Count On Me

Part Twenty One

At that moment, the cork popped out of the bottle, and he laughed trying to pour it into the glasses beside him, before spilling it everywhere.

"So I thought," he offered as he led them to the sofa, "that we could just sit, talk...be those friends?"

She nodded, "that sounds like a good idea."

He sat down and she lowered herself to the opposite end of the sofa, "so, have you heard from your parents?"

That shocked her, it was the last thing she expected to hear, "I haven't. Not since the funeral. But that's not unusual."

He was watching her, "I find it incredible really, that they don't spend time with Nate, let alone you."

She laughed, "you're saying that Nate is cuter and more loveable than me?"

That made him blush, "not at all...it's just that I know my parents are loopy about Elena and Riley."

"You've told them, about Nate."

He nodded, "my mother is desperate to meet him...I think she'd be at your house with fifteen minutes notice."

She rolled her eyes, "they live two hours away."

"You know what I mean."

She sipped at the dry, sparkling drink, "so you're surprised that my parents aren't as enthralled? They are. They were always pleased to see him when he was with Janis, but she was top dog."

He frowned, "it just doesn't make sense. Not to me anyway."

It was still something that she hadn't got used to herself, despite the fact that it had been happening for years, so her blasé and flippant attitude was fake. As she looked at Oscar he seemed to know that.

"Sorry, should mind my own business...no one's family is perfect, we've had that conversation before."

"How did you come to live in the States?"

Oscar smiled at her, then sat back and told her how he'd been jealous of his sister being in University in the States. So he applied after university for a job with a large hotel company based in New York. He'd met Coop when he was a student a few years earlier, they'd kept in touch, and after visiting him for a weekend, moved out of the city and based himself upstate.

It was a simple story to him, but he could sense wistfulness in her manner.

"It wasn't anything special, no drama really."

She nodded, "to you. I just spent my whole life doing what I thought my parents wanted. I'd have loved to just take a job overseas, get out and do it. I just never had the chance."

This is your chance, he wanted to shout out, but it wasn't the right time, instead he shrugged, "we all make difficult choices."

She was contemplative as she sipped at her champagne, and he would've given anything to read her thoughts. Instead he smiled, "so tell me about Manchester, normal life. I mean I saw the chaos after all that had happened with Janis. Who are you friends? Where do you hang out? Do you have a boyfriend?"

He was sure he'd asked her that before, but as things were getting closer between them, the last thing he wanted was an irate man invading his world, kicking off.

BULLSHIT! That internal voice almost chided him, and he felt himself blush at the truth.

Lizzie's laughter dragged him from the internal battle as she sighed, "not that many friends outside of work, plus I generally look after Nate evenings...but there's Vicky, she visits often, or when Janis had a weekend off I went to visit her in Liverpool. No boyfriend...ha ha ha."