Page 82 of Run
Tonight, it’s the latter.
“I’m good,” Fonz says, looking at his phone and smiling.
Sophie stands there for a minute, looking around the table. “Is it weird that we are now meeting regularly ‘for drinks’”—she makes air quotes—“and yet half the people in our group don’t drink?”
“Not at all.” Dee loops her arm through Sophie’s. “It just means the rest of us get to drink more.”
As Dee drags Sophie away, I say to Ari, “She’s a good friend.”
“She sure is.” We turn our heads to watch as the two make their way to the bar. Sophie is hard to miss. Sure, she’s a big girl, but she also has an air about her. Long, silky dark hair hangs wavy down her back, and she’s got some kind of gloss on her lips and, I assume, some kind of makeup on her eyelashes to make them look longer than normal. She’s ditched her glasses tonight and is wearing a black-and-white polka dot dress that goes to her knees that I would almost call retro, which makes her look kind of spunky—which she totally is.
Looking back to Ari, I realize I don’t see her crutches resting anywhere. “Where’s your sticks?”
“Left em at home,” she answers like it’s no big deal. “Sophie helped me walk in, and she’s going to have to help me out. But I knew I’d be sitting while we’re here, so, I figured I’d risk it.”
My smile could probably blind everyone in the bar. “I’ll help you on the way out, Red. I’m taking you home anyway.”
Just as Ari quirks a brow at me, Knox nods his head over my shoulder and shouts a greeting. We turn and see two guys in Mitchell & Sons hoodies come over. One’s a skinny blond guywith a man bun, and the other is an Italian guy with dark hair and bronze skin.
“Hey, guys, glad you could make it.” Knox stands and shakes their hands over the table. “Everyone, this is Tommy.” Knox gestures to the blond guy. “And this is Gino.” He motions to the Italian. “I used to work with them at my dad’s company.”
“Yeah, before he spread his wings and flew the coop,” Tommy says. That gets him a middle finger from Knox.
“Guys, this Ethan, Ari, and Fonz,” Knox introduces us. “And coming back with drinks are Dee and Sophie.”
The guys shuffle around as the girls approach with their drinks, and Fonz jumps up to help Tommy and Gino pull another table over to butt against the one we’re already at. As soon as Fonz sits back down, he swivels slowly to face Ari and me, waits a beat, and says,“We’re going to need a bigger boat.”
“Jaws!” Ari and I yell at the same time.
“That was me!” she shrieks and throws her hands in the air.
“No way, I totally beat you to it!” I shout over her as I try to pin down her flailing arms.
“Fonz. Tell him it was me!”
“Nu-uh. No way. Come on, man. Just give me this one!”
Fonz just shakes his head. “I don’t know, guys. It was really close.”
The rest of the table is looking at us like we’re lunatics. Gino leans down toward Sophie and points at us. “What’s happening over there?”
“Oh, that’s just some really weird game they play where they toss out random movie quotes and try to stump each other.” She waves her hand in the air in dismissal. “Don’t try to understand it, and whatever you do, don’t try and join in. They take it very seriously.”
“Yes, we do.” Ari pipes up then turns her attention back to Fonz. “So, who was it?”
“Oh, man. Can’t we just call it a tie?”
“No!” Ari and I both yell.
He blows out a breath. “Fine. It was Ari by a millisecond.”
“Boo-ya!” she cheers at the same time I cry out, “Bullshit!”
Ari puts her face right in mine and blows a raspberry, and spit flies all over my face. I laugh as I push her away with my palm on her forehead, croaking out, “I demand an instant replay!”
Fonz just shakes his head as Ari and I try to recover from our fit of laughter.
“You weren’t kidding,” I hear Gino say to Sophie.
