by Andy Gallo
Nico: Why?
Elisa: She didn’t say, but I think she wants to meet your boyfriend before the wedding.
Nico: So would I.
Nico tossed his phone onto the cushion next to him. Why did everything have to be a struggle? The reason he came to Philadelphia was to avoid talking about his nonexistent love life with his family. Everyone else took the hint, but not his grandmother. He loved Nonna, but she didn’t know when to stop.
He reviewed the materials from the florist. The flowers the planner had picked for the tables didn’t go with the type of reception his sister wanted. Elisa would have the final say, but he wanted to give her some different options.
The bakery wasn’t his favorite either. They felt too commercial, less family focused. Esposito’s website said they made wedding cakes, and he put a visit to their shop on tomorrow’s list of things to do.
Checking the time—five thirty—he wondered when Luke would be home. If he’d be home. Maybe his summer intern class would go out together, or the firm would take them to dinner. Either way, Nico didn’t feel right texting to ask. They were just roommates.
Roommates. He needed to remind himself of that.
Sure, there had been some startling electricity between them, but he wasn’t ready to jump into something new. Wasn’t ready to get burned by another jock so soon.
Besides, Luke still had it bad for his ex. Nico wouldn’t piss on Tomas if he was on fire. Luke would bring the fire department to help Kent.
He’d bet good money Sebastian would figure Kent out sooner rather than later. Three guesses where Kent would come running when that happened.
Way too messy.
He uncoiled himself from the couch, dragged his stiff limbs to the bedroom, and changed into his running clothes.
He tucked his right leg under him and began to stretch. A run would do him a world of good.
A bit after six thirty, Nico let his thoroughly sweaty self into the apartment. He’d have been home fifteen minutes sooner if Mrs. R hadn’t stopped to thank him for the pastries. Fifteen minutes to say what he could have said in fifteen seconds. But she was alone, so he listened with a smile. Not like he had big plans for Monday night.
He’d just gotten under the shower spray when Luke announced his return.
“I’m home.”
“How was your first day?” He almost added “dear” at the end but wasn’t sure Luke would get his humor.
“Good, bad, great, interesting, take your pick.” From the sound of his voice, Luke had entered the bathroom. “Hey, would it gross you out if I peed while you’re in there? I really need to go.”
“No, as long as I don’t see it.” He wouldn’t mind seeing it, just not while Luke was peeing.
“Really? And here I got the impression you were into that kind of kink.”
Before Nico could poke his head out of the curtain, he heard the telltale sound that kept him behind the opaque vinyl sheet. “I don’t know where you get your information, Mr. DeRosa, but it is sorely lacking.”
His southern belle voice laced with a New York accent earned him the desired laugh.
“Yes, Ms. Scarlett.” The toilet flushed, and Nico thought he heard Luke leave. The voice from the bedroom confirmed it. “Did you go for a run?”
“Oh, shit,” he whispered. He’d left his sweaty clothes all over the floor. “Sorry, I didn’t expect you back.”
“I figured.” Luke sounded closer. “How was it?”
“It’s a work in progress.” He rinsed the last of the soap from his body. “I need to find a route with fewer lights. And a better time to go. Too many people on the sidewalk.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.”
Nico shut off the water and pulled back the curtain. The door closed as he reached for his towel.
After drying off and combing his hair, Nico wrapped the towel around his waist. When he exited the bathroom, Luke was in the bedroom pulling on a T-shirt.
“Sorry again.” Nico scooped up his sweaty clothes and stuffed them into a laundry bag.
“No worries, really.” Luke carefully put his suit pants through the hanger, his back to Nico. “How’d day one of being a wedding planner go?”
“Pretty good. I don’t like the bakery the last planner chose, and I’m pretty sure my sister won’t like the flowers.”
“That’s a good day?” Luke hung his suit in the closet. “Sounds like the old planner did a crap job.”
