WE MOVED FROM THE SUSHI bar, to an actual bar across the street. This time, we got a private room in the back—one that was strategically off-limits to both patrons and the inevitable paparazzi hovering on the sidewalk. Those cameras Ella had been craving the entire time.
Buttons were loosened, jackets were removed. A bottle of aged whiskey was set in between us on the table. Nick opened it without a word and poured two glasses.
Then he leaned back and waited for an explanation.
...an explanation I was having a hard time giving.
I took one look at his face, and abruptly panicked. He didn’t look particularly mad, but the fact that I was even in this ridiculous situation, speechless as a guilty school girl sitting in the principal’s office, was making my head spin. I took a big gulp of whiskey. Then another. Then one more after that. After that...I realized my glass was empty.
He pursed his lips with a little smile and poured me another.
Oh...how the tables have turned.
How many times had the roles been reversed? How many times had I been sitting on the other side of the table, watching Nick have a silent panic attack before confessing his latest batch of sins? Gentling them first with copious amounts of alcohol.
I picked up the glass with shaking hands, then set it down again—at a complete loss for words. When it became clear I needed help, Nick gave me a little push.
“So...what are we into this time, Abby?”
My head snapped up, and I stared into his eyes. It was the exact same line I used to begin my routine rescue attempts. The standard preamble to unlock whatever new kind of mess he’d found himself in. I must have used it a hundred times.
His eyes twinkled back into mine, and in spite of all the odds, I started to smile.
“I’m sorry.”
There. Might as well just get it over with. Give him enough time to gloat.
He cocked his head teasingly to the side, frowning with false confusion.
“And what, pray tell, are you sorry for?”
The whiskey was taking effect. A nervous giggle rose up in my throat, but I swallowed it down—bowing my head with a grin as we started reading each other’s lines.
“You know...the usual.” I took another sip, shaking my head with regret. “Lions, and tiger, and bears.”
“Oh my.”
The glass went back on the table, and I dropped my head into my hands.
“I did this really stupid thing...to a really good friend of mine.”
A pair of warm fingers slipped beneath my chin, lifting it back up again. An almost crippling wave of guilt crashed over me, but when I looked at Nick, all I saw was a gentle smile.
“I’m sure he had it coming.”
I froze for a split second, then a burst of actual laughter escaped my lips. My hands clamped over my mouth, desperate to apologize, but the second I laughed, he started laughing as well. Before long, it was over-taking us completely, filling our eyes with tears as we bounced back and forth—replaying the bizarre events of the day, slowly emptying the whiskey as we did.
As the bottle got lower and lower, our voices got louder and louder. More buttons were loosened. Twenty minutes in, I kicked off my uncomfortable shoes. The manager was summoned to bring in round two and disappeared with a smile—shaking his head at the thousands of dollars us crazy kids were spending to just to cut lose.
“I literally had no idea what to think,” Nick admitted, when conversation finally turned to the now-infamous grope. “For a second, I actually thought she might be blind or something. Poor thing just didn’t know where she was reaching.”
I slumped over the table, shaking with uncontrollable laughter. Nick tried to swat at me, but he was too far away and it didn’t help that he was still laughing himself. For the last hour and a half, it was like the two of us had been caught in a wave of it. Unable to stop. Unwilling to try.
“You’re just lucky she didn’t try to give you a hug,” I finally caught my breath enough to speak, rubbing absentmindedly at my collarbone as I remembered her crushing embrace. “I think those implants might have broken something...”
He snorted with laughter, pouring himself another glass.
“You know, if we ever actually had sex, she would kill me with those things.” His smile abruptly faded as he stifled a shudder. “I’m not even entirely sure it would be an accident.”