Page 11 of Tough Guy
“On the chair,” Fabian said helpfully. He wanted Claude to leave so he could take a shower. He was more than ready to wash the sins—and residual glitter—of last night away.
Claude stopped grumpily throwing his clothes on and reached for Fabian. Fabian sighed, and stepped into his embrace. “We can keep doing this,” Claude said in that infuriatingly sexy voice. “It can just be casual.”
“Ican’tkeep doing this,” Fabian said. “It isn’t what I want. We have to stop.”
“You say that, but...”
He shook his head. “I mean it. I’ll see you around, all right?”
Claude stepped back, and gave him an obnoxious, knowing grin. “I am sure you will.”
Fabian cursed himself after Claude shut the door behind him. He hadfinallybroken things off for good with Claude, and then he’d run into Ryan goddamned Price of all fucking people. Like, what the fuck, universe?Hi, Fabian. Remember that hockey player you were obsessed with when you were seventeen? Well, here he is! And he’s a giant, sexy lumberjack wet dream now!
Not that seeing Ryan had anything to do with sleeping with Claude again.
Okay, Fabian pledged to himself as he stepped into the dingy shower stall,no more Claude. No more thinking about Ryan Price. Just music, and normal, healthy things from now on.
Fabian’s friends had a semi-regular Sunday tradition that they affectionately called Bargain Brunch. The three major components were: frozen waffles, cheap skin masks from the drugstore, and gossip. Everyone brought a topping that they thought would elevate the frozen waffles to haute cuisine. After the week Fabian had been having, friends and facials were exactly what the doctor ordered.
He hit the buzzer on the door to an apartment that was next to the door for a vape shop and heard footsteps bounding down the stairs immediately. When the door opened, he was greeted by a very enthusiastic Vanessa.
“Fabian! Yay!” she said, and threw her arms around him.
Fabian laughed and hugged her back. “Miss me since last night?”
“You smell like Claude.”
“Fuck off. No I don’t.”
“You do. You smell like cigarettes and condescension.”
“Shut up.”
Bargain Brunch was hosted by Vanessa, Marcus, and Tarek, who lived platonically together in a two-bedroom apartment they had converted into a three-bedroom apartment.Convertedwas perhaps too fancy a word for it: the living room was also Marcus’s bedroom. Vanessa led Fabian up the stairs and through the front door that opened directly into the living room/Marcus’s bedroom. Fabian slid his backpack off as he made his way to the futon where Marcus and Tarek were both sitting already.
“What did you bring?” Tarek asked.
“Pears.”
“And...”
Fabian pulled four thin packets out of his backpack. “Face masks! I have clay, avocado, sea kelp, and, uh...oh, grapefruit.” He spread them out on the coffee table like playing cards.
“What does sea kelp do?” Marcus asked.
“Moisturizes, nutrifies, and makes you glow like Zendaya,” Fabian said, with all the authority of someone who worked in the cosmetics section of a Savers Drug Mart.
“Sold.” Marcus leaned forward and snatched the sea kelp mask. He really didn’t need any help glowing; his dark skin was flawless.
Vanessa emerged from the kitchenette with four mugs, which she lined up on the coffee table. Marcus jumped up and went to the fridge to retrieve a container of orange juice, and a chilled bottle of Baby Duck Canadian “champagne.”
“The kettle is boiling for tea and coffee,” Vanessa said. She dropped into the worn-out armchair opposite the futon, draping one leg over the arm. “Mimosa me, Marcus.”
Marcus carefully filled the mugs with Baby Duck and orange juice, and distributed them. Fabian had barely taken a sip before Vanessa said, “I can’t believe you fucked Claude again.”
Fabian narrowed his eyes at her. “Moment of weakness,” he grumbled.
“I thought he was moving back to Montreal,” Tarek said.