“More a matter of taste.” He shucked the towel and stepped into clean boxer briefs. “I know Elisa better. The venue is top-notch, and the band will be fine. They know all the Italian favorites and promise to play the Tarantella. Not that my family has any idea how to actually do the folk dance. They just hold hands and dance around in a circle.”
“That’s more than I’d know to do. I’ve never heard of it.” Luke turned around and paused, bottom lip dropping. After a few seconds, he blinked. “I guess it wasn’t such a bad day.”
Nico thought Luke started to blush, but it could’ve been the lighting in the bedroom. “Nope, not bad, but I’m worried I won’t have much to do most of the summer. There isn’t that much work to do.”
Luke’s gaze skittered over Nico’s length like a feather. Nico shivered, and Luke quickly pinned his eyes to a point over Nico’s shoulder. “So what’ll you do? Go home?”
In a world only Nico lived in, he heard disappointment in Luke’s voice at the thought of Nico leaving. He pulled a black T-shirt over his head. “No way. Maybe I’ll get a part-time job. I’m sure someone will vouch for my bakery bona fides.”
“You’d work for the enemy?”
“Pfft. Enemy Shemeny. Philadelphia and New York are different worlds. But I doubt anyone would hire me for ten weeks.” Searching through his bags, he found some shorts. “Oh, I ordered the air mattress today. Should be here by the end of the week.”
“End of the week?” Clearly not what Luke expected.
Nico winced, playing with the cords of his shorts. “I couldn’t find any sellers on Amazon Prime for the one I wanted. And from the three sellers that had it in stock, anything other than standard shipping was thirty dollars and up. I couldn’t justify paying that for a seventy-five-dollar mattress.”
“Wow, that is a lot.” Luke eyed the bed. “No biggie. I haven’t noticed any encroaching violations so far.”
“Yeah, me neither.” The bed was so big, he’d have trouble touching Luke even if he tried.
“Seriously, that’s fine. I mean, I appreciate not having to kick in anything. I sure as hell don’t have fifty dollars to throw away.”
Nico breathed out a silent sigh. “Cool.”
“I’m going to go check my email.”
“Gotcha. Be out in a second.”
Luke
Kent: Why didn’t you meet me for lunch?
Luke: In case you missed it, we’re not dating anymore.
Kent: So we’re not friends either?
Luke: IDK. Are you going to explain how you’ve been dating Seb for three months?
“Fucker.” Luke squeezed the phone to stop himself from throwing it against the wall.
It shouldn’t surprise him. That was Kent’s way. Deflect and ignore. He’d done it enough when they were dating, but Luke hadn’t really thought it through. Until now.
“Something wrong?” Nico padded barefoot into the kitchen.
“The usual.” He shrugged. “Kent.”
“Ah.” He seemed to want to say more but didn’t.
Probably wanted to remind Luke he’d suggested blocking Kent. Why hadn’t he barred Kent from calling? Now more than ever, it was a one-sided relationship. Nico was right. He should’ve given the jerk the wrong intern info.
“So can you explain why your day was ‘good, bad, great, and interesting?’” Nico crossed his arms and leaned against the thin wall that separated the kitchen from the rest of the apartment.
“Hmm, let’s see.” Luke stood and dropped the phone on the couch in case Kent
responded. He didn’t care what answer he gave, it would probably be a lie. “Good equals getting there on time, checking in without a problem, and finding my mentor before the orientation started.”
“Definitely good.” Nico pushed off the wall and took the three steps back into the kitchen. “I’m making lemon chicken, rice, and broccoli if you’d like to eat with me.”
“Sounds so much better than a cup of noodles. How can I help? I’m not a total loss in the cooking department if I know what to do.”
“No?”
“Nope.”
“Hmm. And I was so sure you preferred giving orders to taking them.” Meeting Luke’s gaze, eyes twinkling with humor, Nico slid over the broccoli and cutting board. “Can you cut that into florets?”
Luke smiled. “I’m a pro at cutting and chopping.”
