AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey,” he said, and grabbed his water bottle from the shelf beside her station.
“Motherfucker,” she muttered as a piece of wafer slid off the tower.
Liam took a drink and screwed the lid back on his bottle. He checked his watch. Two hours to go, another half hour to get home, then he could shower and collapse in front of the TV, and Ambrose would make him a toasted cheese sandwich because he was secretly an incredible boyfriend, and not a bad one at all.
The kitchen door swung open again, and Alastair bolted inside. “Holy fuck!” he exclaimed. “Some arsehole wearing a tie with a naked lady on it just called me garçon!”
Liam felt a flush of unhappy recognition.
No.
No, he wouldn’t.
Liam hadn’t asked him to, but Ambrose had said that he was finishing up Bad Boyfriend. He’d been too busy lately now he was getting more auditions, and he’d got a job at one of the million coffee places around campus. He worked mornings now, to keep evenings free in case he got any theatre gigs. And even if he was still being a bad boyfriend for money, there was no way that he’d do it at Bayside again, surely…
With his heart in his mouth, Liam pushed open the door and stepped back outside into the restaurant.
And there was Ambrose, sitting at the bar, bright-eyed and unfairly gorgeous.
Liam stalked over to him.
“Hi!” Ambrose said with a grin.
“Did you just?—?”
“Shh!” Ambrose jabbed him gently in the ribs. “Look!”
Liam turned and saw, at table three, a group of people picking through the complimentary bread basket. An old couple with grey hair and matching tortoiseshell glasses. A middle-aged couple who looked like they’d rather stab themselves than be here, a pretty young woman with straight dark hair and?—
Harry.
Ambrose’s best friend Harry, wearing a nervous smile and a tie with a naked lady on it.
“Oh,” Liam said. “Oh, no. This is Harry’s thing? You didn’t!”
“It seemed a waste to throw all the business cards away, and Harry needs the money,” Ambrose said, and bit his lip as he looked at Liam beseechingly. “He called me in a panic at the last minute and asked if I’d be here for moral support. It’s his first time. I couldn’t say no!”
“Why here though?” Liam asked as Alastair re-emerged from the kitchens and headed over to the table to fill their water glasses.
“Um, Mia’s parents booked it. And we figured you’d be least likely to call the cops, honestly.” Ambrose wrinkled his nose. “Look, he’s not going to— Oh. Oh no.”
Liam watched, his horror rising, as Harry cleared his throat and tapped loudly on his glass with a fork.
“Mia,” he said to the girl, “and Mia’s mum and dad, and Mia’s dad’s olds, I wanted to thank you for inviting me out with you tonight. It’s an honour, really. Like, not many people would give a guy who’s on bail for drug offences—which were totally trumped up, by the way—the okay to date their daughter, but I’m super happy you did, because Mia’s really hot.”
The parents and the grandparents looked mortified.
“Anyway,” Harry continued, “I don’t actually have any money to pay for dinner tonight, because my bitch of an ex is bleeding me dry on child support, and I’m not even sure the kid is mine, but anyway, as a show of my appreciation for you guys welcoming me into your family, I’d like to do a trick.”
He stood and gripped the edges of the tablecloth.
“Holy shit!” Ambrose said under his breath. “He’s going straight for the finale!”
“No,” Liam said. He hurried over to the table. “Sir!” he called out. “Sir, please do not attempt that! It never works!”
Harry threw him an obviously terrified stare that he tried to mask with a wonky smile. “I know what I’m doing, mate.”
He wrenched the tablecloth free.
