Upside Down(53)

Now they were friends.

I was a little surprised at how emotional it made me. I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “Wow. This is awesome. Like really freaking cool, guys.”

Mrs Petrovski let out an, “Awww. I just wish Hennessy was here to see your face right now.”

“Me too. I’ll show him these recipes tonight, and maybe we can write a recipe out to you guys.”

“We would love that,” she said. Everyone else nodded.

When we got off the bus at my stop, Merry asked if I was okay. “Sure,” I replied.

“You weren’t kidding about the bus fan club.”

I snorted at that. “No. They’re pretty cool though, yeah?”

“Are you kidding me? Jordan, that was the coolest thing ever! And I think it’s an omen.”

“An omen for what?”

“For tonight, silly. It’s gonna be perfect.”

Except it wasn’t. It was going to be a disaster. Because Angus was late getting home, and apparently he’d spent the entire day in a closed, confined space with industrial glue.

He was as high as a motherfucking kite.

He walked in with the glazed smirk, slits for eyes, and greeted us with a “Heyyyyyyy” that would put Fonzie to shame. “Are we still meeting your bus boy for dinner? Because I have some serious munchies.”

After it took Angus ten excruciating minutes to get his boots off, he moseyed on into the shower, and I practised my Lamaze breathing techniques. “Oh God, Christ on a cracker, this is going to be a disaster. I’m going to call Hennessy and cancel. He’ll understand, I’m sure.”

Merry laughed at me. “Are you kidding? Oh my God, Jordan, it couldn’t be more perfect.”

I gawped at her like she’d lost her mind. Which she had. Obviously.

She sighed. “A stoned Angus is a happy, placid, agreeable, hungry Angus. If at any point before now he was thinking he could interrogate Hennessy, you certainly don’t have to worry about that any more. Just keep a plate of fries or corn chips in front of him, and you won’t hear a word out of him.”

I let out a long exhale. “Well, we could hope so. If he calls him Bus Boy, I will die, just so you know. And in the unfortunate event of my untimely demise, please delete my browser history.”

She snorted. “What for? It’s not like you have some kinky, nasty pig porn to delete. I don’t think anyone is going to consider seventeenth-century French poetry as some kind of debauchery.”

I gasped, my hand to my heart. “Don’t underestimate the comedic brilliance of Voltaire.”

“Please, for the sake of my sanity, do not quote him.”

“‘It is difficult to free fools of the chains they revere.’”

Merry sighed, long and loud. “You are relentless.”

“Thanks.”

Angus appeared from his room wearing underpants and a brightly coloured Hawaiian shirt that looked like it had gone twelve rounds with a packet of Skittles. “Okay, I am ready for food.”

Merry squinted at him. “Aren’t you forgetting something, dear?”

Angus shot me a look. “Oh, yeah, sorry. And I’m totally ready to meet the bus boy guy.”

“You’re missing something else,” Merry deadpanned. “Like maybe some pants?”

Angus looked down at himself and laughed while being genuinely surprised, like we’d somehow made his pants disappear. He toddled back into his room, and I had to steady myself against the wall while I did Lamaze breathing again.

“Disaster,” I wheezed.

Merry gave me a sympathetic nod and patted my shoulder. “Breathe, Jordan. It’ll be fine.”





Chapter Twelve





Hennessy





I looked across the table at the man sitting opposite me, wondering what on earth I’d ever seen in him. Rob was conceited, self-absorbed, and arrogant. He took himself far too seriously and assumed he was better than everyone else in the room. Maybe it was his confidence that originally attracted me; there was always something about a guy who carried himself well. But I’d soon learnt that he expected perfection not only from himself, but also from everyone around him. And that had included me, in and out of the bedroom.

Yes, he was wealthy and successful, but he was also an absolute jerk.

He viewed people as a means to an end. If he couldn’t benefit from them, he simply walked away. Much like he’d done with me. At the time I’d been devastated, but with the view of hindsight—and now that I’d met Jordan—breaking up with Rob was the best thing to have ever happened to me.

I’d finally found someone who accepted me. The real me. And speaking of which, if this meeting didn’t wrap up soon, I was going to be late for dinner.

As Michael and Rob discussed business, I checked my watch for the tenth time.

“Am I keeping you from something?” Rob asked.

I’d stopped listening to his droning on, and his question caught me by surprise. “Oh, um. Actually, yes.”

Michael looked at me in a way that was almost as effective as a kick under the table, so I amended with, “If you’ll both excuse me for just a moment, I’ll just make alternative arrangements and I’ll be right back.” I didn’t wait for a reply. I wasn’t asking permission. So I slipped out of the room and out of sight and pulled out my phone. I was already going to miss the bus, that was obvious, and I knew Jordan would assume the worst.