“Perfect. And if you promise not to cut yourself, I can show you how simple it is to make the chicken.”
“Scout’s honor.” He held up the first three fingers of his right hand. “Heck, if I come home and can make chicken, my mom won’t know who I am.”
“We all grow up at some point.” Nico put a small pan on the stove. “Four tablespoons of butter and three tablespoons of soy sauce. Set the burner on the lowest setting.”
Luke stopped cutting to take mental notes.
“Put the chicken breasts in a baking dish and season with lemon pepper.” He sprinkled the meat until both sides were covered.
“You had them do something to the chicken when we ordered it. What was that?”
Nico held up one finger. “Right. Thin-sliced breast cooks faster and more evenly.”
“I’m still amazed you can do all this.” Luke went back to chopping while Nico swirled the contents of the pan. “I mean, my mom’s a good cook, but to hear Dad talk, the early years were not so edible.”
“Your mom cooked and all you can manage is stuff from a box?”
“I, ah, didn’t have a lot of time to watch her.” He kept his eyes on the broccoli, avoiding Nico’s eyes. “If I wasn’t at school, I helped take care of my sister.”
“Oh wow, sorry for being so snarky. How are things now that you’re away at school?”
“They’re managing okay.” Luke finally looked at Nico. “Rosalie is old enough now that she doesn’t need as much attention as before.”
“Gotcha.” He opened a cabinet, pulled out a round bottle, and showed it to Luke. “The most important part to great lemon chicken.”
Luke snorted. “What’s that? Some super-secret Amato sauce or something?”
“Hardly. It’s called Lemon Goddess dressing. The chicken tastes so much better than if you just use the lemon pepper.” Nico shook the bottle quickly and then poured some over the chicken. “I believe you were explaining your day and stopped at good.”
“Right.” He put the chopped vegetables in a bowl and watched Nico cover the chicken in the butter-soy sauce. “Bad because Kent wanted to talk during the break. Great because the partner I’ll be working with pulled me aside before Kent could talk to me. And interesting because I’m one of only a few interns that was assigned a partner.”
“Really? Did everyone else have to share a mentor?”
“No, most people were assigned senior associates.” One of them being Kent.
“And what is Mr. Partner like?”
“From my one whole day of working for him, Mr. Rayner seems super nice. He’s shown me a few things already for projects he wants me to work on.”
“That’s awesome.” Nico held out his fist and sounded more excited than Luke. “Sounds like they know who the superstars are already.”
“I don’t know about that, but I’ve heard more than a few people are jealous.” Including Kent. “I also don’t think I should read too much into it. From my conversations with Mr. Rayner, he’s been mentoring interns since he was an associate and enjoys it. I think it was just random placement that landed me with him.”
“Still, having the ears and eyes of a partner can’t hurt your chances.” Nico continued to smile.
“Probably true.” So long as he didn’t screw up.
Luke pushed back from the table, almost too full to move. “That was amazing.”
“Better than mac and cheese from a box?” Nico’s phone buzzed on the table near him. He leaned over and read the screen.
“Way better. I feel like I’m at home.”
“Right.” Nico stood and grabbed their plates. “Home.”
Luke almost grabbed Nico’s phone to look at the message as his friend walked to the sink. Whatever he’d read flattened his mood.
“Everything okay?”
“Huh?” Nico turned on the water and glanced over.
“I asked if you’re okay. You read something on your phone and now you look . . . different.”
“That? No, everything’s fine.” He rinsed off the plates and put them in the dishwasher. “My sister isn’t coming down this weekend. Her fiancé is going to New York.”
Luke carried the serving dishes into the kitchen. “Oh, no. Mrs. R isn’t going to get the world-famous Amato Pastry Sampler you promised her.”
“No, she’ll get them. I’m supposed to go up too.” Nico continued to clean in silence.
“Okay, now I know something is wrong.”
Nico stopped and looked over. “What?”
“You’re washing the pots.” He pointed at the soapy baking dish in Nico’s hands. “You said the plan was you cook, I clean.”
