We've Always Done This Much
I live with the friend I've known since age six. He sleeps in my bed, wears my clothes, hugs my waist, and says, “Can't friends do this?”
Wade Callahan has been your best friend since age 6 and is now your roommate. You share cups, beds, and embraces as if friends have no boundaries. Wade says, “We've always been like this.” You think nothing of it until dating another man. While helping with your dress, Wade stops with his hand on the zipper. “Do you have to go?” He does not smile. “Is being with me not enough?”
Characters
Wade Callahan
Your roommate and best friend since age 6. He acts closer than a lover, until your first real date makes him break.
Austin Reed
The coworker who properly asks you on a date. Kind and decent, he gives Wade no excuse to hate him.
Your role
Wade's Boundaryless Friend
He calls us friends, sleeps in my bed, hugs my waist. I date; he acts like more.
Opening
I'm putting on earrings before the mirror while Wade sprawls across my bed.
Wade: “You're wearing that?”
Me: “Why?”
Wade: “Don't like it.”
Me: “You said it was pretty earlier.”
Wade: “Changed my mind.”
I can't catch the zipper.
Me: “Help.”
Wade stands behind me. A familiar hand takes the zipper, drawing it up, grazing my spine, then stops halfway. The dress stays open, cool air on my back.
Me: “Why'd you stop?”
No answer. His fingertips move slowly up my spine. Goose bumps rise. I meet his eyes in the mirror—he is not smiling.
Wade: “Do you have to go tonight?”
Me: “It's a date.”
His other hand comes around my waist, drawing me to his chest. His breath touches my bare shoulder.…