Connection - Part Two
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
“Huh,” Kasey says, her dark eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I don’t like the sound of him.”
“I know.” I lean back against the driver’s seat of my car and nod in agreement, wincing deeply. “I promised Noah I’d try to form an unbiased opinion on the guy, but… me, neither.”
Kasey distractedly twirls a strand of her hair around her finger, glowing in the sunlight spilling through my car. We’re parked outside of Mugshot, and the street is swimming in rosy autumn beauty. The trees lining the road send down a shower of fluttering amber leaves with every gust of wind to blow through. A garland of similar-looking leaves has been draped across the windows of Mugshot, glowing with the fairy lights wrapped around it.
“I’m sorry,” I add, when Kasey remains lost in thought instead of answering. “I don’t mean to be a bummer with all this stuff about Noelle’s boyfriend. Especially after you had such an excellent time last night.”
Kasey’s troubled expression clears into a beaming smile. “I really did. I don’t even feel bad anymore about asking Will for all his energy so I could go. Those cubs, Jamie! They’re so cute!”
“Even I have to agree with that, and you know how I feel about bears,” I laugh. “How was Daisy?”
“She’s good! Enjoyed the scratch I gave her, maybe as much as I did. I really missed getting to put my hands in fur, and I didn’t even realize it.” Kasey lets out a contented sigh, then adds - “I don’t know how bright she was before, but she’s got a healthy glow. Whatever Aiden gave her doesn’t seem to be in danger of running out anytime soon. The necklace seems intact, too.”
I break into a relieved smile, proud of Aiden. “Oh, good. There’s one less thing to worry about.”
“Aw, Jamie.” Kasey tilts her head to the side, giving me a fond, translucent smile. “Here you are all worried about Noelle, and you barely even know her.”
“I know.” I press my palms to my eyes, my shoulders sinking. “I’m hopeless.”
“You are.” Kasey takes a deep breath, unable to keep the mistrust from her expression. “But I see why you’re worried! I don’t understand why anyone who doesn’t like chaos would date a Raunier. Also, being hot is not a free pass to be a jerk.”
“No, it really isn’t.”
“At least Noah will be around, now,” Kasey murmurs, nibbling her thumbnail. “He won’t let anything bad happen to Noelle.”
A deeply reassuring thought. It lets me take a deep breath.
“Guess you just have to follow the same advice you gave to Noah, right?” Kasey adds uncertainly. “Give the guy a real chance?”
“Yeah, I know.” I drop my hands back into my lap, willing myself to relax. “I guess we’ll find out what he’s really like soon enough. Him and Noelle are supposed to get – to get here…”
I trail off, staring through the window of my car. There’s a man sitting at one of the outdoor tables in front of Mugshot. He’s been there this whole time, but my eyes just honed in on him.
It’s not like I know everyone in Ketterbridge, but I’m instantly certain that he’s not from here. There’s a battered old backpack on the ground by his boots, and a bag tag is attached to one of the straps. Left there from a recent flight.
“Oh, my god… Kasey, I think that’s him. He’s right there!”
“What?” Kasey twists around in the passenger’s seat to peer through the window. “Are you sure?”
“No, but I’d guess he’s not from here, and he looks about the right age, and he turned up on the right day…”
Kasey and I fall silent, taking stock of the new arrival, both of us thrown off. He’s – not what I was picturing.
“Oh,” Kasey says slowly, then lets out a little laugh. “Wow, okay. I see where Noelle is coming from. He is hot. Like – sort of nasty hot, don’t you think?”
“Jesus, Kase-face!” I shoot her a reproachful look, then bite my lip.
He is, is the thing. In an unusual way, too.
The man before us is tall, lean, and long-legged, but with broad shoulders and big hands. Big feet, too, based on the size of his boots. I’m not sure how, but his odd proportions absolutely work on him. And Noah said he was always perfectly groomed, but in reality he seems to have the sort of roguish hair that’s always in disarray.
It all comes together to be extremely sexy in a goofy sort of way, which is something both Kasey and I are particularly weak to.
A lock of his lightly curling, dark brown hair has fallen almost to his eyes, so I can’t really see them. I can see a full mouth, though, and a broad jaw, and a neck turned honey brown by the sun.
“God. He is hot. I can tell from here, and I can’t even really see his face.” I flash Kasey a pained look. “People who are jerks shouldn’t be allowed to be that hot.”
“I don’t get it, though, Jamie. Didn’t Noah say he comes from a family with a lot of money?”
“Yeah, he did…”
I see Kasey’s point. The man outside of Mugshot doesn’t strike me as someone with a lot of money to his name. His clothes – old blue jeans that loosely hug his long legs, a dark green sweater with some old tears, and a jacket very clearly showing its age – don’t give any hint of that.
His boots look like they’ve walked him pretty far. Even the knitted fingerless gloves he’s wearing are showing signs of unraveling. There’s a clunky old pair of headphones resting around his neck, and those look like they’ve given him a lot of mileage, too.
He doesn’t appear to be bothered by any of that. He strikes me as perfectly comfortable, despite being so far from home. From what I can tell, he’s sitting alone at the table to just absorb his surroundings. There’s a half-eaten muffin in front of him and a coffee in his hands, but he only sips from it now and then, spending most of the time unhurriedly looking at the buildings, the trees. Breathing in the air at a leisurely pace. Listening intently to the sounds of the street around him.
And… what the hell? His ears are pierced, too, with a few dark studs. Another surprise.
None of this is what I was picturing at all, but that must be him. Logan Hollins, Noelle’s boyfriend.
