can’t help the smile that takes over as I watch her relax with me. Natalie is good for me. I like the person I am when I’m with her, and truthfully, I’m already dreading giving her back to my brother soon. Not that she’s anyone’s property, but I know once we’re back we won’t have moments alone like we did in the woods or here at the bar.
“Are you having fun here?” I ask after a couple of beers.
“I am,” she says, looking around the bar that is starting to fill up. “With work I never get a chance to just sit back, enjoy the silence, and think. There’s always too much shit going on. It can get overwhelming at times, and it makes me wish I had said no when offered the management position. Things were so much…”
“Easier?”
She nods and takes a sip of her beer. “Yeah, but sometimes easier isn’t always better. Paying rent was a struggle before, and now I live comfortably and can provide for myself without worrying if I’m going to overdraw my account for food before payday. If my car breaks down and I have an unexpected expense to pay for, I’m prepared.”
“Why don’t you and my brother live together?” I’ve wondered this for a while now. Two years together with hardly any time to see each other and they still choose to live apart.
“I don’t know. I guess we’ve just never discussed the possibility of living together. It hasn’t crossed my mind much to be honest. We both have so many other responsibilities to deal with just the idea of moving seems overwhelming.”
“I don’t think so.” I finish off my third beer and hold it up, letting Myles know I need another. “I couldn’t see myself not living with the girl I was in love with. Especially if we hardly see each other living apart. It makes sense to want to spend every free minute you do have together.”
“Yeah,” she whispers, seconds later. “You’d think so.”
“What if my brother asked you?”
She laughs as if it’s the funniest thing ever. “To move in with him?”
“What’s so funny about that?”
“Me moving in with him is the last thing he’d ask me to do right now. Did you know that I sleep at my place at least two nights a week, per his request, so we don’t disturb each other’s sleep routine? I don’t think he’d survive us sharing a bed every night.”
“My brother is seriously fucked up. I’d want you in my bed every night if you were mine. He’s crazy for wanting otherwise.”
She stares at me for a few seconds before turning away. “I’ll take another one too, please.”
“Want to go back soon?”
“I don’t know. I’m sort of enjoying this.”
“What? Being alone with me?” I ask, just to tease her.
“What if I am?”
“Then I’d like that.”
“Would you really?” she asks, her eyes curious as she tilts back her beer.
“I wouldn’t say it unless I meant it, so… yeah.”
She looks away and clears her throat.
“You don’t have to feel awkward about that, Nat. It’s okay to enjoy each other’s company. It’s not going to make you any less committed to my brother. It’s not like you’re going to fall for me before this trip is over.”
“Which is exactly why I agreed to come. You and I would never work.”
“Why’s that?” I turn her stool around so that she’s facing me. “What makes you so sure that the two of us wouldn’t have ended up together instead had you not been dating my brother when I first saw you?”
“What? I don’t know.” She laughs nervously and downs the rest of her beer, before setting the empty bottle down. “Is that a serious question?” she asks when I keep looking at her.
“Yeah. I’m a little curious. Tell me just for the fuck of it.”
“Because it’d be too hard not to see you every day.”
“What if you could?”
She laughs. “That’d be impossible.”
“What if I said I only want to tour two months out of the year and bring you with? Then what?”
“You’d do that for a girl?”
“I’d do everything for a girl I care about.”
It takes a few moments before she finally says something. “Then she’ll be one lucky girl once you find her.”
The bartender pops over, interrupting our moment. “Another round?”
“Yeah. We’ll take another.” I grab the beers that he slides our way. “We’ll be over by the pool table.”