That Summer

Chapter Eighteen - Trust

Adam was super excited that I'd brought his favourite take out – donairs. "This is for the sandwich you got for me back in the summer," I told him as we ate that evening at his place.

He laughed. "Yeah, the summer before...well, before I fucked things up."

I shrugged. "It's over now."

"It is, but I've tainted those summer memories for you. I promise, if we're still together next summer, I'll make it the best summer ever." He winked at me.

I smiled back at him. "I'm sure we will be. Oh, you know Austin? He's interested in meeting Nessa, and Nessa's interested in meeting him. I thought about hooking them up tomorrow night. You wanna come?"

"Austin your school buddy? Sure, it might be interesting," Adam agreed. "What were you thinking of doing with them?"

"I guess, maybe a dinner or something simple? At least then they can talk to each other," I suggested. "I've gotta message Austin to even let him know when we're done eating."

"Okay. I enjoy showing you off, even if it's to your friends."

When we cleaned up from supper, we sat on the couch together and I messaged Austin.

Me: Hey Austin, Nessa said she is interested in meeting you. You available tomorrow night?

It took him a little while to respond. I figured maybe he was out with friends or something, but an hour later, I got a positive response. So we set a time for six PM tomorrow night. I texted Nessa, to make sure she was okay with it, and she agreed. I also encouraged them to add each other on Facebook and chat there for a while first, to make sure things wouldn't be too awkward.

"Matchmaker," Adam teased, his arm around me as we were watching Naruto again. "I'm sure they'll be thanking you for this when, in a few years, they're walking down the aisle with you as Nessa's maid of honour."

I laughed, leaning against Adam's chest. "Sure. I don't even see myself getting married anytime soon. Nessa said the same, but who knows what can change in a few years? I am twenty-six, totally over the hill now, but you know."

"Oh stop," Adam groaned. "Not even close. I'm almost twenty-nine, so how you think I feel?"

"Almost? When's your birthday?" I hadn't thought to ask him, even when we'd dated in the summer.

"December thirtieth. I didn't tell you sooner because I didn't want you to feel like you had to get separate sets of gifts for me. You still don't have to," he added quickly. "But I'll be having a party with my friends, it's just an annual tradition we have. You can come, if you want, but I think you may not like one person who'll be there." He cringed as he waited for my reaction.

I sighed, lifting my head off him. "Rachel? Really? I thought we were past this."

"We are. Rachel's been coming to my birthday party ever since I started working with her, so I can't kick her out just because of what happened." Adam removed his arm from around me, knowing I was pissed, now.

"Fine, have her there. I won't be. I can't look at her face. I hated seeing her with you that time in the bookstore last month. I can't stand the idea of her flirting with you all night at a party."

"But babe, I want you there. I just told you earlier I like showing you off. This time I can show you off to my friends, including her. I know it's not for a couple weeks but you can take your time to decide." Adam took my hands and kissed me on the forehead. "Even if I got piss-drunk, I wouldn't let her do anything to me again. I let her last time and it was inexcusable. I still can't believe I did that."