Sean straightens and it’s then I notice he’s got his coat on.
“Are you leaving?” I glance down to see he’s holding his car keys.
“That depends,” he hedges. “I was thinking about driving to Vic’s to see in the new year.” He draws his bottom lip between his teeth. “I miss him.”
Of course he fucking does. “I told you earlier that you should go.”
“I know, but?—”
“And so did I.” Jerry leans across me, joining in our conversation. “About a hundred times.”
I get a waft of aftershave, citrus, and spice.And all things nice, I sing in my head then sigh, because it is. So, so nice.
“You’re sober, right?” Jerry asks, and Sean nods.
“Yeah, of course.”
“Then go.”
“What about Lucky?” He points to where Lucky is laid out in the corner, flat-out asleep and oblivious to the chaos around him.
Jerry shrugs. “I’ll take him home with me. You were going to drop him off in the morning anyway. What’s one more night?”
Sean hesitates, glancing between me and Jerry, indecision in his eyes, and oh.
Oh.
I shake my head. “Don’t stay on my account. I’ll be fine.”
Jerry slings his arm around my shoulders. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“I’m not a child,” I grumble, but nestle a little closer into Jerry’s side. His warm, solid side. “Go.” I make shooing motions with my hands and Sean laughs.
“You sure?” He looks at us, and I do my best to look sincere.
“Positive.”
His eyes light up, decision made. Maybe it should be weird that I don’t feel anything but joy at seeing Sean so obviously in love. He’s my ex, after all. But I don’t think we were ever meant to be anything more than the friends we are now, and I couldn’t be happier for him.
His smile is infectious, and both Jerry and I are grinning as he says. “I guess I’d better get going then.”
“Pay up!” Hailey pokes Jerry in the shoulder and he groans.
My mouth drops open. “You bet on him?”
Jerry scoffs. “Of course we did. No way was he going to make it through the whole night being apart from Vic.”
“True,” I concede. I might only have seen them together once but that was enough to see the depth of feelings there. “What time did you have?”
“To be honest,” Jerry says, rubbing his jaw, “I didn’t think he’d make it past eight o’clock, but I went for nine thirty.”
“Char had just after midnight, and I had ten o’clock. And seeing as it’s ten thirty-five, it means I’m closest and therefore the winner,” Hailey crows. “So give me my money, Cooper.”
Jerry dutifully pulls out his wallet and hands over a crisp twenty-pound note. “What about Char?”
Hailey smirks. “Don’t worry, she can give it to me later.” She winks and then laughs at whatever expressions are on our faces before wandering off.
Sean rolls his eyes at the pair of them, but his smile is still there, like it’s impossible to hide it even if he tries. An acheblooms deep in my chest as I realise how much I miss that. Miss the excitement and anticipation that comes with knowing you have someone who’s going to have that exact same look when you stand in front of them.
