Page 72 of All That Remains
“Oh-kay…” Jen said, raising her eyebrows at my awkward terseness.
A fan attempted to approach our table, but was scolded by a waitress. I felt guilty so I got up and went to her table and took a few selfies with her family, using it as an excuse to escape the conversation. The girl's dad thanked me and gave me a firm handshake, and my hand throbbed for several moments after I left them.
When I returned to our table, Jen was leaning over to watch something on John's phone. It was a seminar he'd attended yesterday on the evolution of the music industry since its inception. A snoozefest if you asked me. Once I sat, he enlightened us as to the main points of discussion, before Jen brought the conversation back around to the matter ofRila, as she so lovingly referred to them.
I nearly barfed at the cringe portmanteau, marveling that I’d refrained from vomiting during my hangover only to upchuck my breakfast at the sound of their names combined. Before I could voice my grievance, the ever-reliable John piped up with his own special brand of distaste for the word.
"Ugh, please don't. Ihatewhen people do the name thing."
"Oh c'mon, it's cute. Admit it!" she laughed.
"No,never. After living through the whole "Bennifer" thing—"
"Don’t forgetBradgelina..." I added.
"Don't either of you sit there and try to tell meTomKatwasn't cute!" Jen huffed.
I had to concede to that one. Although the relationship between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had gone down in flames, the name was pretty sick.
"Yeah, butRilasounds like..."
"Something you say when you think something is stupid," I drawled, earning a snicker from Jen.
"You guys arerude."
"Are we even pronouncing it right?"
"Dunno, I'm stumped."
"Oh I know, it’s pronounced:who gives a shit?Can we move on now?" John said, belching.
"How'd things go, anyway? With Roman?" Jen asked.
"Yeah, uh, things went pretty well," I said, unable to suppress a smile. "We were supposed to meet at a coffee place, but toomany people recognized him. So we just went back to his place and chilled."
"What's it like?"
"Really sick, actually. The house is all one level. And it has an unbelievable yard that trails three stories up into a mountain. I'd kill for a yard like that."
"So...did he tell you why he quit?"
"Didn't come up actually."
"No?” She cocked a brow. “That would've been thefirstthing I asked.”
"Makes sense," I laughed. "But there was just like...so muchto talk about, to reminisce over…to set straight. We, uh, couldn't fit it all in. She came by unexpected and sort of cut things short. But that just leaves more for next time."
"Next time? Nice…” Jen beamed. “Well, I'm happy for you, Rafe. You deserve this. I know how badly it affected you that you two hadn’t spoken in so long."
“Thanks, mate.”
"Mending bridges, maturing... that's the way to go," John remarked.
"Yeah, it felt good to clear the air."
"When you hanging out again?"
"Dunno,” I shrugged. “Soon, I hope."
