Unexplainable [Original Version]

[chapter twenty-six: "this wild life"]

"I'm happy for the two of you, man. I am. I know you'll treat her right, and really, if I'm not what she wants, I'm glad you are." Scott smiles before quickly chugging down the remainder of his drink. As he sits the empty glass back down on the table, he sighs heavily. "Damn, the booze is good here. We made a good choice."

Scott's trying to just go on as if nothing happened, and that's fine. If he wants to change the subject, I'll go with it. I just hate the way that he's trying to act as though he's not the least bit fazed, because I know he is. Scott's heartbroken, but what can I do? I can't lie and say I'm not fuckin' ecstatic that I'm the one Joli chose, but I hope he understands how much we both care for him.

I take a drink out of my own glass before I reply to Scott. "You're right. It's some damn good shit."

"It is." Scott flags down one of the workers and orders far more booze than he probably should, but I'm not going to stop him. It's not a horrible amount, and I've certainly seen him drink more over the years. We sit in silence until the drinks arrive; Scott takes one more big gulp of alcohol before speaking again. "How excited is Joli to come back next week?"

I guess he does want to keep the conversation about her. All right.

"She's so happy, she's out of her damn mind. She'd have come with me today if Eric would've let her. But, you know how he is; he's stuck by the fact that he doesn't want her showing up until the night she makes her television return." Which is damn stupid, but what can we do? I actually had to talk Joli out of sneaking here with me anyway. It wouldn't have been good for her to cause a scene right before her return, and deep down, she knew that.

"It's going to be nice to have all of us back together. I've missed that." Me too, Scott. "She's still walking Kid out, isn't she?"

"Yep." That's been the plan, and it hasn't changed. Eric talked to us about it earlier, but I'm not going to say anything about that to Scott. He obviously wasn't paying much attention. "We've got make it a big deal, you know?"

I hope that everything goes well for my little babe's return, I really do. She deserves to have the entire fuckin' crowd on their feet, losing their goddamn minds at the sight of her. Kid is excited and he feels blessed to be the one of us that gets her as a manager on her first night back. Far as I know, Scott and I don't even have matches next week. We're just there for segments.

I wish Kid was here right now, and not on his way home. This whole conversation with Scott has left me feeling more awkward about this all than I should.

"Damn right we do. Our trio will be back together!" Scott holds one of his glasses up towards me, and I clank mine against his. We exchange grins before chugging down our drinks.

We both sit out empty glasses down, and as Scott shakes his head from the buzz, I can tell he's feeling a bit more agitated than before. Oh, fuck, come on. It's not an abruptly obvious change, but I know Scott all-too-well.

"You care if I have some of this?" I ask, referring to the several full cups of booze Scott had ordered. He shakes his head, sending me this coy little smirk. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it, man. You're buying the next round, though."

I know it's not good for Scott to drink too much, not now, when he's in such a state. But, if I call him out on it, it's not going to end well. He doesn't even need to try and hide his feelings with alcohol.

We sit around and drink for quite a while in this little bar. Scott and I talk about work a lot, and even though he keeps trying to act like he's not hurt, he is. I wish he'd just talk to me about all of this instead of just bottling it all up. Then again, the more he drinks, the more irritable he becomes.