“But I get to ask you things, too, if I score,” Bailey added.
“Fair enough. We’ll call it our ‘Get to Know the Best Friend’s Girlfriend’ game.”
“I like that,” Bailey replied, plucking the puck from Reece’s hand.
“I don’t,” Reece mumbled.
What Reece didn’t know was that Bailey hung out at The Blue Post her entire senior year of college. And she played air hockey for hours on end with Erica and her other college friends. And she was damn good at it.
When the night was through, she’d learned Camden’s life forward and backward, and he never got to ask her a single question. Not one.
“Is it too soon?” Reece whispered to Christopher.
“Is what too soon? And why you whisperin’?
Reece scanned the office. “Because I don’t want anyone to hear my business.”
“Then why you talkin’ about it at work?”
“Will you just tell me if it’s too soon to move in with Bailey?!”
“Ohhhhh, I see,” Christopher said, leaning back in his desk chair. “Well, have y’all discussed it before?”
“No.”
“How many times do you spend the night?”
“Like every night. I think she feels sorry for me because my apartment has nothing in it,” Reece said.
Christopher chuckled. “Dude, your apartment is sad. I still can’t believe you took her to see it.”
“She wanted to. What? Am I gonna say no? And anyway, it would have looked like I was hiding something if I didn’t invite her over.”
“True,” Christopher said, and then he thought for a moment. “How long you been dating?”
“I don’t know. About seven months,” Reece replied.
“Hmmm.”
“What’s ‘hmmm?’” Reece asked.
“I think it’s an appropriate amount of time. I suppose you wanna move in to her place?”
Reece rolled his eyes. “Where’ve you been for the last fifteen seconds of this conversation?”
“Just asking,” Christopher replied.
“And yes. Makes sense. She’s the one with the mortgage.”
“And what about your stuff?” Christopher asked.
Reece laughed. “What stuff?”
“The little bit of crap you have,” Christopher said. “Your couch, bed?”
“Storage, I guess.”
The men fell silent.
“You know it’s a huge step. I ain’t sayin’ your freedom is curbed or anything, but it’s a whole different ballgame livin’ with a chick,” Christopher said.
“And you know this from experience?” Reece asked.
“Man, I have friends who live with their women.”
“And?”
“I don’t ever see ‘em,” Christopher joked.
Reece chuckled. “Bailey’s not like that.”
“All chicks are like that. It doesn’t matter if they surf or not,” Christopher explained.
Reece nodded. He knew Christopher was right. He imagined that moving in with Bailey would change the dynamic of their relationship significantly. He expected to spend more time with her. It made sense. They would be sharing a bed and a sink, after all. And he was okay with that. In fact, he was turning into one of those boyfriends who wanted to spend all his time with his girlfriend. Camden teased him relentlessly for it the other night at trivia when Reece explained he could only stay for the first three rounds.
“Why?” Camden asked.
“Because I’ve gotta get home,” Reece replied.
“Umm, why? There’s nothing at your home,” Camden pointed out.
“I meant Bailey’s. I’m going to Bailey’s.”
Camden grinned wickedly. “Bailey’s, huh? Is that your new home?”
“Maybe,” Reece said. He accompanied his reply with a noncommittal shrug. He didn’t want to get into it with Camden.
“She give you a curfew?” Camden prodded.
“Shut up. And no.”
Camden laughed. “She one of those chicks who makes you feel badly if you’re not spending every waking moment with her? She one of those chicks who’s jealous of her boyfriend’s friends?”
“Shut up, Camden.”
“Lemme guess. She won’t give you head if you miss curfew.”
“You’re such an ass. I don’t know why I’m even friends with you,” Reece replied. “And maybe it’s got nothing to do with her. Maybe it’s me, okay? Maybe I wanna leave early to see her. Did you ever think of that?”
“God, you’re * whipped,” Camden said.
“And you’re jealous as hell,” Reece replied.
Camden considered Reece’s words. “Well, obviously.”
Reece watched Christopher gather some materials for their presentation, then walked with him to the conference room.
“So when you askin’ her?” Christopher said.
“Today.”
“And what do you think her reaction will be? You know Bailey has her little scheduled life goin’ on. May be too much for her,” Christopher said.
Reece turned around. “You know about her OCD?” he whispered.
Christopher looked at him, confused. “Doesn’t everyone in this office know about her OCD?”
Reece’s mouth dropped open. “I had no idea. I thought people just assumed she was really organized.”
Christopher grunted.
“No one makes fun of her, do they?” Reece asked suddenly. And just as suddenly his muscles swelled, adrenaline kicking in instantly, ready to take out anyone who said something mean about his girlfriend.
“Calm down, tough guy,” Christopher replied. “No one makes fun of her. And I don’t think anyone here knows how bad it is anyway. I do because I’m friends with her.”
“How come you never brought it up?”
Christopher looked at his friend evenly. “Because I didn’t think I had to worry about you goin’ after her.”
Reece looked at him dubiously. “Seriously? You knew I liked her the first day I saw her.”
Christopher thought for a moment. “Oh, yeah. Red pants.” He shook his head. “Still, I thought you were smarter than that—sneaking around with her and all that.”
“Has it been a problem? Have we been slacking on the job? Not doing our work?”
Christopher rolled his eyes. “Not the point. You shouldn’t have gone there, and you know it.”
Reece opened his mouth to reply.
“But . . . you two are good for each other. And I like you together. So it’s cool.”