Lauren let out a low, flirty laugh.“Because you’re very cute, mainly.”
Brooke's brain shorted. This stranger thought she was cute? Really, where was Anna when she needed her?“Oh, I um, I can’t accept that compliment.” Brooke looked for Nate, worried suddenly about how this might look to anyone else. Would Nate think she was the kind of person to flirt with anyone that wasn’t Anna? Brooke didn’t want to flirt with anyone that wasn’t Anna, not after tonight.
Lauren’s head tilted to one side, not unlike a confused puppy.“Is that a really roundabout way of saying you’re not interested?”
“I have a… well… an Anna.” Brooke and Anna felt like they were really on the path to becoming something real. It felt odd to call Anna her girlfriend now that she so desperately just wanted to ask Anna on a date for real when they got back. Brooke smiled softly at the thought. When she and Nate made it back to his flat tonight, if Anna was still awake, if things between them continued, Brooke would ask her on a date first. It was backwards, but their whole relationship was backwards.
“You have an Anna?” Lauren repeated, pointing out that that’s not really a title.
Brooke nodded, willing the bartender to appear.
“Back for more?” he asked.
Brooke held up two empty pint glasses.“Yes, just here for a refill. On mine this time, please.”
The bartender quickly poured two more beers for them and slid the new cups across the bar top.
Lauren sighed.“Well, your Anna is one lucky person. I’m not going to lie, it’s not often that I get legitimately shot down. Might be a blow to my ego.”
Brooke clenched her jaw, she didn’t want to be rude at all, but that was a rather odd thing to boast about. Brooke would hope that everyone in relationships would politely but firmly reject unsolicited pickup attempts in bars. This is why she had avoided relationships like she had. She could feel the alcohol creeping around her periphery, it made her think too hard about the past and she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to rehash Holly, or the two other girls she had tried to date after Holly. She shook her head. No more thoughts about Holly Clements tonight, seeing her again had been so unexpected, and so underwhelming.
Brooke realized she had been standing at the bar just casually not responding to Lauren for probably too long.“Sorry,” she murmured, not really sure of what else to say, before moving back to the billiards table as quickly as possible.
“Ohhhh, I’m going to tell Anna,” Nate teased. He was also a touch past buzzed. It was oddly endearing. Brooke hadn’t gotten to see that yet.
“You’re going to tell Anna what?” Brooke asked, handing him his beer.
Nate laughed, not answering immediately. Two of his friends stepped up though looking equally amused.“That you got flirted with by some pretty woman at the bar. Did she buy our drinks?”
Brooke shook her head, slightly scandalized.“No, I would never let her. I have Anna.” She smiled at the thought. At the many kisses that she and Anna had shared tonight. She wasn’t sure what they were, but she was starting to feel certain that it was true. She did have an Anna. Whatever that meant.
“Cheers to that,” Nate said, holding up his pint glass and smashing into Brooke's a little too roughly. Beer sloshed over the sides of the glass, but fortunately, Brooke had long since shed her jacket and rolled up her sleeves. Nate’s eyes widened suddenly.“Also, I didn’t know Holly was going to be there tonight.”
Brooke flinched.“It’s okay, Nate. It wasn’t as bad as I expected.”
“Yeah, until she danced with you. What the fuck was that?” Nate swayed a little in his disbelief.
“Not a clue.” Brooke just shook her head and sipped at her beer.
Nate giggled a little.“I thought your girlfriend was going to fight her. Mel and I might have taken bets.”
Brooke almost spit out her drink.“I take it your money was on bloodshed?”
“I for one would not fight your girlfriend.” It was Martin who spoke. He was really growing on Brooke.“At least not where you’re concerned. She’s tiny, but damn if looks could kill, that Holly chick would be eviscerated right now.”
A warmth flooded through Brooke's whole body. She wasn’t used to having someone defend her or get jealous or possessive about her. She had spent the better part of the past few years telling herself she was better off without, but the more she got to experience it, the more she realized it was something she had really been missing. It was something she was happier for having gotten to experience at all. If only for this week.
She and Nate tiptoed—loudly and clumsily—through the front door to his flat. They had stayed out too late, definitely more than an hour past when Nate had intended, but in his defense, his sister and his friends had never even met. They were all just having more fun than they had expected. They had learned that Brooke was far better than Nate at billiards and darts, but far worse at the one little arcade style game the bar had to offer. They also learned that Brooke had the heftiest swing in the whole group, much to all of the men’s dismay. Lauren had attempted to flirt once more after that, but Brooke was well and truly drunk at that point and had just bodily moved Martin in between them.
Now she and her brother were cracking up in the entryway as they both struggled to get their shoes off.
“Who the fuck came up with shoelaces?” Nate whispered so loudly and dramatically that it was practically a yell.
Brooke shushed him, but followed it with a growl of her own.“Okay, but seriously.” She stumbled a bit and decided her best course of action would be to just sit down, cross-legged. She fumbled with her laces, but managed to get them undone. She waved Nate over.“I’ve got you, little brother.”
Nate carefully put his foot down right in front of Brooke. After she managed to get his shoes untied, she looked up at him triumphantly. What she hadn’t expected to find were his eyes to be filled with tears.
“Sorry,” he whispered, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands. He let out a loud, unbridled laugh.“I think I’m a little bitter we’ve never gotten this until now.”
