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“He’s an adult. He’ll be fine.” I make a dismissive gesture toward the back patio. “Plus, if she’s that worried about him she can come get him herself. We aren’t her lackeys.”
“If you think he’ll be alright…” Johan sounds reluctant, but I don’t give him any room to argue, moving through the crowd and out through the front of the restaurant. The night air is cool and much less oppressive out here where we aren’t surrounded by dozens of other bodies.
“What do you need?” he asks, exiting behind me. I walk us over to the side of the restaurant, leaning on the brick wall of the structure.
“I just wanted to talk to you, man-to-man, about this whole thing with Elise.” Shoving my hands in my pockets, I turn my face to the sky, breathing deeply. This is stressing me out more than I thought it would. “I just need to know… what are your intentions with her, and are you still in love with her?”
For the first time today, Johan’s expression shutters and his posture becomes defensive. “Elise told me that you and her weren’t anything official, so I’m not sure how my emotions towards her are any of your business.”
“I respect you enough to talk about this in private, Johan. I’m not trying to corner you and give you any grief, so chill out.” I hate giving him any sort of insight into my own feelings toward Elise, but if I want honesty from him, I’m probably going to have to give it in return. “Look, I’m not going to pull any punches here. I love her, and before you arrived, we were basically acting like boyfriend and girlfriend––just without the title. So can you see why it would be important for me to know what you want with her.”
Johan exhales slowly, sounding disappointed. “I was afraid that was the case. To be completely transparent, I feel just as strongly about her as I did three years ago. If it isn’t love, then it’s as close as an emotion can be to it. But… I think we just met at the wrong time in our lives, and it wasn’t meant to be back then.”
“And now?” I demand, standing straight and facing him head-on. “Be real with me, Johan.”
He sighs. “I don’t know. This could be the right time. I thought it might be, but the fact that you two were basically together when I arrived tells me that it really isn’t. Maybe it will never be, no matter how strongly I feel about her. Elise might be destined to be the right person at the wrong time for me, forever.”
There is a long pause of silence between us, before Johan adds. “She’s a special woman, Dan. I just want her to be happy.”
“Same here, even if she pisses me off to no end sometimes. I think… well, I think we both know what we want, but it’s going to be up to Elise to choose. If we both just want her to be happy, then we have to give her the space to make up her own mind.”
“Agreed.” Johan sticks out his hand, and I shake it, sealing the deal with a man that I thought I hated only a day ago.
I’ve had real thoughts about how much easier my life would be if I could just kill Johan and make him disappear from the planet. Elise would never have to know, and with her perfect prince Johan out of the picture, there would be nothing standing between her and me. But on the other hand, like Andries had said earlier, if Johan and I weren’t in love with the same woman, I really do think we could be great friends. He’s an easygoing, capable person with a good sense of humor—just the kind of friend I look for in life. Elise, though… she’s more important than anything else in my life, and no friend, good or bad, would be worth losing her for.
He must be on the same mental wavelength as I am, because after a pause Johan says, “Listen, Dan, no matter who Elise chooses to be with, even if it’s neither of us, I’ve enjoyed getting to know you better. With how much Andries appreciates you, and all the things you’ve done to celebrate his upcoming marriage, it’s clear you’re a good man––”
I hold up a hand to stop him. “I know what you’re getting at, and I can’t speak for you, but if Elise chooses you instead of me, we cannot be friends. Sorry, that might make me a prick, but I love her too much to spend my days watching her be with someone else. I won't get in your way, but I also don’t want to have to be around to see you with the woman I love.”
“Understood.” The air is tense between us, and Johan rubs the back of his neck while we both struggle with what to say next. “Should we, uh, go back and check on Andries? We’ve been out here for a while at this point.”
“Shit, you’re right!”
I refuse to be responsible for Andries’s drinking habits, but I also don’t want to drag him back to the villa blackout drunk. I hope he hasn’t managed to get into too much trouble while we’ve been away. Knowing my luck, though, he’ll be passed out somewhere, totally shitfaced, and somehow it will be all my fault.
I breathe a sigh of relief seeing Andries still standing with the rest of the athletes, arms slung over their shoulders as they all laugh. There’s an empty shot glass in one of his hands, and with his heavy eyelids and flushed face, it’s a safe assumption to say that my best friend is pretty inebriated. Whether we’re past the point of blackout or not, I’m not quite sure yet.
The relief of seeing him on his feet is quickly banished when one of the other sailors comes by with a tray of shots he stole from a passing server, handing one to Andries as he untangles his arms from around the other men. Before I can even open my mouth to tell him to take it easy, Andries has thrown the shot back, swallowing it without even a shiver from the taste, and it begins to dawn on me how bad this can get if we don’t get him out of here as soon as possible.
Grimly, I turn to Johan. “This might be difficult.”
His mouth thins as he nods. “You’re probably right. Let’s get it done.”
Andries looks happy to see us at first, but when he realizes what we’re there to do, he frowns bitterly and tries to shake us, moving back into the press of people to keep away from us, but in his drunken state he isn’t nearly as fast and nimble as he thinks he is. With me on one side of him, and Johan on the other, each of us having a firm grip on his arms, we began to maneuver him out of the restaurant.
“I’m not done!” he protests as we start dragging him outside. “We were just getting started!”
“Man, you’ve gotten started and finished. Now you’ve overstayed your welcome. Let’s get out of here.” He’s hard to keep a hold of, and I struggle to get the words out from the effort. My body is still exhausted from sailing and wrestling the over six foot tall Andries out of a crowded restaurant is just adding to my discomfort.
“How are you not miserable?” I ask him. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a team of horses and you’re here getting wasted.”
“I’m in better shape than you!” my friend declares confidently. “I always have been.”
Rolling my eyes, I can’t help but laugh as we maneuver him out the front door. “Whatever you need to tell yourself. What on earth makes you think that it’s a good idea to drink this much, huh?”
Once we have him on the sidewalk outside, the cool evening breeze a balm to how sweaty I’ve become under the collar from the exertion, Johan goes back in to take care of the tab while I keep a hand on Andries’s shoulder and call the driver with my free hand.
“I have to drink to get through all of this,” he confesses, finally letting up in his struggles. “I feel like I can’t trust anyone. You betrayed me by fucking my sister, and my sister betrayed me by both fucking my best friend and going behind my back to please our dad. And Roxanne… well, God knows when she’s gonna pull a fast one on me.”
