Drifting Deception

Chapter Ten

SYDNEY 

Theo: Free tonight?

Me: Depends. Why?

Theo: Tell Henry that you two are coming to my room for dinner. We'll order some room service and have a few drinks.

Me: You tell him that yourself! He was your best friend before he was my boyfriend.

Theo: Quit reminding me ffs.

We decided to show up to Theo's gathering together to create the illusion that we were spending time with each other beforehand.

Theo looked severely unimpressed as he opened the door and welcomed us into his hotel room. It was our last night in Shanghai, and while I had hoped to explore the city one last time, I also figured it would be good for us all to try and mingle. Civilly.

Francesca and Matthias were also there, which put my mind at ease. At least there wouldn't be an awkward interaction between the three of us. Although I had to feel for Theo, who was now the fifth wheel.

I sat down next to Francesca, with Henry on my right. He held out his hand to Matthias, who shook it with ease. I'd recently learned that Henry and Matthias had a tension-filled childhood, with a lot of arguments after karting as kids. It was nice that their friendship had grown over the past few years.

Henry placed his arm on the couch behind my back which obviously sparked a reaction from Theo.

"Do we want some wine?" Theo asked dryly.

"Duh," Matthias said.

Theo folded his arms. "Perfect. Syd, can you help me?"

I knew exactly why he'd asked that. But I wasn't going to start a scene this early into the night. Maybe in a few hours. But not right now.

I stood up from my seat, Henry's hand brushing against my back in the moments before I crossed the room. I placed myself on the opposite end of the bench to my brother and grabbed five wine glasses from the cupboard above.

In my peripheral, I could see Theo getting agitated. He wanted to say something. He just didn't know how to say it. I didn't realise how difficult it was going to be to get my brother on board. I mean, he didn't like Jeremy, who was a saint compared to Henry...so was anyone ever going to be good enough? 

The friendship between Henry and Theo had changed over the past month too. They still had the occasional chat, but they bickered more often than usual. They were nowhere near as close as they used to be, which was ironic, considering they were now teammates.

Theo finished pouring the wine, while the others laughed behind us. I turned around to see Francesca showing the boys a photo on her phone. Henry laughed again, before shifting his gaze to me. I smiled, and he returned the gesture before I turned to my brother.

"Just say it," I whispered, biting my tongue to stop myself from yelling.

Theo shook his head. "No. I'm just going to keep my mouth shut."

I sighed as I took a sip from one of the wine glasses. "Well, if you're not going to express your opinion, don't have it written all over your face."

I turned to walk back to the couch when Theo grabbed my arm. "Okay. I'm sorry." He took a deep breath. "If he makes you happy, then I'll keep my opinions to myself...for now."

"But your opinions won't change?"

Theo shook his head. "Come on. Let's just have a nice, relaxing evening with our friends."