Chapter Thirty
The beer bottle sweated against my fingers, as I twisted it in the wet ring on the table and tried not to imagine catastrophe.
Flynn had been watching me with a blithe sort of curiosity since we sat down, sipping from his own drink and apparently happy to leave me to stew.
Or maybe he just didn’t know what the hell to say, given what was probably a fairly pained expression on my face.
It was tempting to down the bottle and order up another, only I was the designated driver tonight.
Flynn had argued we’d be more comfortable in his car, but I’d pointed out that he might need liquid courage to deal with my friends.
Then I’d reminded him that his SUV was prone to breaking down, and he’d called me an asshole and told me fine, I could drive.
My mood had rapidly gone downhill after we arrived.
It wasn’t like I thought Kyle and Catherine would be upset, or unhappy about my news. I actually thought they’d take great delight in teasing Flynn, and there was a part of me which was rather looking forward to seeing him give as good as he got.
It was just hard, though, when it all felt very much like goodbye.
“Can’t believe you started without us.” Kyle’s voice was loud, enough to startle me out of my pensive reverie.
“Only the first,” Flynn said, holding up his bottle.
Catherine gave Kyle a shove. “What’re you having?”
“The usual, obviously.”
She laughed as she headed to the bar.
Kyle sat down, then looked at me more closely. “What bit you on the ass, then?”
I flipped him off. “Are you really gonna show me up, when we have a guest?”
He snorted. “Guest? Is that what we’re calling it, now?”
Flynn flashed me the sort of grin which suggested he was already enjoying things immensely.
“Fine,” I said, deciding the rip-the-Band-Aid-off strategy was probably most wise. “We’re dating. Happy?”
Kyle reached out to grab one of the beers that Catherine was holding. Swung it round, in Flynn’s direction. “Y’hear that?” He winked at Catherine as she sat down. “Our boy finally found himself an honest-to-god boyfriend.”
Catherine extended her own drink. “And to think, he was next door all along.”
Reaching his beer out to clink against theirs, Flynn shook his head. “Not quite. But I do feel like I was terribly overlooked.”
Kyle side-eyed me. “Yeah, he’s an asshole like that.”
“Blind, practically, “Catherine agreed.
“Uh, hello? I’m sitting right here?”
They laughed at my grumpy protest.
“Yeah, and you look like you just sucked a lemon,” Kyle observed. “So, what gives?”
Flynn took a drink. “He’s worried you’ll disapprove of me.”
“Cute, educated, good in bed?” Catherine raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I’m just guessing. But yeah, what’s to disapprove of?”
There were two Band-Aids, of course. There was Flynn, and there was the city.
“I’m moving in with him,” I said.
They shared a glance.
“Don’t you live...” Kyle started.
“You’re about to say something exceptionally stupid,” Catherine told him, interrupting. “He means he’s moving, of course.”
Kyle closed his mouth, frowning.
“And presumably you’ll be commuting to the store?” She gave me a pointed look, just in case I hadn’t taken note of the dripping sarcasm.
“They offered me a job. Dealing with specialist items in the donations. And it’s based...”
“In the city, yeah, I guessed.” She took a drink. “All these pieces, slotting into place. How long were the pair of you planning all this, eh?”
“Since last night,” Flynn said.
Catherine opened her mouth, clearly having already had something in mind to say, then closed it abruptly. Looked between the two of us. “That seems sudden.”
I wanted to believe there was no judgment there, just surprise.
“Am I supposed to leave him here, all on his own?” Flynn smiled. “Anyway, he’ll be a few hours away. Which just means you both have to come visit.”
“Do you have a spare room in that fancy apartment?” Kyle asked.
“Hey,” I said, quickly, “you’re not bringing random girls back to Flynn’s place.”
“You have such low expectations of me,” Kyle said, sounding insulted.
“Right,” Catherine agreed, “because we’ve met you.”
Flynn laughed. “I have a spare room, and the couch turns into a pull-out bed, and there are a hundred hotels.” He winked at Kyle. “So you have options, though I think I’d prefer you picked the last one if the random girl is coming back with you.”
