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The two of them had been at the same academy as teenagers. They hadn’t been close. Still, their dorms had been on the same floor which, back then, had felt the tightest bond of friendship imaginable. Theo struggled to understand why his younger self had cared about that.
Nowadays they moved in vaguely the same social circles but they weren’t not close enough for Seb to come over and talk for this long, monopolizing Theo’s whole evening.
Theo had been sitting in stony silence as Seb let out a steady stream of chatter about some woman he was apparently in love with.
At the beginning of Seb's monologue, Theo was polite enough that he’d hidden his scowl. However, as the minutes ticked by he stopped feeling the need to hide his irritation.
Seb had been talking for so long that the sun had set and he could see the reflection of his scowl in the darkened window. Good manners would only force him to listen to this for so long, and Theo had reached his limit.
At the moment, Seb was in the middle of a detailed description of how he’d met this woman, which was a long and convoluted story that Theo was only half listening to. It was already five minutes into the story and the woman, Louisa, still hadn’t made an appearance.
“Are you going to propose to her?” Theo interrupted loudly.
Seb stopped his story and gave him a reproving look, which Theo thought was a bit hypocrital.
“Perhaps,” Seb said with a half-shrug. He had the look of a man about to start retelling a story, possibly from the beginning.
“You won’t,” Theo said firmly.
That seemed to stop Seb in his tracks. “Whyever not?”
“Because I know you,” Theo said. “You hide it better than you used to but you’re a manipulative bastard and you’d rather be miserable for the rest of your life rather than lose at anything.”
Seb cocked his head in confusion with all the innocence of a labrador spaniel. “I have to admit I’m a little confused.”
“Ha,” Theo snorted, not being fooled by this little act, no matter how convincing it was. “I know you remember this.”
Seb blinked at him a few times, his face blank of expression before realization dawned. “Oh God, are you talking about thetontine?”
“Yes,” Theo said slowly, not quite so sure of himself now.
Seb smiled indulgently, “I’m not going to let some schoolboy joke stop me from doing exactly as I please.”
Theo hummed, that actually did sound plausible enough.
“Itwouldbe a ridiculous thing to do,” Theo acknowledged.
“And you know I’m not a ridiculous man.”
Theo refrained from commenting on that. He couldn’t remember which of his friends had come up with the idea of the tontine. It wasn’t about the money, they’d only staked ten dollars each, but at the time they’d all felt that marriage was a trick, and that none of them would fall for the lie of love. He snorted to himself at how ridiculous his younger self had been.
He supposed even Seb was capable of growing up and realizing the tontine was meaningless.
“Then congratulations are in order.”
“Well,” Seb grinned. “It’s still a bit soon for that. But if things keep going the way they are then, yes.”
Theo grunted sourly, not managing to hide his bitterness when he next spoke: “That’s great.”
It shouldn’t actually matter to him that Seb was in love. It had no impact on his life, yet his own disappointment made it impossible to offer sincere congratulations.
Seb didn’t seem to notice, starting back on his favorite topic of conversation.
“I never thought this would happen. Relationships always seemed like far too much work. But I have found the key is support. Now I’m not interested in all of Louisa’s hobbies, she’s big into art. Which, I can see the investment value in, but I don’t care about actually looking at…” He paused to wave his hand dismissively, “you know, different types of brushwork, or patina, or some such. But I’m happy to listen to her talking about it all day. Her enthusiasm, her passion, is so clear when she talks about this. Really, she’s at her most beautiful.”
Theo had been staring down at his drink, now he looked up sharply, although Seb carried on talking without paying any attention to the effect he was having on his friend.
“And she does the same for me. Absolutely no interest in finance. It might as well be an alien language to her, but she listens to me talk about my work all the time! Even asks questions, though I know she doesn’t care about the answer, she just…wants to support me, you know?”