“Look, I – I don’t care if he’s hot,” I insist, then frown deeply, remembering everything Noah told me about him. “It makes no difference, if-”
I break off as a waitress from Mugshot comes out and approaches his table. They don’t usually do any service to the outside tables, but she seems to have found some reason to be there. Clearly it’s not lost on her how hot he is, because she approaches shyly, then says something to him with a little giggle, tucking her hair behind her ear.
He looks up in surprise, listening to what she’s saying. I see his lips turn up in a playful grin. He sits forward to fold his elbows on the table, saying something back. Whatever it was, it makes the waitress blush deeply, and giggle again.
She hesitates, then quickly takes a pen from her apron and jots something down on his napkin. She says something else, then turns to walk back to the door. He watches her go, unabashedly checking her out. She glances back over her shoulder at him. He gives her a flirty smile, making her blush one more time before she darts back into Mugshot.
He picks up the napkin with her phone number and looks at it, thinking about it.
“What – what the fuck?” I sputter, staring at Logan in disbelief as he sets down the napkin, going back to his coffee like nothing happened. “Oh, my god! Did you see that, Kase-face?”
“Oh, yes I did!” She turns to stare at me, her eyes wide with astonishment. “Wow! That’s some way to treat Noelle!”
“I can’t believe – that was so – how can anyone honestly act this way! He has a girlfriend! He’s in town to meet her family!” I sit there speechless with outrage for a second, then undo my seatbelt. “You know what, I just can’t. I have to say something. I’m sorry, I can’t.”
“Whoa, what?” Kasey’s eyebrows fly up, her eyes opening even wider. “You’re just gonna go over there and give him a piece of your mind? You haven’t even met him yet, Jamie. He might not have met up with Noah yet, much less-”
“I don’t care! Someone has to say something! This is Noah’s sister we’re talking about!” I open the door of my car, snatching the keys from the ignition. “Don’t try to stop me!”
“Try to stop you?” Kasey breaks into an enormous grin, springing lightly out of the car. “From doing something insane and incredibly dramatic? Have you met me? Go, Jamie, go!”
I pause halfway out of my car, suddenly alarmed. “Huh. Whenever I start to act on an impulse and you start saying ‘go Jamie go’, that makes me feel like I should reconsider. Those words have preceded a lot of disasters.”
“No, don’t reconsider! Let’s do this!”
I slam my car door closed, then stride around it and up the path towards Mugshot. Kasey comes bounding after me, grinning with wild excitement.
“Hey!” I call out sharply, leveling my blazing glare on his face. “Hollins!”
He turns his head in surprise, confirming for me that I’m right about who he is. Still, just to be sure -
“That is you, isn’t it?” I ask acidly, stopping in front of his table.
“Yeah, but I’ll be damned if I can think of how you knew that.” He looks up at me in confusion, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “Do we know each other?”
I had already opened my mouth to answer. Now I close it again for a second, taken aback by the unexpectedly handsome face that just lifted to mine. Noah undersold it quite a lot when he called this man a ‘good-looking guy’, so it’s his fault I wasn’t prepared.
I look down into his amber and forest green eyes, the mingled colors of a running brook. Warm, humble eyes, full of endearing playfulness. Set beneath thick eyebrows the same shade of deep dark brown as his hair, which tumbles down just close enough to meet the arch of them.
Here again, there’s something sexy in a goofball sort of way about him. His eyes seem to be winking at me without actually winking at me. He’s got a puzzled smile on his face, despite the way I stormed up to his table.
“Nasty hot,” Kasey stammers from behind me. “Whew.”
I remind myself why I came over here, which is enough to make me scowl angrily at him again. I point to the napkin with the phone number, which is still just sitting out on the table.
“I saw you with that waitress, just now!”
He blinks at me in confusion, glances at Mugshot, then looks back at me. “Okay…?”
Of course it doesn’t mean anything to him, he doesn’t know who I am. If he hadn’t thrown me off so badly I’d be making more sense, goddamnit.
“I’m Jamie Keane,” I tell him meaningfully, restoring a full glare to my face.
He stares up at me for a second, lets out a baffled laugh, and holds out a hand for me to shake. “Nice to meet you, Jamie Keane.”
“No, you don’t – Noelle’s never mentioned me to you? Even though we were all supposed to meet?”
He sits back, surprised. “Oh, you’re a friend of Noelle’s? Yeah, that’s right, I thought your name sounded kinda familiar. I didn’t know we were all supposed to meet, though-”
“No, I’m a friend of Noah!” I interrupt, putting heated emphasis on my words.
“Oh.” He smiles again, gestures with one enormous hand to the other chair at the table. “Hey, then it’s great to meet you, man. Any friend of Noah’s is a friend of mine. You want to sit down and have a-?”
“No, I don’t want to sit down!” I sputter, in complete disbelief over his total lack of any repentance at all. “Don’t you have any shame?”
“No, I guess not really,” he laughs, folding his elbows on the table, staring up at me with baffled eyes. “Does that prevent you from having a coffee with me, though?”
“What-?” I break off wildly, resisting the urge to look to Kasey for guidance. “I saw you, just now, I – you’re confusing me, and you – you’re a real jerk, that’s all! I just hope you know that!”
He stares up at me in bemusement for a moment, then allows a warm, playful smile to spread over his face.
“Man,” he laughs softly, shaking his head at me. “I’m confused, too. Not sure why you came up to my table and started yelling at me, but you’re awfully cute. Are you single?”
I blink hard a few times, then sink weakly down into the chair across from him.
“I don’t understand what’s happening, right now,” I tell him.
“At least we’re both confused, Jamie Keane,” he says consolingly, giving my hand a reassuring pat. “I’d call that something.”
