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  Russell ground his teeth together. Leave it to his best friend to come in like nothing happened. The man couldn't address a thing, not even an envelope.

  He put the bags down and pulled off his jacket. "Just the few miles I drove exhausted me."

  Russell focused on Lauren. She stared down at the blanket fingering the satin edge. "Try it in rush hour."

  "Touché." Jason kicked off his shoes and reached down in the bags. "I think what I meant to say was the Valley wasn't the same without you." He stood up to reveal a bouquet of flowers and a six-pack of imported German beer.

  Lauren glanced at him and then to Jason.

  Jason held the flowers out to her.

  "Thank you." Lauren took them and put her nose in the center.

  "Sorry I bailed, but maybe I needed to I find out where I needed to be." Jason handed him the beer.

  Russell nodded and grabbed the bottles. This was meant for him, Jason preferred Japanese beer.

  Jason reached in his pocket, handed him a bottle opener and motioned toward his side of the bed. "May I join you for cold spaghetti and a hefty dose of reality television?"

  "The bed is big enough for all of us." Lauren pulled the cover down.

  Jason tossed his pants aside.

  The bed bounced as he joined them. Jason put his arm around Lauren and flicked him in the head.

  "What?" Not sure what emotion to have, he swiped Jason's hand away. He didn't want to be won over with flowers and beer. Jason needed to do something other than push and placate.

  "Just wanted to do that." Once more Jason reached over the edge of the bed. "Now to the matters at hand. I have some things to do tomorrow."

  A flash of yellow caught the corner of his eye, and he turned to find Jason holding a yellow pad and pen. "Did you go to the office supply store?" Except for college, he never saw Jason with anything other than art paper. Jason at the office supply store on a Friday night concerned him.

  "No, the lady at the liquor store gave it to me when I asked her for a bag to write on. I stole the pen and took a penny from the take a penny thing."

  Both he and Lauren leaned over to see what Jason wrote.

  "He has very neat writing." Lauren grabbed Russell's leg.

  Russell scanned the list. "If you're going to be painting you'll need canvas."

  "Nope, no canvas." Jason held the pen. "Where do we need to go?"

  "You don't have any blank canvas." While Jason may placate, Russell managed

  "I am aware, but I thank you for looking out for my inventory." Jason hit the pen against the paper. "Does anyone else need anything tomorrow? I am about errands."

  "I need to go office supply store." Lauren wrinkled her nose. "And you don't have any canvas."

  "I am not painting on canvas, there are many mediums."

  "Jason." Something was up and he squeezed his fist tight.

  "I want to repair Lauren's room from our get together disaster, and then I thought I would do that paint detail work on that car model you found."

  Lauren's mouth opened, but no words exited. Russell was sure his expression matched hers. It had been so long since he asked Jason to paint his vintage model that he put the car away and cycled to another project. As far as the room painting, he hadn't even begun harping on that one.

  "I actually tried to remember everything I promised either one of you, but feel free to add to the list." He flipped over to the second page of the tablet.

  This list consisted of major and minor deeds he took on but didn't complete. Fixing a tile in his bathroom, helping Lauren put photos in her photo album, buffing out the scratch in Russell's car, returning a car to his parent's dealership.

  "Jason." Lauren twisted the blanket in her hand.

  "Are you sure you want to do all that this weekend?" Russell still didn't know what emotion to have.

  "Actually you know what I want to do?" Jason took Lauren's flowers and moved them to the bottom of the bed.

  "What?" Lauren stared up at her blond god, stars in her eyes.

  "I want Russell to finish what you started before I walked in here." He licked his lips.

  "What are you talking about?" Russell handed him a beer.

  "Kiss her, so I can." Jason took the beer and tilted his head.

  "What are we doing?" Maybe Jason knew the answer where he didn't. Why were they upset when he left without him? Why didn't things feel right until he was here? Why was Jason remembering every errand?

