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“And then he ran down the street, his pants around his ankles. The entire neighborhood could see his boxer briefs,” Dad howled, and my face flushed red.
Fucking hell already.
“Dad, seriously? You haven’t grown out of telling embarrassing stories about your only son?” I groaned, handing Meg her wine.
She noticed how very full the glass was and narrowed her eyes. “I never get enough of mortifying stories where you’re concerned, Adam.”
“It was funny because this didn’t happen when he was a kid,” Dad cackled, slapping his knee. “Nope. You could understand a toddler running around with his butt hanging out for the whole world to see. But our Adam was twenty-two!”
Lena howled, wiping her eyes. And Meg laughed so hard she could barely breathe.
“Don’t have an asthma attack on my account,” I retorted sweetly.
Meg stopped laughing and surreptitiously flipped me off under the table. I didn’t even try to hide my grin.
“That’s not even the best part, Dad,” I continued for him, figuring it was better to laugh with ’em. “I didn’t even realize my running shorts had slipped down around my cheeks until a random dude cat-called me. I have a very fine ass, apparently.” I shrugged and took a swig of my beer.
“Nice, bro,” Lena smirked.
“Now come on, you know that’s not the first time Adam’s lost his pants.” Meg’s entire face lit up. I guess she was enjoying the “humiliate Adam” hour.
“What? This is news. Tell me!” Lena exclaimed gleefully, rubbing her hands together like a Disney villain.
Meg turned to her but gave me an amused look. “It was on the Gravitron.”
I slapped my forehead with my palm. “Fuck. The Gravitron.”
Meg nodded. “Oh, yes. The Gravitron.”
Lena looked back and forth between us. “What’s the Gravitron?”
“The Gravitron is a horrible ride that makes you want to vomit. And it’s also the sight of my greatest humiliation before the half-naked jog Dad just regaled us with.” I looked at my dad, who merely shrugged.
“It’s a good story,” was all he said.
I finished my beer, appreciating the slight alcoholic haze that had descended. “My belt broke. That was not my fault,” I argued good-naturedly.
“I definitely have never heard this one,” Lena proclaimed, clearly excited at the prospect of adding another Embarrassing Adam story to her repertoire.
Meg sat forward, crossing her arms on the table. Her hair fell over her shoulders in tangled waves. I had always liked Meg’s hair. She would complain it was too heavy, too messy. But it framed her face in such a way that she reminded me of some wild pixie in the woods. She didn’t seem to have aged a day. Meg Galloway wore her late twenties well.
“It was the summer fair at school, right?” Meg spoke directly to me without any sarcasm or insults. It was a nice change from the last twenty minutes.
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. The summer before tenth grade.”
Meg grinned, and it was nice to see. It had been a long time since I had seen her eyes sparkle like that. “We were on the Gravitron. I remember not really wanting to go on it because I had seen some kid get sick after getting off. But of course, Adam whined until I agreed.” She rolled her eyes.
“Hey, I didn’t whine. I simply provided a solid argument as to why it was the best ride at the fair,” I countered, laughing.
It was all so familiar. And normal.
Ah, so this is what it felt like to be friends.
It was nice.
“Whatever. You only wanted to go on because Chelsea and her bitches were in line.” Meg’s smile faded, the sparkle extinguished.
The mention of my soon-to-be-ex-wife was like being dunked in ice water. There was a tense silence, which Lena filled with uncomfortable giggling. Dad was completely oblivious, his face in his phone checking the baseball scores.
“Okay, so you went on the Gravitron…” Lena prompted.
“And my belt broke, end of the story,” I said shortly, finished with this particular walk down memory lane.
“Okay…” Lena sighed, looking disappointed.
Meg looked as though she were gnashing her teeth together.
I surreptitiously checked the time on my phone. Crap, I had at least an hour to go before I could get away with excusing myself and heading home.
Meg was also looking at her phone, probably thinking the same thing I was. Feeling my eyes on her, she glanced in my direction.
All ice and cold.
“I’m going to go get the meat and start grilling,” Dad announced, putting his phone in his pocket and getting to his feet.
“Do you need any help?” I asked a little desperately, standing up. The last thing I wanted was to be left with Meghan and Lena. My sister was proving to be a shitty buffer.
Dad held out his hand. “No, you stay here and keep our girls company.” He smiled dotingly down at his daughter and Meg.
