Saving from Monkeys by Jessie L. Star Read Free Book Online

didn't. Now I just had to remember not to call him Whale anymore…
    "Ever get the feeling you're about 10 punch-lines behind the joke?" Abi slid back down into her chair and pulled Jonah down next to her before looking between us with a confused smile. "Because I have to say I was sort of hoping you'd meet each other and the word 'vomit' wouldn't come up."
    Oh, bless her little cotton socks, she hadn't clocked.
    I didn't look at Elliot, honestly I didn't know whether I could without 'vomit' entering the equation again, but with a flick of my eyes and a slight raise of my eyebrows I told my best friend all she needed to know.
    "Oh! You're…? Shit!" She exclaimed, looking across at Elliot and then clapping a hand to her mouth as she realised she'd spoken out loud.
    "You've probably picked that up from Rox here," Elliot nudged my knee as i f there were a multitude of Roxs in the vicinity and he needed to indicate which one he meant. My leg gave a little twitch where he'd touched me and I crossed it away from him. "She might call me shit, but I usually go by Elliot."
    His voice was dry, but not unfriendly. He was clearly on his best behaviour, which I guess I understood when your friend was a behemoth who could knock you ten ways to Tuesday if you upset his girlfriend.
    "Right, of course." Abi was really gunning for a gold medal in the category of 'flustered'. "Hi, Elliot."
    I felt bad for Abigail, I really did. I mean, there she was all nervously looking forward to meeting her boyfriend's best friend, hoping to make a good impression and be given the all important seal of approval, when in walked her best friend's nemesis.
    "T ough spot to be in, hey?" Elliot was speaking again and, dammit, he was verbalising my thoughts, I hated it when he did that.
    Abi looked to me, as if for permission to agree with him, and then nodded.
    Just then the waitress came by to take our orders and Abi and Jonah fell over themselves to effusively thank her for the service and comment on the menu. Taking the opportunity while they were occupied, I snatched a fork up off the table and prodded Elliot's arm with it.
    "Did you do this on purpose?" I hissed as he rubbed at where I'd stabbed him and looked at me with his stupid 'your nuttiness vaguely horrifies and amuses me' expression.
    "Do what?"
    "Oh , seriously." I rolled my eyes. "Do you really expect me to believe this is coincidence? What did you and Jonah do? Draw room numbers out of a hat that night and then determine that you were going to go out and sleep with the inhabitants?" I kept the fork pointed towards him as I questioned him, but it probably wasn't as threatening as I would've liked.
    He seemed to consider this for a moment and then asked, "What if the room we'd picked had guys in it?"
    I shrugged. "I guess that'd be something for you to investigate in your own time." My smirk at that pithy little reply faded away, however, as one side of his mouth quirked up and he leant in close to murmur,
    "Rox, honey, you're the last person I need to defend my sexuality to."
    And that, right there, was the problem when you slept with someone. Innuendo took on a life of its own and when your eyes accidentally flick down you know exactly what the clothing is covering. I went red, from anger I told myself crossly, and pulled away.
    "So you say," I said blithely. "You could have spent the night reciting homoerotic poetry to me for all I know."
    There was a highly charged silence and I realised I hadn't hushed my tone for that last bit, like I had for the rest of the conversation, and that Abi, Jonah, the waitress and about half the café were now staring at me.
    Awkward .
    "So, decided what you're having?" I asked over-brightly, snatching up my own menu and burying my face down into it. Abi, good friend that she was, jumped into the breach and ordered, leaving me to take a few calming breaths behind my laminate shield.
    When the waitress had all our choices jotted down on her little pad she turned to