11 - Jordan
11
Jordan
Dude.
I mean.
Dude .
I’d never been into Haley back in high school. For one thing, she was my best friend’s girlfriend. Off limits, say no more. But even ignoring that, the two of us never really vibed together. Despite sitting next to each other for years thanks to alphabetical seating, we hardly said anything to each other. She definitely never laughed at my jokes. Now I knew it was because she hated me back then.
But tonight? We were into each other.
All of us loved what had just happened in bed. That’s what made it so incredible. Four enthusiastic participants. There was never an awkward moment, like I’d expected. It was all so good.
Haley frowned at the bathroom door while Lucas peed. I tried to think of a joke to lighten the mood, but none came to me. My brain was still fuzzy from our sizzling foursome. I still couldn’t believe we’d just done that.
And with Lucas’s ex, too.
“So, what do you do for a living?” I asked.
Haley smiled at me. “We don’t need to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make small talk,” she said. “This is just a one-time thing.”
“Ah, right,” I said, feeling strangely disappointed. Somehow, I’d already begun thinking about the next time we would all do this.
But of course, there wasn’t going to be a repeat. This was the kind of thing people did once and then moved on. Especially with the added baggage of Lucas being her ex.
I still needed to talk to him about that.
We all took turns cleaning up, and by the time I came out of the bathroom, Haley had gotten dressed. She said her goodbyes with Shay and Lucas, then gave me a long hug.
“Good to see you again,” she said, smiling up at me. “I don’t hate you anymore.”
“Really?”
“Well. I hate you less ,” she clarified.
I glared at her, then kissed her on the cheek. “See you at the ten-year reunion.”
“We’ll see,” she said dryly.
And then she was gone.
Shay left soon after, muttering something about having to be up early for court. Then it was just me and Lucas sitting on the couch in the living room, polishing off the rest of the pitcher of margaritas that had been sweating on the counter while we were all in bed.
“Dude,” I said. “Sorry for crashing your threesome.”
“My fault for forgetting that I invited you over,” Lucas said. “And it actually worked out great.”
“Yeah,” I said, leaning back on the couch. “It really did, huh?”
The two of us snickered like we were teenagers again.
“How’d you convince her to have a threesome with you and Shay?” I asked.
“Believe it or not,” Lucas said, “it was her idea.”
“Crazy.” I shook my head. “But how’d you get in touch with her in the first place?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you text her first?” I nudged.
Lucas nodded. “I told her I was back in town, and asked if she wanted to get a drink and catch up.”
I stared at him.
“What?” he asked.
“You know what.”
“I really don’t.”
I sighed, and wondered if I should push the issue right now. I didn’t feel like having this conversation while we were still basking in the afterglow of our foursome.
Then the words came pouring out of me: “What made you move back to Vancouver?”
“I told you. I got a job at the Nissan office.”
I shook my head at him. “You put feelers out about jobs before you landed that interview. You decided you wanted to move home before you searched for jobs. Why?”
I could tell I’d struck a nerve. Lucas looked away and shrugged. “I was sick of Detroit. Vancouver was familiar.”
“You didn’t move back,” I said slowly, “because of Haley?”
Surprise flared in Lucas’s eyes. “Of course not. You know that’s not the reason.”
“Do I?”
“We were never compatible,” Lucas said. We had chemistry in bed, obviously. But that was it.”
“You were an idiot teenager back then.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“My point,” I said, “is that you were a different person back then. Now you’re an adult. You’ve matured, bro. You’re adulting so fucking hard now.”
“Thanks, I guess?”
“I’m just saying, Haley might be interested in the new version of Lucas,” I explained. “And if that’s the reason you decided to move home, then I understand.”
Lucas turned and looked somewhere else. It was exactly what he used to do when we were kids and he didn’t want to admit something. For once, I knew to be quiet and wait for him to speak next.
“That’s not why I came back,” he finally said. “Besides, you heard what Haley said. This was just a one-time thing.”
I decided not to push the issue any further. It was impossible to get through to Lucas when he was stubborn about something like this. But I tucked the information away for later. For when he eventually lowered his walls and did want to talk about it.
“Just a one-time thing,” I agreed.
But fuck, every cell in my body was screaming at me to see Haley again.
And I was certain Lucas felt the same way.