Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Henry

I KNEW. I KNEW it would be him. The second Ellie talked about a guy from out of town, I knew it had to be Alex. This town is too small to allow for any other possibility.

I arrived anyway. I should have turned Ellie down, refused to rescue her from her awkward date, but part of me wanted to see Alex, and here I am, sitting one stool away from him at the bar on Friday night.

A round of beers arrives. Ellie clinks her bottle against both of ours, then leans back so Alex and I can reach each other. I tip my beer toward him, and his dark eyes bore into mine, wary and suspicious. I have no idea what he's been thinking since Monday, no idea what he's been feeling. My heart clogs my throat as our beers clink softly, the tremble of the contact seeming to shiver all the way up my arm and into my chest. Even that echo of contact terrifies and thrills me.

"Cheers," Alex says, his voice low and rough with tension.

I drink instead of trying to respond.

"So, how do you guys know each other?" Ellie says.

I almost spit out the beer souring my mouth. I swallow it in a gulp, but that makes it no easier to respond. What do I tell her? That we didn't really know each other until a couple weeks ago? That we were distant acquaintances at best and now we've had sex on my couch? I can't do that. What if Ellie thinks she's on a date? What if Alex does? I don't know if I'm the third wheel here, even though Ellie invited me. Maybe she and Alex were having a great time before I arrived. Maybe she's what he actually wants, and I'm just a blip.

"I ran into him at that cat café in town when I got here," Alex says. "Henry's been nice enough to let me work there when I need to get away from my parents."

To my astonishment, Alex is smiling at me, slight and soft, but definitely real.

Ellie glances between us. "That's really sweet. That must have been a relief, huh?"

"Yeah," Alex says, "it has been."

I'm supposed to say something, but Alex keeps looking at me, and my brain grinds to a halt. Words, Henry. You need to use words!

"It's no trouble," I manage. "The café is always there for anyone who needs it. And Poppy likes you."

"Poppy?" Ellie says.

"One of the cats at the café. She took to Alex instantly. He's turning her into a real lap cat. I never thought I'd see the day."

Thank goodness for the cats. It's easier to talk about them than whatever this tension vibrating between Alex and I is.

"Aw, that's adorable," Ellie says. "You don't strike me as a cat guy, Alex."

"I don't strike myself as a cat guy," he says. "I guess I'm learning some things about myself during this trip."

Did he direct that last bit at me? No, there's no way. Except I could swear that's exactly what he did. In fact, he's still trying to look around Ellie at me, and she's furrowing her brow at the both of us, and I'm mostly sitting here frozen.

"Always happy to help people realize they're secret cat people," I say. "I mean, not that it's a secret. That makes it sound bad. Just … some people might not realize … how much they like cats."

Ellie's confused scowl deepens as I stumble over my words. That wasn't supposed to be a metaphor. Obviously, because it's an awful one. But now the air is thick with implication and all I can do is chug more of my beer to try to dispel the strangeness.

I find my bottle abruptly empty. Ellie offers me another one, but I decline since I have to drive home. Besides, this is enough of a disaster. I don't need to add alcohol to it.

"I guess I should stop too," Ellie says with a regretful sigh. "I also drove. But hey, Alex, if you want to get trashed and tell us all your dirty secrets, I'm sure one of us can get you home later."

Alex's throat works. I can't keep my eyes from following the way it bobs. He pushes his empty bottle away.

"That's alright," he says. "I think I'll follow your lead."

"Sounds like someone has something to hide," Ellie says with a wicked grin. I want to elbow her and tell her to stop, but it would be way too obvious.

"Or I just don't enjoy making a fool of myself," Alex says.

Ellie shrugs. "If you say so. You're among friends. There's no reason to be ashamed."

Seriously, what the hell is Ellie doing? If I didn't know better, I'd think she's onto us and trying to goad Alex into admitting it. But that would be crazy. How could she know after having one beer with us? I don't even know what this is. What is she seeing that I'm not?

I'm saved from more of her insinuations when a couple approaches the bar. They're a bit older than us, and the second I see the woman's dark, shrewd eyes, my body flushes with cold realization.

The way Alex's shoulders tense into a rigid line serves as further confirmation.

These are his parents.

"How are things going over here?" a woman who must be his mother says.

She's a small woman, but her presence carries so much weight I want to cower into my shoulders. Her husband is a stoic statue beside her, a bulky guy with a stern mouth that looks unaccustomed to smiling. Good God, these folks are intimidating. No wonder Ellie texted me asking for backup.

The woman's eyes flicker to me, quickly assessing the situation. "Are you a friend of Alex's?"

