Page 18 of A Play For The Heart
Henry:Yes.
Great.
See you soon!
Uh…okay? Not sure why he’s freaking out over text all of a sudden. A simple ‘cool’ would suffice.
Maren slides into the front seat of the Uber and within minutes convinces the driver to play ABBA. Her off-key singing drowns out my laughter from the backseat, my sides in pain from laughing as she serenades the poor driver to “Gimme!Gimme!Gimme!”.
Three songs later and Maren is singing her final note, the driver patiently waiting for us to get out of the car. Finished singing, she hops out of the car, waving goodbye before heading into the bar.
Maren and I navigate our way through the nautical-themed bar towards the back, where I spot Henry sitting on a barstool. The lights are dim and old country music plays from a jukebox. The aroma of fried food and cheap beer waft around us. Henry notices our arrival and leaps out of his seat. He closes the distance between us in two large steps and drags me into a tight hug, my feet lifting slightly off the ground. I giggle and hug him back, amused and flattered by how excited he seems to see me. Right as I go to pull back, I notice Henry takes a deep breath, right into the top of my head.
Did he just sniff my hair?
Shaking away the odd thought, I begrudgingly unwrap myself from Henry’s arms and when I do, I miss the warmth immediately. I really need to invest in a thicker coat. I can’t keep Henry around all the time to keep me warm. Although it's not my worst idea. Henry turns towards Maren standing beside me who’s grinning at Henry and me like she knows something we don't. The gleam in her eyes frightens me.
For a moment I had forgotten she was here.
“You must be Maren,” Henry says, gaze fixed on Maren. “I’m Henry, Sawyer'sbest friend.” He slowly emphasizes the last two words.
What is with this man tonight?
First the hug, then the hair sniffing, and now the not-so-subtle best friend pissing contest with Maren. I don’t know what’s happening, but I can’t decide if I hate it or love it. Honestly, the little attention gremlin residing in my head kind of loves all the attention Henry is giving me. A complete one-eighty from Declan.
However, Maren is thoroughly unimpressed by whatever Henry is trying to do and just smiles and nods.
“Nice to meet you,” Maren shakes his hand and turns to walk away. I catch her muttering “butterfingers” under her breath as she passes by me and I hold back a snort. She sits down by some guy covered in tattoos and I leave her to fend for herself.
“She seems…nice,” Henry comments, watching Maren and the stranger at the bar, his brows furrowed.
“She's hilarious. Thanks for inviting us, by the way. This is a lot more exciting than the night the two of us originally had planned.”
“What were the original plans?” He asks, shooting me a look that almost resembles fear. Like he’s afraid of the answer.
“Maren and I planned on watching this new documentary, with her explaining all the scientific intricacies while I pretend to understand her big science words and gorge myself on Cheetos.Veryexciting stuff.”
Henry shoots me a goofy grin. “The new David Attenborough one?”
I look at Henry bewildered considering he does not enjoy documentaries in the slightest and I would bet that he doesn’t even know who David Attenborough is. “Yeah, that’s the one. How on earth do you know about that?”
“Oh, I don’t but Jack was talking about it.”
“Yeah, that makes more sense.” He shoves me playfully then takes me by the hand and drags me towards the bar. I grimace as our hands touch. “Why are your hands so clammy?”
Henry snatches his hand away, wiping it on his pant leg. “It’s the condensation from the beer bottle.” I look around for a beer bottle. There’s none in sight.
“Hm…okay.”
He’s acting weird.
Right as we make it to the bar, Maren lets out a huff of annoyance at whatever the man covered in tattoos just said to her.
“You’re telling me youseriouslythink Lebron is better than Jordan? Really?!” She asks, exasperated, her hands rapidly moving through the air. “Let me see Lebron do what Jordan did without a super team to back him up, then we’ll talk.” Maren's voice has raised two octaves and I watch as her face begins to flush with anger.
The man she’s nearly yelling at just shoots her an amused grin, like what she just said is the most endearing thing on the planet, which only makes her more irritated. At this point, you could basically see the smoke coming out of her ears. I’m not sure I want to know how that conversation started and how it got to the point where she looks like she’s one comment away from losing her shit.
“It looks like you’ve already met Maren, Jack. This is Sawyer,” Henry introduces the aforementioned tattoo-covered man, interrupting whatever conversation/argument he was having with Maren.