  "We are doing this. Then tomorrow we are going out on errands together and next week the two of us are going to escort Laurie to her annual charity function. It will be our debut." Jason rubbed his hands together.

  Finally, Lauren smiled. More than a smile, she glowed. The light coming from her could illuminate Los Angeles.

  "Kiss her." Jason clapped.

  Russell froze. Errands meant public places with the three of them on a whole new level. While that may be okay, what about the party? What about a debut? The sweet warm sensation that surrounded him while Lauren assessed him with and without his glasses, and dare he say the relief that encompassed him when Jason returned, turned to a knot right in his stomach. They would be a freak show.

  "For the record, I think that we need to reserve this for the three of us." Jason motioned between them.

  "Even though I take both of you to that party every year, I would love to go off show with the two of you this year." Lauren pursed her lips toward him.

  Lauren didn't mind, why should she? With two men, she would be the envy of everyone there. On the other hand, people wouldn't think the same of him and Jason. However, he couldn’t keep them hidden if he wanted this.

  Her perfectly plump lips lured him. Unable to resist, he connected their lips with a light kiss of confusion.

  "Damn it, Russ, kiss her. How are we going to get her out of that sweatshirt with a peck? We have to warm her up." Jason pushed him back and crushed his mouth to hers.

  He watched his best friend take hold of Lauren's chin. Their mouths opened, and he could tell the exact moment that Jason guided her tongue to his by the way she moaned and tightened her hold on his hand.

  As if his body was trained to react, his erection began to swell. The simple act of watching both satisfying and arousing. They did need to reserve this for the three of them.

  Jason broke the kiss and motioned toward her. "I've primed the pump for you."

  This time he went for it. One moment her lips were on Jason, the next on his.

  "I'm glad we waited for Jason." She spoke into his open mouth.

  "Me too." He helped Jason rid her of his sweatshirt. Yes, they had to wait for Jason, it was the three of them or none of them, and he wanted this.

  He better get ready for their debut.

  Chapter Ten

  The morning right before Jason opened his eyes was a magic time. With the day not yet begun, and reality still at an arm’s reach, the universe held potential. Creativity blossomed, creating colors and images he could later recreate on paper or canvas.

  Today was one of those mystical mornings. The steady breathing of all three of them wanted to lull him back to sleep. He opened his eyes to find Lauren slung over him, her hair over her face creating a delightfully distorted viewpoint of the world. Fuzzy and off kilter, shining gold and brown, and in a flash, inspiration was born.

  He brushed her hair aside and slid out from under her, kissing her hand before placing it back on the bed and covering her up.

  "Jase," she moaned.

  "Studio." He didn't need to say more.

  She gave him a thumb up and turned over into Russell's arms.

  He backed out and nodded. Though he wanted to stay with them and take in the couple of hours before their work called, art wanted him. A welcome alarm clock.

  With one pit stop into his room to pull on pants and a sweatshirt, he made his way into the studio.

  He sat down at the table, took a fresh piece of parchment and a handful of pencils, and resisted th
e need to turn the computer on. Now was time for art, and he ran his hand over the paper.

  The pencil hit the parchment and he closed his eyes. The picture in his mind remained, and he drew a line. No, that wasn't right. His vision didn't have lines. No corners or sharp edges. He erased the line, hating the way the shadow of the mark remained, but reminding himself this was merely a sketch. There would be time to refine later, he only needed to concern himself with getting something on the paper.

  He changed colors to a peach pencil. The mark of the other pencil remained. Maybe he should start by covering it. His heart began to pound, his muscles tightened.

  "Wait." He put the pencil down. Before he started, he needed to think of a theme. What was he going to show? He took a breath, moved his neck from side to side.

  He sat back. The paper was one giant pool waiting for him to jump in, but there was no water. There was no plan, no theme. If he wanted an exhibition he needed to have a cohesive message.

