if the cognac had anything to do about it, mason probably would talk, but ryan had long since learned how to gently ease onto the gas so the car didn’t jerk forward and how to just lean on the brakes so they didn’t lurch into a stop; delicate conversations weren’t much different. “yes, god, i can’t believe i’d forgotten about that,” he said, grin already spreading, the ghost of quiet laughter behind his words. “have i ever told you that sometimes all your cautionary digging leads to more trouble than it’s worth? because it does. i can’t count how many times we must’ve jumped to some wild conclusion over the disastrous results of your google searches.”
but he let himself revel in the memory—there’d been nothing to revel about at the time, of course, what with the four of them picking apart what they thought might be the hidden signs of their parents’ failing marriage, who they would end up living with, if maybe someone had had an affair. but there’d been hundreds, maybe thousands of other midnight meetings like that one, talking about college or life or girls ( or boys ) or, even earlier, waiting for jake to pass out on the deck chairs while pretending to wait for santa so that they could help mom and dad set up the christmas gifts. all that came to a full stop, however, when mason uttered the word dumped. dumped. “wait, what?” that only had one meaning, right? ryan hadn’t fallen so out of touch with the kids that ‘ i got dumped ’ suddenly meant something else, right? “you got dumped? i didn’t even know there was a potential dumper in the picture, dude, or a pre-dumping. who—” he shook his head quickly. not the point. no point in asking if mason was okay, either; that answer was fairly obvious. “what happened?”
“you have.” and for the record, he knew. he knew he was paranoid and he knew that nine times out of ten he was being entirely ridiculous. but to him, that one time he wasn’t was worth looking like an ass the other nine times. “sure didn’t pay off that time.” he wondered briefly if their parents had divorced, maybe they’d still be alive.
silly. that was definitely the liquor talking. he finished the glass, downed the last gulp and then closed his eyes. the buzz was stronger now, and he knew that if he pushed off of this bar to stand up, he’d waver a bit before he got his balance. it was a good level of buzz. a good place to stop. he poured more into the glass. “i was going to tell you...this weekend, actually,” he said, scoffing, the timing not lost on him. he rarely introduced his family to the people he dated. mostly because his family was important to him, and commitment was hard for him, and sharing the people he cared about the most meant it was....real.
“i, ah...i lied,” he said, pressing his lips together, pushing them out them sucking them in, like maybe he could swallow them. mason didn’t lie. it was one of the few hallmarks of his personality, maybe the one redeeming factor—he knew he was a hard person to deal with, a difficult person to be around sometimes. and for the most part, he didn’t believe in lying. his entire job was based around sussing out the truth, and he knew first hand that lies only led to trouble down the line. and here he was. in trouble. “shouldn’t have...but...” but.