Ian filled Billy in on work, and how excited and exhausted he was. He told him all about his new neighbors, living next door to Miss America and her husband the TV Star. He told Billy about Clair’s antics and how he hadn’t heard from her since. Billy said he hadn’t either, that as far as he knew she hadn’t come home.

“Then again, I don’t see Renee anymore, so I wouldn’t really know.” Billy said pushing the last of a sweet dessert around on a plate.

“You wanna tell me what happened there, buddy?” Ian tried not to push. He knew eventually Billy would tell him, but in his own time.

“She caught me cheating on her, Ian. She walked in on me having sex with someone else.”

“Holy shit, Bill! That’s not like you, at all.”

Billy nodded his head, but not in shame. “I know, but I think I wanted to get caught. It just happened one night and, well, it had been going on for a while before Renee walked in on us.”

“Any chance of Renee forgiving you and taking you back? I mean it’s not serious with this other girl, is it?”

“No. I don’t know. But it’s over between Renee and me. It had been over way before you left I think. We just couldn’t admit it.” Billy pushed his plate away and yawned.

“Man, I am beat.”

“I forgot its three hours later to you. I’m already on California time. You must be exhausted let’s get you home.”

Ian called for the check. “About that”, Billy said, “I think I’m gonna stay in a motel or something. You are really busy and I’ll just be in your way. I know you told me to come, but it was so last minute…”

“Look, I’m not gonna admit that I got so busy I forgot I told you to just haul ass out here,” Ian confessed. “I’m not even sure there are sheets in the downstairs bedrooms, and I haven’t been much of a house keeper. But I want you to stay with me.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, at first I thought about offering to pay for a hotel, with all that’s going on, but so much has happened so fast and I just need to relax and enjoy my best friend being here.”

Billy looked at him, “I don’t know, maybe it would be best to stay in a hotel.”

It hadn’t crossed him mind, but Ian thought about it and asked, “Is it really my schedule you are worried about?”

Billy didn’t react. “Do you understand what I’m, asking you Billy?”

Billy looked away as the waiter returned Ian’s credit card and the receipt. “Oh, uh…I hadn’t thought about that.”

Ian now felt embarrassed for bringing up something that Billy had forgotten. He signed the receipt and they walked in silence and waited for the valet to bring Ian’s car around.
When the boy handed Ian his keys and held the doors for them Billy turned to Ian and said, “This is so cool!”

Ian laughed as they took off down the boulevard and headed to Ian’s. They were silent. Ian just decided to get the issue on the table and over with. “Look, we never discussed it, what happened, happened. Okay?”

Billy agreed.