Page 18 of Forgotten Pieces

The bartender, a young guy who looks barely old enough to drink, walks up to us. “What can I get you?”

“Two shots of bourbon,” Mac answers.

“I shouldn’t drink hard alcohol,” I tell Mac.

“You need it, man.” He grabs the shots from the bar and hands one over to me. “Look, I know that you don’t like to talk about your past, growin’ up with your parents, your mom; but Shelley needs to know. You’ll never be able to have a normal life with her, especially if she isn’t aware of the reason you left this place.”

I eye the shot glass in my hand. Mac’s right, but I don’t like to talk about my past. I don’t let people into the dark parts; besides Mac and the only reason he knows anything is because he is my cousin and saw my life growing up, the only other person that I ever told was Tacoma. The thought of her awakens a burn in my chest. I can’t think about her so I raise my shot glass to Mac and down it. Then order another round from the bartender.

Mac looks at me quizzically, like he can’t quite figure me out. No one can, not even me.

“Fuck,” I hear him whisper. I look around but don’t see anyone I know. He turns to face the bar, his profile barely visible to anyone who may walk in.

“What is it?”

He groans and then slams the rest of his beer. “Stop lookin’ around. I don’t want her to see me.”

“Who?” I ask while slyly looking to see if anyone has spotted him.

“Laney.”

That’s when I notice a girl I saw hanging on his arm at Easton’s wedding.

“Dude, I told you not to look,” he says as he rubs his face. “Fuck, I cannot deal with her right now.”

“Who is she?”

“Tacoma’s best friend. I’ve been hooking up with her for a few years.”

I look at Mac and laugh when I see his face. “It’s not funny.”

“It kind of is. Let me guess, she is in love with you?” I ask as I eat some of the nachos.

Mac flags the bartender down and orders two more beers. “Pretty close to love.” He scrubs his face again. “I like her man. She is a great girl, fun to be around. But I just don’t want a relationship.”

I think I vaguely remember her from the few times I saw her with Tacoma. But my time with Tacoma was private, secret, we never hung out together around other people. “Why don’t you give it a shot? She obviously likes you. And you like her.”

“I can’t,” he strains.

“Alright man,” I say as I put my hands up in surrender. I glance down the bar and see her take a seat at the other end. “Besides, she sat down at the other end of the bar, it’s fine.”

Mac sips on his beer. I can tell he wasn’t happy with that conversation, his jaw clenching as he stares off at the bottles on the back of the bar. I nudge him with my shoulder and it shakes him from his stupor.

We sit around for another hour catching up on our lives when he finally asks the question, I was surprised he didn’t ask before. “So you ever gonna tell me what’s up with you and Tacoma?”

I visibly flinch as he asks. He never knew anything happened between us eight years ago. But I knew he suspected something. Even back then, but I never admitted to it. “It’s nothing.”

“Oh, I highly doubt it’s nothin’ considerin’ the reaction you had at the wedding the other night.”

I clear my throat and say the first thing I can think of. “She was flirting with me. Shelley didn’t approve.”

Mac looks at me and smirks. “I’m sure that doesn’t happen often.”

I push him away. It does happen often but I tend to turn women down real quick.

Mac grabs my chin. “Look at this handsome face. If I wasn’t your cousin and you were gay who knows what would happen.”

I shake him off me and laugh. “Good thing we are cousins.” I take a sip of my beer and laugh with him.

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