Truth Be Told

six

Drew gives him a pleading look. "But we need to bond."

Colin rolls his eyes, grabbing a glass to pour himself some water.

"It's fine," Sadie says. "I'd really rather finish up on my Econ readings."

"Fuck Econ," Perry says from across the room, where he's standing in front of the small mirror they hung up next to their bedroom. door He's fixing his hair with some kind of product, looking this way and that to examine it.

"Fuck Econ," Drew echoes. He gives Sadie an easy smile. "I stopped reading that shit by the third meeting."

"That's because you're with Anderson." Sadie rolls her eyes. "Finney's always getting on our backs about taking the reading assignments seriously."

Drew nudges her with an elbow. "Come on. We need to at least celebrate your first week with us."

Colin keeps out of the conversation, knowing full well it was out of his hands. Whether Sadie agrees to join them or not is entirely up to her. He can't help but glower though. Why did his friends want her around in the first place? It's not like she's particularly fun to be with. She's just sort of... there, eating half her food and pushing the rest around her plate till it's time to leave.

His eyes narrow further at the thought, but then Sadie looks up to catch him glaring. He immediately turns away.

"What do you say, Sade?" Perry prompts.

Sadie pauses for a moment. Drew nudges her with an elbow again, and finally she relents.

"I guess a drink or two won't hurt."

◇

The thing about drinks, however, is that people rarely ever stick to just one or two.

They grabbed dinner from Erlinda's, a small eatery that serves Filipino food. It doesn't seem much from the outside, and the place is as unassuming as it can get. Not a lot of people knew about it. Colin found it when he moved in, and when he'd introduced it to his friends, it immediately became one of their favorites.

"Wow," Sadie said when she scanned the one-page menu, a laminated printout with a list of dishes that have grown familiar to Colin by now. "This reminds me of Hadley so much."

Hadley's half-Filipino, and her mother and grandmother always cooked Filipino food at their household. Dinner with them was always something Colin looked forward to.

They all agreed to sharing an order of bulalo and a platter of white rice, and for the first time since she'd moved in with them, Sadie seemed to actually enjoy the food.

They left Erlinda's after having had enough of the delicious beef broth. They head for Barrels Up, one of the lesser known bars in the area when they see that Jeremy's is brimming with the people. They make their way through the busy sidewalk, with Colin opting to walk beside Drew while Perry and Sadie walk ahead of them.

"Can I ask you something?"

Colin's eyebrows rise. He eyes Drew for a moment before nodding uncertainly. "What's up?"

"Do you think Sadie's all right?"

The question surprises him. Drew has always been easily the sweetest among the three of them, but he doesn't really strike Colin (or anyone, for that matter) as the observant type. His happy-go-lucky demeanor makes it seem like he doesn't really worry too much about the negative things, and him wondering about Sadie's well-being takes Colin by surprise.

"I dunno," he replies, looking at the back of Sadie's head.

"Daniel talked to me the other day. He seems pretty worried about her."