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“Sorry,” Luke says with a grin. “We got a bit carried away there didn’t we?”
“You think?” I tease him.
“You should come by the shelter one day,” Justin says. “Bring Louisa. It’ll be nice to see you both and maybe those big pockets can extend to help the shelter a bit when you see the place.”
“Sure, I’m up for that,” Luke says, and I nod my agreement too, glad that they have found some common ground and seem to be getting along. The conversation also seems to have taken Justin’s mind off Emily too.
We order another round of drinks and now Luke and Justin have moved on to talking about other things and some of the stuff, I join in with. I can still sense a bit of an underlaying atmosphere between the two men, but for the most part, they seem to be getting along quite well, and even I’m surprised at how much they actually have in common.
“Same again?” Justin says when we finish the round.
I shake my head.
“Not for me thank you. I have work tomorrow and I want a clear head. In fact, I think it’s probably time I called it a night,” I say.
“It’s barely ten o’clock,” Justin says.
“I know. But like I said, I have work tomorrow,” I repeat. “I’ll make it up to you I promise.”
He looks ready to argue the fact, but Luke stands up and starts to put his jacket on and I follow his lead.
“Can we drop you anywhere?” Luke asks Justin.
“No, it’s ok, I’m not far from here. I’ll just walk,” he says. “I might call Emily on the way.”
We head out of the building and Luke and I are going to be heading for the parking lot and Justin is going the other way so we say our goodbyes. Justin and I hug and Luke shakes Justin’s hand.
“We have to grab lunch one day,” Justin says to me, and I nod.
“Of course,” I say. “Text me later in the week and we’ll arrange something.”
He nods his agreement, and something comes to me.
“Oh, wait,” I say. “You two should exchange numbers and meet up one evening for drinks or whatever and discuss your animal stuff further.”
I can see both men trying to think of a reason to not exchange numbers, but it seems neither of them can come up with anything and so they do the exchange while I look on approvingly. If they spend a bit more time together, I think Luke will see that Justin is a good guy and stop worrying about supposedly him liking me as more than just a friend.
I feel like they’ve only really exchanged
numbers to appease me, and I will probably have to push Luke to reach out to Justin, but I really want them to get along. I only have two real friends here and Justin is one of them, and I can’t introduce Luke to the other one yet, so it really is quite important to me.
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
LUKE
My cell phone pings and my top desk drawer rattles with the vibration. I open the drawer and take the cell phone out and see I have an unread text message. I smile, expecting it to be from Louisa. I open the message and my smile fades because the text message isn’t from Louisa or anyone I would want to hear from really. It’s from Justin and he’s asking me if I want to go for a drink with him tonight.
My first instinct is to text back and just say no but I know Louisa wants Justin and me to get along and I don’t want to be the one who seems to be getting in the way of that. Plus, I know Justin doesn’t like me anymore than I like him, and I am curious as to why he’s extended this invitation. I guess it’s so he looks like the good guy in front of Louisa for reaching out first and if I say no, it’s even more brownie points for him.
Tonight is actually a good night for me to go out with him. Last week, Louisa joined a book club because she wants to get to know more people in the city and she enjoys reading so itseemed like a good fit. The host for this week had to cancel and Louisa offered to host the meeting at her place and it’s tonight.
Fuck it, I think to myself, and I text Justin back.
“Sure. Anywhere in particular?” I send.
Justin texts back the name of a pub I’ve never heard of, and I Google it. It’s not that far from my place and it’s as good a place as any other to go to, I guess. I text him back agreeing and saying I will be there around seven thirty to which I get a thumbs up emoji back.