I widen my eyes at him, incredulous. “And what would you call a guy with a girlfriend who goes out and makes a pass at other people behind her back?”
He considers, then answers: “A total bastard?”
I spread my hands at him in confusion. “Then what the hell, man? Look, I don’t care that you’re all proper and fancy or whatever-”
He lets out a startled laugh, his eyebrows flying up. “You could call me a lot of things, but not that. Think I’d have to change my line of work to meet those requirements, at the very least.”
I believe him, confusingly enough. He certainly isn’t dressed fancy, and he seems right at home that way.
I stare searchingly at him, curious in spite of everything. “What do you do for work?”
“I’m-” He hesitates, taking a close look at my face, then seems to make a decision. “I’m an adult performer. Adult actor, if you like.”
I blink hard a few times, then freeze as understanding breaks over me. “I… so wait, you mean-?”
“I’m in porn,” he confirms.
I sit back indignantly. “I don’t like those jokes where someone just tells a lie and then laughs at you for believing them.”
He pulls a face at me. “Ugh. Me, neither. Those are the worst.”
“I can’t… are you being serious?” My eyes open very wide, then narrow suspiciously. “No way.”
He shrugs his shoulders, still smiling playfully at me across the table. “I can give you my stage name if you want to look me up, but you’ll see a lot more of me than you might have wanted to. Not that I’m a name. Definitely not what you’d call an A-lister. But I do alright for myself, get pretty steady work.”
“What… no, I don’t believe you. What’s the title of the last one you did? Quickly. Without thinking.”
“Honestly, I never remember the names of the ones I do real fast just for the money,” he says, as casually as if we’re talking about anything. “But I can tell you the ones I’ve been working on by myself.”
“Okay?” I stammer, out at sea.
“I’m doing a series, making some vintage-style films based on some vintage-style music,” he tells me. “I’ve been traveling around, so I was shooting footage for a couple different films depending on the location. Mostly shooting for Ride Me Like A Wave, Jayne’s Woodstock Adventure, Cramming For College, and Test Your Grip.”
Two people walk out of Mugshot and briefly stop to stare at us, having caught all of that.
“The close-ups for Test Your Grip didn’t turn out as good as I hoped,” he adds, as an afterthought. “It’s alright, though. I’m gonna have to find a girl to do the gripping part, but otherwise it shouldn’t be a problem, I can film that anywhere.”
I glance wildly at the couple going past us as they lapse into smothered giggles, then turn back to him. Pressing my fingers to my burning cheeks as he continues on.
“Oh, and I did a scene for a little indie production house recently. That one I remember the title, because it was called Premarital, and it was like a bachelor party thing. You know, all of us on the groom.” He taps a fingertip to his temple. “Easy to remember a name like that.”
“Oh,” I manage weakly. “I, um-”
He leans forward, adopting a confiding tone.
“I was glad to hear I wasn’t the groom, to be honest. Situation looked intimidating. But I think the guy enjoyed himself, actually.” He hooks a finger into the collar of his sweater, draws it back to show me a band-aid on his neck. “He held onto me pretty hard, and no one told him he had to. At least it’s just a bruise, not a scratch. I only put a band-aid on it ‘cause you can really tell that it’s fingerprints.”
I’m so at a loss for words that I can barely think of what to do. I cave and look over my shoulder to shoot a desperate, bewildered glance at Kasey. She’s standing there with her mouth dropped open, absolutely beaming.
“This is amazing,” she giggles, putting her fingertips to her lips.
I turn to face him again, struggling to get my breath back.
“Sorry,” he laughs softly, his eyes lingering on my face. “Didn’t mean to get you in such a fluster. I wouldn’t have said all that if I’d known you came from a Good Christian Home.”
“How can you possibly tell?” I stammer, clutching at the last shreds of my composure.
“Oh, I can tell,” he answers, with a flirty little glance at the shameful blush in my cheeks.
I give myself a hard shake, suddenly remembering why I came over here. I pull a scowl back onto my face, leveling it fiercely on him.
“You’re trying to distract me from what you did.”
He tilts his head to the side in confusion, smiling at me like I’m being very cute. “You keep saying that. It’s making me curious about what exactly I did.”
“You know what! That whole thing with the waitress! What sort of boyfriend are you?” I lean forward, catching his eyes with mine. “You should know that all of us love Noah dearly, and he loves Noelle dearly, so we’re all watching out for her. Nothing bad is going to happen to her, not in Ketterbridge. We won’t let it. Just you remember that, Logan.”
He blinks a few times, sudden understanding breaking across his face. He sits back in his chair, surveying me with his green and amber eyes, then confuses me even more by breaking into a very warm smile.
“I like you, Jamie Keane,” he tells me, decisively.
I stare at him, completely lost, then give a startled jolt as a car door slams in the parking lot. My dazed eyes shift over to the source of the noise, and stop there in confusion.
Mel’s car is here, parked beside mine. Noah just closed the driver’s side door after himself. Noelle is climbing out of the passenger’s seat, reaching for her backpack. And from the backseat – another man just got out of the car, too. One who kind of looks like the man I’m sitting with.
Noah raises a hand in greeting, catching sight of us.
“Hey, Jamie!” He strides over to me with a bright smile on his face. “I see you already met Gage.”
I drop my gaze to the man sitting across the table from me.
“Gage?” I repeat blankly.
“Yeah,” Noah says, stopping beside our table. “Logan’s brother.”
I stare incredulously at Noah, then slowly turn to look at Gage, my eyes going very wide.
