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“No problem. It’s about time this one actually went on a normal date,” she stresses, punching him in the arm.
“Fuck off. I go on normal dates all the time.” Ben turns to look at me, a sour expression on his face.
I shrug.
“Yeah, right. So anyway, Don Juan over here is cooking the dogs and if you wanna go inside there’s a whole bunch of appetizers the Sheltons brought and some awesome beverages. You drink, Tove?” she asks, eyes raised, hopeful.
“Oh yeah. And I won’t hold back since this one is driving.” I point to her brother and laugh, and Frenchie bursts into laughter. I feel like I’ve just inserted myself into a “drink responsibly” commercial. Like Frenchie and I now have our own private joke.
“Help yourself.” She points past the crowd, and I follow Ben up the steps.
I like his sister. A lot. But one thing’s for certain. She sure doesn’t act like someone whose kid was kidnapped and possibly killed just a few years ago.
Once inside the kitchen, Ben hovers over several platters of various fruits, cheese, triangular sandwiches, mini pizzas. I eye the double sink filled with ice and beer.
“Like she said, help yourself.” He picks up a mini pizza, drops the whole thing in his mouth.
“You don’t mind?”
“Why would I mind?”
I shrug my shoulders. Seems like I do that a lot around him. He confuses me. Or maybe I just feel confused around him. “I promise I won’t get drunk.”
His eyes float to my chest. “Go for it. I have plenty of experience dealing with drunk chicks.”
Ewww. He should take that back.
“What I mean is,” he corrects, picking up a pig in a blanket and pulling off the biscuit part. “I’m always the responsible one, especially around my sis and her friends. I’ll make sure you get back to your hotel safely if you want to cut loose.” Tossing the biscuit mush in the trash and the mini wiener in his mouth, he looks my way and winks.
“Will you though?” I tug a beer from the ice, twist the cap off with the bottom of my shirt.
He licks his lips, walks close to me. There’s a current that tugs me to him and I find myself leaning in his direction as he tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. His brown eyes circle my face. “I’m a lot of things. But an opportunistic prick is not one of them. If I tell you I’ll get you home safely, I’ll fucking get you home safely.”
My teeth sink into the inside of my lower lip. Why isn’t he acting like a disgusting, child-napping criminal?
Noise behind us breaks the moment.
“Oh, sorry. Are we interrupting anything?”
Ben’s eyes shoot behind me. “No, come on in.”
I’m introduced to the few other guests that are here and Ben carefully stacks a pile of appetizers to take outside so we can be social. But we still mostly keep to ourselves as everyone participates in a game of horseshoes. It actually seems like a lot of fun and I find myself laughing along with everyone, even Ben.
When he slips away to the bathroom, I’m on my second beer and loosening up. Frenchie’s friend or husband Don Juan loads up several plates with chicken from the grill and carries it inside. She comes over to me and throws an arm over my shoulder. I can smell the beer on her breath before she starts talking.
“So how long have you and my brother been …?” She looks at me expectantly, like she wants me to finish the line.
Sleeping together? Dating? What exactly have we been …?
“We just met a few nights ago, at a club in Glendale.”
She pushes her lips down and nods, her eyes glossy and thick. She’s drunk. Not wasted, but drunk enough that I could probably make her laugh hysterically with a stupid knock-knock joke. “Got it. You’re still in the honeymoon phase. Well, my brother can be a real dick. But he’s got his soft side too. You just gotta dig through the mud and the muck to find it.”
“I’m good at digging.”
“Awesome,” she breathes, tapping me on the back. “And you know, just keep in mind, when he’s in one of his moods, he’s probably just missing Mason.”
I assume Mason is her son and it occurs to me that what happened to him is probably why she drinks so much. “Right. He told me about your son. I’m so sorry. That must have been awful.”