  "Damn this." He looked around his studio. Touches of the three of them were everywhere. A picture of the three of them in college at a toga party in a silver frame on a shelf, a sketch Lauren made of him when she decided to dabble in art, and the pencils she gave him that Christmas. The first computer Russell put together that Jason decided was an antique and must be kept. The thing was huge and dwarfed modern machines.

  Where did the moment go? It was just there, as tangible as if he could hold it.

  He forced himself to turn to the paper over and pressed the pencil point into the parchment. A small piece of graphite broke off and made a sad crumb on his pristine page. He clutched the drawing implement tight enough to cause the wood casing to crack.

  The picture living in his mind in the bed with Lauren's hair and Russell's breathing refused to travel down his arm and onto the paper. It vanished in a poof. He almost saw the small cloud of dissipate before him, not leaving as much as a raindrop for him to work with, he didn't dare dream for a rainbow.

  "Draw anything!" At last the pencil snapped in two, the colored core jutting out from the wood, one half still between his fingers, the other falling on his page off to one side.

  He brushed the soiled paper off the desk and found his sketchbook. If he couldn't do his work, he would do something free form. He rifled through the pages of pictures. There was no rhyme or reason to the drawings, just the little things that entered his mind. He seized some more colored pencils, drawing what he should have waited for that morning instead coming in here.

  At first the streaks of color meant nothing, it was crap, but he forced himself, adding in some shadows, two male naked forms, one blond, one dark haired, a woman in the middle.

  He drew them in a blatant erotic scene. The three of them intertwined with each other.

  The image came out natural, right, and unique. Everything he wanted.

  The three of them was supposed to spur his creativity, remove the block. Instead, it absorbed him. Maybe Steve was right.

  "No." He slammed the book shut and turned on the computer, his email program opening up first. Unlike his two cohorts, he could go days without checking electronic mail. Lauren said she was jealous, Russell only shook his head as if he were shirking some great responsibility. But after a weekend of facing every mundane errand, he needed to stay on responsibility road and tackle business.

  The emails loaded, the ones from Bette Terrance, his agent, piled up in bold face from not being read. Again, unlike his cohorts, he didn't need to rush to read them. He already knew what she wanted. Was he creating? What was his inspiration? Did he want to meet? Did he want to take on some art for hire?

  Of course unlike his cohorts, he seemed to be the only one who noticed they didn't go out together once during the entire weekend. Oh, they were together, but somehow the three of them never left the house all at the same time. He thought he gave Russell some time to deal with their situation with all the errands a week before the party, but Russell was raging his own internal battle.

  He shook his head and clicked away from his email and into his game. He began shooting his enemies, naming each one of the bad guys. Blocked, embarrassed, frustrated, lost.

  At least in the mystical land of his game he had no pressures. No blank pages to be filled with artistic brilliance. No best friend avoiding that he lived an alternative lifestyle.

  In this world he was a God. Master of everything.

  A light knock on the door interrupted his adventure into the land of the witches, and he closed the screen not caring if he lost some points as long as no one caught him. "Enter." The emails from his agent taunted him.

  He sat up as Lauren came in carrying two mugs. In the house of boys she insisted on having a girl mug, and the one she carried he hand painted for her with different twisted flowers in various colors, and a red one with a white gas station logo. "Want some?"

  He held his hand out and tilted his head toward the extra chair. "How's the morning treating you?" He took a sip. She prepared his coffee just perfect. A little thing, but one he appreciated. Strong Italian roast doused by a dash of half and half and two teaspoons of sugar. She looked cute and tousled in her robe and t-shirt and fuzzy slippers. He could make out a bit of her cleavage, she hadn't put on a bra yet. Talk about inspiration. He wondered if he could convince her to get rid of the robe.

  "I stopped Russell from making breakfast by saying I had to get on the road." She laughed.

  "Do you have to get on the road?" He wanted to play hooky. Maybe he could find his missing muse. It seemed to want to hide out in the bedroom.

