Upside Down(56)

Merry put her hands to her mouth to hide her laugh, but I laughed right out loud, giving Jordan’s shoulder a squeeze, and I kissed the side of his head. “They weren’t all out of luck. I certainly am not.”

Merry snorted. “The night’s not over yet.”

Jordan let out the mother of all sighs and closed his eyes. “Siri, what is the definition of disaster?”

I cracked up laughing and Angus was still nodding, still smiling.

A waiter appeared at our table, pen and pad in hand. “Oh, thank God,” Merry said. “Please bring us food. It doesn’t matter what kind. Any kind. The fastest thing on your menu, times four.”

“Oooh, food,” Angus said, sitting forward and looking over the menu again. “There once was a man who was famished…”

I laughed again and Jordan put his head on the table. We did manage to order something, and we spent the next few hours eating and laughing… well, mostly laughing. Angus’ high eventually waned, leaving a headache in its wake. Merry had some Panadol in her bag, which he took, and our conversation was quieter after that. The restaurant was almost empty when Jordan excused himself to go to the bathroom.

“So,” Angus said. “Tell us, what’s the story?”

“Story of what?”

“Of you. What’s your life story?” He turned his empty water glass on the table. “I’m guessing you could be around for a while, so what do we need to know.”

“Oh.” My lip drew down. “I’m kind of boring, really. I grew up on the Gold Coast with my parents and two sisters, Saffron and Siobhan. And yes, Saffron, Siobhan, and Hennessy—we got a lot of shit at school for our names,” I said with a laugh. “I was always interested in computers and coding, even in high school. I have a masters in computing science and security, and now, I work with my best friend. Actually, I work for my best friend. It’s an internet security company and it’s like a partnership; I run the technical side but he owns the company and deals with the finances and taxes. It suits me. I moved to Surry Hills when my ex live-in boyfriend decided being with an asexual person wasn’t enough for him. I take the bus because it minimises my carbon footprint. I run four kilometres every day, and I have two Siamese fighting fish and a cactus.”

“What are their names?” Angus asked.

“The fish are Ali and Bruce,” I said, a little embarrassed. “After the only two fighters I could name.”

“Mohammed Ali and Bruce Lee,” Angus said, like he got points for knowing that.

“Yep. And the cactus is called Spike.”

Merry smiled but there was an edge to her brow. “Tell us, what have you learned about Jordan tonight?”

I let out a breath through puffed-out cheeks. “Well. A lot, actually. That he has not only a love of classic literature and seventeenth-century French poets, but he also loves Yaoi graphic novels. I didn’t know that before tonight.” I met Merry’s gaze, then Angus’. “To be honest, I’d been worried that he might turn out to be different when he was with you guys than he was with me. My ex would be like two different people. You know, the guy who he was in public and the guy who he was with me, and it used to bug me. But Jordan’s not like that. The Jordan I’ve spent time with alone is the same Jordan he is with you guys. I’ve learned he has a spectacular sense of humour, that there’s minimal rambling when he’s completely comfortable. He’s really smart, and I learned that he has some pretty amazing friends.”

Merry and Angus both smiled, but said nothing, just as Jordan came back from the bathrooms and slid into his seat. “Am I interrupting anything?” he asked, looking moderately scared.

“Your friends were just giving me the interrogation test,” I said, unable to stop the smile.

He shot them a look of horrified surprise. “They better not have. I gave strict instructions. Strict instructions in point form. It wasn’t difficult. There was only one instruction. No interrogation. We. Are. Not. ASIO.”

I snorted and Merry rolled her eyes at him. “Oh relax. He passed.”

“He did?” Jordan asked.

“I did?” I asked.

Merry nodded and Angus gave us a sly smile. “Yep. Flying colours and all that.”

Jordan visibly relaxed and turned to face me, his hand on my thigh. “I hope it wasn’t too bad. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

I laced our fingers on my leg. “It was fine, really. Glad I passed though.”

“Are you ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

He smiled all shy-like. “Did you want to… come back to my place?”

“Oh yes, please.” Angus leaned back and patted his belly. “I need to take off my pants.”

Jordan’s mouth drew into a thin line and he turned back to me. “Or we could go to your place, perhaps?”

I laughed. “Sounds great. Why don’t we cab it? We can drop everyone off at their places on the way.”

And that’s what we did. We dropped Angus off first, then Jordan and I went to my place, and we left some cash with Merry for the final drop-off. We waved her off and Jordan sighed up at the night sky, his breath billowing in the cold night air. “So, it wasn’t a complete disaster.”