Page 75 of Friends with Benefits

“—but it pays the bills. Inspiration walks through the door every night. I canmusic.”

“Still performing?” Theo asks.

“Writing, mostly. Producing a bit.”

“Cool.”

“Slippery People is due for a comeback.”

Two-Drink Evie snorts. “Slippery People?”

“His band,” Theo says.

Topher throws his arm around Theo. “Ourband.”

“Fuck off.” Evie laughs, loud. “Theo wasn’t in a band.”

“Cohen.” Topher’s eyes are puppy-dog wounded. “She doesn’t know about Slippery People?”

“It wasoneopen mic.”

“An iconic open mic. We made Billy Joel fuckingpunk. People are still talking about it.”

“Are you people?”

“I am people.”

Evie is just tipsy enough that her jaw drops, her mouth forming a perfect O. Theo shrugs sheepishly, and she tries to imagine it. She isn’t listening to the conversation, instead processing information about her best friend that she doesn’t already know. Theo in a band. Theo singing.Since when?It has no right to hurt as much as it does, this reminder that he had a whole life in New York, that there’s thisgapin their friendship. Evie didn’t know New York Theo. Not really. After the Topher Incident, there was a shift. Imperceptible at first. Missed calls. ReschedulingSurvivor. Insisting to each other that they’re fine.Just busy.Now she thinks of the college years, the physical (and not-so-physical) distance between them as a blip. But in this moment? Learning about Slippery People?

It feels more like a chasm.

It’s not fair. But in college, Evie had a whole life, too.

Without him.

So.

“I should get back,” Topher says, disrupting her spiral by drumming his knuckles on the table before taking a step backward. “But really, it’s good to see you both. I’m glad it worked out.” His smile is genuine as he nods at the ring on her finger, then turns to Theo and claps his back. “Took you long enough.”

Topher walks away.

Took you long enough.

Four words have never felt more loaded.

Evie pushes the last tiny glass filled with liquid courage toward Theo. “Slippery People…?”

“Isn’t a real thing.”

“What did you sing?”

Theo winces, then picks up the shot. “‘Piano Man.’”

“No.”

“I’m so serious.”

“You made ‘Piano Man’… punk? I wish I was there.”

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