Tonight it's Fate

Part Six

"Holy shit dude, I feel like I haven't seen you forever," Jeff said as David walked up to the table in their usual bar.

He laughed and shrugged before they shared a brief hug. "It's been like a week and a half," he replied as they pulled away.

Jeff sat back down with a smirk. "Yeah, but still... isn't that a long time for us? We're usually attached at the hip whenever we're home. I totally thought we were gonna do the record store thing last Saturday."

"Ohh fuck." He shook his head in disappointment as he settled back on the bench across from Jeff. "That was Saturday wasn't it? I totally spaced."

He frowned. "How could you space that? You'd been talking about it for weeks." David made a face instead of answering the question, which made Jeff further intrigued. He had wondered if there was something going on with David, and now it seemed that there definitely was, but would the bassist own up to it?

Stacey came to their table then with a smile. "Your usual?" she asked.

Jeff nodded, but David shook his head. "Do you have the Brasserie Dunham Black IPA?"

Suddenly Stacey looked vaguely impressed and she nodded. "We got it in last week... 16 or 22 ounce?"

"Ah, I'll go for 22," he replied.

Jeff looked more surprised and Stacey nodded. "Be right back," she told them.

"Okay," the guitarist said as she walked away, "how do you know about a beer before me, and since when do you drink beer here anyway? Weren't you going for the mule record?"

He smirked and shrugged, glancing toward the door before checking his phone as he set it on the table. "Just felt like something different," he said.

"Really? I know Frank's not in town, so who would you be hanging out drinking with that isn't me?"

He laughed. "I have other friends... you just seem to forget about that because we're always together."

He raised an eyebrow skeptically, not sure if he should buy David's remark or not. "But since we haven't been together..." he trailed off, watching as his friend's eyes landed on the front door of the bar again. He'd dismissed the first glance, but after the second one it was clear that David was expecting someone, but who? If it was Ani, or one of their other mutual friends, he would have said something when he came in. He stayed silent, watching David check his phone again. Now he was sure. He sat back further in his chair and took a drink of water, hesitating to call his friend out for the secrecy.

"I don't know," David finally said after a minute. "I've just been busy lately."

Jeff was slow to reply, meeting his friend's eyes before speaking. "That's not something I hear from you very often." David scoffed, but Jeff didn't let him rebuke the statement. "What are you busy with?" David's eyes went to his phone. "And why the hell are you so spaced out today?"

He opened his mouth, a quick retort on his tongue, but faltered as he saw who'd just walked into the bar. "It'll all make sense in a second," he replied, a relieved smile coming onto his face.

Jeff shook his head, not quite keeping up with David's mood swing. "What'll make sense?"

The question was lost as the bassist stood up then, nodding for Louna to come join them.

She'd hesitated upon seeing Jeff sitting with David, unsure that she was really ready to begin the friend introductions. But if David was ready for her to meet Jeff then she knew she had to be comfortable with it. She wove her way between the tables, a bashful smile on her face as David still stood, waiting for her. She shook her head as she put her purse down. "You didn't have to," she told him.