Page 17 of It's Complicated

“Ready?”

Jamie’s soft voice startled me out of my musings. I jumped, bumping our chests hard enough we both teetered on our feet.

“You okay?” he asked, grabbing my arms and steadying me.

“Yeah. Fine.” I smiled, but even I could tell that it probably looked like I was trying to hold in a fart and not an actual smile. “Ready to go home?”

“How about we hang out for a bit longer?” he suggested.

“Yeah, that works. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

Sticking around and hanging out was a much better option than going home. I needed some time to process everything that happened tonight, and to do that, I needed a distraction. And to not be alone with Jamie until I got over whatever had possessed me to kiss him.

“Now that I can breathe, I’ll be fine.” He smiled crookedly. “And I could really use a drink.”

I started to say “Me too,” but stopped. Drinking right now was off the table. Not just because I was driving, but also because using booze to solve my problems was a habit I’d broken years ago. I wasn’t about to backslide now.

“Let’s see if they’re still around,” I said instead.

Only a few guys were in the washroom when I opened the door to the stall. The guys at the urinal ignored us, but the ones at the sink openly stared at us, not being subtle with their curiosity as we left the stall.

Ignoring them, Jamie and I made our way back into the bar. Jesse and Sebastian were still at the table, a half-full pitcher on the table between them.

“Have you been saved?” Sebastian asked with a smirk when he saw us.

“Mostly,” Jamie said as we came up to the table.

“Did you get that thing off? You were gone for a while,” Jesse asked.

“Nope, but Z cut a bunch of it up so I can breathe again.” Jamie dropped into the seat across from him.

“You two are ridiculous.” Jesse leaned back in his chair and slung his arm over the back of Bas’s seat.

“Tell us something we don’t know.” I sat across from Jesse, pasting on my best smirk-smile and giving them a little shrug. “At least we keep you entertained.”

“That you do,” Jesse agreed. “Are Luka and Zander around?”

“Not sure. Luka went to check on Zander just before I texted you. He needed some air.”

Jesse nodded. “And Asa left?”

“Shit, yeah. I forgot to say bye for him.”

Jesse grinned. “You forgot something? Shocker.” He pointed at the pitcher. “Another?”

Jamie nodded and went to grab his still half-full glass from where he’d put it earlier.

“I’ll get you a fresh glass.” I jumped up.

“Are you sure?” Jamie asked. “It’s not like I can’t mix old and new beer if it’s from the same pitcher.”

“I’ve got it. I need another soda anyway.”

Not waiting to see if they accepted my excuses, I hurried away from the table and toward the bar.

What happened in the bathroom wasn’t a big deal.

It was a weird night after having a weird week. That was it.

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