“Uh, you know we have to work tomorrow, right?” I said.
“Live a little, my man. This is why God gave you a strong liver and created Uber.” He passed a couple of shots to each of us, and I sniffed at the liquor. Fuck—tequila. Yeah, I’d only be having one of those tonight.
“So what’ll it be, huh?” Mike waggled his brows at me, and I knew that meant I needed to come up with a toast quickly before something vile spewed from his mouth.
“To new friends,” I said, lifting my shot glass, and Mike rolled his eyes and mouthed,You’re so lame. Mike and Deb on tequila was not gonna be a great first impression for Reid. Lord help us all.
“To new friends,” they said, and we clinked glasses before tossing back the liquid—no salt or lemon for this crowd.
“Ugh. Does anyone actuallylikethe taste of tequila?” I shuddered and set my empty glass on the tray. “Why can’t we do something that tastes good?”
“Aww,” Mike said, poking out his bottom lip like a pouty child would. “Does Ollie need a little lemon drop? Maybe you’d like a Sex on the Beach while you’re at it. Something with a pink umbrella.”
“Hey, those sound good to me,” Reid piped up. God, he looked good tonight. He did every time I saw him, but it was like seeing him for the first time all over again. He wore tan slacks and a fitted black polo shirt that made his dark eyes and hair seem even more striking, and I thought again, for maybe the millionth time, how drop-dead gorgeous he was.
“You don’t have to take his side just because he brought you here. We’ll make sure you have a way home.” Mike winked as he chased down another shot with his beer.
“Anyway,” Deb said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and focusing her attention back on Reid. “You are just too handsome for words. You seeing anyone?”
Reid blinked. “Uh?—”
“Don’t answer that,” I said, topping his beer off when I noticed it was low. I didn’t need her help pushing his buttons,thankyouverymuch.
Deb glared my way. “Is your name Reid? I didn’t think so.” Then the tight line of her lips transformed back into a smile. “So?”
Reid took a long sip before answering, and when he did, his cheeks flushed. “No, I’m not seeing anyone. Life’s been a little crazy lately for that.”
“I understand,” she said. “That’s the excuse Ollie tries to give every time we set him up with someone too.”
“Oh… Does that happen a lot?” Reid asked.
Mike interjected, “No, because our friend here thinks it’s funny to ditch us and not show up.”
“Hey,” I said, holding up my hand. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate that you want me as gaggingly happy as you two, but I don’t need your help. And I definitely don’t want to sit through dinner on a blind date while you watch.”
“Hell no. No blind dates. It may be the best intentions of friends and all, but those dates never end well,” Reid said. “I swore them off years ago.”
“So you’d rather date someone you’re already friendly with, then?” Deb said, and I didn’t miss the way she looked pointedly at me while she asked.
You better fucking stop, I tried to convey with my narrowed eyes, but she just smirked and bit down on a loaded nacho.
“I guess I haven’t really thought about it,” Reid admitted.
“Hmm. And what about you, Ollie?” she said. “Have you thought much about it?”
I pushed my second shot her way. “Drink up and stay out of my love life, please, Deb.”
Mike snorted. “Fat chance of that happening. She wouldn’t know what to do with herself if she couldn’t interfere.”
“I heard that.”
With a laugh, Reid dug into the nachos and popped one into his mouth. When he finished chewing, he pointed at Mike and Deb. “So what about you two? You seem perfect for each other. How’d you meet?”
“Yeah, guys,” I said, and sipped my drink. “Why don’t you tell him?”
As Deb flicked me off and then launched into the story about how she’d accidentally knocked Mike unconscious with a wayward swing of her tennis racket in college, I couldn’t help but think about how this meeting between Reid and my closest friends had finally taken place, months after we’d made plans. Plans we never got to follow through on because I’d taken Reid to the emergency room that week instead. So to see the three of them all together around the same table, laughing and ribbing each other as if they’d known each other for years…well, it had a warm and fuzzy feeling humming through my veins. Even if Reid never regained his memory, even if he never looked at mewith eyes of lust or more, then I thought maybe, just maybe, this would be enough. I wasn’t sure how my heart would feel about that decision, but my head was ruling matters now, and it said I needed to suck it up and be grateful. Reid was here, he was alive, and he’d chosen to spend tonight with me. That was a win.
Life had a funny way of trying to come full circle, didn’t it?