It Was Always You by L. A. Witt

Author:L. A. Witt [Witt, L. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Tyler

The taxi let us off in front of the club, but Justin led me across the street.

“Nobody really shows up until after ten,” he explained on the way into the bar. “It’s just loud and boring when it’s empty, so we can grab a couple of drinks and relax a bit here before we go over there.”

“Sounds good to me. I could stand to pre-game a bit.”

He eyed me. “You’re not planning on getting hammered, are you?”

“No! Of course not.” I sheepishly met his eyes as I held open the bar’s door. “Just something for my nerves. That’s all.”

“Nerves?” He smiled sweetly. “Honey, you’re going to have women knocking each other over to get to you. You’ve got nothing to be nervous about.” He gave my arm a pat, then swept past me into the bar.

I chuckled, but didn’t argue as I followed him inside. I’d done all right in clubs when I was in college, but I wasn’t twenty-two anymore. We’d see how things went tonight. At least I had Kelsey’s fashion wisdom to keep me from looking like a trash fire, so as long as I didn’t do or say something stupid, maybe I’d be okay.

Justin led me across the lounge. This place wasn’t a dive bar per se. A little too clean and modern for that, and without the smell of fry grease permeating everything. There were some games on television, but none of my teams were playing, so I didn’t pay any attention to them.

There were a few pool tables, too. One was occupied. The others were empty.

As we sat down in a booth, I gestured at the pool tables. “Hey, you remember that pool hall that was open in Redmond back when we were in junior high?”

Justin smiled. “Joey’s? God, how could I forget that place? Shame they closed it or I’d probably still go there.”

“Yeah?”

“Sure, why not?” He shrugged, the smile turning a little bit shy. “It wasn’t exactly a place to go pick up guys, but there were worse ways to kill an afternoon than shooting pool and bankrupting myself feeding the jukebox.”

I laughed. “Man, those were the days. I don’t think I’ve ever found anyone who made better fries than they did.”

“Oh, no kidding. Shit, maybe it is good they shut down, or I’d have gorged myself to death on those damn crinkle fries.”

“You and me both.”

He chuckled. He started to bring his drink to his lips, but paused and looked at me with a nostalgic smile. “Remember the time we almost got thrown out for putting Danger Zone on repeat on the jukebox?”

I threw my head back and laughed. “When the owner threatened to ban us for life if we played that song one more time?”

“He had no sense of humor, I’m telling you.”

“Cranky old bastard.”

We both laughed, and I let some more of those memories rush through my brain. More and more lately, I’d been realizing that all the best memories of my formative years had one thing in common—Justin.

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