Sidelined (Game On 3)

Radleigh placed a tray with three steaming mugs on the floor in front of us, then sat down, too. “So what did I miss?”

“Me telling Leah she’s going to be the most gorgeous pregnant woman to ever walk the planet.”

Leah gave me a playful smack on the arm, and Radleigh laughed. “If I tell her that, she’s gonna be unbearable to live with. I’m just gonna call her ‘chubs’.”

Ah, there was the Radleigh McCoy we knew. No. Still different. More teasing and fun instead of arrogant and annoying. And, boy, could he be mean when someone crossed him.

“Don’t worry,” he said, catching onto my train of thought, “once the baby’s here, I’ll go back to being a self-centred dick. But I gotta take care of my woman first.”

The three of us spent most of the morning into early afternoon finishing up in the living room. By one p.m, we were starving. Jude drove us over to Freya’s with the last of the boxes, and we were greeted by the heavenly smell of pizza.

“We’re all hungry,” Freya said as we filed in, “so I ordered pizzas to keep us going for the rest of the day.”

Murmurs of approval rippled through the room, and we set about grabbing plates and slices of the various pizzas to eat.

I smiled to myself as we chatted. We hadn’t all hung out this way since right before Leah left for England. Jude, Radleigh and Bryce weren’t here, and Jesse was, but things had changed a lot since then. I loved how we still fit together. I got the impression Bryce would be a more regular part of our group since he split from his wife just after New Year. They’d been together a long time and had three daughters together. Unfortunately, their relationship had fizzled out along the way. I always thought his wife, Sarah, was kinda unsociable. The few times I met her she acted totally superior.

After we’d eaten, I found myself in Freya’s living room with Jude, Will and Miguel. Freya was washing up, Leah and Radleigh were probably groping each other against the nearest available flat surface, and I had no idea where Bryce had gone. I sat on the floor by the glass doors that opened out onto the deck, and the guys were all slouched on the sofas, full of pizza, unable to move.

“So, you sure you’re ready for this, man?” Miguel asked, his voice tinged with teasing. “Moving in is a big step.”

“Bit late to ask now, half of my crap is already here!” Will laughed. “I’m more than ready.”

“Wait until she starts nagging you about never doing the dishes.”

“And not picking up your dirty clothes,” Jude added.

“And leaving the toilet seat up.”

“Have you met me?” Will asked. “When have I ever left dirty stuff anywhere? I’ll be the one nagging.”

True story. I’d shared hotel rooms with Freya. She somehow managed to make a mess simply by walking into a room. She left her clothes in a heap on the floor, and her make-up stuff scattered all over the bathroom. I’d been sure every time I turned my back, more crap had added to the clutter, like that scene in the last Harry Potter movie, when the treasure in the Gringotts vault multiplies when touched.

Don’t judge me for watching Harry Potter, I love British accents.

“Talking about Freya?” Leah asked as she entered, grinning. “I’m not nearly as obsessive as Will, and she drove me crazy!”

Will threw her a mock glare. “You guys are supposed to be supportive.”

“We are being supportive,” Jude said. “We’ll have the shrink on standby for when Freya’s messiness drives you round the bend.”

“I can hear you!” Freya called from the kitchen. She came into the room, hands covered in soap bubbles, and flicked the suds over Will and Jude who were nearest to her. “Just so you know, I’ve promised to be less… slobby.”

“Aww,” Leah said. “You’re not slobby!”

Will grabbed Freya’s still soapy hands, pulling her down to him for a quick kiss. “She’s right. You’re not slobby. You’re beautiful.”

Radleigh and Bryce joined us, Radleigh slipping his arms around Leah from behind, lightly resting his hands on her stomach.

Once again I’d found myself surrounded by snuggly couples while I sat on the opposite side of the room from my husband. It wasn’t a conscious decision. When I walked in for lunch, everyone else had taken their seats; the only space left was on the floor. Neither of us made a move to close the gap, though. We were comfortable enough with each other that we didn’t need to touch all the time, yet I felt disconnected. I didn’t know if Jude noticed, or if the whole thing had been happening inside my head. Either way, every day I carried around the same dissatisfaction, unable to pinpoint the cause.

When our extended lunch break ended none of us had any desire to move but we still had work to do so we got back to our tasks. We finally gave up for the day a little after six, when we almost had everything from Will’s kitchen ready to be moved. Jude, Will, Miguel and Bryce decided to go for a beer after their hard work, Radleigh went to visit his parents, and Freya was too tired to do anything other than sit down with a glass of wine. Since it was still pretty early, Leah and I opted to call in on Jesse. I hadn’t seen him in a few days; he would be climbing the walls by now.

On Jesse’s doorstep we waited for the familiar hurried footsteps of Mrs Shaw. Sure enough, they soon padded down the hall.

“Hi girls,” she said, surprise flashing across her face.

“Hi,” Leah said. “We were headed home but wanted to stop by and visit Jesse on the way.”