“Oh, please. Like he ever pulls.” Catherine flashed Kyle a withering look.
There was a part of me that knew I should feel relieved. Not just that they’d taken it well, all things considered, but that it hadn’t even presented that much of a hiccup. The bitching and insults were pretty much par for the course, it was just that we had Flynn to observe them this time.
Only I couldn’t quite silence the other part of my brain, the one that still wasn’t convinced things could go so smoothly.
“Are you pissed at me, for leaving?”
It went silent around the table. Catherine looked at Kyle, and Kyle looked at Catherine, and then they both turned to stare at me. I returned that stare as best I could; eyes flitting between them, looking dolefully over my barely-touched beer.
And then they both cracked up laughing.
“You’re such a fucking drama queen,” Catherine teased. “You’re moving across the state, Oli, not going away to sea for a year.”
Kyle shook his head ruefully, then held up his bottle to Flynn. “I hope you knew what you were getting yourself into. Our boy’s just an emotional little guy, really.”
“Assholes,” I muttered, glaring at them both.
Catherine sighed, setting down her bottle with a wet smack. “We’ll miss you. We’ll also be ecstatic that you’ve found someone you like.” She gave Flynn a stony look. “And if he mistreats you, we’ll drive over and trash his fancy apartment.”
His ex-boyfriend had already tried that, I almost pointed out, but it didn’t seem the right time.
“It’s gonna be so weird,” I said instead.
She shrugged. “Well, yeah. Because you’ve been a sad-sack, stay-at-home loner all this time, punctuated by the odd weekend whoring it up and then feeling guilty afterwards.
” This time, the look she gave Flynn was far warmer.
He smiled back at her. “At least this one is getting you out of your shell. And come on, it’s not like any of this would’ve happened, if you’d been sticking around here. ”
“What’re you gonna tell your parents?” Kyle looked curious.
“I already told them. They were surprisingly okay with it all.”
He nodded, as though that came as no surprise. Then glanced at Flynn. “Yours?”
A grimace. “Not yet. But I guess I’ll have to, eventually.”
Kyle winked. “I mean, I can understand the reluctance. Having to own up to dating this guy.”
“Fuck you,” I told him, mildly.
Flynn laughed. “Oh, he has skills to recommend him.”
Slapping her hand across her face, Catherine sighed dramatically. “Look, if we’re going to be talking about gay sex, I’ll need another beer.” She spread her fingers apart, to peer at Kyle. “And it’s your round.”
We could hear him grumbling almost all the way to the bar.
It was easier after that. The secret no longer being a secret, and the humor defusing whatever tension I’d predicted - feared, more likely - once they found out my plan.
I’d nursed my beer, and enjoyed watching how well Flynn fit into the group.
Appreciating, too, how quickly they embraced him; how rapidly it became hard to imagine that once it’d just been the three of us, not a quartet.
There was a fair crowding of empty bottles on the table by the time we called it quits. Flynn leaned in, to whisper in my ear.
“I think I drank a bit.”
I chuckled at his slight slurring. “Maybe, yeah.”
“I was nervous, that they’d not like me.”
Squeezing his knee under the table, I decided it was better not to mention the fact that I’d been wary of that possibility, too. “No worries there. You want to go home?”
He nodded, yawning extravagantly.
I patted his leg, before I pulled my hand away. “We’re gonna get going. I’d say it was a pleasure seeing you reprobates, but...”
“Oh please,” Catherine said, tone scathing. “It was the best fucking night of your life.”
I shared a glance with Flynn. I could definitely think of a few nights that stood out for different reasons, though I wasn’t going to fill my friends in on those details.
It was cold outside, after the warmth of the bar and the goodbye hugs. Flynn cranked the heater in the truck and held his hands over the vent.
“We should’ve brought my car,” he complained. “It has heated seats.”
“Sure,” I agreed, putting the truck in reverse. “And then we could enjoy them all night, when it breaks down at the side of the road.”
“You think you’re so fucking cute, don’t you.”
I flashed him a grin as I pulled out of the lot.