Darcy was surprised by how much fun she was having as Greg recounted another funny story about her boyfriend, revealing a side of him that she barely knew existed. She liked sitting there, in the beautiful restaurant Michael had chosen to taken them to for lunch, listening to the two passing comments about the things they used to do when they were younger and laughing as they argued over the specific details, each one insisting he was right. But most of all, she liked the way Michael looked at her each time she spoke. It wasn't a look she hadn't seen before, but there seemed to be an extra intensity to it as he sat there listening to her, resting his elbows on the table, his hands locked together as he leant his head on top. There was something that said he could listen to her forever and never be bored, something that made her feel extraordinarily special in the busy restaurant that held more than a handful of women that she considered more attractive and beautiful than herself. But Michael couldn't agree with her.
He could see the shy blushes Darcy let slip whenever she thought that he was making a particular fuss of her, telling Greg about how accomplished she was with the piano and her other hidden talents, but he did it because he loved her and couldn't help himself from placing her in the centre of attention, where he felt she belonged. He didn't care who was in the room, how special they thought they were, how important or beautiful they considered themselves, to Michael there was only one girl that made the cut. One girl that had it all, every selfless thought, every glance that made him want to kiss her. Darcy was the only girl he could ever see himself with and now that he had her, now that he'd made love to her and heard her say she loved him, now that he'd let her into his heart, he knew he couldn't be without her. "So this little bugger decided that if we weren't going to be let in, he'd just have to break in." Greg announced with a deep laughter, not oblivious as to the blazing chemistry between his two companions.
He decided to ignore it as long as they did, because he knew that by Michael asking him to meet his girlfriend and be the first to do so before they flew off to Tokyo, he was obviously scared of something happening, or expecting something to come between them. They both knew that they would never criticise each other for falling in love, no matter who she was or what kind of girl she was, purely because they were such good friends they weren't going to argue over something that, if it wasn't going to last, would bring about it's own end. "And considering it was about two in the morning and we were both working the next day, and the fact that I'm an entire decade older than him...he got us all to climb over the wall and sneak in, dressed as bloody waiters." He laughed, making Darcy smile as she took a quiet sip of her wine, intently drawn into the stories about how crazy her boyfriend used to be, before he had responsibilities to think about and before his father began bullying him into thinking about marriage. "We were all sweating it, thinking we were gonna get caught and have the shit beaten outta us at any minute."
"Well we would have been fine if it wasn't for Paul walking into the kitchen saying 'we're gonna get caught...we're gonna get caught' under his breath." Michael agreed with a smile just as the waitress came back over to the table, taking away the soup bowls quietly. It wasn't as if he was complaining, they had all found it hilarious at the time, sneaking into the private game at the casino downtown. They were all pretty young, everyone having only just turned eighteen except for Greg, who as he had admitted was a full ten years older than them, but he was just as big a kid as they were on the inside. He had been having a bad time at work and so they all figured it would be a good idea to do something crazy for one night and cheer him up, but when they saw the guards at the door of the actual game, two impressively large bodyguards blocking the way, they all chickened out and left, laughing about it all the way home.
"Yeah and what about when he saved your ass back in the first year you started your business...he wasn't such a pain in the ass then." He reminded him jokingly, the serious nod that came from her boyfriend, confusing Darcy a little as she looked between both men curiously, but having both avoid her as discretely as they could, obviously not wanting to discuss it with her.
"So Greg, Michael says your wife's pregnant...would this be the first?" She asked, avoiding the subject that neither wanted to bring up in front of her so that the good humoured atmosphere they had built up wasn't ruined entirely. If it was really important Michael would tell her, eventually. And she was quite surprised that it didn't bother her to know he was keeping it back from her intentionally, but then there wasn't anything she knew of about him that did bother her and that was how she liked it.
