Page 8 of Knock Knock

“Xavi?”

Shit. “Heyyyyy.”Goddammit, I’m an awkward son of a gun.“How are you?” I hugged Andrea back when she pulled me into one of those side bro-tap things. I tripped over my slides and steadied myself on a shelf of Caribbean rums I couldn’t afford.

Andrea had literally never done anything to make me feel like a loser, but she denied us, so I felt like one anyway.

She grabbed the cheap bottle of rum. “If you mix this with Coke, add a bit of water to each one. Keeps you hydrated and the hangover isn’t as bad.”

I took it from her, and my wallet sighed. “Thanks.”

She smiled, but that was about all there was to it, so I nodded and stood in line. It was Friday, the second week of the month, disability cheque day, welfare cheque day, a full moon, baby bonus day, and hot as balls outside, so the line was long.

I tried not to be awkward, because yeah, Andrea stood right behind me in line, smirking at me being a fucking weirdo. “Soooo, how’s things?”

“Oh, piss off with that. We’re still friends.”

“So, we’re just letting it go that we tried to get in your pants and you made us pull ours up instead?”

“Yes.” No room for negotiation. “What’re you and Nate up to tonight?” she asked.

Hopefully, we’d be getting drunk and chatting about my predicament, but in all likelihood, I’d end up getting too drunk and passing out on the couch while I faded in and out ofTeen Wolf.Such a fun Friday night. God, we were lame.

“The usual.”Seriously? Had I always been this pathetic?

“Did he talk to you about everything? You guys worked it out?”

I looked at her as we shuffled forward. “Worked what out?”

“The reason things didn’t work out with…oh.” Her shoulders dropped. “He never talked to you about it, did he?”

“What? The kid thing? Kaylee?” My mind wasn’t firing on all cylinders, so I’d need her to spell it out for me.

“No. Not the kid thing. Sorry. I thought he told you.” She nodded forward, so I stepped ahead.

“Told me what?”

“I’m not getting in the middle of it. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry for that.” Andrea gave me one of those sympathetic smiles that pissed me off because it meant I was on the outside of insider information. It made me wanna punch her in the tit because no one knew shit about Nate that I didn’t!No one!

But I couldn’t titty-punch her because she was a kind-as-hell lady who just wanted me to succeed in life. Goddamn her.

“Just talk to him, Xav.”

Yeah, I planned on it. I paid for my shitty rum, headed next door for a few bottles of Coke, and went home with all my questions and insecurities and jealousy.

Time for some fucking shop talk, Nate.

CHAPTER3

NATE

Xavi was moreof a fun drunk, so it was suspish when he pounded down water/Coke/rum mixes with a scowl on his face. My boy was the smiling type or the blank-faced type, not really the brooding type, so I stared at him, wondering what the hell was going on. Xavi wasn’t an extrovert, but around me, he was a chatterbox who told cheesy jokes and man-giggled; it’d been a long time since I witnessed this level of moodiness.

“You better vent before you blow up, Xav,” I mocked him while he made another drink. “Madd’s the pissy one in your family. Sorry, role’s taken.”

“Fuck you, Nate.”

I pressed my lips together to hold in a laugh. We weren’t the ‘fuck you’ kind of friends, and he sucked at it almost as much as he sucked at death threats. When his loose bracelets got in the way of him pouring rum, he swore at them and sucked the alcohol from the filthy fabric.

I couldn’t help it. A bark of laughter busted through my pinched lips.

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