“What do you mean?” I ask, trying to relax against the back of the chair.
“With Prue! What are you doing?” She rolls her eyes at my confused face with an over exaggerated sigh. “Okay, so that’s how it’s going to go? Me, implyingstuffand you, playing clueless? Let me tell you that cluelessness is not a good color for you, unlike Prue who wears it like it was made of her.”
“Implying…Stuff?”
“For fuck sake, Nate! I’ve known from the start, you can cut the crap.”Alright. Play it cool. Maybe she doesn’t—“But if you want me to elaborate,” she continues, interrupting my thought, “I’m talking about the way you’ve always looked at her with sparkling hearts in your eyes. Even now. So I’ll ask again, what the hell are you doing?”
Kill me now.
I release a deep sigh, closing my eyes for a couple of seconds. “Is it that obvious?” I ask. No need to keep denying it now…
She scoffs. “It is, and always has been! I mean, how Jack and Prue didn’t notice is a fucking outrage. I even heard some guys talking at the bar once about you beating someone up for asking her out.”
“Not why I beat him up,” I grunt between my teeth.
“So you did beat someone up! Then why the hell are you—”
“I did notbeatsomeone up,” I cut her off, “you got it all wrong, it’s just—”
“Why haven’t you made a move yet?” she yells back at me, and my eyes widen in shock. “I’m sorry, but if you’re still simping after her ten years after you first met her, maybe it’s time to do something about it or move on…”
“It’s not that easy,” I say, my shoulders slumping a little. “I was doing perfectly fine before she showed up here. And I can’t do that, you saw what happened back then. Jack would go ballistic, even though he pretends he’s changed.”
“Prue is a grown ass woman, she doesn’t need the approval of her brother! I mean, what is it, the 19th century? No! And if you still feel like you want Jack to know, then talk to him! But you have to do something about all this, so either you can finally be with her or just let it go.”
I see Prue leaving the restroom, heading for the bar, heaving her way through the crowd. Some men stop chatting or dancing to follow her with their gaze and I take a deep breath to not run over there and grab her like a stupid caveman.
“I can’t lose Jack. I’m giving him shit about all this, but I can’t lose him again. And this was the whole reason that it went to shit.”
“Do you know what went wrong back then?” She asks suddenly, her dark eyes focused on mine. “Unsaid feelings and assumptions. If you told him how you felt, he would have been mad, yes. But it would have been better, because he would have known exactly where you stood and not assumed the worse.”
She pauses and I meet her hard gaze, trying to keep my face neutral even though my heart is beating a hundred miles per hour. I can’t believe she knew all along and never said anything.
Also, I can’t believe she’sscoldingme again.
“You should have asked her out. From the moment you realized how you felt. She would have said yes.”
My eyes widen in surprise as I snap my gaze back to her. “She would?”
“Of course she would!” She rolls her eyes again like she can’t stand to deal with how dumb I am. “I think the only thing holding her back was that she was insecure and knew you were fucking around. And Jack probably,” she adds with a wince.
Fuck.
I look at the bar, where Prue is leaning over the counter to talk with the bartender who looks like he’s struggling to hear anyway.
“You should give it a chance,” Nuri says, her voice softer now. “Stop waiting, and just go after what and who you want. You want to be with her? Ask her out. You’re worried you’ll lose Jack? Talk to him. I’m sure he will surprise you. Or don’t and go behind his back like teenagers, who cares? Stop holding yourself back.”
My throat bobs as I struggle to swallow through the knot of nerves.
Fuck, I think she’s right. I need to talk to Jack.
I don’t have the time to answer since Prue is back, mumbling to herself about people being completely unaware of their own surroundings. She sits on the chair next to mine and I can’t help but lean towards her, getting a little whiff of her shampoo. She smells like peaches and honey. Always has. I’m guessing she’s been sticking to the same shampoo brand since college or even before.
Would it be weird to snatch a bottle of it?
“So, what did I miss?” she asks cheerfully, placing their two drinks on the table.
Just an awkward conversation about Nuri knowing how crazy I am about you and her scolding me for being dumb. Nothing too interesting, really…