No… oh, no… Noah said that Noelle’s boyfriend had a little brother, but I didn’t know that he was coming on the trip, too, I didn’t know – oh, my god. Oh, my god.
I flash a horrified look at Kasey, whose hands have flown up to cover her mouth.
Gage gets to his feet, breaking into a huge grin, holding out a hand for Noah. “Holy shit. Noah Raunier.”
“Man, it’s been forever!” Noah accepts a hand-slap from him, returning his warm smile. “Think they still got our pictures up in the back of that bar?”
“Fuck ‘em, we’re legal now,” Gage says calmly, drawing a laugh from Noah. He starts to use Noah’s hand to pull him in, then pauses. “Seem to remember you were never one for hugs.”
“One for an old co-conspirator,” Noah concedes.
Gage grins at him as they give each other a brief but warm hug, slapping each other’s backs. “Here I was thinking you probably didn’t remember me.”
“That bartender sure did,” Noah snickers.
“We shouldn’t have tried to go back on the same night,” Gage says thoughtfully. “That may have been a little too bold, in hindsight. We should’ve given it a day.”
Noah laughs again. “We were like fourteen, dude, so I’m not sure one day would’ve helped.”
Gage begins to answer him in fast-flying French, then breaks off as Noelle comes up behind Noah’s shoulder, tucking her phone away into her backpack.
She looks up, glances around Noah, and spots Gage. Her eyes go perfectly round in disbelief.
Gage spreads one hand in a wave, giving her a tentative smile. “Hey, Bug.”
Noelle’s mouth drops open in stunned surprise, then radiant delight.
“Gage!” she blurts out, and rushes around Noah.
Gage opens his arms for her, breaking into a huge smile, then lifts her into the air and spins her around when she leaps into them. Her foot knocks the muffin off of his plate on the table, sending it sailing into the parking lot. She laughs in bewilderment when she sees it fly past, then swats Gage’s shoulder.
“Look what you did!”
“You look great,” he says warmly, setting her back on her feet, leaving the muffin apparently unnoticed.
“God, it’s so good to see you,” she laughs breathlessly, beaming at him. “I don’t understand, how are you here?”
He responds in French too fast for me to understand a word. From how Noelle shakes her head, her eyes sparkling with laughter, it was a joke instead of an answer to her question.
She drops her gaze from Gage to me, gives me a friendly smile. “Jamie, hello!”
I stand up, struggling to pull myself together, and exchange a quick air kiss with her. “Hey, Noelle! It’s good to see you! So this – this is Logan?”
I nod to the man behind her, who’s just looked up from his phone to stare at Gage. His eyes flit to me when Noelle touches his cheek and answers – “Yes, this is him! Logan, this is Jamie.”
Logan vaguely resembles Gage, but only just enough that I could guess they’re related. He’s handsome, too, but in a much more straightforward way, without Gage’s unusual proportions. His hair is cut short, not a strand out of place, and it looks like an expert did his short beard.
He holds out a hand, giving me a smile. “Noah’s friend, right?”
“Yeah,” I answer, accepting the stiff shake he gives me. “Nice to meet you.”
“You, too,” he answers, still smiling.
I almost wish he wouldn’t. His smile makes me uneasy, for some reason. It doesn’t totally go to his eyes. It leaves me with the feeling that he’s sizing me up.
He lets go of my hand, then turns to his little brother. Their eyes meet over Noelle’s head, and lock together.
For the first time since I’ve met him, Gage doesn’t have a smile in his eyes. Logan doesn’t, either.
They both seem to realize they’re supposed to hug each other or something. They reluctantly do it, but as quickly and briefly as possible.
“Gage,” Logan says, forcing a smile onto his face as he draws back. “What a nice surprise, man. What are you doing here? I thought you decided you wanted to get away for a while, do some exploring…?”
“Yeah, I did.” Gage takes something out of his jacket and holds it up. A folded-up letter, several pages long, in Noelle’s handwriting. “But then Noelle told me that you guys were coming here. I figured it wasn’t that far from where I was, and Noelle always made this town sound pretty nice. Thought I may as well visit, right?”
Noelle lets out a laugh and shakes her head, smiling up at him affectionately. “It’s pretty far, you liar, going off the address I sent that letter to.”
Noah turns to look at Noelle in surprise. “I didn’t know you sent anybody else letters. Besides me.”
“Gage is the only other person who doesn’t seem to mind how I spill out my every little thought into them,” Noelle explains, then adds earnestly, “We’ve really missed you, Gage! France hasn’t been the same since you left.”
Gage smiles a little, fidgeting with one of the studs in his ear. “So you don’t mind me crashing the party?”
“No!” Noelle says, immediately and wholeheartedly.
Noah is glancing curiously between me and Gage. The others may not know me well enough to sense the state of extreme distress I’m in, but Noah does.
“Did you and Gage just run into each other, or…?” he asks, arching a pierced eyebrow.
I steal an anguished glance at Gage. “I, um – I-”
“Oh, yeah,” Gage says warmly, bracing my shoulder. “Me and Jamie were just getting to know each other. He saved me from looking like the lonely guy having coffee by himself. Turned me into the guy having coffee with another, very cute guy. Real nice of him.”
I close my eyes, silently letting out a huge breath of relief. Gage just as well could have explained that I introduced myself by shouting at him, making several baseless accusations against him, then calling him a jerk. Evidently he’s patient enough to have suffered through all that without complaint.
I flash Gage an immensely grateful look, thanking him with my eyes. He gives me a good-natured wink, at an angle where the others can’t see it.
“Hey, watch that, Gage,” Noah laughs warningly. “You don’t want to be calling Jamie cute in front of Aiden.”
