Page 97 of Bide

“Why are you texting my sister?”

With enough pizza to feed a small army balanced on one hand, Ben joins the party, dropping the food on the coffee table and flopping on the sofa opposite us. “Because we’re friends.”

A terrifying thought.

Tonight was Ben’s idea. Pizza, beer, whatever game is on. He wrote it on the whiteboard on the back of our front door a couple of days ago, with the time and the word 'obligatory' underlined in red.

I don't think everyone got the message.

“Has anyone seen Nick?”

A round of shaking heads.

Ben huffs as he snatches a piece of pizza. “He's being weird, right? I'm not the only one who’s noticed?”

“Is he?” Cass frowns. “I think he's just focusing on his fight.”

I resist the urge to laugh. Of course he hasn't noticed; they haven't been in the same room together since they got back from Thanksgiving and Nick suddenly developed a habit of making himself scarce whenever Cass appears.

Unless Cass happens to be talking about Amelia. Then Nick will linger, pretending to act uninterested. Only when he realizes I notice him lingering does he make a run for it.

I shake off the thought of my friend's sudden sketchy behavior, distracting myself with pizza. It's not quite as good as the deep-dish from the place Luna dragged me before my flight home, but it'll do. Settling back in my seat, I turn my attention to the game.

My buzzing phone distracts me after only a couple of minutes.

“Let me guess,” Cass drawls sarcastically, “Luna?”

“Sisters,” I correct him with a grimace. Heckling combined with the unrelenting insistence that meeting my girlfriend is a matter of life or death. And Lux’s version of an apology; a text asking how many people she's cooking Christmas dinner for. “They're planning the wedding. Grace is set on the fall but apparently, Eliza thinks Luna is more of a summer bride.”

Cass snickers. “My bet’s on a shotgun wedding.”

“Hypocrite. I’d be more surprised if youdidn'thave a secret child running around out there somewhere.“

“I did see a little girl at the grocery store the other day who bore a striking resemblance to you,” Ben chimes in, hiding his smirk behind his beer. “She had your eyes.”

“Hey, remember when you were homeless and I gave you a room? Remember that, quippy?”

“Shame I'll have to move out soon to make room for the nursery.”

* * *

We make it halfway through the game before someone knocks on the front door.

“Maybe Nick forgot his keys,” Cass suggests , but I doubt it, and I’m right.

It's not Nick I find standing on the driveway; it’s a disheveled, glasses-wearing blonde with a stuffed tote bag slung over one shoulder.

I waste no time stooping to kiss my girlfriend. “I didn't know you were coming over.”

“Didn't know I needed a formal invitation to see my boyfriend.”

It's amazing how one word can have me smiling like a damn fool. Opening the door wider, I nod toward the living room. “We're watching the game.”

“Football?”

I shoot Luna a dirty look. “Baseball.”

She rises on her tiptoes, kissing me again before strutting inside the house. “My favorite.”

---