Laurel and Angeline shared a look. Weren’t Jess and Lucia supposed to be friends?
‘Don’t get me wrong,’ Jess said. ‘I adore Lucia. I do, but she is always late. She’ll be the first to admit it.’
‘The only thing I remember about Lucia from uni is that her and Nate were this golden couple,’ Laurel said. Okay, she was prying a little.
‘I don’t remember you from then,’ Jess said, tilting her head and frowning.
‘No, I’m a couple of years younger.’ Laurel coughed, a little embarrassed.
‘Yeah, well they were, but after uni it wasn’t the same. Uni’s like this surreal bubble, and university relationships don’t last after university unless you both want the same things, both change to accommodate the real world,’ Jess said, with surprising insight.
Laurel gazed at her. She was right. University was a surreal, kind of out-of-body experience. You live with random people, don’t have the pressures of the real world, have somewhere to go home to, are still a dependent, really.
Her friendship with Rebecca had survived, but there was no one else she kept in touch with from uni. People frittered away, finding new lives, new friends. It was nice that this little group had kept in touch, and she guessed it was Jess who was the driving force behind that.
The men returned with the drinks and they slipped into easy conversation.
It all became a little less easy about half an hour later when a soft, feminine voice floated to them, followed by a douche-y male voice.
‘Hola, hola! We’re here!’
‘Get the party started!’
As if summoned, Lucia appeared, followed by Alex.
Chapter Sixteen
Nate
Laurel had been laughing so hard at Paul’s story that she couldn’t catch her breath, and Nate had grabbed her glass from her hand. This was exactly why he had invited her, so she could relax, have fun.
But she stiffened ever so slightly at the sound of Alex’s voice.
Jess squealed and jumped up to embrace Lucia.
‘Lu! You could have come earlier you know.’ It was a gentle jibe at the fact that she was so desperately late. Way past acceptably late.
‘Oh, I know darling girl, but I just got waylaid,’ Lucia said, returning her hug with gusto.
‘This is from the both of us,’ Alex said, reaching around Lucia to hand a bottle of wine to Owen, a smirk on his face, trying to indicate exactly why they were late. Probably because Lucia couldn’t possibly bring herself to be on time for anything because the world revolved around her, rather than Alex getting his leg over.
‘Paul, my man, how are you?’ Alex cried, pumping Paul’s hand vigorously. ‘And this must be the beautiful Angeline.’ He reached for her hand and planted a kiss on the back of it. ‘Enchanté,’ he said, with the worst possible French accent.
Nate tried not to roll his eyes.
‘Angeline,’ Lucia gushed, bending over and hugging her on the sofa. ‘So nice to finally meet you, Paul has said so much about you.’
Laurel put her glass on the low table to the side of the sofa in readiness for hand shaking or hugging.
‘Oh, sorry, Nate, didn’t see you there. How are you, old man?’ Alex asked disinterestedly.
Nate stood up and stuck out his hand, making a show of being the bigger person here. The last time they’d spoken it had been tense, to say the least.
‘I’m good thanks, Alex, you?’
‘Yeah, you know.’ Alex shook Nate’s hand lazily. ‘Laurel,’ he said by way of greeting, running his eyes over her dirtily. Nate’s jaw clenched.
‘Do you want a drink, guys?’ Owen asked.
