There was a long pause before the typing dots popped up again.
Izzy
Awkward.
Eli
Seriously.
Finny
How does he not know?
Ev
I ran before herecognized me.
Micah
You’re going to tell him, right?
Fucking maturity. Maybe Ev shouldn’t have invited the relationship expert to the chat. There was another long pause as Ev typed and then deleted three different answers. Finally, Finny cut in.
Finny
Gabe is a good guy. He won’t be upset, I don’t think.
Eli
The mystery is kind of romantic, though. Like a Cinderella-type thing.
They went on, bantering back and forth over whether Ev was living a fairy tale or not. At the same time, a separate text popped up from Izzy. Ev opened it.
Izzy
I’d peace out if I were you, man. That power imbalance shit is no joke. Trust me on this one.
Ev
I think that’s what I’m worried about. Gabe seems okay, but my track record says my instincts aren’t worth crap.
Izzy
Mine are probably worse. LOL. Just… Look out for yourself, okay? Call me if you need to.
That was nicer than he expected from Izzy, who was usually more of an asshole. But from what Ev had heard, he also knew how to take care of himself, so Ev figured the advice was good.
He returned to the group chat in time to see the others deciding that he needed to tell Gabe it was him in order to get to the next phase of his Cinderella story. He hated to break it to them, but while there might be a secret identity involved, there was no wicked stepmother, and Ev was very unlikely to get a happily ever after out of this one.
After thanking everyone for their input—and getting another promise from Finny that he wouldn’t say anything to his Daddy—Ev put the phone away and pushed himself up off the floor.
Hopefully no one had noticed his extra-long bathroom break, and if they had, he would just claim he had a bad hot dog for lunch. Gross, but believable.
He splashed water on his face and gave his dripping reflection the sternest look he could manage. “No more fucking your boss. He and his sexy…everything are off-limits from now on.”
There. That was better. He dried his face and made sure his clothes looked right before leaving the private bathroom and heading back to his desk. As soon as he got home, he wasblocking Gabe on Exchange, like he should have done in the first place.
Ev didn’t block Gabeon Exchange. He had every intention to, but when he got home, Owen was a mess, and he needed to take care of his roommate first. If Ev ever got his hands on Owen’s ex, the asshole wasn’t walking away. Ev knew karate. Okay, he’d taken karate for six months in middle school until he’d sprained his wrist and his parents made him quit, but that was beside the point. Owen was sad, and someone needed to be punished for it.