Page 31 of Friends with Benefits

Saskia stops typing.

A moment later, Evie’s phone vibrates with a text from Saskia.

sass evans

bitch?? u just OK’d weekly bonus podcasts like it was nbd??

10:31A.M.

DID I?

10:32A.M.

NO

10:32A.M.

*gif of Michael Scott screaming no*

10:32A.M.

this is why u can’t sleep thru these calls!!

10:33A.M.

or this is why they WANT me to sleep through them…!

10:34A.M.

touché

10:35A.M.

Evie reads that last message in Saskia’s voice.

Toosh.

She first heard their Australian accent say—shout—tooshin a crowded Midtown bar last year while visiting the New York office, where Saskia is based. Now Saskia and Evie are work besties bonded by the super specific ability to recall any Best Picture film if prompted by a random year (1942?How Green Was My Valley.2011?The King’s Speech.1984?Terms of Endearment), the shared trauma of surviving multiple layoffs and an acquisition, and the casual sex that happens whenever they’re on the same coast. They first hooked up after her relationship with Hanna imploded, and it’s so nice, how not-complicated Saskia is.

Wait.

If I marry Theo, can I still hook up with Saskia?

Yes, she reasons, because nothing will change.

Theo promised.

And he’s the only person in her life who doesn’t make a promise unless he can keep it. It’s why, outside his life-changing benefits, she agreed to this ridiculous arrangement. Also because a past version of herselfwouldaccept a request as absurd as doubling her output. She has medical debt, student loans, so many bills. She needs the money, the benefits, the stability. And at least she likes her colleagues, likes putting her degree and expertise to use, likes that eighty percent of the time she works in her pajamas.

It could be so much worse, she would’ve rationalized just a week ago.

Evie has always been good at rationalizing.

“So. Off to… where, exactly?” Evie asks after Theo slides into the passenger seat of Phoebe outside Foothill Elementary. “I keep wanting to say city hall even though I know that’s wrong.”

“LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk office is a mouthful.” Theo unbuttons the sleeves of his light blue dressshirt, rolling them up to his elbows to expose toned forearms that she absolutely never notices. “But actually…”

His knee bounces, a nervous habit. Evie’s mind races with possibilities, the first and most obvious one being that he changed his mind, that he doesn’t want to go through with this. Even though it was his idea. Evie isn’t sure how she feels. Relieved? Disappointed? Resigned?

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