"Actually, we've got a daughter. She's just turned five." He explained, going on to elaborate, impressed with how well she was taking the fact that they had just shut her out of the conversation. But Michael didn't look surprised at all and just gave her that look that he'd been giving her all night, saying that he would have loved nothing more than to get her all alone and he couldn't help but laugh inwardly at how different he was with her. He was much more like a teenager when he was around the young girl and he wasn't sure whether it was because she, herself was so young at only eighteen, or if it was just because he was like a love sick puppy, drooling over her every second.
*****
Tai was quite happy to lazy about Antony's office with the pizza they had ordered as they went over the case notes that his brother refused to be a part of any longer. They could both understand his reasoning and were glad that he hadn't gone ahead and tried to separate the two things in his mind, because as they discussed it, neither of them could and they were nowhere near as close to Darcy as Michael was. They were surprised though, by the generous offer he had made, to take them both with him to the restaurant for lunch while his girlfriend and old friend got to know each other. And as generous as it was, they had a lot to talk about, both personally and professionally and so found it much easier to so with a large pizza and some privacy away from their boss. And Tai was quite surprised by what Antony chose to reveal to him in the privacy of his office, both glad to be out of ear shot from Amanda.
"So she's got a thing for Mikey?" He thought it over, glad that his best friend didn't really care after having had an entire night to think abut it logically. Of course it bothered him that she had been playing games and that she had demolished the truth he had given her by getting back into the dating game after so long, but he really seemed excited about Arena, and even took the picture he had always kept, back out from the locked drawer of his desk. It was only so Tai could remember what she looked like, but still he kept it out and placed it back where it used to sit on his desk. "I'd never have guessed it. She's so young."
"She's the same age as Darcy, kid. There's just a difference in emotional maturity." Antony laughed, reminding his friend that regardless of the three years between their boss and his new girlfriend, it wasn't obvious because she was so intelligent, sweet and mature that they seemed so well suited to each other, age didn't matter. But Amanda was so much more reckless than Darcy seemed to be, and not nearly half as attractive. "Darcy's very...daddy's girl who has a hidden sexy side whereas Amanda's more the bitchy, high school cheerleader." He thought aloud, a nod of agreement combining the yawn Tai let slip.
"How is it that I'm the one just out of school and yet you're the one choosing the high school analogy?" He asked with a teasing smile that made them both laugh, neither really caring that despite the five year age difference between them, they were just as crazy and as big a kid as each other. It was only the ringing of the desk phone that interrupted their humorous thoughts as they each read through a different set of case notes while they talked. And yet, when Antony answered the phone, a slice of pizza dripping some tomato purée onto the important document he was reading in such a big drop that made Tai laugh, he couldn't enjoy the humour and only nodded seriously, taking the phone from between his shoulder and his ear to hold it up for his friend. He felt guilty passing the phone over without explaining, but he felt it was better to hear from her than through someone who didn't know the reasoning behind it.
"It's Natasha." He sighed, making Tai wonder why she would be calling him at work when they had just talked the night before and she had admitted to needing a few days to herself, and when he combined that knowledge with the serious look of apology Antony showed him as he stood up and let him sit beside the phone, he didn't feel like he was going to enjoy the conversation.
"Hello...?" He answered quietly, too nervous about the look he had been given to even presume to call her by one of the sweet names he usually used. He only did it because she loved them so much, and yet when he heard her crying on the other end of the phone, he didn't think any one of those names would make her feel better. "Natasha...what's wrong?" There was a long moment of silence as though she was thinking about what to tell him and how to do it, but he had a fair idea of what she planned to say, and the words he heard, in a soft whisper, were less of a surprise than he felt she knew.
"We have to break up Tai."
