“What were you doing on the stage?”
“Playing music?”
“Okay. The problem iswhoyou were playing for.”
“You’re drunk.”
“Dude, I’ve been through this myself. Have you forgotten?”
Jesus. I can’t be this transparent.
“Friend, sister…”
And yet, I am.
“What? What are you…”
“You’re gonna lie to me now? You wanna look me in the face and lie to me without scruples like we haven’t been through thick and thin together all these years?”
Perfect. Now he’s going to wield the word friendship.
“There’s nothing to lie about because there’s nothing to talk about.”
“What happened withher?”
“Her?” My eyes flash wide and a panic attack is knocking on my door.
“I’m starting to lose my patience here. I’m not a jackass. What’s the problem? Is it that she’s his sister?”
Holy God, how did we get to this point?
“There is no problem because there is absolutely nothing going on.”
“Okay. The other night, at dinner. You disappeared for hours, and so did she. And today you were really late and when you finally got here the distance between you seemed unnatural. Now, Patrick’s got his head completely into Erin and the others have their heads somewhere else too.”
“But not you, eh?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t have your thoughts elsewhere just like they do?”
“Not so much that I couldn’t see what’s going on around me. She was with you the other night, wasn’t she?”
I nod and pour something really strong into my glass.
“And tonight?”
“What is this, the inquisition?”
“He made you swear too, isn’t that right?”
I snap my head up to look at him.
“‘Never with one of my sisters’, he told us. That was just some stupid bullshit between kids, Aaron. We’re grown up now. We’re all adults.”
“She isn’t.” I let it out and immediately regret it.
“She’s grown,” he insists. “In which case, you more than anyone should know that a sister is safe in the arms of a real friend.”
