Page 16 of Friends with Benefits

“Fuck.”

“Who does Pasadena think she is? If Pep and Mo sold this place to a developer who’s just going to flip it into an Airbnb, I swear—” Evelyn cuts herself off and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Sorry. I’m spiraling and also just really sad.”

“I know,” Theo says, unsure how to begin to articulate how much the bungalow means to him, too.

He doesn’t have to.

When Evelyn looks at him, her eyes glassy, he knows she knows.

“Also? Crashing with Gen is going to be so awkward. She still won’t apologize.”

Of course she won’t. She can’t exactly apologize for something she didn’t do. Theo tapes shut a boxful of blankets as he considers how to respond because he knows full well that Gen doesn’t owe Evelyn an apology for submitting her portfolio to Next in Foley.Hedoes. It’s been a week since she received her acceptance email, but she’s been in housing crisis mode. It’s the first time she’s brought it back up. Theo has meant to bring it up himself, but he didn’t expect her initial reaction to be so hostile. Seeing the look on her face when she read that email, he knew that he’d overstepped. Crossed a boundary.

Still, he owes her the truth.

“Ev—”

“And she has the audacity to act like she has no clue what I’m talking about! It’s a bit much, even for Gen—”

“It wasn’t Gen.”

Silence.

Her eyes meet his. “Seriously?”

Theo nods. “I’m sorry.”

She hurls a throw pillow at him. “What the actual fuck?”

“I’m sorry!” he repeats, catching the pillow before it topples his tea. Her aim is shit. “Everything about that fellowship is meant for you and… I guess I just thought you weren’t applying out of fear? I didn’t read the small print or even consider that the program wouldn’t include health insurance.”

“It doesn’t really matter what you thought, Theodore.I said no.”

“I know.”

Months earlier, when he encouraged her to apply, he heard hersaythat word, but he remembered the first time she described being in a Foley studio to him.In a way, it’s kind of like dancing and… I don’t know? I didn’t expect that to feel so good?She’d confided this over FaceTime, from their dorms on opposite coasts, her words tumbling out fast in excitement and her eyes sparkling with a passion he hadn’t witnessed sincedancerwas her identity. Their identity. And in the seven years since that conversation, Evelyn has worked so hard, done countless unpaid and underpaid internships, built a portfolio.

And, sure, he heard her say no. But he never considered that shemeantit.

“I am so mad at you.”

“I know.”

Angry tears slide down her cheeks and it makes his chest tighten, a physical pain. Evelyn said no and he… just ignored it. Of course she’s pissed. Theo didn’t listen, opting instead to submit the application, as if he knew what was best for her. It’s something his father would do—something he did—all the time, whether it was signing off on clinical trials for his mom or submitting applications to colleges that Theo had no interest in attending.I just want you to have every opportunity,he’d say.Is that so wrong?Always, his dad would ask for forgiveness, not permission.

“I want it.” Evelyn’s admission is soft, and it cracks him in half. “Sobad. How am I supposed to keep mindlessly editing podcasts now?”

“Okay. Then let’s figure it out. What if—?”

“Theo.”

He winces.Theo.Another indication of how massively he screwed up.

Evelyn stands and presses the heels of her hands to her swollen eyes. “I need a beat.”

She then exits the room, ending the conversation and making it clear that there’s nothing to figure out—at least not with him. Evelyn leaves Theo sitting with the nauseating realization that applying to Next in Foley on her behalf wastextbookJacob Cohen behavior. He can’t fix this. Can’t go back in time and undo what he’s done. But hecanfinish folding these blankets. So he turns toward the mountain of them (seriously, how are there still so many goddamn blankets?), then packs up the rest of the memories into boxes and exits the bungalow without saying goodbye.

Theo makes a pit stop at Trader Joe’s on his way home, where he picks up an avocado, a carton of almond milk, cashew butter, whole wheat wraps, dried mango, maple-flavored almonds, honey-infused goat cheese, a week’s worth of vegetarian dinners from the freezer aisle, two bags of Impossible chicken nuggets, and a tub of dark chocolate peanut butter cups. He only meant to restock on almond milk, but he blacked out the moment the sliding doors opened, later returning to his car perplexed because he hates goat cheese andshit—was he that distracted?

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