Page 103 of Beau & Autumn

Yep,he definitely has a bit of fresh color to his cheeks.

She sidles past me and gives him a little wave on her way.

I watch her leave and turn to Fletch. “You hot dawg.” I chuckle.

He pulls his glasses back on and looks down at the computer hard drive he has in pieces all over his workshop table and then back at me. “Okay, so Penny was my hot blind date.”

My eyes widen. “Nice.”

He runs a hand over his floppy hair, clearly in a conundrum about something as he sighs and curls his bottom lip under.

“Spill, Fletch.”

“She’s cute,” he sighs. “And it went really well, better than any date I’ve had.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“No. But it freaks me out a little.”

“Didn’t sound like it to me.” I pull out a chair and flop down. “I thought you were the one with all the chick advice, anyway?”

“Easier when it’s directed at my friends, not me,” he says, finally giving up with the hard drive for now and leaning on the counter instead.

I laugh heartily, not because I’m laughing at him, but seeing his obvious panic because I’m guessing he really likes Penny, and from the looks of it she likes him, is kinda funny. “You’ll be fine, champ, if Friday is anything to go by. What are you doing by the way?”

“Dinner and the movies.”

I grin and fold my arms across my chest. “Way to freaking go, Fletch. I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Well, I don’t want to get stars in my eyes too soon, but she seems pretty great if our first date was anything to go by.” He nods towards the clock. “I’ll take a break if you wanna grab a bite to eat?”

“Sounds good.”

He grabs his jacket and his wallet and we make our way out to the burger joint down the street.

“How’s Autumn?” he asks.

“Better than ever.” I know for a fact that stupid shit-eating grin is almost permanently etched to my face now. “She accidentally saw my sketches of her and Bruiser in manga form last night.”

“Wow, how did that go?”

“Surprisingly well, she loved them.” I don’t mention what I got in return last night while I was sleeping.

“They are pretty awesome,” he says.

“Speaking of awesome, I think we’re just about ready to launch the app. I’ve been tweaking it here and there.”

“I think we could send out a group email to all our gaming friends. I’ve already set up the social media accounts for BeauFletch Gaming. Might be a good way to introduce it.”

I actually detest social media, but I do realize that it’s an essential part of business these days and it has to be done. “Sounds good.” We both have gamer friends online and connections all over the world, so getting a mailing list rolling seems like a good idea to me. We arrive at the burger joint in no time and place our orders. “I’ve started warming up a few new TikTok accounts,” I say, knowing it’s a numbers game and that the algorithms can change in an instant. We plan to have a few going at once, knowing we both have to be equally committed to posting on there and getting our gaming app out there in the world. That part alone will feel like an achievement in itself.

We’re lucky in the fact we can save money by designing our own logo and setting everything up ourselves. Knowing the ins and outs of how websites work and all the other technical shit is a real bonus.

“Perfect,” Fletch says as we perch on the counter stools waiting for our order. “I think we’re going to be busier than ever. The shop is never ending, I know you’re busy too. But this is something we’d be doing for ourselves as well as for fun.”

“Total fun,” I agree. We both love our day jobs, but gaming is something else entirely and provides a whole other outlet. Other than sketching, it’s really the only hobby I have.

He side-eyes me. “You really are a lot happier lately, do you know that?”

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