10 #2
“Well, you should have,” he says again, then comes back to the counter, picks up three of the glasses, and marches back to the yard. He doesn’t look back.
I’m admittedly shaken. Not only to see Owen so openly vulnerable—when he’s never been anything short of battle-ready before—but to see him so vulnerable about this. This of all things, when he had such a cavalier attitude about his relationship with Andy for years.
Sure, over the last year he and Andy have been working on it.
And fine, maybe the graduation thing wasn’t his fault.
But still, Owen has been an actively absent family member for Andy for a long time.
Not just oh they’re not close; more like I didn’t know Andy even had a brother for the first three years of our friendship.
He can’t just go from that to this... Can he?
No. He can’t. He’ll need to show it with actions, not just words.
But—I argue with myself as I pick up the remaining two water glasses and start walking towards the back door—I guess I didn’t give him a chance to show it with actions. Not as much as I should have, anyway.
Dammit. I may be mean, but I don’t want to be exclusionary.
With renewed determination to keep tonight positive for my best friends, I pursue the first idea that pops into my head.
“Hey guys,” I say as I return to the yard. “I just realized we’re gonna need a new group name, now that Owen is here.”
“What?” Owen asks, glaring at me like he’s not sure whether he’s the butt of a joke.
“Yeah,” I say, “there’s no O in NASA.”
“Oh my God,” Sophie yells, “you’re so right!”
“Oh no, really guys, that’s okay,” Owen stammers but it’s too late—the train is miles past the station with momentum to spare.
“Dude, that’s a great idea!” Nolan shouts. “Okay what acronym has N, A, A, S, and O?”
Andy squints up at the sky in contemplation. “Nothing?”
“NANOS?” Sophie suggests, then, “Wait, that’s not right.”
“What if you make me L instead of A?” I retake my seat on the bench next to my brother, then glance quickly at Owen. I offer him a small, unpracticed smile. One that’s trying to say I’m serious and I’m sorry and here’s your chance all at once.
Owen’s eyes dart to Andy, then back to me. He gives me the smallest of nods. My chest is warm, lighter, relieved to see the tension in his brow softening.
Meanwhile Nolan is brainstorming out loud. “SLOAN… ANOLS… LOANS? We could be LOANS?”
“What about SALON!” Sophie shrieks.
“I love that,” I say.
“And whenever we’re all together,” she adds, “we can say we’re at the SALON!”
Andy starts to say “That’s kind of girly—”
But Nolan is already jumping out of his seat, shouting, “That’s perfect!”
“What do you say, Owen?” Sophie asks. “Will you accept an official position in the SALON?”
“It’s a hard job but the benefits are amazing.” I wink at him, just to see if I can coax a bit of that fire back to life.
Nolan adds, “Lifelong friendship up for grabs man, you in?”
Owen looks between us like he’s really thinking it over, then a huge grin bursts across his face. “I mean, if you guys insist…”
Sophie and Nolan immediately start squealing.
They stand and grab Owen in a bear hug, jumping and rocking like ridiculous children.
I look across at Andy, then nod sideways at them.
We stand to join in, and then someone is chanting “SA-LON, SA-LON, SA-LON” and we’re all jumping and yelling far too loud after dark in this quiet neighborhood, but it feels pretty damn great.
Several hours later, lying on our backs in the grass, full of s’mores and beer and the unique fearlessness of night, I ask Sophie and Andy, “You guys aren’t gonna start having kids right away, are you?”
I have my yarn and crochet needle in hand, idly adding rows to a half-formed sweater where I lie.
The yarn shimmers silver in the low light, the metal of the crochet hook warmed by my palm.
I don’t need to look down at this stage of the piece, so I let my gaze trace the sky while my hands and instincts take over.
Sophie rolls onto her side in the grass, facing me. “No way. I can’t imagine having a kid during grad school. I need to do career stuff for like five more years before we even think about it.”
“Okay good,” I reply. “I mean like, whatever, you can do what you want. But I want all your free time for myself.”
“Did you guys know Owen’s gonna make partner by the end of the summer?” Nolan asks.
“What?” Sophie cries just as Andy asks, “That soon?”
Owen scoffs out a laugh. “I said I’m up for partner this summer, man, not that I’m about to make partner. It’s between me and one other guy, so it’s not a sure thing.”
Sophie sits up just long enough to lean across my body to smack Nolan on the arm. “Don’t jinx him! What’s wrong with you?”
Andy sits up next to her. “I didn’t know you were that close.”
Owen pointedly does not sit up, gaze stubbornly locked on the dark sky. “Yeah, I mean, that’s why I transferred to Boston, for the accelerated partner track.”
Andy’s only reply is, “Oh.”
And I would bet anything that I know what he’s thinking: I thought you came to be near me and mom.
God, poor Andy.
Sophie picks up on it too, because of course she does, and forges ahead with a change of topic, because of course she does.
“Nolan, what’s new with you? Dating? Work? Family?” she asks like someone who doesn’t speak to him daily.
His shoulders shrug against the grass. “Work’s fine. It’s just a job, yanno. But actually, you guys remember Melody?”
“The dating app girl?” Sophie asks. “Yeah, how are things going with her?”
“Bad,” he replies. “She ghosted me.”