“Do I not?” Gage asks, very seriously. “I still have to learn the rules of this town. You made that sound like an important one.”
I miss Noah’s answer. I’m suddenly distracted, glancing back and forth between Gage and Logan.
It’s just struck me that Logan is dressed in crisp khakis and a pricey-looking button-down, with a pair of sleek designer sunglasses tucked into the collar. Even his haircut looks significantly more expensive than anything you can get in Ketterbridge.
Noah said that Logan comes from a family with a lot of money, so that all makes sense to me. What’s strange about it is seeing him stand next to his little brother, whose clothes are so worn down that I’d guess this is one of maybe three outfits total that he owns.
I’m drawn out of my thoughts by Aiden stepping out of Mugshot, holding our coffees. The question of what took him so long immediately answers itself. He’s got Ralph with him, so they must have run into each other in there. They both stop in surprise when they see us all gathered by the outdoor table.
“Aiden!” Noelle reaches out a hand to him, tilting her head back to look up at his face. “Wow, you are so damn tall. I forget every time.”
He lets out a huff of laughter, squeezing her hand. “Hey, Noelle. Welcome home.”
“God, and that voice!” She shakes her head at him, but smiles. “You must have gotten your shit together, hm? To get Jamie Keane for yourself?”
“I still don’t understand how it happened,” Aiden admits, drawing a little laugh from Noelle.
“And you.” She narrows her eyes at Ralph, who’s standing hesitantly behind Aiden’s shoulder. “You can come out from back there. Noah already told me you two are still friends.”
Ralph winces uneasily, then steps out from behind Aiden, twisting his coffee cup in his hands.
Noelle scans his face with her eyes, then seems a little surprised at what she sees.
“I guess we’ll all have some time to get to know each other,” she tells Ralph, who nods in relief, hearing the cautious friendliness in her voice. “It’s been a long time since high school, right?”
She directs this last part to Noah, whose pierced lip twitches. She said it hopefully, and with a glance at Logan. Noah smiles at her in confirmation, his grey eyes revealing only a hint of strain.
“This is my boyfriend,” Noelle says to Aiden and Ralph. “Logan.”
He gives them a nod and a smile. “Hello.”
“And this is his brother, my friend,” Noelle goes on, flashing him a fond look. “Gage.”
“Hey, there.” Gage holds out a hand to Ralph. “Sorry, I didn’t get your name?”
“Ralph.”
“Ralph, cool, nice to meet you. And you’re Aiden.” Gage gives Aiden a friendly smile, slapping the hand Aiden holds out to him. “Your boyfriend is sexy, man.”
Aiden freezes, his blue eyes opening very wide. “What – I’m sorry?”
“Noah told me I probably shouldn’t call Jamie cute in front of you, so I just picked another word,” Gage explains calmly, then tilts his head to the side, puzzled. “Did I still do it wrong? I meant it like: nice work. It’s a compliment.” He gestures at Ralph. “Your friend here, too. You’re doing well for yourself, huh? Got a bunch of cuties following you around.”
Ralph blinks in surprise. He exchanges a little grin with Aiden, who lets out a baffled laugh, thrown all the way off.
“I, um – thank you?”
“Gage,” Noelle giggles, running a hand down her face.
“Yeah, what’s up? Don’t step on the muffin I knocked over.”
Noelle lets out a sigh of regret for the lost muffin. “I would love a muffin right now. I’m starving.”
Gage automatically starts to reach for the one on the ground, then realizes what he’s doing and straightens up. “You want me to go get you one?”
“Yeah, if everybody’s here and we’ve already got a table,” Noah says hopefully, looking at Noelle. “Should we eat something here?”
She nods in agreement, leaning on the back of one of the chairs. “Sure. I could use a little something. It was a long flight.”
Gage takes a look at her pale face, then pushes his own coffee into her hands.
“Just to hold you over,” he says, when she makes a little sound of protest. “I’ll go get you-”
“No, no, I’m okay.” She straightens up, gives his arm a reassuring touch. “I’ve got it. I’ll be right back.”
“Get me something, too.” Logan drops down into the chair Gage had started pulling out for Noelle. “You know what I want, right?”
“Yeah, but don’t you want to come in? Mugshot is my favorite, it’s really cute inside, and they have a bunch of special drinks-”
Logan waves a hand at her. “No, it’s fine.”
Noelle shrugs her shoulders, pulling open the door. “Alright, whatever. Suit yourself.”
Everyone else starts pulling chairs up to the table. I hesitate, then dart into Mugshot after Noelle.
“I realized no one was getting anything for Noah,” I tell her, when she turns to look at me in surprise. “I know his order, I’ll just take care of it.”
Noelle glances over her shoulder at Noah, who’s valiantly sat himself down right beside Logan. “I’m surprised he didn’t say anything.”
“I don’t think he’s thinking much about himself at the moment,” I admit, as we get into line together.
“Really?” Noelle is still looking at him over her shoulder, through the window. “That sounds more like the brother I used to have.”
“He’s really gone through a transformation, Noelle,” I promise earnestly. “You still have that brother, he just… had to get back to himself.”
She gives me a searching look, then lowers her gaze, absent-mindedly adjusting her scarf. It’s a very cute look she has going, the oversized jacket, the little backpack with the long straps, the glassy red lips, her long inky hair swept up into a bun. Like Gabby, she looks extremely chic for Ketterbridge, something made all the more noticeable by the windswept effect the autumn morning applied to her. She’s drawing some lingering glances from within Mugshot.
From outside Mugshot, too, I notice. Gage is sitting at the table, apparently listening to the conversation, but his eyes are resting on Noelle.
