Evander was either much drunker than him, or cared much less about expressing himself. Probably the latter. He was continually bouncing between his phone and his journal, jotting down notes, crossing more out, and flashing different inspiration pics to Ozzy. “I know this is completely too much to actually do, okay? So don’t go off and assume I’ve lost my shit here. Just think about thevibeson this one, okay?”
He shoved his phone over and went back to his journal, but his eyes kept flicking back up.
Ozzy looked at the picture and actually smiled. It was a garish patio setup to be certain, all bright, floral-patterned pillows and pale woods, lots of wicker, and little crystalline lampshades that broke the light up into a rainbow of colors that washed over the picture.
“I’m going to need an explainer on the vibe you’re talking about because this looks almost exactly opposite of everything we’ve been working with.”
Evander rolled his eyes and shuffled closer. Very close. Right up against Ozzy, almost leaning into him as he pointed to his screen. “Ignore the colors and shit. But don’t ignore the patterns totally. Just imagine they’re better patterns with deeper colors. But lots of lights all around, and a really intimate layout with the furniture and the potted plants and everything. Turns it into a little oasis, almost.”
Ozzy tilted his head to the side. “I guess. I might need to see it in person before I can really make heads or tails of it.” He stared a little longer, trying to ignore the fact that Evander had never backed up, instead just sliding his journal over and chicken-scratching some more notes to himself. Instead, he really tried to imagine the picture translated into something that would work on this project.
“Damn.” Ozzy shook his head. “Double damn, actually.”
“Double damn. Don’t strain yourself, there.”
Ozzy just snorted.
Ev sighed. “What is it?”
And maybe it was the drinks, but Ozzy was just okay enough with letting him know the problem that it spilled out. “The first damn is because I think you might have a point, and it’s not something I would have thought of.”
“Howterrible. Can’t imagine a worse outcome.”
Ozzy pushed forward without response. “Theseconddamn is because of those fucking rose bushes.” He gestured to a row of small bougainvillea bushes helping to hem in the outdoor living space in the picture. “They would be absolutely perfect here, but because of all this secrecy and surprise nonsense…we have to put out a worse product just to appease the whims of these rich sons of bitches, and I can’t say anything because that fucks up the job for everybody, and I may be a douche, but I’m notthatbig of a douche.”
Ev grabbed his hand and massaged it. “If it helps, I don’t think you’re, like, an irredeemable douchebag or anything.”
Ozzy pulled his hand away because it was too nice, and they were both too drunk for anything that felt so nice to be okay. They couldn’t do this stuff sober because of the consequences, so theydamnsure wouldn’t be even flirting with the edges of it while they were impaired.
But he also gave Ev’s hand a pat before full pulling back. “Thanks. You’re not irredeemable either. Just a pain in the ass. But a tolerable one.”
“Oh now you can tolerate a little pain in the ass? Are you into spanking now? I think I brought that up when we were dating and you pretty summarily shut me down.”
The liquor almost let Ozzy’s tongue slip—he had actually acquired a bit of a taste for some light spanking along the way—but he caught himself. “I think we’ve had as fruitful a meeting as we’re going to. You are drunker than a skunk and need to get to bed, and I need to work off all that greasy-ass food we just scarfed.” He caught the server’s eye and waved her over.
Evander closed up his notebook and grabbed his phone, almost dumping both of them to the floor in the process. Actually, he would have, if Ozzy hadn’t caught them.
Ev nodded. “Thanks. Maybe should have had one less Long Island.”
“Luckily the drive’s not too long.”
Evander snorted a laugh, but before he could say anything, the server came over. He dug out his wallet and handed her his card.
Ozzy did the same, and she made quick work of taking their payments.Probably happy to get us out of her hair. He’d left her a good tip, since she’d put up with their drunken nonsense the whole night.
As they walked back out into the lobby, Ev stumbled, arms wheeling and feet slipping.
Ozzy reached out for anything he could get a hand on. His fingers latched onto the back of Evander’s belt and pulled him back up…for a second. Then Ev’s weight and momentum carried Ozzy down too. They’d slowed, but they both hit the floor and skidded, a tangle of arms and legs and not nearly enough space between the two of them for Ozzy’s comfort. Evander smelled like liquor, and like fry grease, and more than a little like lemon, but his cologne broke through that as well, floral and bright.
They stayed in the weird, drunken knot for a few seconds. Then Evander laughed. Loud, as if he wasn’t directly in Ozzy’s face and deafening him. “Shit. That was embarrassing.”
“We can agree on that, too.” Slowly, careful not to touch Ev more than was necessary, he extricated himself from the tangle and got to his feet. “You think you can make it back to your hotel room intact?”
“Honestly?” Evander sat up, but only made it to being cross-legged, not fully upright.
“Yeah. Honesty is supposed to be your whole schtick, right?”
He nodded with a grin. “I’m not making it back tostandingon my own tonight. Back to the room is out of the question.”
