I put my head to his shoulder, my arms around his waist and I nodded.
“What I can see with that man, the safety bar is locked tight, put your hands straight up and enjoy the ride.”
Oh my.
Chapter Nine
You Sleep Here Don’t You?
Sadie
“Aaahhooow,” Ralphie yawned with an exaggerated stretch. “I’m tuckered out. Time for beddie bye. Buddy, baby, you comin’ with me?”
I looked from Hector’s shoulder (where my head was resting) to the end of the couch (where Ralphie was stretching) to the armchair (where Buddy was sitting).
Then I rolled my eyes and went back to staring at the credits rolling on the TV.
Seriously, how obvious could you be?
* * * * *
Dinner went okay if you didn’t count one minor incident.
* * * * *
Buddy hadn’t just made his famous tuna and noodles. He’d set the dining room table and even lit candles. He also served his spinach salad with pumpkin oil balsamic vinaigrette before the tuna and chocolate almond torte with vanilla-essence whipped cream for dessert.
I changed out of my Queen Ice outfit and, in the two seconds between our arrival home at six-oh-five and Hector’s arrival at the house at six-oh-five-and-two-seconds, I stared at the contents of my closet trying to find a casual-dinner-at-home-with-Hector-and-my-two-gay-roommates outfit.
Impossible!
In a dither, I opted for a pair of jeans and a black camisole over which I wore a gray cardigan (well, it wasn’t just a gray cardigan, it was a gray cardigan from Anthropologie, it had a hood and wide sleeves with tiny black lace ruffles at the sleeves and around the hem). I decided, since the cardigan said more than “casual-dinner-at-home-with-Hector”, I’d go barefoot.
Barefoot was as casual as you could get.
I put my hair in a big ponytail and headed down.
Since Ralphie talked a mile a minute and Buddy wanted the lowdown on The Search for Harvey and Ricky (the lowdown was that Harvey had been snagged, Ricky was still “at large” and I kind of wished it was the other way around), I didn’t have to say much.
This continued at dinner, mostly Ralphie talking enough for everyone and, when he could get a word in edgewise, Buddy demanding details from Hector on how things would go once Ricky and Harvey were both caught.
This took a turn when somehow we got on the subject of dog sitting YoYo and Ralphie shoved me, kicking and screaming, right in middle.
“Sadie wants to watch YoYo,” Ralphie told Buddy when it was becoming clear he was losing the fight.
My head snapped up and I saw from across the table Hector’s eyes come to mine and one side of his mouth twitched.
“Sadie, is that true?” Buddy asked.
I widened my eyes at Hector in a non-verbal, “Help me!”
Hector remained silent but his mouth kept twitching.
“Sadie, tell him. You loved YoYo, didn’t you?” Ralphie prompted.
I decided to be Hector and remain silent.
“Sadie?” Now it was Buddy’s turn to prompt.