Thanks For The Memories
Dorcas is thawing the turkey at the crack of dawn for Thanksgiving dinner tonight.
She’s studying while this happens, Regulus just now getting home. As he is sitting in the car, a tall white-haired man is standing in front of the door, dressed in all camouflage.
He’s knocking until Dorcas answers, “Hello, dear.” He nods, “This is where Rosy lives, correct?”
“Rosy?”
“Rosier? Evan, I mean,” he corrects himself, standing awfully straight.
Dorcas nods, “He’s probably upstairs.”
“Thank you.” He walks through the door, his wife and daughter behind him.
Regulus watches from his car, wanting to avoid Dorcas so she doesn’t put him to work in the kitchen.
Dorcas hugs Pandora, “Dora, I’ve missed you.”
“Hello!” She smiles, holding a bottle of wine under her coat.
“Come in, come in.”
Regulus sneaks through the back door, crashing on his bed as soon as he gets to his room.
Meanwhile, Evan is being woken up by his father, Axel.
He's shouting, pulling Evan out of bed. When the noise wakes Barty up, he comes downstairs to talk to Pandora. But upon seeing him, he laughs at Evan.
Who is head to toe in camo with eye black on his cheeks.
Who knew the model could be so. . . country?
Barty is weirdly obsessed with this, taking a picture on his phone while Evan is flipping him off behind his fathers back.
Axel Rosier waves everybody goodbye while Evan follows him, jokingly pretending to choke himself to get out of this.
Once the door shuts, the three of them turn back to one another before Barty heads upstairs, telling Dorcas he'll be right back before sneaking out of the house, neither of the girls paying attention.
Macdonald finds him as he’s shutting the locker door, “Crouch, we are working with a temp attending today, and thank you for volunteering to come in. Saves me from having to choose an intern to torture.”
“Happy to be tortured.” He winks, Mary scoffing and making a face.
“The good thing is that Thanksgiving is a perfect day.”
“Why's that?” Barty asks, confused.
Sirius, also happening to be on the elevator, agrees, “People get drunk and stupid on Thanksgiving.”
“So there are lots and lots of surgeries.” Macdonald smiles.
James has one surgery before he is heading to Regulus’ house to help with cooking.
Crouch gets a brain dead patient who suddenly fell out of his bed. He is working on repairing the laceration on his head when the man opens his eyes.
Just opens them and stares right at Barty.
He jumps backwards, legitimately being scared.
Barty goes to tell Macdonald, who is currently on a case in trauma room three. “My P.V.S case, he opened his eyes, he looked right at me.”
The nurses laugh, Mary shedding the gloves on her hand, “He wasn’t looking at you.”
“He was.”
“Alright, Crouch, get a C.T. then find me again.”
Mary is heading into the O.R. leaving the trauma room empty for the next patient.
Remus is working on getting his gloves on when Sirius comes up behind him and ties the gown.
“Oh, thanks.” He says, tired.
“You look hungover.”
“Fuck off,” Remus rolls his eyes, “I didn’t get home till four and I get paged in every year on Thanksgiving because people don’t know how to cook a turkey without burning their flesh off, so please give me a break.”
Sirius works on the tie around the waist while he says, “Alright, alright. Anyways, are you coming to Thanksgiving dinner tonight?”
“James invited me.” Remus acknowledges.
“Are you coming though?”
Remus shrugs, “I’ll go if I can escape the hospital. Are you?”
“Probably.”
“Maybe I’ll see you there, Black.” Remus says, walking away staggeringly.
〚*〛
Marlene is the first one there. She comes through the kitchen, noticing that there is nobody other than some vaguely recognizable blonde girl, and an older, similarly looking one there.
“Big turnout, huh?” She jokes.
Dorcas rolls her eyes, “Regulus is sleeping, fucking-”
“Language.” The older woman says, appalled.
“-Barty went to the hospital, and Evan’s dad stole him to take him hunting.”
Marlene is wearing a pantsuit, a maroon one. Her hair is curled, clips to pull it back out of her face on the side of her head.
Dorcas drags her into the other room, closing the door behind her.
“And Evan’s parents won’t even let me say cuss words!”
Marlene laughs, her hands finding Dorcas’ face and pulling her in, not bothering to say anything else before their mouths connect.
Dorcas pulls back, “This does make me feel better.”
Marlene pushes her against the wall, both of them completely crazed for a moment before Dorcas stops.
“Do you smell that?”
Marlene shakes her head, kissing down her neck.
Dorcas pushes her away, “Something is burning.”
Marlene straightens out her hair before joining everyone in the kitchen.
〚*〛
James is finally scrubbing out when Barty comes up him, chart in hand.
He shoves it forwards, “Potter, I need a consult.”
“Crouch, I need to go home.” Barty doesn’t laugh, James makes a face, “Alright, it was a joke, goodness, what do we have?”
“Holden McKee. P.V.S, sixteen years.”
James squints at the chart, drying his hands, “Well, there’s no bleed, there’s no mass, no fracture. He can be discharged.”
“He opened his eyes when I was examining him.”
“That’s normal.” James shrugs.
“He was looking at me.”
He shakes his head in disbelief, “He was not looking at you, Crouch.”
“He was.”
God, he’s persistent.
“The C.T. report says he wasn’t.”
Barty crosses his arms, “Are you really going to argue with what I know I saw?”
