Not long after, at the Old Friends Bar—
"Hey, I'm Ted!"
"Hey, I'm Erika!"
Erika showed up fashionably late, and the second she did, Adam, Lily, and Matthew could feel this crazy pull in the air.
Ted's classic slow-mo "staring into the abyss" move kicked in for the Nth time.
His eyes? Locked on her.
Emmm.
It's the same old song and dance every time Ted meets a girl who gives him butterflies.
Adam exchanged a look with Lily and Matthew.
Their smiles said it all—playful, teasing, or just plain resigned.
Adam knew this one was in the bag.
Passive Ted? Eh, jury's still out on whether he'd seal the deal.
But motivated Ted? Oh, he'd get it done, no question!
Sure enough, after some quick intros, Ted turned on the charm full blast. In no time, he had Erika giggling nonstop.
Adam, Lily, and Matthew—three whole living, breathing people—might as well have been invisible.
Yup.
If you don't let awkwardness faze you, it's everyone else who ends up squirming.
Adam shot Lily and Matthew a subtle nod, mumbled something to the flirty duo, and the three of them slipped out of the booth.
Erika threw Adam a quick, sheepish glance.
Ted? Totally oblivious—dropped a few more smooth lines and yanked her attention right back.
"Boss."
The female bodyguard who'd dropped Erika off stepped up as Adam exited the bar, giving him a quick greeting.
"She's got your number, right?" Adam asked.
"Yup," the bodyguard nodded.
"Cool. Why don't you find a spot nearby to chill for a bit?" Adam said with a grin. "I'm guessing this'll take a while. She might not even head back tonight. Just wait for her call to pick her up."
The bodyguard nodded and drove off.
"No way," Lily blurted out. "They just met! You really think they'll hit it off that fast?"
"How long's it been since Ted last got his romance on?" Adam teased.
"Uh…" Lily thought for a sec. "A while. Ever since that 'Singles Station' fiasco where that doctor chick turned him down, he's been moping around.
That top-tier matchmaker from Singles Station said he tanked her perfect pairing streak—100% success rate, gone. She was so bummed she almost shut the place down.
Said if she couldn't find someone for Ted, he'd die alone.
But Ted convinced her to keep looking—slowly, for free."
"Ha! That doctor was about to get married," Adam said, shaking his head with a laugh. "Did Ted seriously think he could swoop in with his '96% compatibility' math nonsense and get a bride-to-be to ditch her 85%-matched fiancé days before the wedding?"
"She asked him that exact question," Lily said with a shrug. "And obviously, Ted thought it was a solid plan."
"Man, Ted can be shameless sometimes," Adam said, smirking. "But that's what makes him the Romance Prince—gotta have thick skin to play the game."
"It's kinda a silver lining, though," Matthew chimed in, steering clear of dunking on his buddy. "At least that doctor caught his cancer early and got it treated."
"That mole!" Lily gasped. "Who'd have thought a little mole could turn into cancer? That's terrifying."
"Babe," Matthew said, pulling Lily close to comfort her. "We've all had full checkups—no cancerous moles here."
"It was basal cell carcinoma," Adam explained. "Usually benign. Ted's case turning malignant? Super rare. No need to freak out."
"It just freaks me out looking back," Lily said, clinging to Matthew's arm and shrinking a little.
Adam nodded.
In his past life, there'd been a whole wave of "mole cancer" panic in the news.
Tons of people—like Lily—started stressing over every little spot on their skin, wondering if it'd turn deadly.
I mean, who doesn't have a mole or two?
Adam had worried too.
But then all those laser mole-removal ads started popping up everywhere, and he relaxed.
Science on one side, marketing on the other.
When bad news is just a hype train for cash, it's actually good news.
And sure enough, like so many overhyped stories, it blew over and faded away.
In this life, with his medical training, he didn't even blink at that stuff anymore.
Still, when Ted came to him about that mole, Adam's first thought was Sheldon—y'know, from The Big Bang Theory.
Sheldon always griped about how, thanks to Missy's "nut-kicker" antics, he should've worked harder in the womb to absorb her completely.
That way, he'd have no annoying twin sister—just a mole.
Ted's cancerous mole made Adam wonder: what if Sheldon had tried harder?
If Missy turned into a mole and it went malignant, she might've taken her brother down with her.
patreon:belamy20
Now that's a sibling love-hate story for the ages.
Emmm.
Next time Sheldon whined, Adam was ready to hit him with that one—guaranteed to make those big eyes pop.
"Let's bounce," Matthew said, peeking back into the bar. Ted and Erika were leaning closer, laughing their heads off. He nodded at Adam's hunch.
A month-plus dry spell? That was Ted's breaking point.
Erika was a stunner, but even an average girl could've sparked Ted's romantic mode right now.
"I still think it's too fast," Lily said, glancing back and shaking her head.
"Heh," Adam chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Lily snapped, catching a whiff of shade in his laugh.
"Nothing," Adam said, grinning. "Just remembering what Ted said about you and Matthew back in your college dorm days."
Oh yeah—back then, Lily and Matthew hit it off the second they started college. Things moved fast.
One night, they were in the dorm, all lovey-dovey.
Matthew, being a guy—and a horny one at that—wasn't satisfied with second or third base anymore. He was swinging for a home run.
Lily tried to pump the brakes, painting this dreamy picture of what their first time should be like: a fancy oceanfront suite, flowers, candles, wine, sexy lingerie…
The works.
Everything perfect.
But three minutes later?
That fantasy went up in smoke.
C'mon—two hot-blooded college kids in the heat of the moment? Who's holding back?
They weren't saints!
So Matthew suggested a round two.
Lily didn't say no—didn't want to say no.
The only one objecting was Ted, stuck on the top bunk, getting rocked by physics and losing his mind.
Too bad for him—objections overruled.
Matthew tossed him a Walkman and headphones and called it a day.
Spoiler: the headphones and music didn't help one bit.
"Heh heh," Matthew snickered.
"Hey! Stop laughing!" Lily's face went beet red. She swatted Matthew's shoulder, then Adam's.
"Okay, okay, we're done," Adam said, holding back a laugh and putting on a straight face. "Yeah, they're moving fast, but as long as there's no second round… we get it."
"Adam Duncan!" Lily lunged at him, claws out.
A playful scuffle broke out.
Then Lily started grilling him about Robin, and Peggy—Erika's sister—giving him a look like, "So, what's the deal with you three? Something's off here."
Adam just smiled. "We're all good friends."
And then—boom—the hospital got crazy busy, and Adam bolted.