His hand was firm and cold as it eveloped mine in the handshake.

“Well, Tom.” he said, lowering his glasses so I could see his eyes, “Why don’t you and your cute little friend give me a tour of the orphanage? I’m on a lunch break from work, so I got eh… about an hour to kill.”

I could see the delight spread across Laia’s face as she smiled sweetly at Rob. She grabbed his hand eagerly.
“Ok, we’ll show you the whole place!”

For the rest of lunch, Rob, Laia and I walked around the orphanage, with Laia doing most of the talking.
“That’s the playground.” she said contently, pointing out the window to the monkeybars and swingset, “Tom and I always play together, or we sit on the steps and talk.”
Rob nodded and raised his eyebrows.

“So, is Tom your boyfriend?”

At that moment Laia and I looked at each other, before laughing hysterically and almost falling to the floor. Rob looked surprised, “What? He’s not?”
Laia got up.
“We’re just friends, we could never be boyfriend and girlfriend.”