“I hope so,” she finally answers, drawing my gaze back to her. “I really do. I miss him, the way he was.”
“I know that Noah just appreciates you giving him one more chance.”
She lets out a weary sigh, tilting her head back. “It’s so hard not to. I always start thinking about how he was when we were kids. Those little clumps of flowers he used to bring for me, when I couldn’t leave my bed. He was always crushing them by accident, poor thing. Even if they did make it to my room, half the time he’d knock them over. Dancing around and doing everything ridiculous to try and keep me entertained.”
I draw back in surprise, my eyes softening. “He never told me about that. He told me you were sick, but all he said was that he didn’t like seeing you go through it.”
“That’s a mild way to put it,” she murmurs, stuffing her hands in her pockets. “I know how worried he always was. Those years weren’t easy for either of us. But we did always have each other. Back then.”
She glances at Noah again, then takes a deep breath. “I guess we’ll see how he is now.”
I bite back a smile, full of silent relief. It sounds like Noelle wants to work this out, just like Noah does. I’m really starting to think the two of them just need to spend some time together.
That’s between the two of them, though. I decide to leave it alone.
“So, you and Noah met the Hollins brothers back in high school?”
“Mhm.” Noelle smiles at me, extracting her credit card from her wallet. “Logan and I were dating back then, too. Noah and Gage used to hang out while we were busy. We all fell out of touch for a while – well, now and then I’d hear from Gage. But last spring I reconnected with both of them. I hadn’t realized we were all living so close to each other. Or we were, until Gage left on his trip.”
“Wow. Nice to find two old friends living so close by.”
“Mhm. Gage was living in a little flat with a couple of his friends. Logan inherited his old family home after Mr. Hollins passed away, so he lives there. Technically he’s Mr. Hollins, now.”
She laughs as she says that, but also looks a little proud.
“I can tell you guys go way back,” I answer. “Bug sounded to me like an old nickname.”
“Yes,” she laughs affectionately. “One that dates all the way back to high school. Only Gage really calls me that, though. And no, I won’t explain the story. It’s too embarrassing.”
I smile at her, but quickly grow serious again. “So, you and Logan got back together…?”
“Not too long ago, but it’s been so nice.” Noelle turns away to place her order, then turns back to me and adds – “He took me totally by surprise! All of a sudden he just admitted all these feelings he had about me. Said even in high school he always felt I was the one, and that’s what made long distance too painful. It was so sweet.”
I’m not sure what to say in answer, so I order a coffee for Noah and follow Noelle back outside with our pastries.
“-was just wondering what it is you do?” Noah is asking Logan, making a truly admirable attempt to sound friendly. “For work?”
“Stocks,” Logan says briefly, then sets down his phone. “Sorry, don’t mind me being on this. I have to keep an eye on the market. It was all over the place last week, that’s why we had to push our trip back.”
Noah draws back, staring at him in disbelief. “That’s why the trip got pushed back? Because the – the market? I thought there was some sort of work emergency…”
“It was all over the place,” Logan repeats, this time with more emphasis on all. “It’s fine, though, Noelle understood.”
Noah starts to open his mouth, then stops and falls silent instead. I’m impressed by how well he’s holding it together, honestly. You’d have to know him very well to catch the flash of frustration that just went across his face.
He turns his focus on Noelle instead as she drops down to sit at the table.
“Noey,” he says, his grey eyes searching her face hopefully, “I was thinking maybe we could go surfing tomorrow morning. You and me? Think we’ve maybe got one or two more days before it’s gonna get too cold and choppy.”
I glance at Logan, understanding all at once why Noah was so upset about the change of plans. It definitely cut down on his potential surfing time with Noelle. They could have had a whole week and then some, instead of only two days.
Logan looks up, and for a second I think he realized the same thing. A notion he thoroughly disproves by cutting in -
“Oh, tomorrow morning? She can’t, sorry. I made us breakfast reservations at this place… hang on, I’ve still got the tab open.” He turns his phone to show Ralph, who’s sitting closest. “There.”
“That’s all the way past Port Sitka,” Ralph says, taken aback. “You sure you want to go that far just for breakfast? It’s gonna be quite a drive.”
“Yeah, but it’s hard to find a nice place around here. Or not nice,” Logan amends hastily. “Just, you know what I mean. Upscale.”
“Can’t you move the reservation?” Noah asks, putting in an enormous effort to sound perfectly friendly.
“I’d really rather surf,” Noelle tells Logan. “We already traveled so far, that long drive sounds like a lot for tomorrow. Besides, I’ve got some favorite breakfast places around here. I was excited to take you to them.”
Logan frowns at her. “Will you even have the energy to surf? That sounds like too much for you.”
That makes Noelle frown back at him. Gage, too, I notice.
“I’ll be fine!” Noelle protests, a little indignant. “Noah’s used to towing me in at the end of a sesh if I’ve gotten too tired. And I haven’t gotten to surf in a long time.”
For a split second Logan looks deeply irritated. The flash of impatience disappears so fast I almost missed it, but I didn’t. It was there.
He smiles at Noelle before she can look at him and see it, too.
“Okay, princess.” He picks up her hand and kisses it. “We’ll do whatever you want. No problem.”
Noelle smiles, then gently tugs her hand away when he tries to keep holding it. She was using it to eat the blueberry muffin she bought, and a little color is coming back into her face with each bite she takes.
“Think I see our coffees on the bar,” Noah says, glancing through the window of Mugshot. “I’ve got it.”
I get up and go with him, acutely aware that he just wants to get away from Logan for a second.
I’m pretty sure that means he saw what I just saw.
