I was still ignoring Josh’s texts by the next day, which wasn’t hard, because I was dragged into some expensive shoot Shelby had put together and I didn’t have much time to deal with the drama anyway. In between takes it was my responsibility to make sure everyone was comfortable and fed and lubed up into oblivion. It was a straight porn, so I wasn’t that interested in the proceedings. The men in gay porn were of much higher quality than the type that proliferated in straight porn, and I felt kinda bad for the women who had to fuck them. I  would fuck them, but I was a man and therefore an idiot. These women could do so much better. Even if a bunch of gay porn stars were actually straight, they certainly had better grooming and better abs than these schlubs.

            However, I was a professional and kept my opinions to myself.

            “Get lost on your way to the gay porn set?” one of the gangbang actors asked me as he helped himself to copious amounts of cheese and crackers. I considered kicking him in the balls but managed some restraint.

            “I’m Shelby’s assistant,” I replied, because I couldn’t think of a clever retort.

            “Heh, you’re probably the only one here who hasn’t fucked those tits of hers.”

            Ugh. This guy. I bit my tongue a moment, reminding myself that I’d be fired if I punched out the talent. “Sir, may I remind you that you are on Shelby’s pay roll and if you say shit like that again I can easily remove you from it?”

            “Christ, chill out, it’s just a joke.” At that, he rolled his eyes and walked off.

            I made a note to myself to blacklist Evan Bell from any further productions. There were plenty of other basic dudes with big dicks willing to fuck women on camera for a few hundred bucks who weren’t skeevs.

            The shoot was delayed due to equipment issues, which meant I wasn’t free until about four. I still had other stuff to do though, and Shelby told me that I could do the work at home.

            By the time I had emotional energy to commit to this whole Josh and Duncan fiasco, Zoe had made some vegan thing for dinner, with fried tofu and soba noodles. For once, we were eating it together instead of separately in our rooms.

            “Hey, Zoe?”

            “Hmm.” Zoe didn’t look up from her phone.

            “If your best friend hooked up with someone you used to hook up with and then didn’t tell you about it, how would you feel?”

            Then Zoe did look up at me. “Josh had sex with your leftovers?”

            “Kinda.”

            “I have no idea how I’d feel. I don’t have casual sex with gross drug dealers.”

            “Oh my God, Duncan’s not a drug dealer.” That I knew of, at least.

            “You’re always telling me that Josh needs to get laid more.”

            “Yeah, but not with Duncan! And he hid it from me! I only found out about it cuz I went over there and Duncan was hanging around. I’m so pissed about it. He could have at least told me. What if they were hooking up while I was hooking up with Duncan? That’s—you don’t do that. Josh knew that I liked Duncan.”

            “But you’re dating Thad.”

            “I liked Duncan before I liked Thad.”

            Zoe sighed, putting down her phone. “Your life fascinates me sometimes.”

            “Shut up, you’re in college. Aren’t you supposed to be doing coke and sucking dick?”

            Zoe lifted her eyebrows. “Some of us spend our years in institutions of learning actually learning.”

            “Whatever.” I took a long sip from my tall glass of wine. “I know you’re a lonely spinster but you don’t have to judge me.”

            Zoe laughed. “Too late, I judge you, loser.”

            “I’m serious, Zoe. I’m pissed as hell and I want you to make me feel justified.”

            “It sounds kinda shady to me, but I never met this Duncan guy. Maybe you should talk to Josh about it instead of me.”

            “I’m mad at Josh.”

            “You’re always mad at somebody.”

            I stuck my tongue out at her, then picked at my soba noodles.

            “Honestly, haven’t you slept with most guys in LA at some point? You’re not giving Josh much selection here.”

            “Fuck off.”

            “What’s Duncan look like?”

            I sighed and took my phone out of my pocket. I then found a pic of Duncan on Facebook and slid it across the table toward her.

            “Shit, he is a drug dealer.”     

            “He is not.”

            “He’s hot though. Seems like just your type.”

            “So why is Josh fucking him?”

            “Because Josh is lonely and horny? Dunno, man. You should talk to Josh.”

            “Stop telling me to talk to Josh.”

            “I want you to talk to Josh so that you don’t talk to me.”

            “This is sibling bonding! Why can’t you be a nice sister who is overly invested in my love life like sisters are in the movies?”

            “Justin, if I kept tabs on your love life, I’d need one of those fucking conspiracy maps in my bedroom. You know, with all the pins and threads.”

            “I’m a lot less slutty than you think I am.”

            “I doubt that.”

            “I’m done with you.” I finished off my wine and pushed back my chair. “So much for being a supportive sibling in my time of need.”

            “Don’t you have a fag hag somewhere who can help you out?”

            I thrust my hand under her nose and slapped her in the face. Zoe let out a cry of objection and shoved me back, and I snickered as I darted away. After cleaning my dishes and tossing them into the dishwasher, I went to my room and called Rachel.

            “Would you consider yourself my fag hag?” I asked her in lieu of a greeting.

            “We are each other’s fag hags,” Rachel replied. “What’s up?”

            I told Rachel the whole story, and unlike my sister, she was much more interested in the details. She also had better advice and was much more willing to take my side.

            “I like Josh,” she said, “but yeah, what he did was kinda shitty.”

            “So I’m not overreacting?”

            “He could have talked to you first, you know? Could have asked you if he had your blessing.”

            “I probably would have given it,” I said, even though I knew that was probably a lie. “Duncan’s hot, I get it.”

            “He’s not the only man in this city who Josh can have casual sex with. He could have picked literally anyone else.”

            “Yeah, exactly.”

            “Has he tried to apologize?”

            “I’ve been ignoring his texts.” I touched the messaging app and looked at the unread texts. All but one were from Josh. I clicked on the one that wasn’t, but it was just a photo of a goat that Thad had taken on his way to work. It was a cute goat. “But I guess I have to talk to him some time.”

            “Make him do something to make it up to you. When I have a boyfriend who has fucked up, I make him sweat enough that he’s willing to do stuff for me. The last one bought me a day at the spa.”

            “Does that work on women?”

            “Not really.”

            “I really could use a day at the spa…”

            Rachel chuckled. “Then go for it, bitch. Make him grovel.”

            “You’re stone cold. No wonder you’re single.”

            “Whatever, I make things interesting. Now go face your friend and let him know how you feel.”

            “Fine.” I said good-bye, then hung up. It sounded like an easy task over the phone, but now as I stared down at Josh’s number, I wondered if this was a fight I was prepared to have.

            Taking a deep breath, I texted Josh.

            I wanna talk about this. give me a place and time.

            To no one’s surprise, Josh answered about four seconds later.

            I told Addy I’d help him out at the garage for a little bit tomorrow night and close up shop. wanna meet there after? At seven?

            I’d only ever been to Josh’s brother’s shop twice, but I was pretty sure I could remember the location. It was a hole in the wall garage that barely looked operable, but Adrien had a loyal customer base and did well for himself. I’d prefer not to deal with Josh’s garrulous brother when I was pissed off at his younger sibling, but maybe Adrien wouldn’t even be there.

            Okay, I replied. You owe me dinner.