Chapter 57: Matt

It was difficult not to listen to Renee and Jake fucking in the next room. Even with a pair of headphones on and a book in my hand there was no escaping the moans of two people clearly in love. As I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, I wondered if I had been able to give Renee the same amount of pleasure that Jake was so evidently offering her. Did she enjoy us all the same, or was one of us superior to the other? She would never tell us, not for all the money in the world, but I knew we all wondered about it just the same. As the years passed, insecurities grew. She claimed to love us all the same, but sometimes I wondered. I knew that Jake and Aaron did, too.

Wondering what my friend had gotten up to, I whipped out my cell phone and sent him a text message, asking where he was at. With my luck, maybe he was somewhere I could meet him for a drink or three. God knew I needed it. Anything was better than sitting around here listening to my other best friend fuck my girlfriend. Or, more specifically, our girlfriend.

Aaron texted me back in less than a minute, letting me know that he was on his way home from downtown, but that if I wanted a drink he could meet me at the pub down the road, the one not far from our house. I texted back a quick response, relieved to be out of the vicinity of all the hot and heavy lovemaking in the next room. I yanked on a pair of sneakers, grabbed a hoodie from my closet, and sneaked out of the bedroom, hoping I wouldn’t draw attention to myself. As luck would have it, both Renee and Jake sounded far too distracted with each other’s body parts to hear me sneak out of the house.

Since the pub wasn’t far, just a few blocks, I walked there despite the hovering darkness. I knew the neighborhood well. Renee, Jake, Aaron, and I found this house quickly after making that decision five years ago to stay together and make it work. It was a quiet neighborhood just outside of the hustle and bustle of the city, not far from either the hospital for Renee or the fire station for me. And while the house was the perfect size for the four of us, occasionally the thought flitted across my mind of something else, something more. What about children? Nothing of the sort had ever been discussed. Renee was on birth control and that’s how it had always been. But what if? What if someday one of us wanted to grow this family? I certainly wasn’t about to step up and demand anything; I was quite content where we were. But what about Jake or Aaron? What about Renee? Would that ever happen? Would we ever even be able to discuss it?

Sometimes, I felt like our life was just going around in circles with no real reward in sight. But maybe that was normal. Maybe Renee was the reward and we could expect to all grow old together, wrinkly and gray and still trying to fuck each other like college kids.

Snickering at the thought, I arrived at the pub and pulled open the door, spotting Aaron almost at once up at the bar counter already cradling a beer. He’d ordered mine, too, and he nodded once at me as I slid onto the empty stool next to him.

“Thanks for meeting me here first,” I said. “I’m not sure if either of us wants to be home right now.”

“Jake?” Aaron asked, and I nodded my confirmation.

“It sounds like they’re having a hell of a time.”

“I can only imagine.” Aaron raised the bottle to his lips and took a long swig before setting it back down, his eyes downcast, his expression unreadable. Almost forlorn, if I could have guessed.

“What have you been up to?” I asked, taking a drink. “You missed a rather interesting dinner that Jake insisted on putting together for Renee.”

“Thank God for that, huh?” Aaron said with a chuckle. I turned to look at my friend, wishing I could figure out what he was thinking. He seemed—detached almost like he was here physically but not mentally.

“You’re not wrong,” I said, forcing a chuckle as I waved the bartender down. “How about something stronger? You look like you could use it.”

Aaron shrugged, giving me the go-ahead, and I ordered him a scotch on the rocks and myself a whisky. None of us were super heavy drinkers, but hey, we were off work with nothing to do and nowhere to go until Jake and Renee decided to wrap up their extracurricular activities. Sometimes, a stiff drink made it easier to swallow.

“Okay, man,” I said, elbowing my friend in the ribs as he took a drink of his scotch. “I’ve known you for far too long to pretend that nothing is going on with you. I know shit has been rocky recently, but fuck it. What’s going on? What’s with the attitude?”

For a long moment, I didn’t think Aaron would actually tell me. It had been a long time since any of us had sat down and confided in each other about our woes. But Aaron was my best friend, and I wasn’t about to let this fly. He’d do the same for me.

“It’s nothing bad,” he said, swirling the liquid around in his glass. “In fact, it’s good.”

“Then why do you look like someone kicked your fucking puppy?”

“We don’t have a puppy.”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

“I know.”

“So what is it, man?”

Aaron sighed. “My artwork is being seen, Matt,” he said, finally lifting his eyes from the bar counter to look at me. “I mean, it’s really and truly being seen.”

“That’s great, isn’t it?” I asked, feeling mildly guilty about the topic of conversation. For as long as I could remember, Jake and I had given him such a hard time about his hobby, his passion. It had only been teasing, of course, but the more I considered it, the more I realized it probably shattered him a little bit every time we gave him a hard time. Aaron was a sensitive soul, and Jake and I could be dicks.

“It’s great,” he reaffirmed, and I offered him a grin that I hoped he saw was as genuine as I meant it to be. “I actually had an agent scout me out,” he continued, and this bit of information caught me off guard.

“Like, an agent for your work?”

“Yeah, dude.”

“Aaron, that’s fantastic!” I turned in the stool so that I was facing him, elated that my best friend had such good news to share.

“That’s where I was tonight, meeting her.”

“Her?” I repeated. “A girl? Is she hot?”

“Yes,” Aaron said, a bit smugly. “But that’s not the point.”

“Of course not,” I agreed with a smirk. “Continue.”

“She told me that if everything went well at the art gala this weekend, she’d like to sign me on as a client.”

“Unbelievable,” I said, slapping my friend on the back. “I’m proud of you, dude.”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said. “I—I’m proud of me, too. I hope it will be successful.”

“Of course it will be,” I insisted. “Renee is going, yeah? What about Jake and me? Are we invited too?”

Aaron paused for a beat longer than I felt necessary before responding. “Of course you’re both invited,” he said. “But I can’t guarantee you’ll have much fun. These things are supposed to be pretty boring.”

“We’re your best friends,” I reminded him. “Isn’t it kind of our job to support you?”

“Yeah,” he said with a nod, and a small smile lit on his lips. “That’s true. Thanks, man. I really appreciate your support.”

“Anytime, my dude.” I kicked back the rest of my drink and slammed my hand down on the bar counter. “Now, what should I wear for this shindig?”