Chapter 14: Babes and Ravioli
FANG
"Fang," Iggy said quickly, sidling up to me. "You want to go to the Italian restaurant tonight?"
"You asking me out?" I joked.
"Dude, that's the greatest restaurant in town. And it's frequented by Lerner's top three bachelorettes." He began to hold up a photo, then slowed suddenly. "This is a picture of Karen, Alexandra, and Markie, right? I had to take the guy's word for it."
"Yeah, that's them," I said.
"Well, come on, man," Iggy said. "It's babes and ravioli. We like babes and ravioli!"
"I don't need babes and ravioli," I said.
"What, Max? Well, fine, I suppose she is the jealous type. But you gotta eat! You ever tried Max's ravioli?"
"My heart is still beating, isn't it? But the ravioli factor isn't worth the babe factor. Max thought of me as having a protective babe bubble surrounding me that only she could cross, even before she had a claim to me. And now that she does, well..."
"Ah."
"I just don't want her to get upset. She needs to know that I'm in a committed relationship. So are you, by the way. What does Nudge think about this babes-and-ravioli endeavor?"
Iggy was silent for a few minutes. "She's fine," he finally said, quietly. "I... I'm in love with her, but we don't pretend this will ever be anything real. With the age difference, it'll be a while before anyone finds a relationship between us acceptable, and even after that... who's to say we'll even live that long, never mind that we'll still be in love when we're both adults..."
I waited until it was clear that Iggy had nothing more to say. "That's awful depressing, dude."
"I know."