Aidan scowled and threw back Min’s shot before turning his attention to his whiskey sour, his arm snaking around Lucy’s waist in the absent-minded way of a man who was used to always having a woman on his arm. Lucy wiggled in his arms, pressing her chest against his bicep with a triumphant gleam in her eye.
“Are you singing anywhere? You’re so talented,” Lucy gushed, stars in her eyes as she stared up at Aidan.
“That’s sweet, Luce,” he said. “Laying low for a bit, though. Staying in the city –”
“At your parents’ house,” Jeff interjected.
“And weighing my options,” Aidan continued, ignoring Jeff’s interruption. “But another round or two and maybe I’ll sing you someNessun Dorma. How about that?” he said.
Lucy giggled and Min fought the urge to gag, to forcibly remove her friend from Aidan’s grasp. Instead, she took a deep breath. And another. She had decided a year ago how to handle what had happened with Aidan, and that plan did not involve making a scene in her favorite bar.
“I thought Henry was coming out tonight,” Jeff said, his eyes scanning the room. He was adorable when he was nervous, all twitchy, his leg bouncing as he sat. But Min couldn’t recall ever seeing him nervous over a guy before.
“Oh my God. Are you screwing a freshman?” Lucy hissed, scandalized by the idea.
“Not yet,” Jeff said in that tone he used to let everyone know he wasn’t in the mood to joke about it.
Bobby made a frustrated sound into his drink, but Min didn’t have time to wonder what that was about before Henry appeared in the doorway, the freshman’s hands balled up in his pockets. Henry chewed on his upper lip and his eyebrows scrunched together. Jeff rose to go greet him.
“Behave,” he warned his friends as he left the table.
He spared a glance for Min, waiting for her silent nod before he went after his boy. She was grateful that even then he was looking out for her.
“That poor boy doesn’t know what’s about to hit him,” Maria said.
“I think he has a pretty good idea,” Phoebe replied, watching as Jeff whispered in Henry’s ear and the freshman’s eyes flew wide, lips parted.
With a Cheshire Cat grin, Jeff took Henry’s hand and walked him over to the group, pulling another chair up to their table. He slid his gin and tonic in front of Henry and hailed the server to order another one for himself.
An hour later, their table was half empty, Phoebe, Lucy and Maria having drifted off to dance in the corner. Jeff and Henry stood at the bar, waiting for another round, so wrapped up in each other they might as well have been elsewhere. Min sipped her wine as she thumbed through the book of Neruda poems Dr. Jacobs had given her, pointedly staying out of Bobby and Aidan’s conversation. Maria had rolled her eyes at her when she pulled the book out of her purse, saying, “Do you really have to read in a bar?”– to which the answer was yes, a resounding yes. She really did have to read anytime she needed to escape, and she could definitely use an escape just then, especially one that came courtesy of Dr. Liam Jacobs.
When Bobby drifted away to coax his girlfriend off the dance floor, Aidan and Min were left alone at the table. She kept her attention on her drink, rolling the stem of the glass between her fingers, and focusing on her breathing.
“I miss you, Mel,” Aidan said, a slight slur to his speech. “We’ve hardly spoken all year.”
“I think that’s probably for the best,” she replied, bitterness creeping into her tone.
“You seeing anyone, babe?” he asked as his eyes did a slow sweep of her body.
She bristled, his eyes on her making her skin crawl. “That’s none of your business.” She hated how immature it sounded but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“What if I want it to be my business?” Aidan grabbed her knee under the table.
She pulled away and pushed her chair back, tucking her legs out of his reach. “Don’t touch me.” Her voice was steel, the equivalent of a dog’s warning growl.
“Aw, babe, you like when I touch you,” he crooned, scooting closer to her and reaching out again.
She was out of her chair before his hand hit the empty air where her knee had been. It was the first time he’d touched her since she’d fled his bed, the smell of alcohol on his breath a too-real reminder of that night. She kept her voice steady, but inside she was screaming. Her chest hurt and she dug her toes into her shoes to keep her legs from shaking, but she could already feel the edges of a panic attack closing in.
“You’re drunk. And I’m not interested.”
She took a step back, bumping into Bobby as he returned to the table. “Alright, Mel?” he asked.
“We’re fine,” Aidan answered for her, throwing back a too-large sip of his drink.
Henry and Jeff joined them, Jeff’s hand deep in the back pocket of Henry’s jeans. Jeff dropped a ginger ale in front of Min’s empty seat and her panic receded slightly at the gesture. Her friends were there. They would take care of her.Min forced herself to breathe and retook her seat. She would not make a scene. She would not let Aidan run her off. She would not let him take anything else from her.
That was when Dr. Jacobs walked into the bar. His eyes scanned the room and fell on the table of students. He found Min immediately, his face dark and brooding as he approached. “Room for one more?” he asked, his deep voice flowing over her body like honey.
