52. Tristan
FIFTY-TWO
TRISTAN
“I got it,” I said, taking the wheelchair from under Merielle’s fingers.
She looked up at me, wiping a drop of sweat form her forehead with the bridge of her palm. A smile hooked on the corner of her lips as she threw a glance at Haelyn.
“Thanks. He’s pretty massive for a short girl like me.”
“You usually don’t mind it,” David retorted, then clapped the hand I had on his shoulder as a thank you for taking over.
Merielle laughed. “When we’re in bed, not when I have to push two-hundred pounds with my bare hands.”
I let Merielle and Haelyn walk in front of us inside Old Town while I guided David’s chair on the wooden floor and between the brown chairs.
The last thing I wanted was to spend a Sunday night around wasted guys who smelled like piss and in a place where the vomit stains on your shirt determined who was cooler. But Haelyn asked and I couldn’t say no.
As soon as the word “yes” flew out of my mouth, her arms jumped around my neck with a squeal. I thought all I had to do was to agree, but when I showed her my first outfit choice—a white buttoned shirt and jeans—she shook her head, placed a hand on her hip and immediately dialed David for a clothing emergency.
So, she made me drive to their house and let David dress me with an old grey pairs of sweatpants and a washed-out t-shirt with Nirvana written on it. It was a little short for me, but the sweatpants were fine.
I felt like I was floating in my clothes and I didn’t despise it that much. What I hated was how they looked on my body.
My eyes swept to Haelyn back when she threw her head behind with laughter at something Merielle said and I forgot all the reason why I didn’t want to be here.
“You don’t have to push me, you know that, right?” David looked at me over his shoulder. I frowned. “I can use the wheels.” He demonstrated by planting his hands on them and rotating. “But I made Merielle do it as a punishment.”
I took a moment to squint my eyes of him before a husky laugh brushed past my lips. I shook my head. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Appreciate it,” he said as we found a table at the end of the bar, the same one where I found Haelyn the first time I stepped foot in here.
“Is Chris not coming?” Haelyn asked when I dragged a chair back so she could sit before pushing it under the table. She offered me a soft smile and I sat next to her after securing David next to us, kissing the side of her forehead.
“No,” David replied. “His mother isn’t feeling well.”
“Oh,” Haelyn pouted. “I hope she’s all right.”
We sat in silence for a while, the news about their friend bringing a shadow to our table. Though my last encounter with Christian wasn’t pleasing, I couldn’t feel any resentment against his mother. I knew better than anyone what it was like to have someone sick in your family and it wasn’t nice.
Plus, Christian was doing his job as a friend, no matter if I believed he saw Haelyn as more than that.
A guy with an apron around his waist came to our table. For some reason—maybe it was the look in his eyes—I felt the need to wrap my arm around Haeyln’s shoulders. She stiffened and offered him a soft glance.
What was that?
The guy swallowed harshly, then turned his attention to Merielle. “What can I get you?”
“Two Hugos for us,” the blonde said.
“No, I’m not drinking. Just a water for me, please,” Haelyn addressed the guy and squeezed my leg under the table. I knew she was doing this for me.
I could admit it was a strange feeling to be in a bar after I successfully avoided any kind of alcohol for two weeks, especially with the terrible headache I had. And to have my girlfriend skip her drink for me… it was like I finally had a team and I wasn’t supposed to do everything alone anymore.
“Water works fine for me too,” I added, my eyes involuntarily squinting at the guy. There was something between the two of them, I just didn’t know what.
“I’ll have a beer,” David said.
“You’re on medication,” Merielle said through gritted teeth then offered the guy a smile. “One Hugo and three glasses of water, please.”
He nodded, then turned around with his shoulders slumped. “Coming right up.”
David and Merielle argued about the alcohol, but I was too focused on the woman under my arm to offer them any kind of attention. She was biting her lip, her fingers beating a drum on the side of my leg.
“Were you two together?” I asked, trying not to show how hard my heart was beating.
Her head snapped to me, eyes bulging. “What? No.”
“Then why do I have the feeling like something it’s going on?”
She sucked in a breath, throwing a quick glance at him over her shoulder. “He’s always flirted with me and I don’t know, I just felt bad when he saw us together. I never cut off his advances because I thought he knew we could never be together.”
I didn’t need to ask why. I knew it was because the kid was the same age as Ryker.
My hand caressed the back of her neck. “You don’t have to feel bad about it.”
“Yes, I do. I could’ve told him to stop trying and not feed him a false reality.” Then, all of a sudden, she got up from her seat. We all stared at her, not sure what she wanted to do. “I’ll go apologize.”
I frowned. “What? You owe him nothing.”
Haelyn looked down at me and I knew I had nothing to worry about. I didn’t know if she wanted to reassure me, but by the look in her eyes, I knew this was just a chapter she wanted to close.
“Okay,” I breathed out.
“I’ll be right back,” she said before walking away from the table and finding her way to the bar.
I decided not to follow her with my gaze and instead, try to know her friends better. “How is your leg doing?” I asked David.
He huffed. “It would be better with some alcohol inside my system.” David eyed Merielle and she just smiled at him with her teeth.
“Trust me, alcohol doesn’t make anything better.”
David took a moment to reply. “Yeah, I know.”
“Hey, um...” Merielle started, looking around us, probably for her friend. “Can I ask you something?”
I planted my fists on the table, getting closer so I could hear her better. “Sure.”
“Is Hae eating okay? We haven’t talked about that and I wanted to make sure she’s doing better. I would ask her but I have a feeling she’d get defensive about it and things just settled down and the last thing I want is to have a fight with her.”
I couldn’t help the smile on my lips. Merielle’s care for Haelyn is something I’m grateful for. I could count on her that whenever something was wrong with my girlfriend and I was too stupid to notice, she’d tell me and help me fix it.
“She’s still not eating properly, but we’re making progress,” I assured her and I noticed how her body relaxed the moment I got the sentence out of my mouth.
“She’s coming.”
Haelyn placed a hand on my back and my blood instantly warmed. She sat down next to me with a smile on her face and was surely looking a lot better than how she was when she left the table.
“What did he say?” Meriell pried in.
“Eric is sad because his girlfriend broke up with her—not because of me. He said he let go of the idea of being with me when you showed up last time.” Her smile stretched when she turned to me, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Then he’s a smart guy.”
They all burst into laughter and I took a moment to look at them. Even if I didn’t want to come at first, I didn’t regret it a bit now. Around her friends, I felt just like I was surrounded by family. Despite what happened in the past between Haelyn and me, they didn’t hold any grudges.
And that night, I realized that coming in sweatpants in a dirty pub wasn’t as bad as I thought. I just had to have the right people around me.