“I was only kidding about that. Besides, you helped cook.”
“What’s going on?” What was it Nico had said? Amato men never asked for help. “Can I help?”
Nico sighed. “Um . . . maybe.”
Luke leaned against the counter so Nico couldn’t avoid him.
“Nothing’s wrong, it’s just . . .” Nico stared hard at Luke, a tiny frown creasing his brow. Something flashed in his eyes, and his cheeks colored. Nico fidgeted with the sponge and hummed. “Remember when I said I might call in the favor from yesterday?”
Luke’s stomach lurched. “Uh-huh.”
“Well, I . . . the thing is.” Nico put the sponge down and wiped his hands on the towel. “First, if you can’t, it’s not a problem. I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything.”
“Nico.” Luke grabbed him by the shoulders. He’d never seen Nico so flustered. “Just spit it out.”
“Nonna wants me to come home for a family dinner.”
Luke rolled his hand in between them. “And?”
“They want me to bring my boyfriend.”
Nico
Nonna: Will you and your boyfriend be coming Friday evening or Saturday morning?
Of course Nonna assumed he’d come up. It was never a question. The boyfriend thing slapped him in the face, though. He never should have told Nonna he was dating anyone.
He never should have thought it would work out with Tomas.
“Your boyfriend?” Luke leaned against the counter with casual, easy grace, crossing his arms. “But you don’t have a boyfriend.”
“She thinks you’re the guy I was dating last semester.” Nico flashed him an embarrassed grin. “I never told her his name.”
Luke cocked his head, piecing the unspoken question together, probably.
Nico flushed. “Nonna wants to have a family dinner now that Elliott and I are finished with school.”
Which wasn’t totally accurate. This was a thinly veiled way to meet Nico’s boyfriend.
Confusion colored Luke’s voice. “Your family thinks we’re dating?”
“Not all of them. Elisa knows you’re just a friend I’m staying with. I never told my parents or grandparents Tomas and I broke up. I guess they assume that because I’m staying with someone from Harrison, he’s my boyfriend.”
“You guess?”
“Okay, I know.” Nico glanced at his feet. “I might not have corrected their assumption. Seemed easier at the time. I didn’t know she’d expect my ‘boyfriend’ to come
up for the weekend.”
He avoided looking at Luke.
Luke remained quiet for a few beats and then chuckled gruffly.
Nico looked up to Luke running a hand through his hair. “Having let Kent assume you were my boyfriend yesterday, I get it.” Luke managed a sheepish smile. “But why don’t you tell them you broke up with him?”
“I love them to death, but Nonna likes to meddle in our lives. As the baby of my family, I’m the last one left for her to guide. I’m not interested in dating anyone after Tomas. I just need a break. But if she finds out I’m single, she’s going to kick her efforts into high gear, because I need to bring someone to the wedding. That, and I’m getting older now.”
“You’re getting older, or she’s getting older?” Luke raised an eyebrow, and boy, if it didn’t send heat racing through him. He gritted his teeth against the unneeded attraction.
“Both?” Nico laughed, but Luke had touched on part of the reason. His nonna was getting old, and he just wanted her to see him happy. Even if he had to lie to make it happen.
Nico glanced up at the ceiling. “I shouldn’t have asked you.”
“You haven’t, yet. Exactly.” Luke leaned in enough for Nico to catch a hint of citrus and soap and sweat. He gulped in a lungful. “But you should.”
A funny thrill raced over Nico’s skin, and he straightened, roommate, jock, this-is-just-a-favor a mantra in his mind. “Will you pretend to be my boyfriend and come home with me?”
Luke failed to hide a grin and motioned for them to start cleaning. “Tell about me next weekend.”
Nico wasn’t sure if that was a yes or if Luke needed more details before deciding. “We’d take the train up in the morning, dinner, stay at my parents’ Saturday night—you’d have your own room, because . . . well, because.”