I wasn’t sure how long I had until the chaos bubbling under our blissful facade finally came to a head. I wasn’t sure how long I had until reality came back around to knock me on my ass. All I knew was that whatever amount of time I had left would be spent with Dex Quinn.
“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” My boyfriend’s deep voice prompted me out of my thoughts as we moved around his large dining room table, setting up an arrangement of plates and utensils.
I walked around the table towards him, lightly slapping his hands away from his sloppily done setting, and moving the forks to the left side of the plate. “It’s a good idea and you know it!”
“No the hell I don’t.” Dex took a step back from the table, crossing his strong, tattooed arms across his chest as he watched me finish setting the table. “This is going to be a fucking disaster. I can feel it.”
“Well, I think they’re going to love each other.” I smiled up at him cheekily. “First sight, head over heels. All that shit. I’m counting on it.”
Dex shook his head. “Hell no. They’re going to hate each other. From what you tell me about Nora, they’re way too much alike. There’s no way Cam can put up with someone who’s as obnoxious as he is.”
“Yet somehow he’s friends with you…”
He growled, reaching out to send a sharp smack against my denim covered ass. “There you go looking for trouble again.”
I reached up, wrapping my arms around his neck and standing up on my toes for a deep kiss before the doorbell rang.
“You’d better behave, Dex.” I poked my finger in the center of his chest. “No funny business.”
“No promises.”
Before I could reply, the bell rang again, followed by a series of knocks, causing the two of us to rush toward the front door, eager to greet our dinner guests.
After brief, but pleasant introductions and a bit of good-natured ribbing, the four of us sat down to a beautiful dinner of Italian takeout. The air around us was thick with an awkward silence. Cam and Nora sat picking at their meals and almost entirely ignoring one another. Across the table, Dex stared down at his plate of food with a small smirk on his face. I refused to give him the satisfaction of being right.
I turned to the handsome man sitting to my left. “So Cam, Dex was telling me earlier that you went to a Toro Y Moi concert last weekend, how was it? I know Nora really loves him.”
Cam looked over at me. “Oh.” His bright blue eyes seemed to light up with childish excitement. “Yeah it was a pretty sweet show. There were a lot of cool people there.” He smiled over at Nora. “Have you ever seen him live?”
“Nope. But I hear his shows are always full of douchebags.” Nora gave him a saccharine smile before taking a slow sip of her wine.
I watched as Cam’s eyes narrowed at my friend, his top lip curling up into a slight sneer. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, honey.” He mimicked her dry tone perfectly, causing the woman across from him to sit up in her chair a little straighter.
“Well, by the looks of the man sitting across from me, the assumption definitely doesn’t seem wrong.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Nora swiped her tongue over her lips then let out a snort. “Oh come on, look at you.” She motioned over the length of his body.
Cam looked down at himself, the expression on his face confused and more than a little annoyed. “What the fuck is wrong with the way I look?”
“You showed up to a dinner party in a tank top and flip flops.” Nora took another large sip of wine. “And by the looks of it, you couldn’t even be bothered to shower before you got here.”
The man crossed his bare arms across his chest. “This is my best friend’s house, I’ll show up bare ass naked if I want to.”
“I sure wouldn’t put it past you.” Nora’s nose turned up in disgust.
I sat silently, not entirely sure what transpired to cause this ridiculous argument in the first place. Nora wasn’t typically so confrontational, and while I didn’t know Cam well, I definitely got the feeling he was a pretty laid back guy. Seeing Nora be so rude to a guy due to his apparent wardrobe choices was odd to me, and I sure as hell didn’t like it.
I stood up from the table, smoothing out my white blouse. “Hey Nora, you want to help me bring out another bottle of wine.” We didn’t need another bottle of wine at the table, nor would I have needed help getting it if we had.
Nora silently followed me into Dex’s kitchen, a kind smile replacing the sneer on her pretty, tawny brown face.
“Nora Romero!”
She looked at me innocently as she fiddled with a wine cork on the counter. “What?”
“What the hell was that in there?”