Page 18 of True Sight (Nat. 20, #4)
CONRAD
M y fingers dance across my keyboard as I work on the back end coding for Henry’s site so it links with the app I’m also developing for him.
I’ve been at it for hours when the sound of my phone buzzing grabs my attention.
When I read the notification, I chew the inside of my lip, slightly disappointed that it isn’t from someone else.
I’d seen him yesterday for our weekly meeting and things were completely normal compared to the time we spent together on Sunday.
No winking, no hand touching, and no more personal sob stories.
Thank Christ.
Pulling myself out of the replay of Sunday that is happening in my head, I look down at my phone to read the text.
1 New Message: Dungeons and Dickheads
Malcolm:
Hello my handsome friends.
I scowl at my phone and think for a moment that Ophelia has swiped his phone again. Before I can say anything about the oddness of his message, Hank beats me to the punch.
Hank:
Sup Malcolm? You seem awfully chipper. Or is this your girlfriend speaking?
Malcolm:
No, no, it’s me. I’m just happy because she was unable to say anything just a few minutes ago, if you know what I mean ;)
For the love of Christ Malcolm, have some tact.
Hank:
For once, I second Conrad’s disdain. We don’t need to know about your sex life dude.
Kolbi:
Aren’t you two at work? Please tell me you aren’t hooking up in the office or god forbid anywhere near where food is prepared.
Malcolm:
No you idiots, we would never do that.
We went home first before having a good time *smirk emoji*
Is there a point to this afternoon interlude? You didn’t seriously text us to let us know about your lunchtime coitus.
Malcolm:
“Coitus”? What are you, some 45 year old soccer mom who drinks wine to forget she hates her kids? Jesus Conrad.
But no, that’s not why I texted. We’re going to be twenty minutes late tonight. There’s an event at the bar that’s running late and Ophie and I can’t leave until it’s done.
Figures as much. Malcolm’s always late for one reason or another.
And when he’s late, we start late and then it takes even longer to sit down and get started because the girls have to fan over one another as if they haven’t seen one another in a hundred years.
Then I look like an asshole when I try to get everyone back on track because if everyone doesn’t shut up and sit down, we would be playing till 2:00 a.m. every week.
But does anyone ever see that? No. They don’t.
I can feel my blood starting to boil with the annoyance of it all and then hear Henry’s words in my head.
‘ I’m starting over. Whenever things get hard, I like to start over.
’ He’d said it the first time I officially met him and did this weird shoulder thing.
Recalling it, I set my phone down, close my eyes, and try to repeat what I remember him doing.
Sucking in a breath, I hold it in my lungs for a second before pushing it out and shaking my shoulders as I do.
When my lungs are completely empty, I take a few normal breaths and open my eyes.
Oddly enough, I feel a little better. This isn’t the first time Malcolm has been late and I know it won’t be the last—at the end of the day, it’s really not that big of a deal.
No problem. We will see you when you get there. Just be safe coming over.
Hank:
We will see you when you get there?
Kolbi:
Just be safe coming over?
Malcolm:
No problem?
Kolbi:
And for once, I’m with Malcolm on this one.
Conrad, are you sure you haven’t been body snatched by a middle-aged woman?
Hank:
That was a very out of character response for you Conrad.
Malcolm:
Guys don’t question it, I’m enjoying not having my head ripped off.
I shake my head at my phone and chuckle at their responses. Only they would be surprised at my sudden change in tone. Anyone else would just be grateful and move on—not my friends though, they have to question everything.
I’ll see you dick lickers tonight.
Now leave me alone, I have a glass of wine to drink
After a full day of coding and a walk around the block later, Annie and I are heading to game night. Ever since taking her for the first time a few weeks ago, she’s been my plus one. I figure after two years of my friends bringing their plus ones to game night, I can too.
Even if my plus one has four legs and fur.
Typically what happens is Annie will follow the girls into the living room, cuddle up with one of them for the evening, and sleep until it’s time to leave.
She never barks or bothers anyone and never interrupts the gameplay which I can’t say the same is true for the human non playable characters who like to attend every Wednesday night, or ‘NPCs’ if you’re a gamer and know what that means.
There was once a time where I called Bailey an NPC which Hank did not take lightly.
I was annoyed she kept showing up, and he was pissed I was annoyed.
