Sweet on You

Chapter 10

Xander and Lydia were walking through the market when Lydia got a text. She frowned as she opened it, not recognizing the number.

I’m moving back in town, drinks @ Ed’s?
   
Lydia thought to all the people she would go to Ed’s with. Nathan, of course, but she had his number. Plus, they said they were moving back.
Tentatively, Lydia typed back.

Joel?

It wounds me you have deleted my number, L. What do you say, 7?

Lydia sighed. She hadn’t seen Joel since her dad’s funeral. After that, he had moved to BC for university. 

7 it is. First round on me, my long, forgotten friend.

I’ll tend to my wounds in the meantime.

Lydia huffed out a laugh and Xander peered over to her as he held her bag of fresh fruit she had just bought from the vendor. “What is it?”

Lydia slipped her phone in the back pocket of her jeans. “A friend of mine is back in town, we were going to meet up tonight.”

Xander came back to her side, wincing as the sun hit him in the eyes. “What time are you meeting her?”

“I’m meeting him at seven,” Lydia said, pointing in the direction of where she thought Ed’s was, but she doubted her inner compass was right at all. “There’s a small pub that Nathan owns, we were going to be meeting there.”

Xander nodded his head curtly, not asking any further questions. He stayed silent for most of the afternoon as they continued to shop for groceries. 

###

Xander made Lydia agree to let him come with her. Lydia, however, said he could only do so if he stayed from afar and did not intervene unless she was in mortal danger. He wasn’t too happy with it, but he conceded, satisfied enough that she had told him about meeting her friend rather than sneaking out as she did nearly two weeks ago.

When she entered the pub, Nathan’s brother, Darian, saluted her in greeting. She had forgotten that he was taking over while Nathan stayed home with Audrey for Jules’ first year. She reciprocated the same greeting as he offered her as she made her way to the booth where she noticed Joel was seated at.  

Joel looked the exact same since she had last seen him. His sandy blond hair cut short, his big blue eyes, everything was the same. Except, maybe, his muscles were a little more defined. Lydia supposed that could be accredited to the fact he was a firefighter now.

He grinned when he noticed Lydia approaching, standing from his seat, he enveloped her in a hug. “It’s been a long time. Too long.”

She let go of him, inspecting him from top to bottom. “Look at you! You’re not a slightly fit teenager anymore, you’re a grown ass man!”

Joel chuckled. “And you’re not a tiny little theatre kid anymore, you’re a tiny little adult.”
Lydia smacked him on the chest. “Rude.”

He chuckled once again, gesturing for her to sit so they could start their evening. Lydia couldn’t help but feel nervous. She had the biggest crush on Joel in high school and even though those feelings faded away eventually, they fluttered back as they began to talk, exchanging stories about what they had been up to for the past couple of years. Although Joel liked living in BC, he missed his family, so he decided to take an open firefighting job back home instead. Lydia understood, well, understood as well as she could. Eventually, after a couple hours of conversation and a meal later, the flutters Lydia felt faded. She missed having him as a friend, but now that they were older, she recognized that she didn’t feel anything romantic towards him, it was simply nerves and excitement she had felt earlier.

Her mind drifted towards Xander, wondering what he was doing while she was dining with Joel. She knew he was at the bar, likely watching discreetly, but was he drinking? Was he eating? They usually had dinner together, if she didn’t insist on him having dinner, or any meal with her for that matter, he wouldn’t eat at all, stating that it was too distracting or some stupid bodyguard excuse to that effect.

She mentally shook away thoughts of Xander, trying to refocus her attention on Joel. 
“--and that’s how I got this,” Joel said enthusiastically, rolling up his dress shirt sleeve, exposing a horrible faded burn.

Lydia flinched at the sight of it. She hadn’t paid attention to how he had gotten it before, but now she couldn’t take her eyes off it. She winced. “That must have hurt.”

Joel shrugged nonchalantly. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

Before Lydia could respond, her phone vibrated. She shot Joel an apologetic look but he didn’t notice as he was staring at his scar.
   
Say the word and I’ll come up with a fake emergency to get you out of this.
   
Lydia suppressed the smile tugging on her lips.
   
Who says I need an escape?
   
Your skin has been green since he flashed you that scar.
   
It has not.
   
I’m staring right at you. Look up.
   
Lydia looked up, her eyes scanning the bar. At the end of it, closest to the back, Xander held up his phone. She squinted to see what was on it. When she realized what it was, she let out a strained choking sound. The sudden sound caused Joel to stop admiring his scar and look to her. “Are you okay?”
   
“Yeah,” Lydia said with a small cough. She looked away from Xander’s phone and back to her friend. “It was just my student employee, Rhia. She needs help with something back at the shop.”
   
Joel didn’t seem too bothered. They hugged before she departed, offering to continue their conversation some other time, which Lydia agreed, but next time, she would not bring Xander anywhere near the premises. 
   
She walked out of the pub, Xander close behind her. When they were out of view of the pub’s window, she whirled onto Xander, smacking him in the chest. “KERMIT THE FUCKING FROG? YOU THOUGHT I LOOKED LIKE KERMIT THE FROG?”
   
Xander burst out in a fit of laughter. “In my defense, you did not see how green you got when he showed you that scar, which is clearly infected, by the way.”
   
“You’re an ass,” Lydia hissed. When she saw Xander was trying not to laugh again, she smiled a bit, happy to see he was finally letting his guard down. Even if it was while she was on a date or whatever it was. Eventually, she couldn’t hold it in anymore and she began to laugh too.
   
Together, they walked to her car, laughing.