*****
Tai knew that when Natasha had hit him with the news that she had finally reached a decision as to where there relationship was going, there was no way to change her mind and he wouldn't even if he could have. Somehow he felt that Michael had had a point that morning, when he'd insisted that he do something with his life and he realised that if he had broken up with Natasha to stop himself from treating her badly or accusing her of cheating on him, when one of his friends had suggested such a thing, then he couldn't really have loved her. He was smart enough to know that just because Michael loved Darcy, he wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of them being together and he knew that however high his brother considered his family duties, he was too much in love with his girlfriend to have anyone try to change his mind. And Tai felt that if he had really loved Natasha, at the time or since then, then he would never have doubted her fidelity and he would never have even considered getting mad at her, if he had truly believed that she had been faithful. So when he heard her next words, he almost felt sick.
"I lied to you Tai...when Kyle told you I was cheating on you, I was. With him." She cried to him, devastated by the silence that had followed her first admission. She didn't want to have to tell him what she had to say, or to do so over the phone, but she didn't have the guts to do it any other way. It was all so difficult. And Antony could gather that it wasn't going well when he saw the way Tai rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily, taking off his reading glasses as if he was about to snap them in half.
"How long?" He asked angrily, the sharpness of his tone and the pain that lay behind it, reaching Natasha in waves of guilt. She hadn't wanted to tell him the truth but there was nothing else for it. When he'd come to make up with her, apologising for breaking up with her in the first place and admitting that he'd never believed that she had cheated on him, she had wanted to get back with him and had lied right to his face, claiming she had never been unfaithful. But it was too late for lies, things had gone too far.
"It was an accident...we never meant it to go so far." She insisted, making him angrier with every second she avoided answering his question. Tai just wanted to know how long she had been sleeping with him and one of his best friends, at the same time. He didn't want to hear anything else, just that but she just couldn't shut up and stop trying to explain. It didn't matter if she explained, he'd never understand it and he'd never accept it. "He came over to the house because he thought you were with me, but you weren't and I was upset because we'd argued about you working so much. He came in and tried to calm me down but...things just went too far. I just needed to feel something."
"How long Natasha?" He shouted down the phone to her, furious that she couldn't keep her thoughts and her excuses to herself and more so that she was blaming him for her being unfaithful. Not only that, she was making it out to be a 'slight indiscretion' as though it didn't matter because she still wanted to be with him and he could only find it more heartbreaking to know that she had had a one night stand with one of his best friends, instead of admitting that it might have been more than that. He wouldn't have felt so disgusted by it if she had actually stopped loving him and stopped being attracted to him and just found herself falling for Kyle instead. He was one of his most vulnerable friends and he barely ever dated because he found it so difficult with his nervous stutter and his ADD always seeming to get in the way. So Tai could only imagine how much Natasha would have had to mean to him for him to go so far as to break their lifelong code of never, ever going after one of their friends girlfriends.
"He only told you about it because he said he wanted us to be together and he was mad that I wouldn't break up with you." She continued, desperate to make him understand so that he might forgive her and accept the news she still had to admit to and allow them to be together again. "I told him it was a mistake but he wouldn't listen and so, he told you so you'd break up with me, but he couldn't bear to tell you that he was the one that had betrayed you."
*****
Tai was mad then, when Natasha started to blame Kyle for her cheating ways. He was like a little brother, the one that everyone protected and took care of, he was only seventeen after all and found it difficult to even talk to a girl, having to admit to them, as he had just a year ago that he had never had a serious girlfriend and had admitted to his attention deficit disorder, which hadn't been easy for him.
"Don't you dare blame Kyle for this! You're the slut who let it happen, so don't say that this is his fault. The only person he betrayed was himself, by letting a little bitch like you break his heart." Tai shouted at her furiously, knowing that once he had thought about it later, he might regret saying those things to her, but he was so mad at her he couldn't stand to hear her blaming his friend for what she had done to him. "How could you do that to him? He's never slept with anyone before, and yet when he does...when he does you tell him it was a mistake? You know, I'm angrier at you for what you did to him than the fact you cheated on me." He sighed incredulously, not surprised that Kyle hadn't been himself in the past few months. And now he knew why. He wasn't just petrified of bumping into him and revealing that he knew who his girlfriend had cheated on him with, or that it him been himself, but he was probably upset and ashamed of himself for letting Natasha treat him the way she had.
