Since David and I were the reason the group had come together, I did my best to keep the conversation flowing. Greg, Gretchen, Jordan, and I reminisced about college, memories that came easier the more we drank. Whereas Gretchen and I got giddier as we drank, Greg and Jordan seemed to get more nostalgic. The way they grasped at a long-gone past only made me more grateful my present was as close to perfect as ever.
When Jordan excused himself to the bathroom, Greg leaned over Gretchen’s lap to get my attention. “So?” he asked just above a whisper. “Jordan?”
“Jordan what?” I asked.
“You guys seem to be getting along.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Yeah. And?”
“I’m just saying.” Greg grinned. “How awesome would it be if you guys got back together now that you’re single again? It’d be like the good old d—”
“Don’t fucking say ‘good old days’ one more time,” Gretchen interrupted. “And what the hell are you even talking about? Liv isn’t single.”
“You know what I mean.” He jutted his chin at me. “She’s no longer hitched.”
I glanced at Brian, who was thankfully preoccupied with his date. I didn’t need him relaying any of this to David and getting him riled up from twelve-hundred miles away. “Did you set this up on purpose?” I asked Greg.
He shrugged. “I just think it would be cool.”
Gretchen grimaced and beat me to my response. “You’re a dick.”
He glanced at her. “Why, babe? I thought you’d be into it.”
“Because I’m with David,” I said.
Gretchen just shook her head and gave me an apologetic look.
Greg leaned back into his seat, but not before he said to me, “Think about it.”
The waiter arrived with our meals, and as he distributed them, I studied Greg. We’d been best friends in college. I’d enjoyed getting to know him again, but the bond we’d had before didn’t seem to exist anymore. Gretchen was right—he was a dick. Maybe he always had been. Inviting Jordan with the assumption that he could lure me away from David made me mildly sick to my stomach.
I wasn’t the only one watching Greg. At first, I assumed Brian’s thoughts were also on protecting his friend David as he stared at Greg over his glass of wine—until his eyes shifted to Gretchen. Did I detect a hint of jealousy in them? I forked a bite of salmon and decided to ask her later if she’d ever give Brian another chance.
“So, Jordan,” Gretchen said, “seeing anyone special these days?”
“I see some special girls at this table right now,” he said, glancing between the two of us.
“Well, hands off, chap, they’re all spoken for,” Brian said, and his usually jovial tone held an edge of warning.
“I know, dude,” Jordan replied. “I’m messing around.” But he was giving me his best fuck-me eyes, and he had been all night. Flirtatious by nature, but not afraid to go for what he wanted—it was what’d drawn me to him in the first place. I silently thanked the universe that I had David and wouldn’t have to make up an excuse to shake Jordan later.
Jordan lowered his voice. “So, is it serious with this new guy?”
“Yes.” I nodded, biting off the tip of an asparagus spear. “Very.”
“And where, pray tell, is he tonight?” he asked.
“New York for work.” I inclined forward as if to tell him a secret. “He gets here in the morning.”
“Ah, interesting,” Jordan said.
I turned to Brian’s new girlfriend, who I’d almost forgotten was here, and asked her what she did for a living. Her voice was so soft that I could barely hear her response. I just nodded and took another bite until she stopped talking.
Gretchen leaned over a moment later and whispered, “What’s with her? She’s creepy.”
“She isnot, Gretch,” I said. “Maybe a little shy.”
“She’s barely said a word. Which is probably why Brian likes her,” Gretchen reasoned. “She won’t complain when all he talks about is himself.”
