“Tell Jess about the time you got suspended.”
“Let off a fire extinguisher in science class,” she gives me an apologetic shrug.
“And tell him about how you got fired from that French place.”
She takes a deep breath and manages to stifle a sigh, but not by a large margin. “Didn’t turn up to work for two weeks and then told the manager to go fuck himself when he threatened to fire me.”
Luke throws his head back and laughs loudly. He looks at me expectantly. I want to roll my eyes at him and tell him to get his shit together and be cool. I really want to, but for some reason I don’t. I can’t. I don’t know if it’s because the sun is setting and the long, low rays are hitting the shallow water, lighting it up so it matches his eyes exactly, or if it’s because despite the fact he’s a complete and utter muppet, his heart is in a good place. A soft place.
“Where the hell are you?” Chase says when Gould finally answers his call. “You haven’t left home? Are you kidding me? No, seven wasn’t a suggestion, it was a firm plan. I called you twice and said, ‘be there at seven.’ There’s no fucking way you could have misunderstood that.” Gould says some things, none of which fill Chase with joy. “Have you at least ordered the pizzas? Jesus fucking Christ, Gould. What’s wrong with you?”
He hangs up the phone and looks at us, exasperation written all over his scowl.
“Text him to tell him to order the pizzas before he leaves home, otherwise you know he’s going to get toRoma, order there, and be terribly surprised when he has to wait for thirty minutes,” says Izzy.
Chase nods and starts typing.
“And send him our orders again. And keep it short and concise, or he won’t read it.”
He holds his screen towards her so she can see what he’s typing. She moves closer to him and micromanages the comms. While he’s typing, she glances up at his face. It’s a quick look but I see it; a soft sense of wonder hidden under layers of wit, rebelliousness, and a rock ‘n roll spirit.
Interesting.
Luke comes and sits beside me. Too close, as usual. So close I can’t tell if the heady aroma of salt and summer that inundates my olfactory system is from the ocean, or if it’s from him.
Gould arrives a long while later, carrying a pile of boxes, a six pack and a couple of fold out beach chairs hooked over one arm.
“You’re late,” says Chase.
“Yeah, but I brought pizzaandbeers.”
He’s a full forty-five minutes late and got my order mixed up. I’m not happy about it, but since he doesn’t want to accept payment for the pizza I don’t feel like I’m in a position to complain. He sets the boxes down and launches himself at Luke, taking a mock run-up and butting his chest against Luke’s like a complete idiot. Luke laughs good-naturedly and doesn’t seem to notice when Gould wedges himself into a spot right between us. Gould and I crack open a beer and we eat hungrily, all of us starving from being kept waiting.
“Guess this means I’m driving then?” says Chase to Izzy, as she opens a beer, too.
“Guess so,” she replies sweetly.
I have a couple of slices and then Luke takes my box from me and swaps my vegetarian for his pepperoni.
Gould drapes his arm around Luke’s shoulder, “You’re so sweet, Lukey.” He ruffles Luke’s hair, pulling his face unnecessarily close to his own. “Isn’t he sweet?”
I nod non-committally and eye the sea. We’re only fifty yards from the water. Sixty at most. The only thing stopping me from getting Gould in a headlock, dragging him to the ocean and liberally waterboarding him, is societal norms. I toy with the idea anyway. Surely, if I called him Bud as I did it, I could use ‘I drowned himas a friend’as part of my defense?
Chase wanders off when we finish eating, taking a call that seems to annoy him, “…told you I couldn’t play tonight. Jesus, man, why are youcallingme? What’s wrong with you? When did you become a boomer?”
Izzy has set up a beach chair and is sitting to the left of the picnic blanket, a few paces away from the rest of us. I set up a chair next to her and try not to glare at Gould. I hand her a fresh beer and we both crack them open at the same time.
She smiles at the ocean and then smiles at me.
“That’s quite the step bro situation you have there,” she says.
I almost choke on my beer, but I manage to recover with only the slightest of watery eyes.
“You’re one to talk. What’s with the gamer geek fetish?”
She shakes her head and emits a throaty laugh. “The fuck if I know.”
9