But we talked it out and got over it quickly.
He couldn’t understand why I didn’t want her to come and honestly, neither did I back then.
Now though, thanks to the stellar head shrinking Hanna’s been doing on me, I can assume it has something to do with my control issues.
These days, I don’t care who comes to game night.
We pull up to Kolbi’s place and Annie hops out after me, trotting up to the door like she knows how to do.
It didn’t take much to train her and she already knows that if her harness is on, she has to stay close.
I always walk her on her leash even though I know she won’t go far because that’s what responsible pet parents do.
They leash their dogs in case other dog walkers have nervous or anxious pets who don’t want to be approached by other people or dogs.
All the research I did on proper dog etiquette after bringing her home told me as much.
I reach for the doorknob and swing the front door open, letting her bounce down the hall.
Kicking off my shoes just inside the door like I always do, I follow in after her.
By the time I reach the end of the hallway, she’s already found Bailey and Magnolia who are standing in the kitchen, kneeling down to say hello to her.
“Hello, my sweet angel. How’s our favorite girl?” Bailey coos, rubbing Annie’s head and causing her butt to wiggle out of control.
“I missed you this week, I’m so happy you’re back,” Magnolia adds, matching the intonation of Bailey’s voice. “ Jack,” she calls out to Kolbi over her shoulder without looking at him.
“Yes, flower?”
“I really want one of these,” she cries, crouching lower to reach Annie’s belly which she’s exposed to the girls.
I look at my friend who’s squeezing the space where the bridge of his nose meets between his eyes.
“It’s either a puppy or a baby, you pick,” she threatens and my eyes go wide along with my friend’s.
“Oh, sugar, you stop with that baby nonsense,” Ms. Ruthie snips, coming into the kitchen carrying a tray of fresh baked pastries. She was once Magnolia’s caretaker before her parents threw her out. When Magnolia moved in with Kolbi, so did Ms. Ruthie.
“You can’t even cook up an egg without burnin’ it, how do you expect to take care of a baby? You surely don’t expect me to take care of it, I’m too old for babies.” The old woman raises her hand into the air like a stop sign and glares at her charge.
“Oh, I don’t really want a baby. I just say that to get Kolbi to finally give in and get me a puppy,” Magnolia whispers to the old woman.
“I heard that, flower,” Kolbi’s voice booms across the space. Magnolia smiles and giggles to herself before walking over and plopping herself down in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“ Please , Kolbi, look how cute Annie is.” They both look at my dog who’s sitting at my feet, panting and seemingly smiling at the group.
My friend sighs and looks at his wife. “We can talk about a dog,” he starts, causing Magnolia to squeal loudly and squeeze him tighter. “You little brat.”
“Oh stop, you know you love it.” Magnolia smirks at him before kissing him on the cheek. I simply roll my eyes at the two of them and walk towards the fridge to grab a beer.
“Oh, hey, Conrad,” Hank calls out, walking in from the hallway. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“It’s no wonder, Magnolia here was just telling Kolbi how she was going to have a baby,” I joke, waving the beer bottle at my friend who is sitting at our game table.
“What?” Hank staggers, looking over to Kolbi.
“Now, that’s not what happened.” Kolbi raises a hand to stop Hank’s panicked heart.
“We’re getting a puppy,” Magnolia exclaims as if it is a done deal already.
“That’s not what happened either,” he groans, dropping his head behind him and closing his eyes in defeat.
“What didn’t happen?” Malcolm’s voice cuts in as he enters the room, holding Ophelia’s hand.
“Kolbi’s having a baby,” I throw out, hopeful of Malcolm’s reaction.
“And a puppy,” Hank adds with a smirk.
“Sounds disgusting,” Malcolm deadpans, screwing his face up into a grimace.
“We are not having a baby and might get a dog. If this one can behave.” Kolbi looks towards the girl in his lap and gives her waist a squeeze, causing her to laugh again.
Hank moves towards Bailey and loops his arm around her shoulder. “Thank you for not being difficult,” he praises into her ear.
“Anything for you, soldier,” she says, and turns to whisper something in his ear that none of us can hear. When he smirks, I know it probably doesn’t need to be said any louder.
“Kids?” Malcolm quips to Ophelia, who is also tucked under his arm .
“God no,” she replies with a hint of disgust in her voice.