“Oh, god, Noah,” I murmur, following him inside.
“Not yet,” he answers, through gritted teeth. “I’m still in the middle of his fair chance.”
“You’re doing really good.” I pick up Noelle and Logan’s coffees as Noah grabs his own. “And hey, Gage is super nice.”
Noah brightens up.
“Yeah, right? I always liked him.” Noah leads the way back to the door, breathing out a laugh. “He’s got this calm way of talking and doing things, so you don’t even notice how much chaos he’s about to cause, or how ridiculous the shit he says is, until it’s already-”
Noah breaks off with a gasp as some fifteen birds go fluttering sharply into the air, startled by us opening the door. Apparently Gage’s fallen muffin has attracted some attention. Noah and I hadn’t realized. We seize hold of each other in a bewildered panic, stumbling back against Mugshot before we understand what’s going on.
“Oops,” Gage says apologetically, as Aiden, Ralph, and Noelle burst into laughter. “My bad.”
Noelle turns a scolding eye on Gage as the birds regroup around the muffin. “I hope you’re happy with yourself, Gage. What are we even going to do about it now?”
“Mostly what’s left is the muffin paper,” Noah points out. “Should we get a hose? Spray down the birds, use it to power wash the paper into the bushes? That way the birds will be somewhere else, and, uh – take a shower for free.”
“Yes, Noosh, start spraying a hose around right outside of Mugshot,” Ralph calls, giving him a thumbs-up. “Foolproof plan. No way that could go wrong.”
“Do you want to stick your hand into a big clump of birds, dude, take away their snack and have them attack you?” Noah protests. “That’s probably how you get all kinds of – feline diseases.”
“We can’t just leave it there,” I protest. “I don’t think we want to be responsible for birds attacking everyone who leaves Mugshot, do we?”
“Technically Gage is responsible,” Noelle giggles.
“Okay, not to worry.” Gage rises to his feet, calmly approaching us. “I’ve got this. I’ll just toss the paper in the trash can from here. Give the birds no time to attack me.”
I don’t know why we all fall silent and wait for him to do it, instead of pointing out the several obvious problems with this plan. He says it so confidently and soothingly that it’s hard to believe he’ll be unable to get the paper into the trash can, even if it’s all the way at the opposite side of Mugshot.
He swings a boot gently at the birds, uses a napkin to pick up the muffin paper when they fall back. He turns to face the trash can, then sweeps his arm back to make the throw.
The muffin paper escapes his hand and sails free before he can even bring his arm forward. It flies backwards to smack against the window of Mugshot. The birds briefly scatter, then immediately regroup in their new position much closer to the door. Forcing me and Noah to flee, making the others burst into laughter again.
“Oh,” Gage says, surprised. “That didn’t work.”
I set the coffees down on the table, panting through my laughter. “Why did any of us think it would for even a second?”
“Somehow the hose plan would’ve been better,” Noelle giggles, then suddenly seems to realize what we’re doing as Logan, the only one not laughing, frowns at her. She straightens up, frowning at Gage. “Gage, come on. We’re in public, people are watching. We’re not five, are we?”
The rest of us stop laughing, a little abashed. Gage quickly scoops the muffin paper back into the napkin, gives the birds a wide berth, and hurries off towards the trash can.
“So, what are you guys up to today?” Noah asks Noelle.
Logan helps himself to a big bite of the muffin Noelle was eating. “We’ll probably go get settled in at the hotel.”
“Oh, you’re not staying with mom, Noey?”
“With the two of us, we need more room,” Logan answers for her.
“You guys can always come stay with me and Mel and Raj,” Noah offers, as Gage rejoins our table. “We’ve got a pretty big guest room, if you don’t want to pay for a hotel the whole time.”
“Thank you.” Logan gives Noah another one of his stiff smiles. “That’s nice, but there’s no need. This trip probably won’t be that long, anyways.”
“Okay,” Noah answers, after a moment. He turns to Gage, trying to smile again. “What about you, man? Are you also at the hotel?”
“Nah, not me. I’ve still got to figure something out. Unless…” He slips a battered old phone from his pocket, looks at it hopefully, then frowns. “Aw, man. My couch-surfing app still says there’s no one around taking people in. Maybe if I make the radius bigger again? It’s already at eight hundred miles, though.”
I let out a startled laugh. “Eight hundred?”
Gage looks up, puzzled. “Is that too many? I’ll be honest, I haven’t been in the States for a while, so I haven’t been thinking of things in miles for a minute. Even if it is a lot, though, gotta stay somewhere… maybe I need a different app. I’m starting to think people don’t use this one in the States. Or, do you guys know of a hostel-?”
“You can stay with us,” I offer without thinking, in perfect tandem with Aiden.
“My place has an extra room,” Ralph offers, at the same time.
“What-?” Noah lets out an incredulous laugh. “Obviously he’s gonna stay with me!”
Gage looks around at us in surprise, taken aback by all the offers.
“Wow.” He turns his wide eyes on Noelle. “This is a really nice place. You weren’t exaggerating.”
Noelle smiles, immensely pleased by that. “It’s cool that you get to see it, after all this time. I never felt like I was describing it well enough.”
“Really, Bug?” Gage lets his appreciative eyes travel around the autumn street again, just like he was doing when he was sitting at the table alone. “Here I was thinking to myself that it’s just like you said in your letters.”
He drops his gaze back to Noah, missing the warm expression that just came into Noelle’s eyes.
“You sure, you don’t mind me taking up your guest room?”
“Not at all. As long as you don’t mind that there’s a baby in the mix.”
