Free It's Not About You by Olivia Reid

Kyle," I managed to say as I started pulling coffee out of the Trader Joe's bag.  
    My roomie stood at the door, his arms at his side, and his eyes bigger than golfballs. "Grace…can I have a word?"  
    "Sure." Shit . I put the coffee on the island counter and pointed at the water kettle by the sink. "Can you use an electric kettle?"  
    "Yeah but—"  
    "Fill it to the mark and turn it on." I didn't give him a chance to respond as I moved around the island and followed Kyle from the kitchen to the hall past the front door.  
    "Gerald, we'll be right back. Grace is having a problem with her dress."  
    "Oh…you take your time," Gerald said and chuckled.  
    Ew. How could a man make a generic sentence sound so dirty?  
    We went to my bedroom at the end of the hall and stepped inside. Kyle shut the door and took a deep breath before he said, "Grace…"  
    "Look, don't freak out, okay? Remember the guy I was telling you about earlier? When I was smashing potatoes?"  
    He paused and blinked, then pointed at the door. "That's him? Michael Oliver?"  
    "Yeah. That's him."  
    "Grace, he's not in his twenties, he's like early thirties and he's…" He said then lowered his arm. "Is obviously straight. Damn. Maybe that's why my 'dar didn't work."  
    "Yeah…maybe. But I didn't know he was going to kiss me."  
    "Grace…kissing aside and trust me I know how much you need to be kissed," Kyle put his hands on my shoulders. "Gerald Almondrode can not see you two kissing. Him and his traditional values would flip out. Not only would he feel sorry for me since it would look like my girlfriend was cheating on me with the new guy, he'll fire Michael."  
    "Then we have to tell Gerald the truth about us. About you!" I made sure to keep my voice down.  
    "Then he'll fire me, and it'll be in some sneaky way." He straightened and raked his fingers through his hair. "Shit!" he hissed.  
    "Look," I held out my hands, palms up. "Michael and I will behave perfectly, okay? No more kissing." And of course my stomach lurched when I promised that.  
    I wanted kissing! More kissing!  
    "Just through this evening, okay? So let's make coffee, serve some cheese cake and then we can get Gerald out of here."  
    "Okay."  
    Kyle made a long sigh before he put a hand to my face. "Gracie…I've wanted you to find some young guy to grind till your heart's content since your divorce was final, and now it looks like I might be the thing that stands between the two of you."  
    "No. There's no two of you, or us two. Whatever. I don't know what's going on. He's got glasses. I didn't see glasses before. Maybe he can't see really well and doesn't realize I'm old."  
    Kyle put his finger in my face. "Stop that. Now . You are not old. You are beautiful, and good hearted. And you're a hell of a lot of fun. And you have me for a best friend so," he said before he winked. "If I hear you say you're old again I'm going to pull out your high school annuals."  
    "No!" I said that a little louder than I meant to.  
    Kyle covered my mouth with his hand and we both fell into each other's arms laughing.  
    "I need to make sure Michael doesn't burn the coffee." After squeezing Kyle's hand, I opened the door to find Michael standing just outside, his hand raised as if to knock.  
    "Oh…uh…the kettle shut off."  
    I slipped past him as I caught Kyle waving and motioned Michael to follow me. "Okay so, how fine is the coffee ground?" I proceeded him into the kitchen and grabbed the bag he brought. Spilling a bit into my palm I could see the texture.  
    "Is that important?" Michael asked as he came to stand beside me and Kyle grabbed the cheese cake out of the fridge.  
    "It will increase or decrease time that it steeps."  
    Michael whipped out his phone and started thumb texting. Kyle removed the cheese cake from the box and put it on a nice platter, then with a look at me, took it into the living room.  
    "Okay is this right?" He showed the screen, which had