***

Any hopes that he might have had the opportunity to reconnect with Brad over dinner were quickly dashed by the seating arrangement. Lyn didn’t even get to enjoy rubbing elbows with Alexander, as Bella – clearly the head organizer – had strategically placed Brad’s best friends among her young female friends. Lyn wouldn’t lead any of them on, but he was polite and behaved as a gentleman should.

He didn’t know if the same could be said of Alexander. Although he’d acted so charmingly upon meeting Bella, he spared none of that old money charm on the attractive ladies sitting to his left and right. Whenever Lyn risked a look in his direction, he seemed to be chewing his food a little too hard while he stared at a vague point beyond his plate, as if he had too many things on his mind.

Could it all be because of the divorce? Lyn found himself wondering about Alexander’s circumstances again. He’d have to ask, although he expected Alexander to react in his usual manner: flippant and sarcastic. After all, the grand Alexander Montgomery III had no idea what hurting meant. Unless you had a heart problem and got the surgeon in him to care, he most likely ignored his own heartaches.

No, Lyn reconsidered, that wasn’t quite so. Alexander was just very good at hiding what he felt, considering any weakness a mortal wound he couldn’t risk. It was one way of living, supposedly.

***

Brad pulled him aside right after dinner. After stealing a few careful looks to check where his fiancée was, he must have decided the coast was clear, because he caught Lyn and dragged him away.

“Damn, man, I had no idea getting ready for a wedding would be so exhausting,” he complained as he walked by Lyn’s side along the beach.

“It looks to me like Bella is handling everything, and she does it well,” Lyn offered politely.

His stomach felt funny, and it wasn’t because of the champagne. He had wished to be alone with Brad tonight, but now that his wish had come true, only platitudes as flat as a sidewalk were coming out of his mouth.

“Yeah,” Brad admitted. “She’s great, isn’t she?”

The lights from the cozy chalets close to the shore made it easy enough for them to see each other, but Lyn wished he could truly stare at Brad. There was a meditative note in his voice, something like nostalgia.

“I really hope you don’t need me to affirm that for you, dude,” Lyn said in an easy voice. “I just met her. From what I’ve seen so far, she’s amazing,” he added quickly. “Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet.”

Brad scoffed as if he couldn’t even contemplate such an absurd scenario. “No way. She’s hot, she’s smart, she’s her own person, you know?”

And she has boatloads of money. The petty comment sat on the tip of Lyn’s tongue, but he was quick to swallow it back down. What good would saying that do? It would only upset Brad, and this vacation was, most likely, the last time they would be able to spend together as close as this. This time, Lyn promised himself, they would say proper goodbyes and part as friends.

He squeezed Brad’s shoulder. “You don’t have to convince me, man. She’s perfect for you, and you for her. Anyone looking at you two must think the same.”

That appeared to provide Brad with much-desired peace of mind, because he relaxed under Lyn’s touch. “Thanks, man. I needed that.”

“Nah, I can’t believe you,” Lyn teased him. “You’re confidence incarnate. Always have been.”

“Yeah,” Brad agreed, perking up even more. “You’re right about that. Hey, what did you think of the girls? They really went all out. I saw you talking to that chick, Gretchen, and she was like all over you.”

Brad chatted away, while Lyn tuned him out for a moment. There was comfort in this reunion of theirs; like an old familiar coat, Brad never changed. He had always tried to hook Lyn up with various girls and he never gave up.

Which meant that Brad had chosen to shut the door on their last day of college as if it hadn’t happened. That was fine, really, Lyn thought. He hadn’t minded telling Alexander to his face that he was rooming with a gay guy, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell Brad the same thing – and remind him of it.

“Is that Alexander over there?” Brad asked, pulling Lyn out of his thoughts.

It was him all right. Lyn immediately recognized the tall figure, the way he held himself, like he was too good for the rest of the universe. An unfamiliar fondness filled his heart. They had been the best of friends for four years. That would never change, either.

“I bet he’s going to score tonight,” Brad said, breathing hard through his nose.

