“They asked, and I felt pressured to answer,” Mia said, barely managing to keep a straight face.
“Squirt” had been something I had repressed for years. In sixth grade, I had fallen asleep in history class. My teacher had woken me up by demanding I come up to the front of the class and answer a question on the board. As I walked up, the entire class, including the god damned teacher, began to laugh. I glanced down and realized I’d had a wet dream.
God, even thinking about it brought back those same feelings of embarrassment and terror. For months, everyone referred to me as ‘Squirt.’ As if my life wasn’t hard enough back then, being as skinny and weird as I was.
“You’ll pay for this,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her.
She giggled, pursing her lips in mock horror. “Come –on, Coop. It was funny.”
“It might have been funny to everyone else, but to me? Horrifying. The worst experience of my life,” I grumbled.
Pete, still howling with laughter banged his hand down on the table. “And it’s even more hilarious now, considering your line of work,” he panted.
I glared at him. His mouth dropped open as he realized what he’d just said.
“Why?” Mia asked, confused.
“Because insurance isn’t the most sexy profession around,” I replied smoothly.
She giggled, buying it.
I sighed. That was way too close. Again I felt that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I hated lying to her. I needed to get her away from Pete before he had anymore to drink.
“I think it’s time for me to head off,” I said, getting to my feet.
Pete looked at me apologetically while Sam just sat there awkwardly.
“I’ll call you guys, yeah?” Turning to Mia, I smiled. “Can I walk you back?”
She nodded and slipped off her stool, taking my arm.
“It was lovely to meet you,” she said to the boys. They exchanged goodbyes as I left, with her following closely behind me.
“I’m sorry, Coop. I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Mia glanced at me, her expression anxious. In her defense, I hadn’t spoken since we left the bar.
We walked down the sidewalk side by side. I softened, not wanting her to think the weirdness in there had been her fault. “It’s fine,” I chuckled. “I hadn’t thought about that in years, to be honest. And I’d rather never think of it again.”
“Thanks for inviting me out,” Mia smiled.
“Thanks for saying yes,” I replied. “I hope my friends weren’t too painful for you,” I chuckled.
“No, they were fine. They seem like good guys. Are you close?” she asked.
“Not really. I mean, they’re my closest and oldest friends, but we only catch up every month or so. I don’t really have any close friends. I spend a lot of time with Nic and Jake and then there’s work. I don’t really have many guy friends I can just call up for a drink, if that makes sense.”
Good one, Coop. Now she thinks you’re some kind of loser with no friends.
“It makes perfect sense,” she smiled. “I get what you’re saying. That’s pretty much my life you’re describing right there. And any friends I had through Aiden, he seemed to take possession of during the divorce.”
It was the first time I’d heard her mention her ex-husband’s name.
“What happened between you guys? I mean, don’t answer that if you don’t want to.”
“No, I’m fine talking about it.” She shrugged. “We just fell out of love, I guess—or at least he fell out of love. I’d been with him for so long that he was really all I knew. We’ve been separated for the last year, so it’s not like it was sudden or anything. The divorce went through just before I moved back.”
“Still, it must’ve been
hard to move on.”