Page 54 of Sean's Sunshine
“You’re not talking,” he muttered. “You’re almost always talking, even if you can barely breathe. Why aren’t you talking?”
Sean shrugged and smiled ruefully. “Just wishing I was in any shape to be out in the cold and the dark, right?”
Billy scowled. “I know, and I’m not happy that you want to be out with them. They’re crazy. You know that, right? Rivers is a hero—we all know it—but he’s certi-fuckin’-fiable. And Henry’s like his mini-me. No, I’m super glad you’re here and trying really hard not to ask me why there’s no potatoes tonight.”
“Why aren’t there potatoes tonight?” Sean asked.
“’Cause my skinny jeans are getting tight,” Billy replied with a scowl. “Ugh. This calorie diary is for shit when you keep saying, ‘I’m Polish! I need starch!’ You do not. That’s like me saying I’m Mexican and I need beans. It’s a hurtful stereotype, so no potatoes.”
Sean scowled at him. “I’ve seen the stats. Your people live longer than mine because beans and rice form a perfect protein,andit helps you poop. Maybe now that you’re talking to your family again, you should get some recipes from your mother and we’ll both be happy.”
To his surprise, Billy’s face split into a huge smile, so bright and so shining that he immediately had to ruin it by putting his hand in front of his mouth. “I can, right? I… I used tolongfor my mommy’s cooking after I left home, and now I can ask her or, you know, my sisters.”
The smiled died abruptly, and Billy dropped his hand.
“At least until somebody finds out what I did for a living.” He blinked. “Do. Did. Fuck.” Now he covered his eyes. “I’m so confused! I’m supposed to shoot a scene next week! What do I tell John?”
Sean sighed. “Nothing right now,” he said. “Right now eat your sad chicken and veggies with no potatoes and go visit your friends while I sneak cookies from the pantry and watchTheBlack Phone.”
Billy swallowed, and then Sean watched him do what Sean was telling him to: to wait until he could think clearly and to do what must be done in the now.
“You will not watchThe Black Phonewithout me,” he said. “We’ve been planning to watch that movie together for a week!”
“You could always watch it with the flophouse, and we could compare notes,” Sean suggested.
Billy shook his head adamantly. “No. You and me, watching it together. Promise.”
Sean rolled his eyes but was secretly warmed. “Sure. Fine. I can’t watch our cop show, I can’t watch the movie—should I sit here with the lights off and stare into the dark, pining for you?”
Billy snorted. “No, you’re going to watch the movies that your ex-douchebag stole from you when you were in the hospital and I spent an hour setting up in the streaming services. You’re welcome. Just….” He paused and bit his lip. “I, uhm, like watching stuff with you. Don’t… don’t—”
Sean gave him a lopsided grin. “Won’t watch those things without you,” he said softly. “Don’t worry. I, uhm, like watching stuff with you too.”
Billy grinned again. “Yeah, this is all sweet and gooey and stuff, but I give you a week or two before you can run laps again, and suddenly all you want to do is work out.”
Sean snorted. “How stupid do you think I am? If I’m running laps, you and me are having some sex!”
Billy’s throaty laughter warmed him from the toes up, and filled him too.
Better than potatoes, hands down.
SEAN WAShalfway throughBaby Driver, and texting Billy another effusive thank-you for streaming all his favorite movies, when there was a knock at his door.
It took him a minute to get up and answer it, and he chided himself for growing used to Billy waiting on him at the same time he wished Billy were there now. It didn’t matter what people were selling—cleaning products, magazines, religion—Billy’s acid tongue and give-no-fucks attitude usually had them hauling ass to another neighborhood in one or two sentences, and Sean really envied that ability sometimes.
He especially envied that ability when he opened the door and saw Jesse standing there.
God, that man was still good-looking.
Tall, with salt-and-pepper temples, Jesse was one of those men who proved that whiskey and steak weren’t the only things that could get tastier with age.
But that didn’t mean Sean’s mouth watered when he saw who was standing on his porch.
“What?” he asked, eyes narrow and expression flat and unfriendly.
“Hey,” Jesse said, giving a sort of sheepish smile and jiggling the grocery bag in his hand. “I, uh, realized that, uh, I maybe confused some of your movies with mine when I left. I thought I’d bring them back.”
Sean grabbed the bag from Jesse and realized that, in addition totwoDVDs when Sean knew Jesse had taken at least ten, there was also a six-pack of beer, a quart of Jim Beam, and a box of lubricated condoms.
