“Your dad and Angus had a hard time keeping medown.”
“Dad told me they dragged you kicking and screaming to my parents’ house. Lucky for you, Angus and Isolde loved you like a son, and didn’t presscharges.”
“Whose side are you on, anyway?” Tristan fumed. A little sympathy from his childhood friend would benice.
“Yours. It’s just that fifteen years have gone by and that put things into a newperspective.”
“That is the point I’m trying to make. After fifteen years, she washes up at my door like some fucking driftwood the sea rejected.” Tristan returned to venting and pacing. “What did she expect me to do? Roll over like a fucking puppy and beg for a belly rub? I mean, those days are over. I’m done with her. I’ve been done for years. She has no right to show up out of the blue and demand I listen to her. She’s fifteen years too late, man. That’s what it is. Too damn too little, too damn toolate.”
As he turned around for the millionth time, Tristan bumped into Noah’s chest. His friend fastened his hands around Tristan’s upped arms, steadying him as their eyes locked. “Breathe, Tristan. Just breathe. You’re making medizzy.”
He took a deep breath that came out as a huff. “Happy?” he asked,unapologetic.
Caught by surprise, Tristan didn’t react when Noah shoved him toward the couch. “Sit the fuck down and shut up for a second. For the best part of the day, I’ve been listening to you go back and forth about all the multiple reasons you should never see Izzie again. And the wicked ways she made you suffer. Okay, I get it. She wreaked havoc. She destroyed you. I was there, dude. I witnessed it all, you don’t need to paint me the picture, I watched the live show.” Noah paused and stared into Tristan’s gaze, as if for effect. Or maybe he was waiting for his words to sink in. “Fifteen. Fucking. Years. Ago. I also followed your attempts to get overher.”
“You say it like I’vefailed.”
Noah went on as if Tristan had not interrupted him. “Right here in Florianópolis. Always beside you, going through similar growing pains. I too got my heart ripped out of my chest,remember?”
“I’ll neverforget.”
“You know I feel you, right? I’m not a bystander, I’ve been there with you every step of the way, have Inot?”
Tristan begrudginglynodded.
“I’ll tell you something I came to realize quite recently. We both have been running away ever since we moved down here. We never stopped. We’ve spent a decade and a half pretending we moved on, when we have not. The way I see it, we’ve been chasing our own tails like two stupid olddogs.”
“Speak foryourself.”
“I am, but that doesn’t mean my truth is less truthful for you. I’ve done a lot of soul searching lately because of a certain redhead that won’t give me the time of day. She doesn’t trust me because of my serial dating routine. I don’t blame her. That’s what you and I have been doing all this time. Meaningless one-nightstands.”
“It’s been working fine,” Tristan muttered, smothering an inner voice that tried to side with Noah. “What I’ve got with Bruna isn’tmeaningless.”
Noah rolled his eyes. “Don’t get me started on that. You should be ashamed of the way you lead her on. She deservesbetter.”
“She deserves the best, no doubt about it. But, I’ve never lied to her. We’ve got anunderstanding.”
Noah eyeballed him before replying, “You’re not bullshitting me. You believe that crap. Dude! I could smack you rightnow.”
Tristan didn’t get it. Noah read people quite well, but he was off the markthere.
“What the fuck for? Bruna doesn’t want commitment. We’ve had the talk right off the bat. I’m not ajerk.”
Noah, who had been looming over Tristan, flopped down on the couch. “You’re a hopeless case, Big T. Maybe that was true in the beginning, three years ago,correct?”
“That’s aboutright.”
“Three years is an awful long time for casual, don’t you think? How many times have you seen Bruna with anotherman?”
“Shit.” Tristan’s stomach dropped. He had been too self-absorbed to notice. “I’ve noidea.”
“My point exactly. You sweep stuff under the rug, man. You excel at keeping shit apart, neatly stored away from sight, in tiny little compartments. You suck at dealing with crap. That’s not moving on, that’sdenial.”
“You sound like mymom.”
“You visitedLilly?”
“I went over there this morning. Except for the part about Bruna, she pretty much delivered the same message as you. Have you been talking toher?”
