“Yes.” I bow my head in apology.
“What? What am I missing here?” Casey bounces in her seat.
“Lucas has a crush on Riley?” Addison asks, her upper lip scrunching in disgust.
“Hey now, it’s not gross, they are both consenting adults, who are hella attractive by the way. I say, go for it.” I waggle my brows and Casey chuckles.
“Ew, that’s my sister. It’s bad enough little miss sunshine is banging my brother, I’d like it if my other friend wasn’t bangingmy sister. Why is it alwaysmysiblings!” Addison throws her head back in complaint while Casey and I chuckle. Stella makes her way over, clearing tables and then lingering by ours.
“Ooo, what are you doing for the Fourth?”
“Lucas has an event for the Mets versus Yankees. Big-ticketed event, performers and all that. I’ll be working.” She gives me a gentle smile, takes the empty glasses, and then disappears.
“This is atrocious. Do you think Riley will be all loved up, or can I steal her for a weekend of mischievous fun? She seems easy enough to corrupt.”
Addison chokes on a laugh, shaking her head but answering me anyway. “I heard she’s heading out with Mom to Oak Ridge to spend the week at Matt and Ava’s.”
“So that leaves…”
“Caleb and Ethan.” Casey lists off with her fingers, thankfully missing the way I almost winced at his name.
“What about Halle and Jasper from work?” Addy offers, and I consider it, but then I remember Jasper already has plans, and I think Halle said something about her family. I sigh hard enough I nearly pass out from the effort.
“It’s fine. I’ll do something to fill the time, I’m sure.” The conversation flows for another hour, and I finally get a really good catch-up with my girls. It makes me realize how much I miss having them both around all the time. Being able to make fun of each other, gossip about the other people in our lives, and bitch and moan about our families and how they piss us off. Addy and Casey have met my parents a number of times, but they don’t reallyknowthem. They don’t know the things I’ve sacrificed—or will sacrifice—for them, but they get that it’s a pretty lonely setup.
“Jay’s here to pick me up,” Casey chirps her nickname for Jessie when she glances at her phone.
“Oh, he’s taking me too.” Addy reaches around to grab her coat.
“Oh. You’re both going?”
Addy rolls her eyes but there is a charming smile in place before she shyly meets my eye contact. “Noah’s being a caveman, he isn’t here to take me home, so he enlisted Jessie to take me.”
“Man, those guys are suffocating.”
“They mean well and really…I kind of like having someone always looking out for me.” Casey flashes a smile in the direction of the entrance, where said Neanderthal stands. I let my head fall back on a defeated sigh, because apparently this is our life now.
“They do know we used to walk these streets alone before they were pussy-whipped, yeah?” I deadpan to them both, and they just chuckle. Stupid lovesick idiots.
“Message me when you’re home, are you staying late?” Addison queries, her brows pulling down slightly.
I decline, whipping a finger in a circle above my head. “Nah, I’m going to do the rounds and find a bed to warm.” They both chuckle.
“Okay, but let us know when you’re home, yeah?” Casey pushes, knowing that I don’t do sleepovers. I agree, pulling on a tight smile before I down the rest of my drink. I watch them go, chucking a quick wave to Jessie before heading for the bar. I let my eyes scope the venue, noting the slim pickings, but I don’t want to end the night just yet, and I desperately want something to fill the hollowness of my mind, especially with the weekend that was coming up.
My perusal lands on Caleb, the same brunette hanging off his arm in the booth they are both sitting at, but…something’s off. He stares into his whiskey glass, circling it, while President Barbie tells an animated story. He gives her the raised eyebrowsand forced smiles when it suits the story that I assume he is only half listening to.
“Same again?” Stella interrupts my spying, and I quickly thank her with a smile, before returning to my spying, finding that Caleb seems to have vanished.
His pretty friend still sits in their booth, another friend now with her, and they chat animatedly, but no sign of the sex pest anywhere. I try to make a subtle look around the room for any trace of him, but nada. Maybe he just went to the bathroom? But his glass isn’t even on the table, his jacket no longer over the back of the chair.
I make quick work of downing my drink, ignoring Kyle/Kale/Not-Kevin as he tries to shoot his shot again. I flick Stella a wave, grabbing my coat and heading for the front. When the doors swing open and the warm June air hits me, I pull the coat off again and hang it over my arm. “Ugh. So sticky.” I flick a hand under my hair that’s stuck against my neck and shake it out.
Turning to head in the direction of my apartment, I make a few halfhearted attempts to search the street, not really sure what I expect to find or what I’d do if Ididsee Caleb. But I do know that for whatever reason, I’m looking for him anyway.
Opting for the warm air and clarity that comes with a walk, and also probably a fuck you to my friends and their watchdog boyfriends, I decide not to catch an Uber home. I make it to the corner of my apartment building and I decide maybe it was better that I came home, alone. Better because I can have a bath, wash my hair, put in that new treatment I got for it, and even put in a few brai?—
“Rosebud.”
