Chapter 4 #2
Meadow’s tiny grin was cute, a little bit naughty, and probably a little bit infuriating to my best friend. I had to stifle my laugh.
“I never noticed,” he said sweetly, which I knew had to be a lie.
Dragging his tongue around his teeth, Allan tilted his head. “You know, this is going to sound crazy, but can I see some ID?”
“Allan!” I gawked at him, but he was deadly serious.
“It’s okay,” Meadow assured me, laying a hand on my arm briefly before rising a bit to reach into his back pocket and extract a plain wallet. He dug out an ID card, pushing it across the table. My eyes devoured as much of it as I could before Allan snatched it up to rake his eyes over it.
“Your last name is Oakbell?” he asked wryly, peeking up at Meadow suspiciously over the top of the card.
“Mhm,” he answered placidly. I hadn’t even known that. I remembered him telling me he usually used a fake name. I wondered if it was because his real one was so strange.
“What kind of name is that?” Allan asked.
“I’m not from here,” Meadow answered. The way his tone stayed so level and calm and pretty was so cool and sexy. He was so cool and sexy.
“Where are you from?”
“You probably haven’t heard of it,” he said, and again, I nearly cringed. Allan would take that as a personal challenge, I knew.
As predicted, Allan tilted his head, narrowing his eyes to slits. “Why don’t you try me?”
Meadow stared at him for so long that Jeremy cleared his throat and took a big chug, probably to try and ease the weird tension, before answering.
“Reyjkyiverdeg?rden,” he finally said, so smoothly, and with such a perfect accent I couldn’t even identify, that I could only stare with wide eyes.
“Can you spell that?” Allan asked, making a show of pulling out his phone to illustrate he’d be fact checking the answer.
“So you haven’t heard of it, then?” Meadow questioned, causing Jeremy to choke on his drink, trying desperately to turn his laugh into a coughing fit and not quite succeeding.
“Are you fucking with me?” Allan wondered sharply, and Meadow shook his head innocently.
“No,” he said, before carefully and slowly spelling the whole long, long name.
“A close-knit, rural farming village in Norway, with a population of less than 500 people?” He read out results that I assumed were from Google. “It has a post office, a small grocery market, and a pub.”
“Don’t forget the church,” Meadow supplied helpfully. Allan glanced back up at him and gave a haughty sniff before setting his phone back down.
“Okay, whatever. I haven’t heard of a rural farming village in Norway. Sue me.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Meadow said, gently amused.
“You don’t really have an accent or anything,” Jeremy pointed out.
“I left when I was very young,” Meadow said before pushing his chair out to stand. “I’m going to step out for a bit.”
“What?” I asked, springing up as well, that odd and very specific anxiety sparking to life in my stomach again. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m just going to grab a couple things for tonight,” he answered, looking a bit surprised at my tone. “I’ll be back.”
“Let me walk you out,” I said and hoped I didn’t sound like I was begging.
“Sure.”
“Bye,” Jeremy said, giving a friendly wave. “See you soon.” Apparently, he didn’t have weird anxiety about Meadow walking out the door and never coming back. Why would he? Allan acknowledged him with a tiny jerk of his chin. At least it was something.
“What are you grabbing?” I asked, once we were in the living room, before realizing maybe he’d only said that as an excuse to politely leave.
I was pretty sure he didn’t even own anything to grab.
“Wait, are you upset about Allan? Please don’t be offended.
He’s always like that, and it’s not personal. I’ll tell him to stop. I’ll—”
“Hey.” He interrupted me gently, laying a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I lied. “I just… I don’t want you to be upset.”
“I’m not,” he promised. “Really, I just want to grab a few things for tonight, like I said.”
“You’re not upset about Allan?”
“No,” he said, furrowing his brow. “He’s intense, but he’s just protective of you. It’s a good thing.”
I didn’t know what to say. It was a very kind way to describe Allan, but then Meadow tended to be very kind. My insides were starting to feel scrambled. Was there anything I could say that would make him give me a response that would kill my anxiety?
“Miles,” he started, reaching out to slide two fingers under my chin, tilting up my face so I was forced to stare into his eyes. “I’m not going to disappear. You don’t have to worry.”
Okay, maybe that was it.
“Spend some time with your friends, and I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Well, be careful,” I said.
“You’re asking a lot of someone who goes home with complete strangers and spends the night,” he reminded me, laughing lightly when I winced, glancing back toward the kitchen to make sure Allan wasn’t listening.
“Um, try not to meet any other guys on the way,” I requested. “Especially in the park.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, leaning in and giving me a soft kiss on the lips. “You’ve reserved my company for the evening.”
And then he was gone.
A little dazed, I made my way back to the table and dropped down into my seat.
Allan grilled me a little more about Meadow and my obvious attachment to him, while Jeremy commented that his hair looked nice.
Eventually, I satisfied all his questions, and we moved on to new subjects, like work and mutual friends and acquaintances.
It mostly helped me not to think about what was going on between Meadow and me.
I felt like my happiness was subject to a timer—a timer that would be expiring at the end of the night, like Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage.
And I wouldn’t be left with a glass slipper that would eventually lead my prince to me.
I was crazy to feel that way about a guy I barely knew, but I couldn’t help it.
A handful of hours later, while the three of us sat around my living room, scrolling our phones while a sci-fi drama played on the TV, there was a light knock on the door. It opened before I could get to it, and Meadow stood in the doorway, holding a garment bag on a hanger.
“Hey,” I greeted him, trying not to show all my pathetic relief on my face once he’d closed the door. “What’s that?” I asked, gesturing to the bag.
“Oh, it’s just what I’m wearing tonight. Want to see?” he asked, and I nodded. Where had he gotten that?
He unzipped the bag to reveal a really nice suit. It was a deep burgundy color, perfect for Christmas. I didn’t know much about designer clothes, but it looked pretty expensive. Which totally confused me.
“Is that Gucci?” Allan asked, sounding totally in awe.
He was obsessed with all those labels. He always watched the fashion shows online and could recite which piece of clothing came from which collection in which season, and blah blah.
Sometimes, I thought he didn’t want to become a lawyer so he could help people; he just wanted lawyer paychecks so he could be covered in labels head to toe one day.
“It’s Gucci-inspired,” Meadow admitted, smiling and stepping aside when Allan jumped up from his seat to inspect the garment. “Actually, I made it.”
“You made this!?” He gawked, running his hands reverently over the slim jacket. “It looks so genuine. I’d never be able to tell.”
“I could make you something, if you’d like,” Meadow offered sweetly.
“I can’t afford anything like this,” Allan said, shaking his head. “Just letting me touch it is enough.”
“I couldn’t charge you,” Meadow insisted. “It would just be a gift. We’ll talk about it soon, okay?”
“Okay,” Allan agreed, nodding slowly, looking like he’d been given a briefcase full of diamonds. “Did you hear that, Jeremy?”
“Yeah, babe,” he said from his spot on the couch. “You’re gonna look hot.”
And in that moment, it was clear that all of Allan’s reservations about him had melted away, like butter in the hot sun. Meadow had made a friend for life. If someone as prickly as Allan wasn’t immune, then my parents stood absolutely no chance.
I would never doubt his ability to win someone over ever again.