3. “I know, right.”
“I KNOW, RIGHT.”
YASMINE
By midnight, the wine had turned generous and the room had shrunk to fit.
I was in the armchair with my legs tucked under me, watching Annie hold court from her spot on the floor. She’d started with a story about her coworker and, through a series of escalations I’d only half tracked, arrived at her latest working theory about men who started sentences with as a man.
Tabby had gone half-horizontal across Nico’s lap sometime in the last hour, neither of them seeming to notice or care.
I’d missed this. The way a conversation could start somewhere, take three wild detours, catch a second wind, and still land exactly where it belonged. People who knew each other well enough that silence didn’t need filling, and teasing felt like love.
Ava had kicked off her slippers and was stretched across the couch, glass in hand, hair twisted into neat rows that sharpened everything about her face. She’d quit law not long ago to focus on her art, but the attorney still slipped through when she got worked up.
“I’m just saying,” Ava declared, pointing her glass at no one and everyone, “the phrase ‘as a man’ has never once led to anything I actually needed to hear.”
“Not once,” Annie agreed.
Tabby finally lifted her head off Nico’s lap long enough to add, “Soon as a man say ‘as a man,’ my spirit leave my body.”
Hale lifted a hand. “Now, to be fair, as a man, I think sometimes y’all—”
The pillow Annie launched at him cut him off clean. “No.”
“Boooo,” Ava heckled.
“Denied,” Annie said.
“On sight,” Tabby muttered, eyes still closed.
Hale set the pillow aside and glanced around like he was reconsidering his company. “I was joking.”
Grant shook his head. “You really thought you was gon’ land that plane, friend?”
“As a man, you should—”
The boos came faster this time.
He lifted his hands. “Alright. Damn. I yield.”
“As a man, you should know better,” Annie said dryly.
He shrugged, grinning. “I like to see what I can get away with.”
“Reckless,” Grant said.
Ava’s gaze slid toward Hale again, narrowing.
“And speaking of recklessness,” she said, “I cannot believe Carter walked out of here with Sophie like you weren’t sitting right there.”
Everyone perked up.
Sophie had left about an hour earlier, claiming an early meeting. Carter had stood almost immediately.
“I’m heading out too. Need a ride?”
She hadn’t hesitated. “Yeah.”
She said her goodbyes with the same warmth she’d arrived with, squeezing Ava’s hand, telling Tabby it was so good to meet her, smiling at whatever Annie muttered on her way past.
When she reached Hale, it was a warm, easy nice to meet you, which he returned just as easily. And that was it.
The door had barely closed behind them when Annie gasped.
“Snake behavior.”
Tabby lifted her head. “Full reptile.”
Hale hadn’t blinked. “I know, right.”
He caught my eye, winked, and I laughed despite myself.
Nico shook his head, grinning. “You gotta admit, Av. They did look good together.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is the point?” Hale asked, genuinely curious.
“The point is I invited her here for you.”
“Ah. Well,” he said. “I wish them luck.”
But I caught something in Ava’s look. A sharpness beneath the teasing. Concern, maybe. Or frustration. Like she’d seen him sidestep this before and her patience was at a low.
Hale met her eyes, then looked away first.
“More wine?” Grant asked, breaking the moment.
“Yes, please,” Ava said.
The conversation loosened after that, everyone pleasantly drunk and unwilling to call it. Annie had migrated from the floor to the couch somewhere in there, folding into the corner of it.
At some point Nico started talking about wedding venues. Tabby lit up and everyone else smiled. Annie contributed increasingly terrible suggestions.
“What about a Barnes and Noble?”
“Lumberyard? Feels meaningful.”
Tabby threw a pillow at her.
Closer to one, Grant stretched and yawned. “Alright, I’m done pretending I’m twenty-five.”
“You’re thirty-eight,” Ava said.
“Exactly.”
“Lightweight.” She stood anyway and started gathering empty glasses. “If you drove and you’re past two drinks, congratulations, you live here tonight. Guest rooms are open. You know the drill.”
“I’m good,” Nico said, though he still hadn’t moved from where Tabby was tucked under his arm.
“You’re staying,” Ava told him. “Both of you.”
“We could—”
“Nope. Already decided.”
Annie raised her hand from where she’d melted into the couch. “I’m in. Too comfortable to move anyway.”
“Hale?”
He checked his beer, mostly empty. “Yeah, alright. Thanks.”
Ava turned to me. “Yaz?”
I’d lost count of how much I’d had, but it was enough that driving seemed like a bad idea. “If you don’t mind.”
“Please. You know we love having you.”
Tabby and Nico headed upstairs first, murmuring goodnight. Ava followed after extracting promises that we’d clean up our own mess, with Grant tugging her away before she could add another rule.
Which left me, Hale, and Annie in the living room.
Annie had gone very quiet.
I looked over.
Her eyes were closed. Mouth slightly open. One arm dangling off the couch like she’d been unplugged.
“Is she…?” I started.
“Out cold,” Hale confirmed.
We both stared at her.
“Should we wake her?” I asked. “Get her to a bed?”
“We could try.”
I leaned over and shook her shoulder gently. “Annie. Hey. Come on. Let’s get you upstairs.”
“No,” she mumbled, swatting vaguely in my direction. “M’fine here.”
Hale tried next. “Annie, hun, you’re gonna regret this in the morning.”
“Go’way.” She burrowed deeper into the cushions.
I reached for her again.
What came out of her then was specific, detailed, and not meant for polite company.
I looked at Hale. He looked at me.
“I think she means it,” I said.
“Ain’t a lot of gray area there.”
I glanced back at her. “She’s gonna wake up with the worst neck pain.”
I grabbed the throw blanket from the armchair and tucked it around her the way you do with kids and drunk friends you care about.
Annie made a small, content sound and settled deeper.
Hale and I stood there for a second, taking her in. Something about it felt oddly domestic.
When I looked up, Hale was already looking at me.
The house had gone quiet, everyone else upstairs now. Just us, Annie’s soft snoring, and the low music still drifting from the speakers.
“You want another drink?” Hale asked quietly.
I should’ve said no.
Should’ve said I was tired.
Should’ve said I should get to bed.
“Yeah,” I said instead. “One more.”