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We made it out to the warm sunshine when a shout from across the quad snatched our attention. “Pullman! Hey, Hayden!”
Running toward us was a guy I recognise from class, he was tall and broad with a hot-guy smile and brown hair styled fashionably. Dammit, what was his name? Adam? Aaron?
“Hey…” I said.
“Andy,” he finished for me with a friendly smile.
“Andy,” I repeated. “What’s up?”
“You work at that cocktail place in town, right?”
“Yeah,” I drew out the word, not entirely sure where he was going.
“I’m looking for a job and I was wondering if you know of anything going there. I have bar experience.”
“Oh, yeah sure. I don’t know what they’ve got at the moment but if you want to give me your number, I’ll text you when I get in and let you know.”
“Mate, that would be awesome. Thanks so much!” He rattled off his number and I put it in my phone, sending him a quick message so he had my number. “I really appreciate it.”
“No worries.” I offered him a bright smile. Lance and Brent both wore steely expressions.
“You know, some buddies and I are heading out tonight if you guys wanted to come?” He gestured to all three of us. “Should be a good one.”
“Oh, I…uh…” I looked to my two friends; we hadn’t really socialised outside of our little group. Lance and Brent never seemed interested. I didn’t mind broadening my friend groups, so I nodded. “Yeah, that would be great, man. Thanks.”
“We’ll pass,” Lance’s tone was flat, his expression unreadable.
“You sure?” Andy pressed with a sly smile. “I hear the netball team are out tonight and those girls know how to party.”
“That sounds rather predatory,” Lance said in that same dry voice.
Andy recoiled as though Lance had swung a punch. “Oh, I didn’t mean…not like…I just meant that they’re fun, they like a dance and a drink and they usually get up to mischief, you know? I wasn’t…”
“He’s joking,” I said, trying to save the poor guy. Lance probably wasn’t joking; he gets like this with strangers. He’s good at finding a way to make people uncomfortable in his presence, probably where he’d been taught to be the most powerful man in the room.
“Right,” Andy chuckled nervously. “Well, if you two change your mind, just come along with Pullman.” He turned to me and continued, “We’re meeting at the new club in the centre at nine.”
I looked at Lance who looked back at me, waiting for me to finish up this conversation. A strange feeling tugged at my chest from too far away to identify. Why did it feel like a betrayal to go out with Andy and his friends without Lance? Lance would never have asked me not to, I’m sure he wouldn’t have minded me going at all. But Lance had so few friends, I hadn’t seen him with anyone outside of the four of us besides the occasional hook up. Lance had put his trust and his friendship in me, and it felt wrong to make him share when I didn’t have to share him with anyone.
“You know, I think I have plans tonight, actually,” I said apologetically.
“Oh, really?” Adam looked genuinely disappointed.
“Yeah, sorry man. I’m with my girl tonight.”Whoa, don’t know where that came from. I mean Elle wasn’t technically my girl, but since she’d kissed me in front of my boss a few weeks before, we’d certainly been acting as more than friends. The rest wasn’t a lie either, if I wasn’t going out, I would spend the evening with Elle talking shit, eating food, holding her in my arms, and laughing at stupid movies with her. Fuck, that sounded better than going out anyway,
“Elle Maxwell?” Adam guessed.
I looked at him with slightly less friendliness. “Yeah.”
“Well shit, man. You’ve definitely got a better offer than us,” he laughed. “I’ll see you around. And thanks again for looking at the job for me.”
“Yeah, no worries.”
He left with a wave and a kind smile as I turned back to my friends. Lance regarded me coolly. “You change your mind?”
I shrugged. “Yeah well, no point going out without my top wingman.”
Slowly, his lips stretched into a brilliant smile, showing his perfectly white teeth and lighting up his hazelnut brown eyes. It took my breath away and made my decision completely worthwhile. I had to look away before my face showed an emotion I wasn’t willing to share but my eyes landed on Brent who seemed to give me an appreciative nod.
