Page 34 of The Write Stuff

Once the server left with our orders, Bree took the time to introduce Hayley to everybody. She wrote clean and wholesome romance despite being a lesbian, which I thought was an interesting choice given how rigid that market seemed to be. I had questions — a lot of them, actually — but I knew better than asking.

Once the server had delivered our drinks, I assumed the conversation would turn to the event. I was wrong.

Terribly wrong.

“So, what do you guys plan to do about this?” Bree asked as she leaned forward on her elbows and moved her finger between Wylie and me. I hadn’t been expecting her to go that route, so I was understandably thrown.

“Um … what are you referring to?” I asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I realized that Wylie’s cheeks had caught fire. She was blushing, just how I remembered her blushing, but now it was somehow adorable instead of grating.

Damn my mother. Why did she have to be right about absolutely everything?

“The sexual tension bubbling up at this table,” Bree replied.

I forgot about Wylie’s blushing and tried to keep my eyes from bugging out of my head. “What now?” I was certain I’d misheard her.

“Oh, that’s cute.” Bree snorted, then pulled her arm away from Brody when he tried to wrap his fingers around her wrist. “Stop.”

“We agreed to leave them alone,” Brody reminded her in a low voice.

“Yes, well, I changed my mind.”

Brody’s eyes narrowed as he studied his wife’s pretty profile. “You mean that you just said what you thought I wanted to hear and always had this particular plan of attack waiting in the wings.”

“I believe that’s what I said,” Bree agreed. She shot what she likely thought was a winning smile in my direction. I didn’t want her winning anything, though. “So … where do things stand between the two of you?” she pressed.

“As to what?” I asked, reaching for my beer. I had a feeling I knew where this was going, but I couldn’t be certain.

“As to you two being able to eat a meal together without pulling each other’s hair.”

Well, that actually wasn’t where I thought she was going. I assumed she was going to ask if something romantic was going on between us. Why I’d jumped to that conclusion was a mystery, however. Why would they think something was going on with us? Because it wasn’t. There wasn’t even a little something going on between us. We had a negative factor in that department.

“We’re fine,” I said without thinking.

Wylie shot me a narrow-eyed look.

“Right?” I prodded when she didn’t say anything.

“We’re great,” she said in a voice that couldn’t be taken as anything but sarcastic. “We’re going to hold hands around a campfire and sing Kumbaya.”

Now it was my turn to glare. “Oh, don’t turn it into a thing.”

“I’m not turning it into a thing,” she fired back. “You already turned it into a thing.”

“Oh, this is just like when you were 14, and that guy told you that Battlestar Galactica was more believable than Star Trek.”

“First off, he said that the original Battlestar Galactica, the one from the 1970s, was more believable than Star Trek: The Next Generation. Second of all, this is nothing like that. He was wrong, and I was right.”

She seemed to realize what she’d said after the fact. “Actually, you’re right. This is just like that.”

“I can’t believe somebody would say that the original Battlestar Galactica was better than Next Generation,” Nathan complained out of nowhere. “That is just utter crap. I mean, the reboot Battlestar Galactica was great. It wasn’t better than Next Generation, though.”

I thought he was done, but he continued. “Well, actually, if you look at the first season of Next Generation, that was objectively terrible. I don’t hold it against the rest of the show because they were clearly finding their footing. It’s bad, though.”

“So bad,” Brody agreed.

“They only had the original show to use as a blueprint,” Wylie argued. Her voice was soft and respectful. “While I agree that the first season isn’t great, they did a lot of world-building that season.”

“Plus, Troi’s uniform was uber hot,” Nathan added. “I mean …” He made a lewd gesture, as if working his hands around a woman’s silhouette. Then he winked at his wife. “You should consider that uniform for this Halloween.”