Alexander had company, one of the young women who had sat close to him at the dinner table. She seemed to be listening avidly to something Alexander was saying, but they were standing too far apart from each other for their beach walk conversation to be of a romantic nature.

“Nope, he’s not,” Lyn said.

“How do you know?” Brad asked.

Lyn smirked. “Because he looks like he needs saving.”

He didn’t think that, but he liked the way Brad stared at him as if he was growing another head. It was a look full of appreciation, too. It was just a small lie, letting Brad believe that he had Alexander all figured out.

Also, he was a petty bastard, and since he couldn’t spoil Brad’s wedding preparations, he would opt for torturing someone else – someone with a thick hide, who could take it.

He gestured for Brad to follow him and hurried to catch up with Alexander and his companion.

“Hey, man,” he said, slapping Alexander hard on the back. “You left so quickly I thought you had abandoned me or something.”

His choice of words seemed strange to the woman trying to get Alexander’s attention. She was pretty the way all of Bella’s friends were pretty, but Lyn couldn’t say if she was prettier than most or not. The only thing that mattered was that Alexander didn’t look too interested. If he were, he’d have no trouble ‘rizzing the hell out’ of that girl, as Brad would say.

“Alexander and I--” she started in a posh accent.

“I need to go to sleep,” Alexander said abruptly.

Oh, yes, another thing that hadn’t changed. Alexander never gave a damn what people thought. He’d leave in the middle of a conversation if it no longer interested him, as seemed to be the case now.

“Okay,” the woman said, frowning. “I’ll see you around then.”

“Brad,” Lyn said while taking Alexander’s arm as if he was a child who needed to be taken home by a displeased parent, “make sure the lady gets back safely. Our diva here needs her beauty sleep.”

Brad guffawed the same way he used to, making Lyn feel overwhelmed by the power of their shared experiences. But they were no longer in school, and they were no longer so wet behind their ears they had no idea how their lives would turn out.

The slight hesitation he read on Brad’s face confused him. Could it be that Brad had wanted to talk to him about that fatal last night of college, after all?

Lyn didn’t have time to contemplate the matter. Brad graciously offered his arm to the lady. Alexander removed his arm from Lyn’s grip, shaking it off.

“Why do you have to be so obnoxious all the time?” Lyn scolded him. “Don’t you ever think it might come back to bite you in the ass?”

“No,” Alexander said matter-of-factly. “It saves me a lot of unpleasantness, actually. What were you doing with Bradley?”

“What kind of question is that?” Lyn winced at the aggressiveness in his voice. He hadn’t meant to say it like this.

“A reasonable question. He looked like he didn’t want to let you go.”

So it hadn’t been only his imagination. What was on Brad’s mind?

“Eh, he has some last-minute jitters, that sort of thing.”

“Hmm,” Alexander let out a short non-committal grunt.

“If you have something you want to say, go ahead,” Lyn egged him on.

“I’ve learned over the years that keeping things to myself is wiser,” Alexander replied.

He threw one arm over Lyn’s shoulders as they walked back to their cottage. Like Brad, he appeared to be in a sort of funk, too, also the meditative kind. Lyn had to wonder what had gotten into his old friends to cause them to act like this. Was it because of the years that had passed? Had turning thirty made them contemplate their lives and choices or something similar?

“Okay, whatever you say,” he said. “Although it isn’t like you to take the easy way out.”

“There’s always one case that proves the rule,” Alexander said in the same grave voice. “At least considering it is a sign of wisdom, don’t you think?”

Lyn didn’t know what to think if he were honest. “If you say so. I wouldn’t know.”

“Right,” Alexander said. “You’ve never chosen the easy path, either.”

“A very astute observation, Your Majesty.” Alexander had used to observe him with such keen eyes that Lyn wasn’t surprised to hear such words coming out of his mouth.

“Don’t call me that. Bradley does and when he does so it’s grating enough.”

“Ah, so he can do it, and I can’t?”

“Precisely.”

Lyn shook his head. As mercurial as ever. That was Alexander, in a nutshell.

TBC