Worth Saving(53)

“You okay?” I ask, seeing the tension in her face.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” she replies, then quickly moves into another conversation. “So, Jordan, I bet you’re ready to get back to Seattle, huh. Miss your wife?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Jordan answers. “We haven’t been married long enough to spend all this time apart. I miss my baby.”

“Aww, aren’t you just the sweetest guy ever,” Jason mocks as he reaches up and rubs Jordan’s bald head. “Look at you, you’re so pretty. Michelle is such a lucky lady. Come here and give me a kiss. Come on, I won’t tell Michelle.” Jason starts pulling on Jordan and trying to actually kiss his head.

“Oh my god, get the f*ck off of me, drunk ass,” Jordan snaps. He’s smiling, but I can tell he’s serious. Jason looks like he may have celebrated just a little too much.

“You guys are a mess,” I start to say, but I’m distracted by another chime blaring from Layla’s purse. I watch her as she quickly reaches in and presses something on the phone, then she shoves it back into the purse again like she’s trying to bury it all the way at the bottom.

“Layla, what’s up?” I ask, because I can tell she’s bothered by something. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, Austin,” she says, but I know she’s lying. Her brow is furrowed and I can see her jaw is clenched.

“You look pissed. Who keeps texting you?”

“Don’t worry about it, Austin. Don’t get jealous on me.”

Now it’s time for my brow to furrow, because I don’t know where that came from.

“Jealous? I’m not getting jealous, I can just see that you’re upset about something with your phone, and I want to make sure you’re okay. This isn’t a jealousy thing.”

Jason and Jordan stare down at their plates, acting like they’re not listening to us, but of course they are.

“Look, it’s nothing, okay. It’s just Marlene.”

“Okay. I thought you and Marlene were cool?”

“We are.”

“Then why does Marlene’s text seem to piss you off.”

“She’s not pissing me off, Austin. She just wants to talk to me about work because she knows I’m going back soon, and I don’t feel like getting into all that. Okay? That’s it. You can relax.”

“Okay, okay,” I reply. I know she’s frustrated about something, but I decide not to press the issue any further. Layla and I have managed to avoid any kind of arguments since we got together, and I don’t want to get into our first one in the middle of Hard Rock Café. But, just as I decide to let it go, her phone chimes again. I choose to ignore it when she reaches into the purse, fiddles with the phone, and then puts it back. Then, she grabs the purse off the table and places it on the floor next to her foot.

“So, anyway,” I say after I clear my throat and remind myself not to be nosy about the phone. “So, now that the case is done, how long are you guys gonna stay in Vegas?”

Jason and Jordan look relieved to finally be able to take their eyes off their plates.

“Well, we gotta get back soon. Jordan here needs to get back to his lady, plus we’ve got a booming firm to run. Work never stops.”

“Yeah, I bet it doesn’t, because you’re a big shot lawyer now. It sucks that you’ve gotta leave, though,” I say.

“Yeah, it’s been great being able to catch up with you, bro,” Jason says. “But you’ve gotta go back to work soon too, don’t you?”

I take a bite out of my burger and chew a little before answering.

“Yeah, I’ve only got two more days off after this. Layla only has tomorrow, then she’s gotta go back, too. It sucks.”

“So, you guys took a bunch of time off work so you could chill together?” Jordan asks.

“Well, it kind of just worked out like that,” Layla chimes in. She looks like she’s starting to get back to being her usual, happy self, which makes all of us more comfortable. “Our time off just kind of came up at the same time, so we took advantage so we could get to know one another.”

“And now the big challenge,” Jordan says. “Now, you have to get back to real life, with work and stress, and all the bullshit that comes with being an adult.”

“Yeah, but we’ll be fine. The past six weeks or so has been really great, so we’ll be alright,” Layla replies with a confident smile, but it fades when her phone goes off. This time, however, it’s not a chime, it’s just the obvious rumble of the phone ringing on vibrate. She doesn’t do anything this time, and eventually it stops.

“You better be fine,” Jordan says, sipping the drink again. “You guys are pretty good together. You suck at basketball, but you’re good together in other ways.”

“We suck at basketball?” I say as the whole table laughs together.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, so you gotta come out with us tomorrow night, Austin. We’ve gotta have a guy’s night out before we head back home,” Jason says to me.

“Man, I’d love to, but I can’t do it tomorrow night. Tomorrow is Layla’s birthday,” I say.

“No shit? How old are you turning, Layla?” Jordan asks.