The Boys are Back in Town

The Boys are Back in Town: Twenty-Five

The following night, Alek and I went to St. Cyprian to have dinner with Jason and Henry. We arrived ten minutes early, time enough for Alek to say, "If Jason makes you uncomfortable, tap my knee and we'll be out of here right away."

I laughed and took a sip of my iced tea. "How soon are you hoping that will happen?"

He shrugged and smiled, unabashed.

"Jason won't make me uncomfortable. He's funny," I said.

"He tries to be," Alek corrected.

"Uh-uh," I said. "I've seen you try to hold back a laugh from some of his jokes."

He bumped my knee, and I bumped back. The bell by the door chimed when it opened, revealing Jason and Henry.

"Clair!" Jason exclaimed, greeting me with two kisses on the cheek. "Hello. You look great, I love this color on you."

Henry smiled and leaned forward to greet me while Alek endured a long hug from Jason. "All right, darling?"

"Yep," I grinned. His accent was extremely charming. "You?"

"I'm good, yeah," he said. "Jason has just taken me to see the park where he took all of his high school conquests-"

"All right," Jason interrupted. "Shall we sit down? Have you guys ordered?"

Over slices of the best pizza I'd ever had, Jason regaled me with stories of what he dubbed as his "Boarding School Escapades" while Henry and Alek chimed in every once in a while to correct or rebuff him.

"I knew I should've invited Clair to dinner alone," he complained. "You guys spoil everything."

"The tea bit was true," Henry allowed. "He really did mix our dorm master's matcha with wasabi powder."

"You didn't," I said, slightly horrified. "Was he okay?"

Jason shrugged. "He was honestly a menace. He picked on a first-year who cried because he was homesick and gave him the whole 'real men don't cry' speech."

"I'm guessing he ate his words?"

He snorted in amusement. "Even better. He pissed himself after taking a sip. Water was coming out of two places."

I bit back a smile even as I winced. "Oh no, poor guy."

"Honestly," Henry said, shaking his head. "He left a trail all the way to the infirmary."

"Yeah, but I don't regret it," Jason said, shrugging. "That was the incident that got this one—" he jerked a thumb at Alek. "—to finally talk to me."

I looked at Alek, who was studiously ignoring us and carefully picking the olives off his pizza. "Oh yeah, what'd he say?"

Henry snickered. "He said, 'You're an idiot.'"

Jason ignored him and grinned beatifically at me. "And from then on, we were the best of friends."

Alek scowled and flicked an olive at him.

***

There was a moment just before dinner ended when Jason and I were alone at the table. We had just paid the tab, so Henry stepped out to make a call, and Alek went to the restroom.

As soon as Alek was out of sight, Jason turned to me with a slight smile. "So, do you want the real story on Alek?"

"What real story?"

He regarded me for a moment, then he seemed to decide. "Huh."

"What?" I asked, chuckling nervously.

Jason leaned back. "I just get the feeling that Alek doesn't want me to be around you."

"Yeah," I said, surprised. "I do, too."

"I think I can guess why," he said. "And I could tell you, but he'll be back in a moment and I have a feeling this night won't end well if I do."

"You're kind of making me nervous," I said. "Is it bad?"

He shook his head slightly. "Sorry. Didn't mean to. Don't worry about it."

Before I could say anything else, Alek slid back in the seat next to me. "Ready?"

I nodded. Henry came back in and we said our goodbyes. As he hugged me goodnight, Jason slipped a piece of paper in my hand. He didn't look at me as he forced Alek into another overly-long hug.

When I got home that night, I dug the paper out of my jacket pocket. It was his local number, and below that, he wrote, text me sometime if you want to have coffee.