I looked up from slurping my drink to see Suzie and Ford. It took me a second to react. I couldn’t compute seeing Suzie and Ford here while I was with Sanders and Skip. I was already off-balance and this only spun me out more.
“Hi, Suzie. Hey, Ford,” I finally said.
Ford nodded a hello. Behind him I saw Jack and I greeted him too.
“Hey, Roxy,” Jack said as he leaned in for a hug. I’d only hung out with Jack a few times but I liked him. To be real, he seemed way too cool for Ford.
“Have y’all met?” I asked, gesturing between all the people who now surrounded me. I sat back down without introducing anybody. They could figure it out.
My palms were sweating and my feet didn’t seem to be working. My friends went about making introductions and I sat watching, as though I was an outsider. I couldn’t remember who had met who the night of the drive-in movie. They could figure it out.
Sanders stood up and shook everyone’s hands with a big cheesy smile.
“We actually met,” he said motioning to Ford. “Good to see you again, mate.”
Sanders and Ford did the bro-hug fist-bump back-tap thing. It all seemed very complicated.
Jack and Skip were introduced. A look passed between them my fuzzy brain couldn’t process. Skip seemed a little distant and I couldn’t figure out why. Maybe because Sanders was pumping out the charm and making it a party.
“You guys should join us,” Sanders said.
“Are we interrupting y’all?” Suzie asked looking to me.
“Not at all. Just a bunch of friends having some drinks,” I said with just a pinch of salt. She hesitated. I softened my words with a smile.
I felt Sanders glance at me. The guys gathered a couple more chairs and pulled them up. It was just such a culture clash to see Sanders and Skip chatting with Suzie, Ford, and Jack. I wasn’t good at group things to begin with. This had the added confusion of mixing my work life with my personal. How was I supposed to act? In these types of situations, I typically shrank down and shut up because I could never quite figure out how to insert myself.
I downed the rest of my drink, capturing an ice cube to suck on. Jack sat down next to Skip who glared when the chair bumped his to make room.
“Just so you know,” Suzie whispered at my side. “Gretchen is meeting us here. We can switch tables if you want.”
I shook my head despite the ice in my gut. “No. It’s fine.”
Of course she was. Hey, while we’re at it let’s call up my parents and Vincent. Let’s invite Jethro and the whole Winston clan and maybe some Wraiths because this couldn’t get any more fucking awkward.
“Maybe you two could talk. Things have been so weird since the drive-in,” Suzie said.
“She hasn’t texted me either,” I mumbled.
Suzie let out a breath. Her startlingly emerald eyes were sad. “I think her heart was in the right place,” she said tentatively.
“It always is,” I said.
“Just talk?”
“I just need to focus on work right now. Let’s not talk about it right now.” I tilted my head subtly to Sanders at my side.
Suzie sat up and looked to Ford and made a face. Fucking couples.
A hand squeezed my knee. My head shot to Sanders. He was looking straight ahead. Nobody would know he was even doing it. But it gave me strength I didn’t know I needed.
Then Gretchen walked in. No, not walked. Gretchen arrived. It was as though the whole room turned to her. She wore denim short overalls that hugged her curves perfectly over a plain white crop top. Her red curls bounced happily as she spotted the group and came over.
Between her and Sanders, how could anybody compete? In some ways they were a perfect match. The thought caused a sharp pain.
“Howdy, y’all. Oh a party! I’ll order shots,” she said.
“Gretchen, no. It’s a weekday,” Suzie said.
