“Tanner what are you doing?”
“Distracting you.” He waved his hands in my face. “Is it working?”
“Yes?”
“Great.” And then he grabbed Mason’s arm and yanked him off his stool. “A word in private, Mason.”
Mason sighed. “Okay fine.” They started walking toward the bathroom.
A few seconds later Nigel sprinted into the bar and ran straight past me toward the restrooms.
“Nigel?” I called.
And for the first time ever, he ignored me. I’ll be honest, I was a little hurt.
Eventually all three of them remerged. They’d been in there a solid ten minutes. And I didn’t know whether to be worried or annoyed.
“Seriously you guys, what is going on?” I asked.
“Food poisoning,” Nigel said and slid onto the stool next to mine. “Do they have meat sandwiches here? I’m starving.”
“But isn’t your stomach upset?”
“Oh.” He frowned and pushed the menu aside. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Okay, I’m not an idiot,” I said. “I know you’re lying.”
Tanner shook his head. “No, it’s like Nigel said. We’re all three quite ill. Right, Mason?”
“Yup.” Mason scratched the back of his neck. Which was a sure tell that he was lying.
But I had no idea why all three of them were lying to me. Maybe I was wrong. They had been in the bathroom a long time. “Do you guys need to head home?”
“That’s probably a good idea to leave you alone,” Tanner said. “So no one says anything. Because of the germs involved in that. Nigel, will you pull the car around?”
“Should he be driving if he’s that sick?” I asked.
“Right,” Tanner said. “I’ll call an Uber. Rest on your laurels, Nigel.”
“I love resting on my laurels,” Nigel said.
Okay.“Do you guys think you’ll make it to the game tomorrow?”
“Yes,” Nigel said. “I’m the water boy. I’m very important.”
“We’ll all be there,” Tanner said. “It’s going to be the best night of your young life, Matthew.”
“I mean…if we win it’ll be pretty great.” But I didn’t know about the best night of my life.
“Sure the game is important. But there’s only one true way to win at life. And this is going to be epic. Right, Mason?” He turned to Mason.
“I have no idea how this is going to play out. But I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Mason said.
“Thanks man,” I said. It was so great that all of them would be there for the game. It meant a lot to me.
Nigel sighed.
We all turned to him.
