David and Michael clanked their beer bottles together celebrating the complete and refurbished upstairs bath. The new black and white ceramic tile on the floor and up the walls gleamed. The redone plumbing and electrical worked perfectly. Michael stretched out the kinks in his back the new toilet put there and drank down his beer in large gulps. They were sitting in the common room, watching a baseball game.
"Okay, that only took two weeks," Michael said putting his bottle on the coffee table.
"Bathrooms and kitchens take the longest time," David mused. "And the most money."
Michael let out a long mournful groan, "Gah, money. I feel like all we do is spend, spend, spend!"
David choked back a laugh. "You sound like my mother."
Michael rolled his eyes and flipped open his laptop. He downloaded his email and wrote a quick, naughty message to Belinda. He grinned wickedly as he hit the Send button. They often traded flirty to explicit comments, and Michael (who hadn't seen her in three days) sent a particularly blatant and unflowery message leaving little to the imagination.
She leaned over the back of the sofa, listening to a game between theβ¦ Devil Rays? Her brow furrowed in frustration as who ever was calling the play by play was not describing the action very well. She couldn't form the picture in her mind. And who are these Devil Rays and why are they playing the Red Sox in May? She watched the young man, David, drink his beer, and she pined for the bitter taste. She hated beer, but to taste anythingβ¦
She heard the call of a 2-2 count, the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd and the excitement in the announcer. A home run!
David stood and cheered and she wrapped her arms about his broad torso in celebration.
"What?" Michael asked as he rushed back over. He saw the replay of the ball sailing over the right field wall and stamped his foot in disgust. "Aw fuck," he moaned. "That pitcher is on my fantasy team!"
David fell back into the sofa as if knocked off balance.
"How many beers have you had, dude?" Michael chided.
David looked around, "Not near enough to fall over yet." He added a lie, "Must have tripped on something." He felt a pair of soft arms around him. He was sure of it.
"Uh-huh. Hey, I got another email form Sam." Michael announced. "Sent me pics of the cabinets he built."
Michael handed over his laptop.