Page 68 of When You're Home
“You got it, baby.”
“So Tori,” Fielding started from across the bar, “what do I have to say to convince you to come to our party tomorrow night?”
Tori rolled her eyes. Fielding had been asking her to come to their Saturday night house party for the last three days. She was anxious for the party to actually happen so it would be over and he could stop talking about it.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to hang out with Fielding. She was actually disappointed she wouldn’t see him much this weekend. They had been spending afternoons together at his house on Mondays and Wednesdays in between her classes in addition to hanging out at night with Jake. She made them sandwiches, he made her laugh. She felt lighter when they were together, and it was nice to have a new friend who wasn’t connected to Rhett.
“I’m pretty sure I partied so hard last month that I’m still buzzed.”
“No way! I refuse to accept that,” Fielding protested. “I think you’ve got a lot more potential in you. What I saw last month was just the warm-up. I can’t wait to see how wild you get once you really let loose.”
“It’s not gonna happen, Field,” she replied curtly as she loaded up the beers and mixed drinks onto her tray.
“Ah, come on. I’m just teasing, Tori. No pressure. You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you if you wanted to party. Everyone at the house knows we’re friends, so you’re cool.”
Tori shook her head. It was sweet that Fielding thought she was worried about drinking too much, or that she was nervous to drink in front of his roommates. Is that what normal twenty-four-year-olds got to worry about?
“You’re wasting your breath, Haas. It’s not going to happen.” She raised her eyebrows and shot Jake a pointed “handle it” look before walking back into the dining room.
“Sheesh, she’s full of piss and vinegar tonight, huh?” Fielding mused, turning up his drink before sliding it across the bar for a refill.
“Tori really isn’t a party girl,” Jake explained. “What you saw over spring break… that wasn’t typical for her. Honestly, she’s never like that. I don’t think I’ve seen her drink that much since high school.”
Fielding nodded. “Good to know. I was starting to worry it was just me.”
“Don’t stress, Field. You’d know if Tori didn’t like you.” He shot him a pointed glance. “The fact that you’re sitting here and she wants to hang out with you all the time… that’s something. That’s a lot of something. I’m sort of amazed you two clicked so quickly.”
Fielding was silent at first, then spoke just above a whisper, “Wheeler really did a number on her, didn’t he?” He accepted the new drink Jake extended his way and swallowed half of it down in one gulp.
“They really did a number on each other,” Jake clarified.
“Are you guys cool again? You and Wheeler? I know things were weird when his girlfriend was in town.”
“We’ll be fine. Rhett and I have been friends for twenty years. We rarely fight, but when we do, we go hard. We know exactly how to push each other’s buttons and piss each other off.”
“Ha!” Fielding shouted. “Dude, I’m a twin. You don’t have to explain shit like that to me.”
“I need these G&Ts remade,” Tori clipped out, coming around the corner and setting her tray down on the back bar. “They’re supposed to be Beefeater.”
“Oh shit, I forgot that from earlier,” Jake apologized.
“No worries. I forgot to remind you.”
The rest of the shift flew by. Clinton’s closed at ten p.m. and was cleared out by eleven. Tori hoisted herself onto a bar stool after she closed out her section. Jake was almost always the last person to leave besides Mike, and since they had driven together tonight, she needed to wait for him to close out the bar. She didn’t mind. She would rather be here with her friends than sitting around at home by herself.
She had mastered keeping busy to the point of exhaustion over the last few weeks. She had also made a point of trying to be as social as possible. If she wasn’t hanging out with Jake or Fielding, she made plans with Lia, hung out with Cory at his apartment, or took Penny for a walk. She was going to great lengths to not let herself think too much about what she had done and what she had lost as a result of her actions.
“Oh shit, I didn’t realize you guys drove together tonight,” Fielding said when he saw her waiting for Jake. He was absentmindedly twirling his keys around a long finger. “I would have had a few less if I knew you needed a ride home, Tori.”
That got their friend’s attention.
Tori held her breath as Jake looked up from all the tickets he had spread out across the back bar. He turned his head first toward Fielding, then back to her. He gave her a strained look, but she didn't need to see the pain in his eyes to know what he was thinking. She knew the trigger; She could read his body language. She spoke up to save Fielding from a potential fight he didn’t even know he just initiated.
“It’s fine, Jake,” Tori insisted. “I’m sure Fielding’s not going to drive tonight, and I would never get in the car with him if he had been drinking.” She tried to keep her tone gentle and reassuring. Jake stared at her for a few more seconds before nodding once and returning to his work, his face still screwed up in anger.
Jake and Rhett had very strong opinions about drunk driving. They had since high school, since the night of the accident when Rhett totaled his Audi. Rhett had been tipsy, Jake was unknowingly inebriated, and they were almost certain the guy who ran them off the road had been totally wasted. The accident changed so many things. It was one of the reasons they had started hosting Jake and Rhett Parties at the Wheeler house, and it was why they both liked bartending at Clinton’s. They could call the shots, and they could order rides for anyone who wasn’t okay to drive. They liked having complete control.
Fielding stayed quiet throughout their whole exchange. He must have picked up on the tension because he stopped playing with the keys and set them down on the bar before joining the conversation.
