Page 23 of Shameless
“Yeah.”
“Are you moving out of the apartment?” I asked as we continued to run the apples along the metal utensils.
“Our lease isn’t up for another three months. She doesn’t have family in the area, so I’ll just stay at my parents’ until I find something else.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask where her family lived, but did I care to know more about the woman who had broken his heart? “Then you should have the tequila shipped to your parents’ place if you’ll live there.”
“I don’t want to take any chances that I won’t still be there when it arrives, but if you don’t want it—”
“No, I do. Thank you. Maybe once it comes in, you can take a trip out to Las Vegas?”
“I’m always down for Vegas.”
To my surprise, each apple provided almost a cup of grated fruit and before long, we had our twelve cups. Luis returned with a box of the bottles of Mezcal and put it on the table next to us.
“Now, I will pour the Mezcal into this.” Luis opened the lid to a bucket. “Then you will add the grated apples and give it a little shake. I will store it for four days before straining the mixture into each bottle and shipping them to you.”
“We don’t get to taste it?” Blake inquired.
“Si, you can taste before I seal the bucket, but the flavor will only get better.”
“That works for me,” Blake replied.
After Luis poured the Mezcal into the bucket, Blake and I dumped our apple pieces and juice into the Mezcal. Once we were done, Luis used a ladle to pour us each a shot of the concoction.
Blake held up his glass and said, “Fuck our exes.”
I snorted a laugh at his jab and clinked my glass with his. “Fuck our exes.”
* * *
“Doyou think you two will kiss tonight?” Amanda asked as we laid by the pool and soaked up the sun after breakfast.
I turned my head toward her. “What?”
“You’re going to be riding horses at sunset. That’s like romantic and shit,” she clarified.
“A couple’s massage is supposed to be romantic too, and we didn’t kiss then,” I reminded her because they had asked about it as soon as I’d returned to the room.
“I still can’t believe you didn’t sneak a peek at his naked body,” Amanda scoffed. “I would have.”
I snorted. “I was being respectful.”
“You know damn well he knew you two would be naked together in that room,” Taylor joined in.
“And he didn’t make a move,” I stated. “He’s still heartbroken about Stacey. Geez, it hasn’t even been a week.”
“He doesn’t seem still to be hung up on her,” Amanda said.
“He’s a guy. Guys don’t show emotions.” That wasn’t entirely true. The first night we went to dinner, I could sense the heartbreak as he asked me why Stacey would leave him at the altar. It was obviously eating at him, but he’d also come on his honeymoon alone to forget about his ex—at least for a week. Given that he’d already decided to move in with his parents when he returned to Houston, I figured he was thinking about it more than he was letting on. And I was okay with that.
“I still think you two need to bang before you part ways.” Josie took a sip of her water.
“They still have horseback riding and the private beach day,” Taylor reminded my friends. “No telling what will happen when they have an entire beach to themselves.”
I shook my head and laughed. “You three act like I’m going to be running around buck ass naked just because it’s a secluded beach. Have you forgotten there will be a boating company there? We won’t be alone.”
“Tell them to fuck off,” Amanda exclaimed.