"It wasn't as if I meant it to happen. I didn't see him at the door and think, I'll just rip off all his clothes and jump him right here." She retaliated, angry that he was being so judgemental and accusing her of being the one in the wrong, when he had been the one that had neglected her in every way other than the fact that his body had been lying next to her, but she got nothing else. When she had tried to instigate some affection between them, kissing him and every going so far as to slip under the covers while he was sleeping, trying to find all the sexual satisfaction she could without his help, he had only shouted at her for being selfish and 'invading' his privacy. And after that Tai had stopped staying over. "I was upset and he was holding me, telling me all these sweet things and I just thought...he's not bad looking. So I kissed him and he was so sweet about it, even apologising as if he'd been the one to kiss me that I couldn't help it. I needed to feel some sort of affection." Natasha maintained, disgusting him with the details he neither wanted nor needed to hear. It only made him feel sick to think that just because he had spent every hour he was given working until he couldn't barely stay awake, to get enough money for them to move in together, she had claimed t be neglected and gone to find her kicks elsewhere. So he hadn't felt much like showing her much affection at the time, he was barely awake enough, half the time, to think about kissing her. He had been so focused on his goal, always remembering to call her on his lunch hour, spending the entire time talking to her and allowing her the sexy suggestions that she always added to their conversations as he tried to stay awake. Was that really his fault? "I just thought...since he was being so sweet about it, there wasn't any harm in seeing where it went. So I told him a few white lies...I said I was extremely attracted to him and always had been and that if thought his stutter was cute. I told him that I was mostly crying because you and I broke up and I was so lonely I didn't know what to do."
"So, you think that makes it okay?"
"I'm just saying that, I made a simple suggestion and asked him if he knew how to make me feel better, but he was so fucking clueless he just said no." She shouted at him, not allowing him to make her out to be some sort of slut that hadn't cared about him. She loved him, but she had an extremely high sex drive and so when he hadn't touched her in months, what did he expect her to do? "So I kissed him again and told him to lie down and that I'd take care of it. And I did...I gave him the best thing he'll ever have and he left with a smile on his face. Except the little idiot kept kissing me and after that..." She laughed to herself, sounding more heartless to Tai with every word she spoke. "...he thought we should be joined at the hip, telling me he loved me as I threw him out and saying he would call me the next day so we could go down to the race together and announce that I was his girlfriend. I mean really..."
"I can't believe that you were so selfish, using him like that. Kyle's too bloody shy to kiss a girl, never mind sleep with her on the first night and I hate you for what you did to him." Tai couldn't help the admission that came to his lips, horrified to know that Kyle had felt so much for her that he'd told her he loved her, only to be told the next day that everything Natasha had given him was a mistake, everything she had told him, was a lie. It seemed too cruel to even think of. He wouldn't have been so mad if it had been a simple thing as Kyle had kissed her first and Natasha had been vulnerable enough to let him take it further, but it was nowhere near as innocent as that. "I just...I can't believe that you made him believe you cared about him enough so that you could get your kicks cause I was too busy working my ass off for us, to touch you. Do you know he hasn't spoken to me since he told me you cheated on me? We might never be able to be friends again because of you." He explained unhappily, saddened by the thought that he might have lost a good friend and that his stupid ex girlfriend might have ruined Kyle's confidence to such an extent that taking him out with the boys and sneakily forcing him into a situation where the girls surrounded only him, as they usually did by showing off his breakdancing talents, would no longer be enough.
"It's not my fault..." She protested in shock of his reaction.
