Page 19 of Long Live the King

He said, “I’m James Cook, hey, can I introduce you?—?”

“No, sorry, really gotta get the order in!”

James said, “Okay cool, maybe when you get back.”

She buzzed off and James said, “Well, someone else needs to try next, or she’s going to think I’m hitting on her.”

I said, “Got it. When she comes back, I’ll talk.”

Lochie pulled at the collar of his shirt. “Och nae, I daena ken if I can bear it. What if I wait out in the truck while ye finish yer drinks?”

Fraoch said, “She’s going tae come back in a moment — what, ye are not brave enough tae meet her?”

“Ye said we would just come and see if she is here, now we ken. We can go home and come back on another less crowded night?—”

The big table of rowdy hooligans beside us all got up and left, leaving a noticeably emptier bar.

Magnus joked, “And suddenly, tis not so crowded.”

Lochie leaned back in his chair looking defeated.

Ash came over carrying a tray with our beers. She blew her hair off her forehead again as she put them all out. “I’m sorry, first chance to breathe since eight.”

I stood up to help. “That’s fine, let me introduce you while I pass them out. The Coke is for Hayley and Quentin, class of ’11. You already met James, he’s class of ’11 too. How about you?”

She said, “I’m class of ’20.”

I joked, “Damn, now I feel old.” I placed beers in my place and in front of Emma and handed beers to Magnus and Fraoch. Then, the last beer...

I said, noting a thin trail of sweat rolling down the side of Lochie’s temple, cold dread on his face, “And this is our friend, Lochinvar.” I passed him the beer. “He’s visiting from Scotland.”

“Pleasure to meet you— wait...” She turned to me. “You’re Kaitlyn Sheffield?TheKaitlyn Sheffield who was a YouTuber?”

“Well, yeah, many years ago, I’m Kaitlyn Campbell now. This is my husband, Magnus.”

“That washorriblewhat he did to you.”

“Yeah... um?—”

Hayley jumped in, “So, Ash, class of ’20, huh? Lochie is younger but?—”

Her eyes narrowed. “How young is he? I didn’t card him.”

Hayley said, “Oops, not what I meant, fine upstanding citizens, he is old enough to be in a bar.” She muttered, “We’re pretty sure.”

Lochie drew in a deep breath, pushed back his chair, and stood, tipping the chair over. It almost crashed except Fraoch grabbed it just before it hit the ground.

Meanwhile, in the commotion, Lochie’s sporran tipped a glass over on the table. Beer splashed everywhere. Hayley quickly righted it, but the front of his kilt was soaked. Lochie said, “Och nae.”

Ash rushed away, “Let me grab a rag!”

Lochie said, “She will think me an imbecile. We ought tae go, I hae ruined m’chance.” He ducked his head and tried to escape, but Fraoch yanked him around and clasped his arms, keeping him from leaving. It was Fraoch style, gentle enough, but because he and Lochie were both so big and as one struggled and the other grabbed, it seemed a wee-bit violent — chairs made scraping noises on the floor. Magnus, also big, had to back to the wall to get out of the way. All eyes turned to us, and Emma, Hayley, and I had to jump from our chairs to clear some room.

Ash rushed back, “I have the rag... but... the table over there needs their tab closed out.”Her eyes swept over our table’s disorder and that we were all awkwardly standing around. Magnus and Zach stepped together to block her view of Fraoch forcefully holding Lochie.

I grabbed the rag. “No worries, sorry, we didn’t mean to make a mess...”

I mopped the beer up while James and Quentin both kind of waved at the remaining customers, mumbling, “No worries... just a friendly disagreement, sorry, didn’t mean to bother you...”

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