"Henry's my friend," Ellie says swiftly. "He happened to be here tonight, so I invited him to have a drink with us. He went to high school with Alex and I."

"Hm," Alex's mother says.

The disapproval in that tiny noise could fill canyons.

Is this what things have been like for Alex the entire time he's been here? Judgment pours off his parents. I'm afraid every word I say will get dissected like a frog in a science class, torn open to search its innards.

Their scowls frequently drift toward me.

Abruptly, I realize I'm the source of their frustration. Alex is supposed to be here with Ellie. He's supposed to be interested in Ellie. They set this up. They want this. And I'm ruining it.

I want to melt off my seat and slink away.

"And what do you do?"

I realize Alex's father is speaking to me. I tense, sure my answer will not appease him. Regardless, I paste on my best smile and lean into my natural sunny energy. A good enough smile can win over just about anyone, Mom used to say.

"I work at the cat café," I say.

It doesn't succeed. Alex's father scrunches up his face. Alex's mother purses her lips.

"A cat café." She says it like the word itself fills her mouth with dirt.

"That's right. It's on Main Street. I believe you visited with Alex a couple weeks back actually."

"Ah. Yes. We did," Alex's mother says.

"Stop it."

Every head swivels toward Alex when he cuts in, tone even harder and more clipped than his mother's.

"Both of you, stop it," Alex says. "You can talk to me that way, but Henry isn't your son. Don't talk to him like that. It was your idea to go to that café, and Henry made sure you had a good time. You could at least not be a dick about it."

Alex's mother gasps with affront. His father's face bunches up like a thundercloud about to spit out lightning. He looks like he wants to explode, but Alex's mother sets a hand on his arm before he can.

"Your heart," she says. "We should go. Clearly we aren't wanted."

There's venom in her voice and fire in her eyes, but she does leave, towing her husband along with her. I don't realize I've been holding my breath since Alex spoke up until I finally let it out. I find myself woozy without that tense breath.

Alex took all their snide comments and judgmental condescension — until they aimed it at me. I'm trembling from the realization, my throat dry and chest buzzing like it's full of bees.

"I'm sorry," Alex says. "I'm really sorry. For all of this. Neither of you should have gotten dragged into this. My parents… They expect certain things from me, things I never seem to live up to, no matter what I do."

"You're a professional lawyer in San Francisco," Ellie says. "What more do they want?"

"A wife. Kids. I don't know," Alex says.

His shoulders slouch. He hunches forward like a wilting flower. It's like his parents sucked the saturation out of him, leaving him gray and dull.

I can't stand it.

"You don't owe them anything," I say.

Alex laughs wryly. "I wish that was the case, but they helped me pay for school."

"That doesn't mean they get to dictate the rest of your life," I say. "What about what you want?"

"That's never been part of the equation."

Alex is staring at the bar. Ellie shoots me a look, her eyebrows knitting together. All I can do is shake my head. I truly had no idea. How could I? Every time Alex got close to talking about this, he cut himself off and shut down. I never pressed for information, reluctant to push him.

"Fuck," Alex hisses. "I guess I have to get home somehow. They were my ride."

This is getting worse by the second. How could they leave him when he only came here to help them? Every instinct in my body screams that I should help, I should do something about this, I should fix this for him. Maybe it's a bad idea. He hasn't spoken to me since Monday. But my natural inclination to reach out when I see someone hurting is too strong to suppress.

"I can give you a lift," I say.

Alex's head pops up. He looks at me, at Ellie, back at me. A question passes in the flicker of that look. She's supposed to be the one offering this ride. It would be an easy excuse for them to go back to her place, and that's how this night is supposed to go, after all.

"That's a great idea," Ellie says. "Unfortunately, my car is a total mess. I'd be so embarrassed for anyone to see it. So if Henry doesn't mind…"

Ellie's gaze slides toward me. A hint of smile glances across her lips. Is she … is she doing this on purpose? Is she trying to wing woman me right now? There's no way. And yet…

"Actually, Henry, didn't your roommate just bail on you?" Ellie says. "You must have a whole spare bedroom. I don't want to presume, but that sounds a lot more peaceful than going back to your parents' place so they can lecture you like you're a damn kid."

I blink at Ellie, and she raises her eyebrow at me and nods minutely.

Just say yes, idiot, that look screams at me.

"Y-yes," I say. "Yes, that's true. You're welcome to use my roommate's old room, if you want. I think I have an air mattress somewhere."

This is the part where Alex says no. This is the part where he chooses Ellie, or even his parents, over me. I brace for it, stomach in knots.

But when Alex opens his mouth, he says, "Actually, I'd really appreciate that, if it's not an imposition."

Holy shit.

"It's not," I say, my heart in my throat.