“Dogs?”
“Also, no.”
“Good girl,” he murmurs before reaching down and smacking her ass like he always does.
As I watch all of them have these very intimate exchanges, I realize that my three best friends have all found their person and I…
haven’t. Unless I count Annie, which I won’t because while I might be a perpetual loner, I don’t actually want to be alone for the rest of my life.
My mind flashes to a certain auburn-haired Brit who likes to wink at me and has dimples that would make an ice cube melt.
I shake my head at the sudden invasiveness of Henry’s face in my mind, trying to shake it loose.
“Okay,” I announce, clapping my hands together to pull everyone out of the little love fests they are having. “Can we start now please?”
“Of course, brother, let’s get started.” Magnolia smiles at Kolbi again before he helps her up from his lap.
My friends and I all find our seats at the table as Annie runs to stand next to Bailey who’s standing just off to the side, about to head into the living room.
As I sit down, my phone buzzes in my pocket so I pull it out to read the message.
2 New Messages: Henry Baker
Hey Conrad. I know I saw you yesterday at our meeting but I wanted to just say that I’m really glad you came by on Sunday to help me with the studio. I had fun spending time with you
Oh, and my contractors are building out the locker rooms in the next few weeks and I need to pick the hardware for the doors. I could use your keen eye for detail if you wouldn’t mind helping me again
I clear my throat as I read the word ‘hardware’ and start to type a message back.
“Hey, no phones at the table. That was your rule in the first place, Connie,” Malcolm barks at me and waves his hand towards my phone. I turn quickly so he can’t take it from me and read Henry’s text.
“Shut up,” I mumble before hitting send on my reply.
“Besides, it’s no phones during gameplay. We aren’t playing yet, so no rules were broken.” I smirk at him. My phone buzzes again and my lips flicker up before I can stop them. My fingers dance quickly across the screen before hitting the send button again.
“Was that it?”
“It could have been it.”
“For Conrad, that was pretty close to being it.”
My friends round robin their words as I look up at them.
“What the hell are you morons talking about?” I bark at them, already tired from the evening and their antics.
Kolbi leans over the table across from me and grins. “You, my friend, just had the look.”
“The look,” Hank echos, nodding his head knowingly at me.
“Alright Connie, finally gettin’ some! Who’s the chick?” Malcolm claps a hand down on my shoulder and I want to punch his stupid smirk off his face.
“Malcolm, do not refer to a woman as a ‘chick,’ it’s demeaning,” Ophelia scolds. She and the other girls are still milling around the room and now, just like my friends, are all staring at me.
“Whatever you say, little fox,” Malcolm murmurs. He’s so totally whipped by her he would lay down in front of a moving train if she asked.
“So, who’s the girl?” Bailey encourages with a smile on her face.
“Is it Margaret?” Magnolia quickly adds.
“Why would it be Margaret?” I groan because their insinuation that there’s anything going on between me and Margaret is absolutely ridiculous.
“You two have been spending a lot of time together.”
“Yeah, she told us so at brunch last weekend.”
“You two would be so cute together,” Magnolia cries.
“There is nothing going on between Margaret and I. I can promise you that.”
“Then who’s the girl?” Malcolm asks again, a little more forcefully than before.
“There is no girl,” I nearly shout at them, smacking my hand down on the table. My breath is heavy and hot and I blink a few times before looking around the room. All six of them are looking at me with varying degrees of shocked or stunned expressions on their faces.
“Okay, brother. There’s no girl.” It’s Kolbi who speaks, his deep voice low and soothing. “Everyone settle in, it’s time to start.”
As the awkward tension dissipates and the significant others say their goodbyes before going to their own corners of the house, I unlock my phone and send off one more text.
1 New Message: Henry Baker
Hey Conrad. I know I saw you yesterday at our meeting but I wanted to just say that I’m really glad you came by on Sunday to help me with the studio. I had fun spending time with you
Oh, and my contractors are building out the locker rooms in the next few weeks and I need to pick the hardware for the doors. I could use your keen eye for detail if you wouldn’t mind helping me again
Yeah, just tell me when you need me and I’ll be there.
I will for sure. Nothing like having a partner to look at hardware with.
I wouldn’t know personally, but I can assume looking at hardware is always more enjoyable with another person around.
Don’t worry love, I’ll show ya the ropes