Page 63 of Forgotten
Thanny stares him down and then forces a cheerful expression on his face. “Ash loves to be healthy, don’t you babe?”
Instead of responding, Ford turns to me with a pensive expression. “I thought you didn’t like pet names.”
I shrug, unsure how I ended up in the line of fire between my boyfriend and my oldest friend.
“He loves when I call him babe, right Ash?” Thanny pushes, his long dark lashes framing the blue eyes.
“Ash can talk for himself if I remember correctly, right Ash?”
I stop breathing, my eyes jumping between Ford staring at me and Thanny staring at Ford.
In the end, it’s Preston who breaks the silence. “Awful weather we’ve been having eh? London’s flooded, never seen so much rain.”
Morgan purses her lips. “You’ve just moved to London, ‘course you’ve never seen it.”
“Well I heard about it too,” Thanny adds and then Ford finishes his beer and excuses himself to the restroom. I tell him it’s upstairs and once we hear the door lock, Thanny makes a sound of appreciation.
“Ford is so fit. I can’t believe you’ve been friends this whole time and you never asked him about his routine,” Thanny says, pushing the salad around on his plate.
“I don’t really-” I try to argue, but Thanny doesn’t listen.
“His arms are huge. You said he plays cricket? Gosh, he can strangle me. Reminds me of Batman. Maybe Superman? Did he ever wear glasses?”
I think about it, although I know perfectly Ford has never needed glasses. “Actually no…”
Thanny nods. “I’d double hit that.”
Morgan and Preston share a look, and then Preston asks, “Didn’t you two kiss once?”
At that, silence falls into the room. Thanny looks at me, pushing his salad to the side. I ignore the way Morgan elbows Preston and I look for an excuse, anything.
“How did I not know this, Ash?”
In the end, I say the truth. “We were teenagers. He’s straight.” Which is a lie, and since I already want to disappear, I might as well add, “It meant nothing.” I will regret these words for years, later, wondering if Ford heard them.
When Ford comes back to the table, the lines on his forehead are deeper and he smells like alcohol. He explains he’s not feeling well and he’s going home, he’s sorry, he wishes us a great evening.
When I stand to walk him out, he stops me.
“No need. Thanks for the dinner. Morgan, Preston, good to see you. Jonathan, it was…” Ford pauses. “...Interesting.”
After he’s gone, the house is quiet. Morgan and Preston leave around midnight.
“Are you sure you don’t want to spend the night here? I could set up the couch.”
“Christ, Ash. It’s your first night in your new home. With your new boyfriend. Relax, enjoy. Have sex in the kitchen or something. Morgan and I will have a quick breakfast tomorrow and then we’ll drive back.” Preston hugs me.
“Alright then. Well, thanks for coming.”
Morgan winks at me. “Sweetie, are you kidding? We wouldn’t miss the day you find a boyfriend and move in with him all within a month.”
“Very lesbian of you,” Preston agrees.
“It feels natural.” My voice cracks on the last word.
“Does it, Ash? Because you looked miserable at dinner. Hungry, too.”
“And are we going to ignore what happened with Ford?”
