Ellis is only about an inch taller than me, but it does feel like we all have to look up to see him.
"I didn't know you were friends with him," Britta whispers toward me, but I shake my head because I have no fucking clue what she's talking about. Does Ellis have a reputation around here I didn’t know about? I can’t exactly say I’m surprised, but I’m still reeling from him being here and all this is a little bit too much to process.
"Nash and I are old friends," he says to her as he curls a piece of her hair behind her ear. She licks her lips in response. “I don’t believe we’ve met yet.” He takes Britta’s hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. Then he does the same to her friend as the two girls stammer out their names, crowding close to each other.
“We were just about to get something to drink. Can I get you something?” Britta asks with a saccharine sweet smile.
“I’d love a beer,” Ellis replies. “I think Nash needs one too.”
“Okay,” she says as she loops her arm through her friends. The two of them dash into the party, and Ellis takes another hit off his joint, offering it to me, but I put up my hand. My head is having a hard enough time keeping up as it is. There's something about how he spoke to them, the way he gently persuaded them without being harsh that fucking strikes a nerve. I'm pretty sure they would have dropped to their knees before he could utter the first syllable of “suck my dick”.
My eyes track over to him again, and I fight the urge to pinch myself. I try to remember the last time I saw my father’s old friend, and how it felt back then to stand next to him compared to how it feels now. As a kid, I looked up to him, figuratively and literally. Now...it’s the same, except I’m supposed to be his equal. I’m a grown man now. I’m not supposed to gaze up at him like a God.
We make small talk for a while, him asking me more about the program I’m in, my plans for the future and what I intend to do with my life now I’m all grown up, as he continues to remind me. The entire time it feels like he is controlling the conversation. It’s strangely comfortable.
“You got a girlfriend, Nash?”
Suddenly, there’s a sharp bolt of pain in my chest, and her face comes to mind. Like there’s a string draped across the ocean still connecting her to me even though she hasn’t been mine in months. She never really was.
“Nope.”
He’s looking at me now, expressionless and unassuming.
“Do you?” I ask to fill the silence. The air feels charged now. Am I missing something?
He doesn’t answer, just lets out a low, gravelly chuckle.
Just then, the girls come back with two Heinekens and hand them to us, but they're both still looking at Ellis. They’re each sipping on their iced cocktails, bouncing lightly on the balls of their feet expectantly.
"So, the spare room is empty. Do you guys want to go back there?” Britta asks, and beer almost comes out of my nose.
Jesus, I don’t know if I’ll ever get over the forwardness of Lotte’s friends. I had Britta bent over the bed within the first five minutes of the party, but suddenly as I’m standing in front of a family friend and a man who knew me as a child, it’s jarring.
Then I feel Ellis’s eyes on me for a moment. There’s not a hint of nerves in his stance but calm confidence as he takes in my demeanor and shakes his head at the girls.
“Not tonight.”
"But—" the other girl stammers.
“Nash and I are catching up,” he says, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Thanks for the drinks though.” And as he puts the bottle to his lips, he adds, “Maybe next time.”
They both pout for a moment before nodding their heads and saying their goodbyes.
Once they’re out of earshot, he mumbles over his beer bottle, “So…you're not going to tell your dad we almost had an orgy at a party, right?”
What starts as a small laugh escalates until we're both red faced and biting back the sudden marijuana-induced hysteria. I don't answer him, but Ellis doesn't need to know my dad has done some way kinkier shit than he