“Shoes off,” was the second thing Ryan said after greeting Hollis. He blushed, fidgeted, and added, “Please.”
“Sure,” Hollis said, toeing off his sneakers. Ryan was in his socks as well, wearing a nice pair of jeans and a polo, looking strangely dressed up for his own house—aside from the socks. “So, what’s for dinner?”
“Just some chicken noodle soup and garlic bread. I hope it’ll be enough. I mean, you like that, right?”
“Yeah, chicken noodle is good.” He tried to keep the surprise from his voice; he’d never been invited over to someone’s house for soup before. It wasn’t a bad thing. Soup was good. Just not…impressive. He’d kind of expected Ryan to pull out all the stops.
“And you like garlic bread? I don’t need to serve it if you don’t like it.”
“Love it. Bad breath and all,” he jok