  She shrugged her shoulders. "I do before Russell makes breakfast."

  "Eventually we are going to have to have Russell's dinner, I mean breakfast." He winked at her. With how long that meal took, the three of them could satisfy each other twice, and still make it to the table in time for Russell's patented potatoes.

  "Let me see the greatness." She scooted closer to him. "I was so excited when you said you were going to the studio."

  He stared at her. Of course she was excited, she wanted a man who would bring home the goods, complete his work. Everyday Russell gathered his tools and his papers and went off to create components and computers, and every other Friday he brought home a paycheck. The pride on his face radiated brighter than his twenty-seven inch computer monitor.

  Ever since the exhibit, pride flipped him the bird. The money he earned at the dealership for doing ads and such was a fancy way of his parents continued support. To date, his art earnings wouldn't buy a wallet at the fancy store Lauren loved.

  "Can I see?" She hooked her arm in his.

  "It wasn't much." Thank god she didn't need anything at that store, or even a thrift store, he couldn't buy it for her, but his parents could.

  "Did you sketch?" She leaned over the desk, setting the sights on his pad.

  He shrugged his shoulders.

  "Can I look?"

  Over anyone, Lauren would tell him the truth. Maybe what he drew wasn't as intrusive as he thought. Maybe she would be flattered. He put his hand on the paper and was about to let her see, when Russell came in. The man was already in his full business regalia of a navy blue suit, white shirt and red tie. Ever since his promotion to king of the nerds his wardrobe changed, he had grown up.

  "Lauren." He raised his chin in Jason's direction but went straight for her.

  "Yes." She spun toward him.

  "Since we were all about catching up on projects this weekend, I fixed this." He fished inside one of his pockets and held up her necklace. "You said you wanted to wear it the other day."

  "Thank you!" She turned her back to Russell and lifted her hair.

  Russell looped the necklace around her. Before he fastened it he gave her a quick kiss on the back of her neck.

  Jason nodded. The man may not be able to deal with them in the outside world, but he would not skip an opportunity to one up a fellow bedmate.

  "You're giving me the shivers." Once more she spun around. This t
ime with her lips pursed.

  He glanced at Jason and gave her two pecks. "I wanted to know if you had time for lunch."

  "Lunch sounds great." She returned the kiss.

  Lunch was only for those who had a real job. It was a gift of an hour in the middle of the day. He balled his hand into a fist.

  "What are you up to today?" Russell smoothed her hair back, but looked at him. "Are you going to the dealership?"

  He chewed the inside of his mouth. The thought of the dealership and watching the rich and spoiled rent cars to appear even richer and more spoiled made his stomach churn.

  "Jason sketched." Lauren pointed back at him. "I wanted to see."

  Now both of them stared at him waiting for the grand reveal.

  He stared back. It seemed appropriate.

  "Are you spending the day in here?" Russell pointed to the floor.

  If 'in here' meant spending the day playing his game the answer was yes. He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. Catching up on promises was only one item on his yellow pad of failures he needed to fix.

  "I don't think he's ready." Lauren jumped off the chair. "I better get going."

  Russell pushed his glasses up and blinked. "Later."

  "Later." No art was going to happen today, no car dealings, no lunch. Everything in the studio felt like it wanted to fall on his head. He needed to appear as if he were doing anything and clicked on one of the emails from his agent. A quick scan told him he was right. She was once again begging him to take commissioned work. Drawings and sketches businesses needed.

  "Will you help me bring a box to my car?" She pulled Russell's sleeve.

  Russell had to go to work, he wore a suit and was going to lunch, and Lauren asked him to help her.

  Art for hire. Not art for art. Not art for creativity. Art for money. A hired pen. He stood up. "I'll do it and I'll make the offer even better." He went to Lauren's other side and decided to test his friend. "I think I'll go on calls with you and then we can both meet our better third for lunch." Two could play the challenge game.

  "You hate going on calls with me." She narrowed her eyes.