“Sure, if he doesn’t mind the extra company, I’d love to join y’all. ”
***
We sat there for a good fifteen minutes, catching up on things. Brad was going to vet school at Texas A-&-M, and was in town for the summer. Matt asked Brad twenty million questions. At first, Brad had seemed to be frustrated but then he must have remembered that Matt had Fragile X. Brad was trying to be patient, but I could tell it was getting to him. I’d only met one guy who had the patience of saint when it came to Matt, and that was Jeff.
Brad just finished telling Matt a silly joke. As we all started laughing, I glanced up and saw Jeff and Rebecca walking in. I let out a gasp, which caused Brad to turn around to see what I was looking at. Jeff saw me the moment he walked in the door. His eyes shot from me to Brad to Matthew and then back to me. He looked confused as hell.
Brad turned back and looked at me.
“Um, Ari, why is your fiancé walking in with another girl…a very pregnant girl?”
I couldn’t pull my eyes away from them. Rebecca had yet to see me. I was pretty sure that once she did, she’d run out the door screaming.
“Ari? Are you okay?” Brad asked.
I looked back at Brad and tried to smile.
“Ah, it’s a really long story, Brad. Jeff hooked up with this girl before we got together, and he just found out last week that she’s expecting, um…she’s having a,…um. ”
I turned back to look at Jeff and Rebecca. That bitch was smiling at me. She leaned up and whispered something to Jeff. Then, he glanced at me, frowning. What the fuck?
“She’s having his baby, Ari. Is that what you’re trying to say?” Brad said.
“Jeff is having a baby, Ari?” Matthew asked. Then, he saw Jeff and yelled,
“Jeff!”
Reaching across, I grabbed Matt and pulled him back to me.
“No, buddy, we can’t talk to Jeff right now. He’s with…he’s with a friend right now, Matt. So, can you sit back down like a good boy and finish up your shake? We need to leave, buddy. ”
I looked at Brad. He looked confused as hell. He kept looking at Jeff and then back at me.
“Ari, is there anything I can do to help out? I mean…shit. If you just need someone to talk to… you know, if you need a friend or something. ”
“She has all the friends she needs, dude. ” Jeff interrupted.
I looked up and saw Jeff standing there. giving Brad a go-to-hell look. Matt jumped up and ra
n toward Jeff. He bent down and gave Matt a big hug.
I felt the tears building in my eyes again, but then I looked over at Rebecca, who was glaring at me. My sadness was quickly replaced with anger. Bitch.
“Hey, buddy! I didn’t know you were having lunch with Ari today. ” Jeff looked over at me and tried to smile.
“He called me earlier this morning and asked if we could have lunch today, ” I explained.
Jeff stood back up and walked Matt back over to his chair.
“So how’d you meet up with your friend here?”
Jeff asked me as he looked at Brad.
Brad stood up and introduced himself.
“Hi, I think we might have met last year. I’m Brad Smith. ”
Jeff reached out and shook his hand. “Yeah…I remember you. ”