of the restaurant.
“Well, that could’ve gone better,” Charlie deadpanned. “Seriously glad you’re dating Matthew and not his asshole of a best friend.”
“For now, anyway.” My hands shook, and I shoved them underneath me, sitting on them to stop them from trembling. “If his best friend hates me, what chance do I have with him? That’s his business partner. They’ve been through everything together.”
“And if he’s a real friend, he’ll find a way to get over himself. Seriously, I’ve never seen anyone so wound up in their own bullshit before. I bet he’s athletic as fuck from all the jumping to conclusions he does.”
“He’s just protective of the company.”
Charlie snorted. “He’s just an asshole with control issues. That’s all it is. He’s only worried that he won’t have total control over everything he lays his eyes on.”
“And you know all that from a two-minute meeting?”
Charlie scooted his chair even closer. “I know his type. Big and tough and angry at everyone else because it’s easier than being angry at yourself.
I promise you that you and Matthew will be fine.
Jett just needs an attitude adjustment. Actually, you know what…
wait here.” Charlie kissed my cheek then got up and left.
I watched him turn the same way Matthew and Jett had gone.
My head dropped into my hands and my heart into my stomach.
In all my nightmares, none of them had gone this way, and I wasn’t sure I was prepared for that.
It might have been seconds, or minutes, or hours for all I knew, when the server appeared.
He carried with him a single slice of pie with a generous scoop of ice cream.
“Oh, I—we didn’t order yet. Sorry, my companions are?—”
“It’s on the house.” The server, Chase, according to his name tag, set the pie down in front of me.
None of my nightmares had pie either. Or nice servers with sympathetic smiles.
“Thank you, Chase,” I said, and he just nodded at me in return before leaving the table.
With no one to stop me, I grabbed the fork and took a bite of the pie.
Apple. It tasted like I imagined homemade apple pie would—I’d never had it—with thick, gooey filling and tender apples.
It was warm and it made the ice cream melt, which turned out was pretty fucking fantastic.
If everything was going to go to shit, at least I had pie.
I held no illusions about my importance to Matthew.
Jett was the other half of his company and his best and oldest friend.
If Jett made him choose, I’d lose. Which was fine…
I guessed. In the grand scheme of things, I barely knew Matthew.
Sure, we talked for hours every day, and I’d started spending most of my time with him, but our relationship was still young.
There was no way he should choose me. Hell, I wasn’t sure that I’d choose me.
My vision blurred, and I hurriedly dashed the tears away before anyone could see me crying. Nothing to see here, folks. Just a guy who’s about to be single, crying into his pie.