“So where are you going in a week that you don’t know when you’ll be back?” I asked about his friend’s comment at our third bar. Kim was lost in a gaze with Todd, a college classmate she was into.
The relaxed smile on Devin’s face faded. “Europe.”
“Gee, how awful.” I quipped. Only a rich person could feel put out by having to go to Europe.
He shook his head. “My parents think it’s time for me to grow up. I’m being sent there to learn the family business. My gap year after finishing my MBA is over. Time to enter the real world.”
“So, your family business is in Europe?”
He nodded. “Here, Dublin, London, Paris…” He shook his head. “The purpose of tonight is to not have to think about it.” He downed his drink.
Not wanting to ruin his fun, I didn’t ask him more about it.
Around ten, at the fifth bar, Kim and Todd disappeared.
“Your friend dumped you,” Devin said as we each nursed a Guinness.
“I don’t mind. She’s into him.”
“Who are you into?” Devin had to yell over the music and people even though I was just a few feet from him.
“No one.” Well, that wasn’t true. Three hours and twice as many drinks, and I was well into him.
“Why not?”
I shrugged. “No one is into me either.”
“Fucking waste.”
I quirked a brow. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you’re funny and pretty. It’s a waste that you’re not into someone.”
“You’ve got your booze goggles on.”
He frowned. “It’s not that. Why would you think that?”
I sighed, not wanting to go into my love life or lack thereof. Better to focus on him. “Is Lauren or Evie wondering where you are?”
He scoffed. “They’re probably pissed, but the best they could come up with was annoyance.”
I had no idea what he meant.
“The people in my world don’t like to show emotion except annoyance. No passion. No rage. No laughing…not that free and open kind anyway.”
“Sounds miserable. With all that money, you’d think they could afford to be happy.”
He laughed. “You’d think.”
“So, what makes people like you happy?”
“I’m happy now.” He held up his drink and I clicked my glass to his.
“Your girlfriend is probably missing you though.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend. Not technically, anyway.”
What did that mean?