Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
OSCAR
Isqueeze Freya’s hand, trying to ease the tension that runs up her arm. We’re outside Hawkins’ Bar getting ready to head in for Trivia Night. I’ve finally convinced her to join me and the crew.
I want to fold her into every part of my life until it’s not just mine anymore.
“You ready?” I ask her. She nods up at me, a soft smile ghosting over her face. She’s been quiet the last few days. I’ve tried pressing, but she’s been adamant there’s nothing wrong.
I push open the door, and as soon as we get inside, I worry this is a shitty plan.
The sound hits me like a wall, making me flinch a little.
I imagine how this must be for Freya and turn, but she’s just smiling up at me with a knowing expression as she slips a pair of noise cancelling headphones over her ears.
“I came prepared.” Her voice is just slightly too quiet. I guess with the headphones it’s hard to judge her own volume.
“Smart girl.” I wink, enjoying the way her cheeks redden.
“Murph!” I hear the yell from across the bar and turn to see Ryan, hollering from a table. He moves to yell again when Mack tugs him down by the arm, forcing him back into his seat.
I wrap an arm around Freya’s waist and steer her toward them, turning my shoulder in to help us maneuver through the crowd. Christ, trivia night’s always busy, but I haven’t seen it packed like this for months.
Mack stands when we approach, pulling me into a back-slapping hug.
“Nice to see you guys!” He has to yell to be heard over the crowd.
He turns to Freya and gives her a warm smile.
“Hey, Freya, you look lovely this evening.” She’s wearing another dress that flares out at the waist, this time in an olive green that complements her hair.
“Thank you.” She gives him her at-ease smile.
I move my arm from her waist to drape it around her shoulders, pulling her into me in a possessive gesture that I know the guys will give me shit about later. “Freya, this is Jenna, Justin, and Ryan,” I say, gesturing around the table.
“We’ve met.” Ryan grins and I roll my eyes.
I pull out Freya’s stool and help her into it. As she sits, I catch Justin’s slight frown, an expression I can’t place crossing his features as he looks at Freya’s headphones.
“So, how’s the yarn business treating you?” Ryan asks from his seat next to her. I take the stool on her other side, Mack next to me, with Justin and Jenna across from us.
“It’s good, thank you,” she replies, crossing her arms on the table. I drop a hand onto her thigh and feel the tension there.
“Yeah?” Ryan nods, encouraging her to continue.
“I don’t know if you know Joyce, but she finally stopped by.”
“The old lady who lives up by the high school?” Justin asks, when Freya nods, he says, “Fuck, she was always yelling at me when I was a kid. Why does it matter if she comes into your store?”
Freya’s shoulders curl in, face flushing. I shoot Justin a glare. What is he doing?
“She kind of runs the knitting scene in town.”
“Woah,” Ryan says quietly, “like the mob.”
Freya giggles, nodding sheepishly.
“I never liked her,” Justin mutters. He takes a long drink, a third of his beer disappearing.
We fall into our usual rhythm. Shit talking one another, raucous laughter, and Mack barely managing not to drop his face into his palms as he breaks up yet another argument.
Freya doesn’t say anything more, she just sips on the lemonade I bring her and takes it all in, studying the way that the dynamics play out between the crew.
I take hold of one leg of her stool and give it a tug. When she’s within reach, I’m able to settle my hand back around her waist and she tucks in next to me.
A shrill screech of feedback cuts through the clamor, and I see Megan, one of the bartenders and the MC for tonight, climb up onto a small stage in the corner of the room.
“Okay, folks, who’s ready to play?” she calls out to a chorus of cheers. “You’ve all registered your teams at the bar?” I look at Mack and see him nodding. “Great! Now, my glamorous assistant will bring you some answer sheets and we’ll get started in a couple minutes, alright?”
Her assistant tonight ends up being Turner, the bar owner.
I watch as he winds his massive frame between the tables, dropping paper and a pencil at each one.
He’s broad shouldered and barrel chested, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say more than three words strung together.
I don’t know how Megan convinced him to start up Trivia nights two years ago, but it’s probably the same way she’s managed to get him decorating the bar for Christmas and letting local bands use the stage for live music on Saturday nights.
Once everyone’s set up, Megan takes to the stage again, flicking through her notecards until she finds what she’s looking for.
“Alright, we’re gonna warm everybody up with some general knowledge.” Megan claps her hands before launching into the questions.
“Don’t fucking write that!” Ryan hisses at Mack as he records the answer to question six. “Justin doesn’t know shit. It’s Paleolithic first, then Neolithic, then it’s the Bronze Age.”
“Fuck you, man!” Justin argues back. “I know what I’m talking about.”
“You clearly don’t!”
“He’s right,” Freya chimes in. Justin doesn’t hear her at first, but Mack smacks him on the arm to get his attention. “Neolithic is second, it started with the development of agriculture.”
“Well, what the fuck were we eating before we could grow shit?” Justin scowls into his drink.
“I don’t know.” Ryan shrugs. “Meat and shit. Like, hunting with spears.”
Freya nods, tucking her arms in closer to herself. I give her thigh a reassuring squeeze. I know she doesn’t like confrontation, but this is how we are on the crew. It’s basically how we show love.
“Okay,” Mack says as he crosses out our previous answer. “Majority vote wins, we’re going with Ryan’s answer.”
“Whatever.” Justin huffs, and I kind of want to smack him upside the head. He’s been acting like even more of a jackass than usual tonight, and it’s starting to piss me off.
“Okay, folks!” Megan calls from the stage, thankfully putting an end to Justin’s pouting. “Hand in your papers, then we’ll move on to the picture round!”
