I go in and immediately see Gwen sitting alone at a table and ...facetime-ing? Who the hell is she facetime-ing? As I`m getting closer, I can hear her sigh that exasperated sigh that women everywhere know all too well.
„I`m fine, it`s a perfectly nice place, and no creeps are lurking around.”
„You don`t know that. Anyone can be a creep; they don`t wear a sign on their forehead, you know.”
Oh my God, that`s my brother`s voice. Is she facetime-ing Sam?
„I know that Sam, I`m a grown woman. I can handle myself just fine, thank you very much.”
„You may be a grown woman, but you spend your whole day with toddlers. The worst you can expect from them is a tantrum.”
„Yes, well, in my experience that goes for the majority of adults as well. Ah, here`s Sophie. Now I`m not alone anymore so you can relax.”
She turns her phone towards me, and I can see my brother`s frowning face- seriously, why do men frown so much? – staring back at me. I give him a smile and a little wave, but he`s apparently in a mood.
„You! This was your idea. Do you know how dangerous it is for young women to go drinking in bars by themselves? Why couldn`t you go to a nice restaurant or maybe a teashop?”
I raise my eyebrows at the whole teashop comment, but before I can say anything, Gwen turns her phone back around.
„A teashop, are you serious right now? What are we, eighty? I mean, I know you think I`m not the coolest person around, but a teashop? You just went too far, mister.”
„I never said you weren`t cool...”
„No, I`ve heard enough out of you tonight. I`m hanging up now.”
„Wait a minute...”
She hangs up and gives me an exasperated look.
„Can you believe him? Three years I`ve been in love with him, and he has the nerve to treat me like I`m his little sister that he needs to protect or something. I`m so done with him!”
It`s like he heard her or something because her phone starts ringing again, and judging by the way she stabs the screen with her finger when she rejects the call, I`m guessing it`s him.
I take a seat at the table, and I`m just about to suggest we order something to drink when my phone starts ringing and when I look down at my screen I see it`s Sam.
„Hello”
„Gwen isn`t answering her phone, so you`re going to have to tell her I want her to call me when she wants to go home.”
„How can I refuse when you ask so sweetly.”
„I`m taking you home too,” he says, but it kind of seems like an afterthought.
„Thanks, but Max is picking me up, so I`m good.”
„Ok, that`s fine. I need you to promise me you won`t let her call an uber or a cab or something.”
„I won`t, stop worrying. What is it with you and Max acting as if we`ve never gone out before? It`s kind of annoying.”
„It`s a dangerous world out there, especially for women. We`re just looking out for you, that`s all.”
„Well, you can rest assured we`ll be careful. We`ll probably have a drink and chat for an hour or two, and we`ll go home with a clear head and in a good mood.”
Sophie
We`re drunk. All three of us. Don`t ask how we got that way because I honestly don`t know.
Gwen and Ema hit it off just like I knew they would, one drink led to another, and now we`re all hammered and talking trash about men and their mixed signals.
„I mean, he must know how I feel about him, right? I must have little hearts in my eyes when I look at him, I`m so in love. And what does he do? He comes over and fixes things around the house and helps me make my craft projects for the kids and eats my food, but does he see me as a woman? No. He acts like he`s my brother or something and gets al overprotective because I`m too innocent to go out to bars. ”
It seems Gwen is an angry drunk. Who would have thought? I mean, she has a point and everything, but still.
„I know what you mean; Max does the same thing. I mean he goes and kisses the everloving shit out of me and then he tells me he only wants to be friends and then he gets mad that I'm going out to a bar without him. I mean, what the hell. Oh, I'm sorry Ema, does me talking about kissing your brother gross you out?”
„Oh please, of course not. I write romance novels. I love this shit. ”
Ema is a happy drunk, which is, coincidently, just how I pictured her to be.
„I guess Max sees me as a friend, and he`s probably just being protective but him acting like that is giving me ideas even though I'm trying not to get any.”
„I don`t think he's just protective, and I don`t think your guy is either ,Gwen. I think Sam likes you, and I know my brother likes you, Sophie, no matter what nonsense he`s spouting .”
„What makes you think that?” I ask like she`s some kind of wise woman.
„Elementary, my dear Watson. I am Max`s sister, yet he didn`t feel the need to call me and lecture me about the dangers of going out to drink without a man, and, as I understand it, neither did Sam call his sister to lecture her. One might conclude that the concern these two men feel is not brotherly but of a more... let`s say proprietary kind .”
„May I just say you are very eloquent for a drunk person,” Gwen says with admiration.
„Thank you. I am, after all, a ... what do you call it? You know, a person who writes novels.”
„Author?” I suggest.
„That`s the one! I am, after all, an author.”
Both me and Gwen nod like it`s the most obvious thing in the world, but
