“We have moved on,” Rob said. “Or else we wouldn’t all be sitting here right now hanging out.”
“Have you though?”
Rob stared at him. “Yes, I just said that.”
“But haaaaave you though?”
“We have,” James said. He looked over at me.
I pressed my lips together. I knew James wasn’t really a dick. Yes, he’d acted like one when we were teenagers. But he’d had my back ever since. It was fall though. And I was always more likely to snap on him in the fall. Because it reminded me so much of Brooklyn. So yes, we’d moved on as best I was able to. I couldn’t offer any more.
“Hmm.” Tanner put his glass down on the table. “If you were all really over it, why did Matt drug you during your bachelor party, James?”
Bee started laughing harder.
“You what?” Penny said.
“It’s not a big deal…” James started.
But Penny cut him off. “Yes it is a big deal. Why the hell would you do that, Matt?” She was using her authoritative mom voice that always made me feel in trouble but also slightly aroused.
I opened my mouth and closed it again. I wanted to say I didn’t know why. But I did. It was because James had been about to get married. And I was jealous. I felt like he’d robbed me of that with Brooklyn. Like he had the life I was supposed to have. And I had been drunk myself that night. And maybe a little high. And maybe a lot an idiot.
“Did he really?” Penny asked Daphne.
Daphne had been at the same resort as us during James’ bachelor party. It’s where she and Rob had officially met. So she’d unfortunately seen all the shenanigans first hand.
I winced when Daphne slowly nodded.
“Look, we all went a little overboard that weekend,” Mason said.
Bee tried to glare at him through her laughter. “What does that mean?” I couldn’t tell if she was actually upset or she was doing an overexaggerated glare because of her intoxication.
Mason laughed. “It was a bachelor party.”
She continued to stare at him. And even though it looked like she was seconds away from exploding with laughter again, the last thing I wanted was for Bee to be upset with Mason because he was trying to cover for me. The bachelor party had actually been very tame and very lame.
“I’m sorry, okay you guys?” I said.
Tanner clapped me on the back. “That’s a good start, Matt. But I have an idea. James, you should just get him back. It’s best to just get even. Who has some drugs?”
James shook his head. “I’m not going to drug Matt.”
“Leave it to me then,” Tanner said.
“I don’t want you to drug him either.”
“Noted. I’ll think of something better.” Tanner snapped his fingers. “Revenge is a dish best served hard, if you know what I mean.” He raised his glass.
I literally had no idea what he meant. Served hard?
Bee giggled.
“You mean cold?” Rob said.
Tanner looked confused.
“The phrase is revenge is a dish best served cold,” Rob said.
Tanner shook his head. “I don’t think that’s how it goes.”
“That’s definitely how it goes. Who serves a hard dish?”
“Dishes are made from glass. They’re all quite hard, Young Robert. Have you never been hit by one?” He started to wave down a waitress, as if he was going to order a plate to break over Rob’s head.
I grabbed Tanner’s hand to lower it. We didn’t need a waitress to bring over any plates for him to throw at Rob.
“I’m trying to help,” he whispered back.
“By offering to beat Rob with plates?”
“By fixing your friendships. And yes, possibly teaching Robert a lesson along the way.”
I looked over to see everyone staring at us. I cleared my throat and removed my hand from Tanner’s arm. This conversation was ridiculous. We were all fine. Tanner was pushing buttons unnecessarily. And I still needed to have that conversation with James before it got any later. “James, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Yeah, sure.” He went to stand up, but paused when his phone started ringing. “One second,” he said.
“Hi Ellen, is everything okay?”
There was silence as he listened to her.
“Pumpkin, did you steal Ellen’s phone again?”
Penny shook her head with a smile.
“Mommy and I are out right now. Be a good girl and let Ellen tell you a bedtime story.”
He listened to Scarlett intently.
“She does do the voices. I’ve heard her do them.”
He smiled at whatever her response was.
“Is everything okay?” Penny mouthed silently.
James nodded. “Okay, pumpkin. We’ll be home in a few minutes. Love you too.” He hung up. “She’s refusing to go to bed without us reading her bedtime story. And she’s keeping everyone else up too. I think Ellen might have a revolt on her hands.”
Rob laughed. “Sophie and Scarlett are going to be such a handful when they’re older.”
Rob was right about that. Scarlett was a little baller for refusing to go to bed without a proper bedtime story. And Sophie seemed like she enjoyed a good revolt too. It was possible she was the one leading the troops.
“We should probably go get Sophie and RJ too,” Daphne said. “It’s getting late.” She grabbed her coat off the back of her chair.
“Is it okay if we have that chat another time?” James asked.
No. Not really. But I just nodded. They were going home to Scarlett right now. Nothing bad could happen to her tonight.
Rob, Daphne, James, and Penny said their goodbyes.
“Have fun on your date tomorrow,” Penny whispered and gave me a quick hug. I watched her duck under James’ arm and giggle at something he whispered in her ear.
“You okay?” Tanner asked.
Now he was concerned about me? Moments after trying to get James to drug me?
Luckily I didn’t have to answer him, because Bee was laughing harder than ever, drawing everyone’s attention to her.
“So just me?” Bee said, but I could barely make out the words through her laughter.
I hadn’t caught the start of her conversation with Mason, but it looked like the two of them were having the time of their lives.
“Yeah, our mom definitely didn’t walk us to the bus stop in high school,” Mason said. “We usually rode with James. Or I drove myself.”
Bee finally stopped laughing long enough to breathe. “Not all of high school. Just until junior year when I finally snapped.”
Mason was staring at her with stars in his eyes. “Your mom is amazing.”
“More like mortifying,” Bee said and covered her face.
Mason lowered her hand and kissed her temple.
I turned away and took another sip of my scotch. Out of all my friends, Bee looked the most like Brooklyn. Sometimes it was hard to look at her for too long. I wondered if Mason saw it. But I didn’t think so. Unlike James, he hadn’t had a crush on Brooklyn. And I wasn’t even sure if James really had either. I was pretty sure he had only pretended to like her to mess with me. But I’d never know. Because I’d never bring her up.