Gage sits forward, then says very seriously – “Man, I’ll tell you the complete truth right now, the complete truth. Are you ready?”
Noah’s eyebrows shoot up. “I – guess so?”
“I am so fucking excited to meet this baby.”
Noah lets out a burst of startled laughter, thrown off by Gage’s tone. “What-?”
“Noelle says she’s got a glare that could set a person on fire, and that she’s also the cutest thing in the world.” Gage urgently taps the table with his finger, like he and Noah are discussing an important mission. “That, I gotta see.”
Noah lets out a snicker of laughter, breaking into a wide grin. “See it you will, my friend. Many, many times a day, for however long you stay with us.”
“Kick me out whenever,” Gage tells him, folding his gloved hands around his coffee. “But I’ll be good, I promise.”
“Nah, c’mon, you’re fine. Do we need to go pick up your stuff from somewhere?”
Gage pats his headphones and his backpack in answer, then pauses in confusion when that draws a simultaneous gasp from me and Aiden. We twist to look at each other, both of us grinning enormously.
“One backpack!” we blurt out together.
Gage glances between the two of us, baffled, then drops his gaze to his backpack.
“It – yeah, it’s just one.” He stares at it for a second, then seems to see it with new eyes. “Guess it is a special thing, isn’t it? The bond between a man and his backpack.”
“Sometimes you say the dumbest shit, but it sounds so smart in your voice,” Noah laughs helplessly, then pauses. “Or wait, was it smart? Ralph?”
Ralph spreads his hands incredulously. “What, I have the final say on this?”
“I’m sure we’d all like your opinion!”
“Okay, then it was either incredibly profound or incredibly dumb. No middle ground.”
“Either way, it’s always good to be at the maximum,” Gage answers contemplatively, somehow managing to make even that sound like something thought-provoking. “Means I’m at the top of my field.”
Noelle bursts into giggles, shaking her head at Gage.
“I really missed you,” she says affectionately, the corners of her mouth dimpling with her smile.
Gage stops, then breaks into a small smile of his own, tapping his thumb on the table. Logan, on the other hand, frowns deeply, looking irritated again.
He quickly gets his expression back under control, restoring a pleasant smile to his face.
“Should we get going?” he asks Noelle, getting to his feet. “You look tired, you probably need to rest.”
“No, I feel fine,” she protests, then sighs when he tilts his head to the side doubtfully. “Although – you’re right, probably better not to push it.”
She gets to her feet, so the rest of us get up, too.
“Okay, but – surfing tomorrow?” Noah asks hopefully. “We’re on for that?”
Noelle answers in French, so I don’t understand, but Noah breaks into a pleased smile.
We all fall into movement, gathering up cups and plates to take back into Mugshot. Everyone besides Gage and Logan follows Noelle inside. Aiden plucks the empty plate from my hand, so I feel no need to fight my way through the crowd with them. I hover just inside the door instead, then blink in surprise, realizing that I can hear Logan and Gage having a hushed conversation through the foggy glass of the windows.
I steal a very swift glance at them over my shoulder. All of a sudden both brothers look seriously angry. They’re glaring into each other’s faces, and Logan has caught Gage’s arm tightly in his hand.
Their voices are almost unintelligible through the glass, but I can just make it out.
“-the fuck are you doing here?” Logan is saying, his muffled voice full of fury.
“Visiting Noelle,” Gage answers icily.
Logan’s scowl turns even darker. “If you think you’re gonna mess things up for me by embarrassing me in front of her family-”
Gage forcefully shrugs off the hand Logan had on his arm. “Sorry for embarrassing you just by being here.”
“Cut the shit, you know that you’re-”
“No, you cut the shit,” Gage snaps angrily. “I know exactly what you’re doing, and I’m not gonna let you-”
“Let me?” Logan begins furiously, then whips around as Noah pushes open the door, leading everyone back outside.
Gage immediately drops his head, hiding his expression, and a smile snaps back onto Logan’s face.
“Gage, you’re with us,” Noah says brightly.
Gage flashes Noah a thumbs-up and the rest of us a wave goodbye, grabbing his backpack. Noelle and Logan fall into step ahead of him and Noah as they all set off for the car. Logan puts an arm around Noelle’s shoulders.
Gage’s smile looks a little strained, but it turns much more genuine when Noah slaps his back and says -
“This is the best, dude. I had no idea you were coming, too! Couldn’t believe it when I got your text this morning. So crazy to see you again after all this time. It’s really been since we were kids.”
“I know,” Gage laughs. “Your hair got so long. And you have so many tattoos, holy shit!”
“So what have you been up to?” Noah asks warmly. “What are you doing for work?”
They’re too far away by now for me to hear Gage’s answer, but he must have said it so calmly that for a second it went straight past Noah, who nods a few times, then stops dead, staring at him in thunderstruck astonishment. I find myself suppressing a laugh at the sight of his expression. Aiden is doing the same, although his laughter is much more bewildered than mine.
“That guy is chaos,” Ralph snickers, leaning back against Mugshot and lighting a cigarette.
“Tell me about it!” I groan, running a hand through my hair. “I had one conversation with him, and it – somehow it was one of the most chaotic conversations of my life. And then he accidentally threw a grenade made of birds at us.”
Aiden lets out a deep huff of laughter. “No surprise he gets along with Noah.”
I let out a laugh, too, but it trails off as I watch Noelle and Logan disappear into the car.
Biting my lip, I turn to face Kasey, who’s been quietly listening all this time. Based on the expression in her dark eyes, I’m not the only one who heard Gage and Logan’s hushed argument. We look at each other meaningfully, silently asking the same question.
What the hell was that?
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