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“On top of that, she figured out I had been drinking, and I’m now a drunk on top of all that she accused me of.”
Julian winced. “Well, that went down pretty badly.”
“Yeah. It went downhill pretty quickly,” I muttered.
My best friend looked sympathetically at me for a moment. “Well, you’ve done all you can for her, man. It was not exactly the best way to break the news to her, but you did what you could. It’s all up to Amanda now—whether she wants to stay with him or not.”
“He doesn’t deserve her,” I whispered fiercely. “He doesn’t deserve even an iota of her time.”
“Well, we’re not the ones who should be deciding that for Amanda,” he replied with an arched eyebrow. “She’s no longer the high school kid you knew, Oliver. She’s a grown woman now, and she’s perfectly capable of making her own decisions. If she doesn’t want to believe you, then there’s nothing we can do about it. I guess she just has to find out for herself that he’s been playing her for a fool.”
“Well, you might be right, but there must be something else I can do—”
“You’ve already told her and she didn’t believe you,” he pointed out to me.
The waitress chose that point to come back with our orders. The pizza was humongous and the cannelloni smelled fabulous.
Amanda would have loved this, I thought morosely.
Amanda, too, was a whole other problem herself. Why couldn’t she see that that bastard was playing her for a fool?
I loved her so much once and I thought we shared a deep connection. Fuck, we even grew up together!
Why the hell would she choose to believe that vile piece of shit overme?
As we ate, I kept thinking there must be some way I could get her to believe me and leave that bastard boyfriend of hers. Maybe, if I talked to her calmly, when I wasn’t reeking of beer, she’d believe me.
I told Julian my plan just as we were finishing our meal and he leaned back in his seat with a sigh, “I don’t know, man. Maybe give it a couple of days? Besides,” he glanced at his wristwatch. “I have to get back to the office right now.”
“I just can’t believe she’d choose to believe that asshole over me!” I grumbled.
Julian sighed as he looked at me. “You need a distraction, man. Why don’t we go to the Lucky George later tonight?”
“The old bar? It’s still alive?”
“You bet it is,” my best friend nodded. “It might even outlive you.”
I snorted. “Well, I’ve got a lot of time on my hands while I’m here in Georgetown so why not? I might as well enjoy my time here even if Amanda refuses to believe me.”
Julian nodded and smiled slightly. “That’s the spirit I like!”
We paid for the food and Julian muttered a brief goodbye before going back to his office. I just grabbed my bike from where I had parked it by the side of his building and hoped I could follow his advice and last a couple of days to give Amanda time to think things through.
* * *
Later that night, I got dressed in a navy-blue shirt and jeans. When Julian stopped by our house in his Range Rover, I told Mom I was going out and not to wait up for me. I rushed out the door before she could hang another one of her crystal charms on me.
The Lucky George was mostly the same from I remembered it, down to where the dance floor was located in the center of the bar. Julian and I quickly slid into a pair of barstools and ordered some beer. As soon as the bottle reached my hand, I threw my head back and finished half of it, causing Julian to raise an eyebrow at my behavior.
“You’re really going for it tonight, huh?” he remarked.
“Hell yeah!” I said, finishing the rest of the beer and slamming the bottle down on the wooden bar counter with a loud thump. I turned to the bartender. “You have some good vodka, my man?”
The bartender nodded and I smiled at him. “I’ll take it neat.”
Moments later, he slid me a chilled shot of the hard liquor. I downed it almost instantly.
Julian shook his head. “This can only end badly.”
