Shit. It’d only been two weeks, and Brandy was the closest friend he had.
Of course he had Noah, and that bond was forever, but . . . having someone in his life that didn’t have to stick and seemed to want to . . .
Jesus, for all the fun he had in life! For all the spontaneity. For all the sex. For all the nights out. All his other ‘friends’ came and went.
He stopped at the door, pain crumpling through him. Worse than his foot had ever been. Worse than the heart-shattering thought he might not find the love of his life.
It took knowing Brandy to see how friendless he was. How lonely.
A firm hand gripped his arm as Brandy steadied him on the threshold between the night and Quiz Night. “You okay?”
Eyes searched his inquisitively. Worry crunched lines between soft brown eyebrows.
“Thank God you don’t like me,” Zach croaked. “I don’t want to lose this.”
Fingers squeezed him and slowly slipped off; Zach channelled Noah best he could and swallowed back the thunderous feeling he might sob.
With a mighty chuckle, Jenny squeezed into the pub around them, hair wilder than the last time. “You two! Well I never, Brandon. And in the car, in a public place no less. Don’t worry, I was the only one who caught a flash.”
Brandy coloured the shade of the spotlights trained on the stage.
“All my corruption, promise,” Zach said and pulled Brandy across the pub toward a leather-jacket-clad Jack. “Do we have a team, or do we make our own?”
“I invited Noah, too. He should be—there he is.”
“Excellent. I’ve got all the musical and pop culture questions. Noah can do anything biology related. You, business and film, I suppose? We’re just missing sport.”
Jack pivoted toward them, lifted a soda, and winked. “Sport? I’m your man.”
Jack leaped up to grab them drinks as soon as the quiz ended, and Noah stared at Zach like he wanted to impart some wisdom.
Time for that later. “Did you see how many questions Jack answered?”
From his other side, a grunt. “The quiz was disproportionately sport-oriented.”
Zach patted Brandy’s thigh under their table. “You answered all the film questions. Correctly, too.”
“All two of them.”
Noah rubbed his short beard, swinging his gaze from Zach to Brandy to Jack, who was beefing his way back with a tray. “Jack certainly likes to wink at you.”
Zach sighed. “I know. It’s the start of something beautiful.”
“I wouldn’t throw about adjectives just yet. That would require a little more time, I should think.”
Brandy leaned toward the table. “Have I mentioned how much I like your brother, Zach?”
Zach grinned. “I mean, who wouldn’t?” He poked Brandy’s hip. “When do I get to meet yours? Properly. Every time I come to work Cameron’s busy on his scripts.”
“He’s headed to Australia with Henry. But when he comes back . . .”
“I’m holding you to that.”
“I hope you do.”
Jack smacked the tray onto the table. “Oops. Water for you,” he handed Brandy a glass, liquid sloshing over the sides. “Coke for you.” He set Noah’s down more carefully. “And wine for us.”
Zach winced. “Oh, I’m not drinking.”
“But we tied first!”
“Well—”
“And you’re not driving.”
“True—”
“Just a sip? To us?”
Zach pinched the stem and raised it. “Fine. A sip.”
Two glasses later, the swirling vibrancy of the pub gave way to fresh air. Jack roared off on his bike and Noah steered Zach away from the road and towards Brandy’s car. It was a quiet drive home, and a quieter trudge up the zigzag path.
Noah charged ahead; Zach halted on the last zag before Brandy branched off home.
“Are you okay?”
Brandy turned around, hooking thumbs into his pockets. His gaze shifted left and right, never quite landing. “I didn’t like the way he pressured you to drink.”
“I didn’t like the way I folded.”
“Why did you?”
“Because I’m a fool who wants him to like me!”
“I don’t get a great feeling about him, Zach. Look how quickly he took off.”
“He got a text from a friend.”
“So he said.”
“Brandy—”
A motorbike roared in the distance, curving corners, getting louder, then came into view and coasted to a halt below them. Jack ripped off his helmet and raced up the path, and Zach’s breath caught. “What—?”
Laughing, panting, Jack hauled him in by the neck and kissed him. “I forgot that.” His gaze flipped briefly to Brandy and back again. He waved. “Later, Zach.”
He fled down the path, and within the minute was lost to a bend.
Zach touched his lips, tasting wine and winks. He spun to Brandy, who’d shrunk into the shadows, face cast toward his home. “He likes me back!”
Brandy said nothing. He moved swiftly up the path and unlocked his front door.
Zach slipped inside before it shut on him.
“Zach, it’s late. Get to bed.”
“You’re sad.”
“That’s what happens when you stare at something you want and can’t have.”
Love. He wanted this feeling too.
