“My new boss.”
“No, shit?” A line forms between Gabe’s brows. “Pete sold the bar?”
“I got fired from the bar.”
He cocks his head to the side in confusion. “When? And why am I just hearing about this now?”
“I got fired when I called in sick on the way home from Vegas.”
“Shit, Lo. I’m sorry. Why didn’t you say anything?”
I roll my eyes. “Because I wasn’t talking to you, dumbass.”
“I feel like shit.”
“You should.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to get the time off?”
“I’ll try. But if I go, the second that bitch shows her true colors, I’m gonna be the first one to say, ‘I told you so’.” I give him a devilish smile. “And you know how I love to gloat.”
He throws his arm around my shoulder and kisses me on the temple. Gabe leads me back inside the bar, but his arm slips free of mine and the space between us grows the closer we get to our group of friends.
“Hey, happy birthday,” I say, hugging Mace.
He scoops me up in a big bear hug and buries his face in my neck. “It is now that you’re here.”
“Alright, who’s ready to get this fridge crawl started?” Tommy shouts and leads the way to what’s sure to be a night of drunken debauchery.
“Ican always count on Freckles and Clementine to stock the good shit,” Gabe says as he grabs a six pack from our fridge.
“Yeah, because we’re not cheap like you bastards.” I take a beer from him and sit on my couch while the rest of the boys raid the fridge and liquor cabinet. I don’t know how the fridge crawl came to be tradition, but every year the birthdays in our friend group are celebrated by traveling to one another’s apartments to consume all of the alcohol within, before moving onto the next. I think it was an Aussie tradition instigated by Mace, but regardless of who started it, this shit is always a lot of fun. Especially since Annie can’t stay thanks to working the graveyard shift.
“Well, I really have to go,” Annie says, glaring at me and the rest of the crew, who don’t seem to be paying her any mind because they’re still squabbling over drinks.
Gabe takes her hand and leads her to the door. “I’ll walk you out.”
“No need, we can say goodbye here.” She reaches up on her tiptoes and throws her arm around his neck. He leans in, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips, but she drives her tongue between his lips and tightens her grip on his neck. I swallow hard and stare at the label on my beer. Mace sits beside me, so close the length of his thigh is flush with mine. I look up at him and he studies my face. “Listen, I gotta apologize for being a dick.”
“What?”
“At the shop a couple of weeks back. I said some things that were fucking shitty, and I’m really sorry.”
“After Vegas.”
“After Vegas,” he agrees. “I was fucked up and pissed at you.”
I frown. “Why would you be pissy with me?”
“It doesn’t matter. I just want you to know that I’m here. Like, if you ever need someone to talk to or you wanna hang out just the two of us.”
My smile twists into a suspicious grin. “Okay, we’re definitely going to come back to you being pissy with me, but we’ve never hung out just the two of us.”
“I know, ’Cause you’re fucking glued to Laurier’s hip.”
“Or maybe he’s glued to mine.”
Mace chuckles. “There’s definitely an unnatural level of codependency there.”