Page 73 of Friends with Benefits

Avia’s ascent into adulthood begins with the candle lighting at the evening Shabbat service, followed by an oneg hosted by Miriam and Mateo. It’s optional, but Evie didn’t suffer through an overnight flight not to attend any and every event that includes free food. It’s only noon, so they have time to chill. Adjust. Evie still has time to prepare for this imminent family reunion and the nonzero chance that Naomi will be there.

But first?

Her limbs need contact with a soft surface, immediately.

“Want to watch the next episode ofLove Island?” Theo asks.

Evie almost blurts,I love you. Instead, she rummages through her suitcase for sweatpants, a T-shirt, and her toiletry bag before retreating to the bathroom because travel clothes have always seen shit that clean sheets don’t deserve. Dev left a stack of folded towels on the vanity,fluffytowels, so she opts for a quick shower to wash away the stale airplane scent from her skin. When she returns to their room, Theo’s asleep on top of the duvet, dressed in clean joggers and a half-zip,Love Islandpaused on his laptop. Evie swallows. His presence on the bed accentuates howsmallit is.

Still, her bones scream,Horizontal! Now!

She listens.

Lies next to him.

When Evie gently removes his askew glasses, he stirs. “I’ll take the couch tonight.”

“Theodore.”Couchis a generous descriptor for the two-seater futon in the living room. She pictures his scrunched, contorted limbs unable to find a comfortable position. Even in his sleep, Theo’s thinking about her comfort at the expense of his own. It’s ridiculous. Evie rolls her eyes. “Don’t be weird.”

“I’m not,” Theo mumbles.

She smirks.

“Thisis weird,” he continues.

“Hmm?”

“Weird that it’s not weird, you know?”

Evie watches his chest rise and fall with each breath and her sleepy brain is back in Jacob’s kitchen, hearing words not meant for her ears. Jacob’s provocation.We both fell for women who deserve better.Theo’s response.You think I don’t know that?Evie’s reaction.You deserve her.

Her.

Someone else.

Someone who wants to be a wife.

Someone who will appreciate what a fantastic husband her best friend is.

Her body tired but her brain somehow wired, Evie rolls onto her stomach to watch the buffered episode ofLove Island, not caring that Theo will feel some kind of way that she started it without him. She doesn’t just want to watch it alone. She needs to. Because since when is this eventheirshow? When did that change? Nothing was supposed to change.

Evie starts the episode.

She’s snoring before the opening credits roll.

Evie wakes to the scream of a siren, curled around Theo’s body. Her arm draped across his torso, one leg splayed over his, what she feels right now is warm and weird.Weird that it’s not weird.Theo doesn’t move. Just holds her, his hand on her thigh as he sleeps through the noise because his body remembers the sounds of the city. She nestles into him because she’s semiconscious and she likes it, being held.

Theo holding her.

Her eyes flutter open and the room is dark.

It’s dark.

She rolls out of his arms, palming the mattress for her phone.

They overslept.

By a lot.

---