Page 21 of Pieces of Us
“Alright, then, what are you drinking?”
“Gin martini, please.”
“Dry with an olive?”
She focuses back on my face. “You know how I take it?”
“It was what you drank the night of the fundraiser. I’m not a total ass, Mel. I remember stuff.”
“Never called you an ass, Linc. If I were to call you names, it would probably be a different one.” She has a smug look on her face, and it’s setting me off.
“You know what? Forget it.” Jax hands me a beer. “Jax, get Mel a gin martini, dry with an olive. I’m going to make a round.” He looks at me, then at Mel, and nods.
Maybe I’m blowing this up a little more than I should. Maybe I just want a reaction out of her.
She turns to me. “Why are you upset?”
“Not upset, Mel. Just a little tired of playing nice.”
“So, you just pretend to be nice to me?”
“No, I don’t pretend. I’m just tired of being the one who has to be nice to you, but you get to make snarky comments.”
“That’s not true, Linc, but go ahead and walk away. It’s what you’re good at, after all.”
“And there it is. Thanks for confirming that I’ll never live that night down.” I start to turn from her. I’m pissed, and this isn’t turning into the night I had imagined. She grabs my elbow, and it makes me even more aggravated.
“Linc, stop.” When I look at her, her shoulders drop, she tightens her grip on my arm, and she moves us away from the group. “I’m sorry I said that.”
“I’ll say it again, Mel. If I could go back and change that night, I would. I just wish you could drop this grudge. I’m not telling you how to feel, that’s not my place, but I really like hanging out with you and I don’t like fighting around my best friends.”
She stares at me for a moment. “I’m sorry, Linc. I haven’t been nice, and I took it too far.”
“I’ve been trying to prove to you that I’m not who you thought I was that night, and when you say things like that, I feel like you don’t see me trying.”
“I see you, Linc. I really am sorry.”
Somehow, her apology just feels like a Band-Aid. “Thanks. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a walk.”
I grab my beer and walk away.
Chapter Eleven
Melonie
“What was that about?” Audrey eyes me over her sugar-rimmed martini glass.
I can’t stop looking at Linc’s back as he walks away. “Oh, just a situation where I come out looking bad. Don’t really want to talk about it.”
She gives me a sorry-looking smile, and I finish my martini in three gulps. The burn of the alcohol feels like a suitable punishment for how I acted. I feel horrible about what I said. I didn’t have to be so mean, but damn it, when Audrey suggested this club, all I could think about was that night. And when he asked if I wanted a prosecco, I knew what he was implying because I was thinking the same thing. Unfortunately for me,it amplified the fact that this place brings back all the mixed feelings from the night Linc and I met.
This resentment that I’m carrying is getting old, even for me.
I look over at the bar and see Gigi having a shot with Marcus. They’re an odd pair, but Gigi is good at breaking through rough exteriors. And I like how Marcus isn’t afraid to give Gigi a piece of his mind when it comes to Lewis. Even being polar opposites, over the past few months, they’ve become friends.
“Melonie! Audrey! Dance floor!” She runs over to take our hands. Audrey passes her drink to Jax, blowing him a kiss over her shoulder. Not sure if the guys knew what they were getting themselves into by taking all three of us dancing.
We find a spot on the dance floor and the music changes to a remix of a Taylor Swift song. We scream like fifteen-year-old girls and start moving. Even though I’m in my mid-thirties, I still love dance clubs. Getting lost in the bass, forgetting about everything else, and just letting the music take over. My arms are in the air, eyes closed, and I just move.
