Page 73 of Romance Languages

“I’ll take the cabernet. No, the merlot. What vintage is it?”

“I don’t know.” Penny bit her lip. “It’s probably old because we don’t usually serve wine.”

“Let’s do it. I’ll take a pint.”

“It comes in a wine glass.”

“Right. I’ll take a glass of your merlot.” I nodded, confident in my decision.

She left one menu on the table in case we wanted food. Raleigh and Hutch continued to stare at me, amused and confused.

“In the mood for wine tonight.” Hutch smiled to himself then looked under the table. ”Yep. Seamus has on his fancypants.”

I flipped him the bird. “A lot of people drink wine.”

“Sure.” Raleigh traded a look with Hutch.

“Because I’m a jock, I’m supposed to only drink beer? You fuckers can be really small-minded.”

Penny returned with our drinks. She delicately placed my red wine on the table, the round, stemmed glass a sharp contrast to the sturdy pint glasses.

I held the stem between my fingers and swirled the wine around. My friends thought this was the funniest shit they’d ever seen.

“You’re supposed to swirl the wine around to let it breathe and oxygenate it, you assholes.” I held the wine up to my nose and breathed in its oaky aroma. “This is a good one. Good vintage.”

I had no fucking idea if this was good wine or good vintage, but I wanted to show up Raleigh and Hutch.

They held up their pint glasses to their noses and sniffed.

“Mmm, yes I can really detect the hops in this,” Raleigh said.

“Yes, the bouquet is magnificent.” Hutch used a posh accent.

“And a hint of grain. This vintage is making my balls tingle.” Raleigh took a sip and let out an exaggerated moan. People at neighboring tables looked our way, but Raleigh was born without shame.

“When you’re done with your beer, you fellas can kiss my ass.” I took a sip of my wine.

Hutch held up his pint, and we three clinked glasses.

“You guys are missing out. This is some good wine.” I held back from chugging it. Wine was not beer. It had to be savored.

“What is up with you? Has baseball practice started up?” Hutch asked, wiping foam from his lips.

“Next week.”

“So you haven’t been busy with practice?”

“No, not yet. Why?”

Hutch looked at Raleigh before answering. “We’ve barely seen you this month. Usually, we’d go out for a regular happy hour drink during our off-seasons. But you’ve been booked solid.”

“I’ve been logging more hours at my data entry job for extra cash.” And when I wasn’t busy with that, I was getting busy with Julian.

“And now you’re drinking wine.” Hutch nodded at my glass.

“What’s wrong with wanting to expand my palate?”

“Nothing, but you’ve never been a guy who’s said shit like ‘expand my palate,’” Raleigh said.

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