Page 88 of Goodbye Paradise
Beside me, Danny and Jako were betting on whether or not I was going to puke before my ride showed up. There was five bucks riding on it.
Finally, Daniel’s truck pulled into the lot. But the passenger door opened, not the driver’s. Josh jumped down, slamming the door. When he turned to me, I saw a look on his face that I never thought I’d see.
Disgust.
“Is that your guy?” Jako asked. “He looks pissed. I don’t think you’re getting any make-up nookie tonight.”
“Shut it, moron,” Danny muttered under his breath. Then he put a hand on my shoulder and called out. “You Josh? I got good news and bad news. The good news is that Caleb is really sorry, and he knows he’s been an asshole. The bad news is that he’s drunk off his ass, and probably going to puke in the next ten minutes.”
Josh took three steps closer, then stopped. He folded his arms and just stared me down. As if he was trying to decide something.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“See?” Jako piped up. “He’s sorry.”
“We’re both sorry about a lot of things,” Josh said. “It’s what youdoabout it that matters.”
Ah. So true. If only I wasn’t so drunk, this would be easier. “I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. I wouldn’t last a day without you.”
“Aw!” Jakobitz crowed. “Keep going, dude. You’re on the right track.”
“I want to come home,” I said. “To the apartment,” I added, in case that wasn’t clear. There could be no more fuck-ups. I couldn’t afford them.
Josh kicked a pebble in the gravel at his feet. Then he glanced at my car where it was parked against the fence. “Is your new toy a manual or an automatic?”
“Auto…” I burped in the middle of the word. “…Matic.”
“Oh, man. You didn’t show him the car yet?” Danny yelped. “Jesus, Caleb. You are kind of an asshole.”
I sighed. “That’s nothing I don’t already know.”
Josh may have hidden a tiny little smile at that point. But then he buried it, and held out a hand. “Keys.”
“Wha? You’re driving?”
“You’re sure as hell not,” he said.
I pulled them out of my pocket just as another car pulled up to the bar.
Jakobitz held his hand up to his eyes to shield them from the headlights. “Can you, like, kiss and make up, now? Because our taxi is here.”
Josh rolled his eyes as he took the keys from me, which he managed to do without even brushing my hand.
“Uh, guys,” I said. “Thanks for everything tonight, but you can go on home.”
“We don’t get to know how this ends? What a rip!”
Danny gave his arm a tug. “Come on. You can talk to Caleb next week.”
The two of them stumbled into the taxi together, and it drove away. So did Daniel’s truck, after Josh went over to the window and waved him off.
That left just the two of us. “Can I take you out to dinner?” I slurred.
“Now?” He squinted at me as if I’d lost my mind.
I hadn’t, I just wasn’t expressing myself very well. “Not now, but soon. Some night. Just you and me. We never do that.”
Josh sighed. “Ask me tomorrow. I really just need this day to end.”