"Yes it is. You used him to get back at me..." Tai argued continuously, desperately trying to make her see what she had done and how, coming crying to him wasn't going to get her any sympathy. If anything it would give her even less friends than she was hoping it would. Because now that he knew what she had done, he was going to make sure all his friends knew it too and kept her as far form Kyle as possible so he could at least try to regain his dignity. "You used him as a substitute for all the things I was too damned tired to do. I don't know why the hell you called me but, you're right, we have to break up because I can't stand even the thought of looking at you to hate you." He finished, resolved in his decision to steer as clear from the train wreck she was as possible, reminding not only her but himself of what she had done and how awful it was, though she would never be able to forget it.
"I'm pregnant." Natasha screamed at him, finally getting to the part that she had called to tell him about. She was scared and all she had wanted was to explain and be able to have him understand how lonely she had been without him, even though he had come home to her most nights just to sleep in the bed beside her. And if she was pregnant with his baby, she would have been overjoyed, but not Kyle...not him.
"Jesus christ Nat...what've you done?"
*****
Greg couldn't help but laugh at the determination with which Darcy argued with the waitress, Harriet, amusing both himself and her boyfriend with her sweet nature and the calm, polite way she made her case to the young woman, who refused to listen to her. And when he mentioned to Michael, without either woman noticing, that his girlfriend would make a brilliant lawyer, he couldn't help but notice the sly look Darcy gave him when he burst out laughing, nodding his agreement. "Look...like I told you, you can't just scoop it off, you have to take it away and start again." She insisted diplomatically, pushing the bowl of peanut butter flavoured ice cream, towards the waitress once more only to have it blocked by a persistent hand that made her sigh in frustration.
"Like I told you miss, I can't and won't do that. It's not my job to clean up your mistakes." Harriet argued back, both men keeping quiet as they watched the scene playing out before them. Neither Michael nor Greg were oblivious to the fact that their waitress thought of Darcy as nothing more than a teenager trying to be an adult as if she was imitating the other women in the restaurant who had the power and money behind them to make such demands, and neither wanted to reveal that to their sweet companion. "If you're allergic to peanuts then why did you order it?" She asked, raising her eyebrows as if to challenge her to find an answer when she thought there wasn't one.
"I'm not allergic to peanuts, he is." She explained, nodding over to Michael as he let her take change, much too amused by how close she was to losing her temper to even think about intruding on their discussion. And when he waitress looked at him questioningly, he held his hands up to her in protest. "So unless you want him going into anaphylactic shock and spending the next twelve days suing your ass instead of taking me to Tokyo, then I suggest you take this back and change it." Harriet stared at her, speechless as she spoke, until finally, when she had finished and Michael choked on the drink he had taken, unable to stop laughing, she took the bowl and turned on her heel to change the order. And Darcy was quite happy that she had managed to control her temper and that she had noticed the mistaken order before Michael had taken a bite of it. He had been so caught up in the conversation that he'd simply glanced up at the waitress as she placed the plate before him before dipping in his spoon and going ahead to try it. If she hadn't have taken the spoon off him before it reached his lip, no matter how confused he'd been, then who knew what might have happened. Of course, she'd had to ask to waitress to clarify what flavour it was, but once she had, it was obvious that Michael wasn't happy when he sighed and showed her that apologetic smile that, at the same time, thanked her for taking care of him. She was just glad that he'd already told her about it as they had made dinner, the first day they had together, because if she hadn't have known, she would have just thought, when she had nipped to the bathroom to freshen up after he'd order the chocolate ice cream, that he had changed his mind.
But Michael was glad to have her paying so much attention to him and knew that, however passing the admission had been at the time, he really could have reacted to it as she had explained to the waitress. He was just happy to hear that she was so excited that he was taking her with him to Tokyo that she had even thought to threaten their waitress as she had. And he couldn't help but reach across to her as she sat to his side, cupping her face in his hand as he kissed her lingeringly.
"I don't know what I'd do without you." He admitted with a sigh, both he and Greg smiling at the embarrassment she displayed, only just realising what she had done and how frustrated she had been, blushing wildly as she looked away from him, resting her head on the palm of her hand until finally, when both men started to laugh about it, she joined them.