Page 48 of The Story of Us
Nate closed his eyes and pretended he couldn’t hear Ryan. Beside him, Charlie tensed.
“Seriously? No strippers?” Embarrassed smiles spread around the members’ area of the Wattle Junction Football Club. Thirty of Charlie’s mates were clustered around the pool tables and dart boards, drinks in their hands, but only one person was causing a ruckus. Nate made a mental note to tip the servers more than he’d planned. They were in for a long night. Everyone was.
“Like I was saying,” Nate began again, talking right over Ryan. He noticed Owen and Teddy weaving through the crowd, heading towards where Ryan was slouched over a pool cue, dots of blue chalk on his chin.
“Thanks for coming to Charlie’s buck’s night. We’ve got a bunch of blackjack tables set up over there, poker’s on the right. Each table has a croupier and special Charlie cash so no one leaves with any damage to their wallet. It’s an open bar, and the food trucks outside are serving tacos and burgers.”
“Wait a minute,” Ryan bellowed, lurching forward unsteadily. “We’re not even betting real money? What are you guys? A bunch of pussies?”
Nate cleared his throat, pushing aside the annoyance simmering inside his body. Owen and Teddy were almost next to Ryan, and he knew they’d take care of him.
“Charlie’s father-in-law-to-be, Dalton Fletcher, has also generously brought along a few cases of cigars. They’re out on the main deck facing the oval and must not come inside or we’ll be kicked out.”
Several guys edged towards the big double doors that spanned the oval side of the building.
“Everyone grab a drink and enjoy the night.”
Conversation resumed and chairs creaked as people got settled at the card tables.
“Ready to get your ass kicked?” Nate clapped Charlie on the shoulders.
“Please,” Charlie scoffed. “You’ve got the worst poker face of anyone I’ve ever met. I don’t know why you even bother to try and keep secrets when they’re always written all over your face.”
Nate held up two fingers when the bartender stopped in front of them. Turning to his best friend, he smiled. “The trash talk is beneath you, Charles.”
“You think so, huh?” They picked up their drinks and spun around, surveying the party in front of them. “Want to explain why my mother told me you’re now living with my sister?” Charlie was watching him from the corner of his eye.
Nate coughed, the usually smooth whisky burning down his throat. “Eloise needed a place to stay. And I know you’ve got a full house with Sera’s family.”
“Would you like to hear how Joanie described it?”
“You’re going to tell me anyway, aren’t you?”
Charlie put his glass back on the bar. “Fuck yes, because if I had to hear it, so do you. She predicts you’ll be playing ‘hide the sausage’ before the end of the week.”
Nate coughed. “We’re just friends.” The lie-not-a-lie sent a tingle sailing over his skin, setting his nerve endings alight.
“So, first you kiss her, and now she’s staying with you but you’re ‘just friends’?” Charlie sure was looking at his glass very intently.
“Uhhh …” Nate stumbled over the word, his brain trying desperately and failing to come up with more of an explanation.
“I mean, I know things are different now. You and I are different. And I get that I’m partly responsible for that because I’m with Sera and our lives are changing … but I just don’t want either you or Eloise to get hurt.”
“I’d never do that. Not on purpose. And you are right. We are different. I’m not the guy you used to know. Nothing in my life looks the same as it used to,” Nate said, but there was something different in Charlie’s gaze now. It wasn’t the unspoken question that Nate always imagined would be there if Charlie knew about his real feelings for his sister. It was pitying, which was worse. “What’s going on?”
“You know Eloise is probably leaving soon. Don’t you?”
Time slowed down, and the noise of the party faded away. Nate paused. Lifted his drink to his lips, but all he could taste was dust. Surely, he’d heard wrong.
“Shit.” Charlie took the glass out of Nate’s hand and set it on the bar. “You didn’t know.”
“What do you mean ‘she’s leaving’?” Nate wasn’t even embarrassed when his elbow hit the bar as his fingers curled into air quotes.
“Remember that exchange for her master’s? The one in Arizona. She was asked to reapply, and according to Joanie, it’s basically a done deal,” Charlie said.
Nate’s chest tightened, and he did his best to keep his tone neutral. Hard to do when he was having trouble swallowing and his mouth was full of ash. “When?”
“End of August or something.”
