Page 26 of Short Stack 3

“Why?” Asa asks, as honest and straightforward as ever.

Malachi ponders the question. “Because you interest me,” he finally says. “And I think Jude and I are going to be friends again.” He looks over at me. “What do you think?”

I shrug and take a seat at the stand and the glass he offers me. “I can always use a friend.”

He pours for everyone else and raises his glass. “A toast,” he says. We all raise our glasses. “To old acquaintances.” He pauses and looks at Asa. “And new ones.”

Asa throws his shot back and then blinks. “Good grief, that’s lovely,” he says.

“Potato vodka,” Mal offers. “We distil it on our farm.”

“You live on a farm?” I say in disbelief. “You?”

“He passed out on the farm in his underpants.” Cadan slings his own drink back. “And then never left.”

I blink, but Asa looks intrigued. “That sounds like a story.”

“You have no idea,” Mal says, leaning on the counter and clinking his glass companionably against Asa’s. “I’ll tell youallabout it.”

Two hours later, I’m shaking my head.

Cadan grins at me. “What?”

“Them,” I say, pointing at Asa and Mal, who are leaning on the stall talking and drinking and pausing only to laugh uproariously before they go back to talking. They’re surrounded by a load of people who are hanging on their words. “They couldn’t stand each other a couple of hours ago.”

He shrugs. “It’s Mal,” he says simply. “He’s got a way with him.” He grins at his boyfriend. “He’s very charming when he wants to be. I’m just glad he doesn’t use his power very often. It would cause widespread devastation.”

“He never wanted to be charming before.”

“Ah well, people change,” he says placidly. Mal laughs at something Asa says, and Cadan’s face softens. “Although I’m glad to say nottoomuch. I’ve always loved that sharp tongue of his.”

I eye him. “I’m glad about that,” I say, meaning it. I like this lean, quiet man with the warm eyes and sardonic manner. He and Mal somehow go together, moving around each other with the same ease as Asa and I do, finishing each other’s sentences and laughing at shared jokes. “Does it bother you that we used to hook up?” I ask.

He smiles and shakes his head. “I’m just glad he’s made his peace. He regretted the way you parted.”

“He had no need. We never made any promises to each other.”

“Ah well, sometimes we don’t speak the most serious promises. He knew he’d done wrong, and now he’s gone some way to fixing it.”

“He didn’t need to fix it. He did me a favour in the end. We never suited, and I went on to find Asa.”

There’s a gale of laughter from the other end of the stall. The group that has gathered around Asa and Mal are all laughing at something they’ve just said. The pair of them are born performers and seem to spark off each other. I smile at Asa. His face is flushed by alcohol, and his hair is tumbling down his back. When I turn to Cadan, it’s to find him smiling in the same way at Mal. With lazy affection and pride.

“I think I’d like to be friends with you too,” I say.

He puts out his hand, and we shake. “Same.”

Asa comes over, walking rather unsteadily. “I like Mal,” he slurs. “Why did you never tell me how funny he was?”

“I did,” I say patiently. “You just wouldn’t listen.”

“Well, Ilikehim,” he insists. “We’re going over to their farm tomorrow. He’s going to show me how to make potato vodka.”

“Well, that’s good, seeing as you’ve drunk a vat of it today.”

He waves his hand in a rather cavalier manner. “Pfft,” he says. “I’m fine.”

I roll my eyes. “Let’s see how fine and carefree you are when you wake up tomorrow.”

---