Jane gets up and makes her way over to Garrett, effectively silencing whatever they were in the middle of discussing.
“Hey, Garrett,” Colin says. “Will you grab the fish from the fridge for me? Oh, and grab an extra plate or something for this batch?”
“On it,” Garrett answers, and Jane sees her “in” to snoop for answers.
“I’ll help you since you don’t know your way around the kitchen,” Jane pipes back, following after her husband. They disappear into the house with a soft click of the door, so I can’thear anything. I hope she has luck getting information out of him.
Mark and Trystan walk over, and Trystan eyes our wine glasses before disappearing into the kitchen too.
“So, what’s new girls?” Mark asks before plopping into a chair next to Ava. She visibly stiffens at the motion, and his jaw ticks just a little. I’ll give him points for trying. We’ll see how this goes. He’s either attempting to make good or is truly playing with fire if he’s just toying with her. They will have to learn to at least be cordial since our groups won’t really avoid each other.
“Oh, not a whole lot. Holly’s coming in next Friday morning before you guys take off for your trip. She’s super excited to meet everyone,” I answer since I know Ava’s not about to jump in on the conversation, yet.
“Holly…” He lets her name roll off his tongue with a curious expression on his face. Damn, this man does not understand the first thing about how women think.
“She’s very much taken, so don’t even consider it,” I say flatly, and he chuckles under his breath. Ava tenses a little more and rolls her eyes in disgust just as Trystan appears with another bottle of wine, refilling her glass first.
“Trystan, you’re a lifesaver,” Ava retorts and takes a healthy sip. Mark eyes her, annoyance creeping up the side of his neck, and I notice his wheels turning. He’s biting his tongue. I narrow my eyes at him slightly in warning.Bite it til it bleeds if you have any brains, Mark…Trystan notices the exchange as well and chuckles to himself. Nothing gets by him.
Mark stands back up, vexed with where this is leading. With no easy way out, he stalks back over to Colin as Garrett reaches him with the fish.
“He’ll figure it out sooner or later,” Trystan says aloud, and Ava just shakes her head.
“He’s a bullheaded manslut.” Her eyes roll up to the sky and her jaw ticks with indignation. Yeah, she’s not ready to let it go yet, and with the whole curious-about- Holly act he just pulled, he dug himself into a deeper hole.
“You know they say, ‘There’s a fine line and all’…” Trystan trails off with a smirk as he grabs his beer to venture back to the fryer with another chuckle.
“Whatever…” Ava huffs as Jane reappears with a bowl of cheese dip and the bag of tortilla chips.
“Share, bitches.” She pushes the bowl to the center and we all giggle and grab chips, moaning at the gooey cheese when we take big ol’ bites.
???
Colin
Dang… That wasn’t suspicious or anything.I glare up at Mark, and he just sheepishly shrugs his shoulders in a half-ass apology for making our quiet conversation glaringly obvious to Sydney and the other girls. Unfortunately, we had to pull in Jane, but surely she’ll keep it quiet. I enlisted Garrett and Jane’s help on snooping for Sydney’s ring size. When I sent him in for the fish, it was the perfect moment for Garrett to explain the task to Jane,and for Jane to go in search of a ring. The rest of us have eyes on Sydney. It’s a team effort.
Mark is the most skeptical of the group. While the others were ecstatic to get in on the plan, it didn’t surprise me much that Mark just needed a few moments to get his head wrapped around the fact that I’m planning on getting a ring. He doesn’t have anything against Sydney, I know that, he’s just one to overthink a lot of things. Overly cautious, despite the way he rubs off on others. Sometimes I love that about him; other times, like this, it makes me crazy. He just worries about me. I still won’t change my mind. She’s mine now and will be for forever.
I take the first batch of fish out of the fryer and flip it into the paper towel lined pan that Jane brought out to me to soak up some of the extra grease before sticking the next batch in. When I turn around to grab my beer, I notice Sydney’s eyes on me. I see the wheels turning behind those pretty green eyes I love getting lost in. I give her a wink and a reassuring tilt of my lips which seems to snap her out of her thoughts a smidge, and she smiles sweetly back. I wonder how they’ll sparkle when I’m on my knee popping the question.
Grinning from my secret,hmm…make that semi-secret, I make my way over to the group at the table and lean to press a soft kiss against her cheek. She sighs softly, reaching for my hand and resting it on her shoulder.
“Well, I guess since everyone is out here, it’s time for a quick toast!” Mark clambers to his feet and raises his beer to me. “Bud, I’m so happy for you that you’ve finally released yourself from celibacy hell and snagged one heck of a catch.” The whole group giggles, and I can feel the blush creeping up my neck. I wish I could see Sydney’s face. It’s probably as red as mine. “Sydney, thank you for taking a chance on our best friend and being patient with him. We were starting to get desperate on ways to make him smile, and the set up dates weren’t working…like at all…” More snickers at my expense. Meh…I don’t mind. They’re not wrong. I had zero interest in going on any of the dates they tried to trick me into. I just wasn’t ready, until I met her. Sydney stepped into my clinic with those kittens and flipped the switch on my dim world, illuminating every nook and cranny in colors I never dreamed of painting with again. Now my canvas holds infinite possibilities.
“Anyways,” Mark continues, “Congratulations you two on moving in together. We all look forward to many years of fish fries and driving each other insane.” It’s not lost on many of us the look he shares with Ava.Oohh, shit.Ava clears her throat and takes a large gulp of her wine. Garrett and Trystan openly guffaw and raise their beers before chuckling like a couple of teenagers. The rest of us follow suit.
“On that note, let’s talk about what all we’re packing for next weekend,” Trystan pipes up, effectively changing the subject and cooling the rising tension between those two.
“That’s our cue for more wine and dessert,” Sydney notes as she and the other ladies push their chairs back and mosey to the kitchen.
“Perfect timing! I’m out,” Ava pouts, looking down into her glass as if more will just magically appear.
“Maybe another glass will lighten you up a little,” Mark taunts, and we all snap our heads that way like we misheard him.
“Eat a bag of dicks, Mark.” Ava flashes him a look of disgust as she shakes her head and walks through the French doors, leaving Mark gaping like a fish. The other three of us guys are openly dying at her feisty display, loving how that just made Mark’s head explode.
“You asked for that one,” Garrett says on a sigh, leaning back into his chair in all his manly glory. He’s growing on our little group. Maybe he’d like to come fishing with us one of these days.