“So, table three?” I asked. “How do they determine who gets what piece?”
He was still eyeing me, but I felt the tension slide away. I was trying to change the subject to get it away from the thoughts in my mind about his sister. Namely what I would do if I saw her in one of those tight-fitting and cleavage-enhancing costumes. About how close I had come to kissing her when we were on the back porch of the bar. About how if Matt hadn’t shown up, I would have, and I wasn’t entirely sure I would have stopped there. They would have found the two of us in the bushes somewhere, missing clothing.
Also, I was getting worried Matt was now suspecting something going on between us and that he might spill the beans about it. The last thing I needed was for whatever was going on with Becca and me to get back to Nick before I had an answer for him.
Even changing the subject felt weird. Moving on from talking about Becca to literally anything else felt like I was avoiding talking to her, and thus making it even more obvious. I had never avoided talking about anything in my life with Nick. He was the one person I could depend on to talk to no matter the subject. And I never got weird about women in general.
Granted, I hadn’t really thought much about talking about my women problems with Nick in a while. Going through his divorce had meant that he was usually in a pretty low place, and I didn’t want to ever seem like I was rubbing my dating life in his nose. Or worse, making him pine for a woman I was very glad he was no longer with, just to get rid of the loneliness and heartbreak. Those first few weeks, I had to make sure he didn’t text her when we went out to drink, because it was his initial reaction. For months, I took possession of his phone after his third drink, just to make sure.
I had to change the subject off women, though, and that was weird now, especially with him stating he was seeing someone. But talking about our dating life seemed like a dangerous game, and I might let something slip about how there was someone on my mind, too. Or he would see it and call it out. Becca was different. I had to keep her quiet until I figured out what it was I was going to do about it, and how in the world Nick was going to react to it if it was anything other than ignore it until I was dead.
We focused on the games in front of us and when it was our turn to play, settled in beside each other. It didn’t take long for both of us to realize we were far out of our depths, especially me. I was out of the game in less than five minutes, and Nick not long after. Having been eliminated from the tournament, we went back to the bar, and I got a few drinks in while Nick got a few more sandwiches and we watched the tournament come to its close.
14
Becca
“Doesn’t it seem even a little bit strange to you that I am celebrating running away from my parents?”
“You aren’t celebrating running away from them,” Melissa said, leaning toward the mirror so she could fix her lipstick. “You are celebrating your new lease on life. Just because that new lease happens to involve your brother’s place rather than your parents’ house isn’t a bad thing.”
“Well, I’m not actually on the lease,” I quipped.
She slid her eyes over toward me. “Hypothetical lease. Metaphorical lease. Becca, work with me.”
“I’ve got it,” I said. “And I understand what you’re saying. Coming back here after the whole thing with Steven wasn’t exactly my dream scenario as it was. I definitely didn’t want to bury myself in a hole of pity and let my parents smother me.”
“And if you stayed in that house any longer, that was exactly what was going to happen,” she said.
“I know. Getting out now was the best thing I could do. Not that I would be able to completely stand on my own feet right now. Which was where the big brother came in. But does that mean I’m just relying on him to save me? Am I still being rescued?”
“It’s your big brother’s job to rescue you,” she said. “It’s not the same thing as when your mother starts drafting plans for a stone tower she can put you in. You’ve got good hair and all, but I really don’t think you’re Rapunzel material.”
She laughed and gave me a hug. “Now, let’s go. We have a celebratory dinner to go to.”
It was just going to be the two of us, but now that she put it that way, I was looking forward to going out and celebrating this new chapter of my life. My parents didn’t exactly take it well when I told them I was moving out. But at least it was to move in with Nick and not to be by myself.