Turner makes another lap, taking away everyone’s answer sheet and dropping off new ones, his trademark frown never moving an inch.
“By overwhelming demand, and by that I mean my own overwhelming desire to put this round together, we’re doing period dramas.”
Ryan groans, Jenna slumps in her chair, and Justin starts muttering under his breath.
Mack smiles a little, giving me a smirk when I look at him.
I know how many of these movies Joni’s had him watching, he could probably pick them out in his sleep.
Freya straightens up next to me, her energy brightening.
“In your teams, you have five minutes to go through each of the stills in front of you and answer which movie they’re from.” Megan announces.
Freya immediately leans forward, starting to scan down the page.
“Number one is Barry Lyndon,” she says.
“Got it,” Mack replies, already recording the answer.
“Two is Sense and Sensibility.”
“I’m gonna go get another drink,” Justin says, standing. He almost knocks into the table and I shoot him a glare.
Jenna gets up to go with him. “I’ll keep an eye on him. You two seem to have this handled.”
Freya and Mack don’t acknowledge their departure—they’re on fire, only disagreeing once.
“It’s Downton Abbey,” Mack says, his pencil already touching the paper. Freya all but smacks his hand away.
“It’s Gosford Park.”
“Are you su—”
“I’m sure. Michael Gambon was never in Downton.”
“Fuck, you’re right.” Mack jots down the correct answer.
It only takes them two of our five minutes to get through the list. Freya shoots up from her stool, hand in the air when they finish the final question.
“Done!” she yells, and Megan looks over at our table, as does most of the bar.
Realizing that all eyes are on her, Freya shrinks back into her seat, going beet red.
“Sorry,” she murmurs sheepishly. “I got a bit overexcited.”
“I heard you were finished,” Jenna winks as she and Justin approach.
Freya gives her an awkward smile and I watch as her ears turn pink. “I’m just gonna go use the bathroom,” she says to me, shuffling off her stool.
“You good?” I go to catch her hand but she darts out of my reach.
“Yup!” She smiles. “I’ll be right back.”
I want to go after her, but I don’t want to make things worse, so I just watch her disappear into the crowd.
Mack smiles. “She really knows her stuff.”
“Yeah, she’s great.”
“What’s her deal?” Justin slurs. Christ, when did he get this drunk? I don’t even know what drink he’s on, but it’s clearly getting to him.
Is he serious? “What deal?” My voice is hard, cold.
“You know what I mean, right?” He looks around the table for backup. Mack gives him one of his Captain stares that says shut the fuck up. “Like, she seems sweet and everything, but a little…”
“A little what?” Justin tends to be an asshole, usually a harmless one, but him being an ass about Freya? That’s not going to slide.
“You know.” He leans forward, whispering conspiratorially. “She’s kinda creepy.”
Something icy, and a little scary comes over me. My fingernails bite into my palms and I look down, not realizing I was clenching my fists so hard.
“Shut your mouth, right the fuck now.” Nobody speaks about Freya like that, not ever.
“Murph, come on!” he splutters, taking another deep pull of his drink. “You can’t tell me you don’t see it. Like, who the hell wears headphones to a bar?”
“What does it matter to you? She’s been nice to you all night, even when you’ve been a fucking asshole,” I seethe.
“Dude! She’s fucking weird! And, not gonna lie, it’s kind of weird that you’re so into her.”
“The fuck does that mean?”
“She’s like a kid or something.”
I take the drink out of his hands and slam it down on the table, hard enough that half the liquid sloshes out. Justin goes to grab for it, but Mack places a firm hand on his shoulder, keeping him in his seat.
“Come on, Justin.” Mack stands, his expression leaving no room for argument. “Let me call you a cab. I think it’s time you called it a night.” Mack takes his arm in a firm grip and pulls him to standing.
Justin struggles in his hold before raising his arms in surrender. “I’m sorry, okay?” he whines. “I’m just trying to look out for you.”
“And which part of the bullshit you just spewed was supposed to be ‘looking out for me’?”
“She just gives me a weird vibe. Like, the way she stares, it’s like she’s gonna kill you in your sleep or something.”
That’s enough. I round the table, not caring who’s in my way. When I reach Justin, I yank him away from Mack, pressing him back against the table and letting every ounce of rage I’m feeling show on my face. Justin pales, finally realizing the mess he’s gotten himself into.
“Murph, man,” he babbles.
“Shut the fuck up, you piece of shit.” I’m practically spitting. “You say one more word about my girlfriend and I’ll break your fucking arm.”
“Okay, that’s enough, Murphy.” Mack puts a hand on my chest and pushes me back, away from Justin who takes the opportunity to storm away from the table, shoving through the crowd to get outside.
Part of me wants to follow him, but I force myself to calm down.
He’s not worth it. Mack gives Jenna a nod, gesturing for her to follow Justin.
“Make sure that dumbass doesn’t walk into traffic. ”
I shake away from Mack.
Fuck.
I look around the bar, seeing the circle cleared around us. There are eyes everywhere. I didn’t mean to make such a scene, but hearing that… It was too much.
“Oscar.” Mack says my name quietly. I look at him, his tone making me worry. He nods behind me and I whirl.
Just under the bathroom sign, face flushed and eyes watery, is Freya.
Oh shit. How much did she hear?
I cross to her in four long strides, pulling her into my arms. “It’s fine, everything’s fine,” I rush out as I wrap myself around her.
She’s stiff in my arms and I can hear her breaths coming out shallow. I press a kiss to her temple, my panic rising.
“Freya, honey, talk to me.”
“I’m fine,” she chokes out. She’s not fine. Shit. How did this all go so wrong?
I sigh, giving myself one last second just to hold her. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”