“No, Crouch, I don’t want to argue with you.” James says, handing the chart back. He gets about six steps away before turning and sighing.
He puts a hand on his hip, “He really looked at you?”
Barty smirks.
〚*〛
“Rosy, come on, tell me about work.” His dad claps him on the back, “Tell me about life in the city.”
Evan sighs, “I like it.”
“Well, your sister came home. I thought that was smart, but you have always been a little more extreme.”
Evan rolls his eyes, “You’ve got to get over the modeling thing.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. I’m trying to bond with you as best I can. It’s hard when you live your life so obscurely.”
“Oh my god, Dad, I pose in my fucking underwear for money. I’m making more than you!”
His father turns around, fist full of Evan’s shirt, pointing, “Do not swear and do not use the name in vain, son.”
“I’m going home,” Evan pulls out of his grip.
His dad knocks him in the face, Evan taking the brunt of it with his eye.
Evan would think about swinging again if his dad didn’t carry a weapon.
He probably wouldn’t even put it past him to do anything in his power to prove to Evan that he is in charge.
〚*〛
Dora tilts her head at Dorcas, “You’ve never made a Thanksgiving dinner before, have you?”
Dorcas shrugs, “I know how to cook.”
Marlene is laughing while Mama Rosier starts taking over, “Dorcas, sweetheart, why don’t you get me a basting brush and a clove of garlic.”
She does.
“Dora, Marlene, you two go ahead and get the table all fixed up.”
It’s actually like three tables from the amount of people that were invited.
〚*〛
James is checking his pupils, “There’s no sustained visual pursuit, you know, you midget have just seen him respond to some sort of stimuli. He wasn't looking at you, sorry.”
Barty is pointing, “He just did it again.”
“Mr. McKee? Can you follow the light?” No movement, “Can you hold up two fingers?” Not an inch.
Barty breathes out, “Nevermind, I-”
James sees it. “Keep talking. Walk over here.”
“Holden?” Barty says, repeating himself, “Holden. Holden.”
“It’s you. He’s tracking you. He’s following your voice.”
The new scans tell a better story, James hangs them up, “There’s no mention of brain atrophy.”
“Why?”
“He’s not P.V.S., he is minimally conscious.”
Sixteen years and nobody noticed.
Sixteen birthdays, sixteen Christmases, sixteen New Years, and nobody realized he was there all along.
Frozen in time.
Barty looks at James, “So, how do we wake him up?”
All they have to do is give him some medicine to give Holden’s brain one last big push to be fully awake.
His family—if you can still call them that after the wife remarried and is pregnant, while the son of Holden seems checked out—cannot believe this.
James tries to prepare them, “Most patients in this situation have no idea how much time has passed.”
In fact, the wife just shakes her head, “I can’t be here when he wakes up. He can’t see me like this.”
“Mrs. Leonard?” Barty says, trying to stop her.
She is holding onto her son's arm for comfort, “Holden is going to wake up and find out we didn’t wait for him.”
The new husband buts in, “It took her a long time to move on.”
〚*〛
Evan notices a voicemail from Dorcas.
Evan, please tell me you are coming home soon. You’re mother is going all Gordon Ramsey in the kitchen, and I can’t even drink wine right now because she actually scares me.
Well, still better than his day.
His father is making him use the tool to make the sounds to attract turkeys near them.
“Tell me about the hospital.”
Seeing as he has no other choice, Evan begins, “The other day I assisted on a cardiac-”
“You assisted?” Axel interrupts.
“Yeah. Anyways it was a-”
“What do you mean assisted? You didn’t even perform the surgery?”
“I’m an intern, Dad, I’m still learning.”
“What the hell was medical school for if not learning?”
“You don’t go straight from medical school to a surgeon, you know that right?” Evan blinks, eye burning.
His father rolls his eyes, “You should’ve stayed at home.”
“So I could make my life revolve around the church just like you?”
“Evan Rosier.” He stares, “I don’t know where I went wrong with you but I am disappointed.”
“I guess we both are then.”
They sit in silence.
〚*〛
Barty watches his patient wake up and have nobody there to greet him.
James and him explain everything, including having to break the news of how long he’s been out.
When they leave, James and Barty are both clearly upset.
James looks at him for a moment, “I’ll see you at the house, okay?”
Barty nods, still having a few things to do before he goes.
〚*〛
“Smaller pieces, Dora.” Her mother tells her, looking over her shoulder as she chops the vegetables.
James arrives first, waving at the people there. Rosier's mother tries to get him to come into the kitchen and help out, he apologizes and walks up the stairs to Regulus’ room.
Once he closes the door, James takes off his shoes and socks, his shirt and his slacks, wearing only his boxers.
He moves around so much when he is sleeping or napping that wearing anything makes him hot and sweaty.
Part of the reason why James likes how cold Regulus’ skin seems to be.
Regulus must be exhausted because he’s softly snoring from where he lays on his side. James curls up behind him, glad to just be here.
Not at the hospital with the patients that are so sad he wants to cry for them.
He’s not there.
He’s here.
Folded in Regulus’ blankets, thinking about how excited he is for their date tomorrow night.
He wonders if his patient is spending Thanksgiving alone, or if his family ever came back for him.
James can’t sleep because it’s barely eleven in the morning and he had a full night of rest, which means he is sitting in the dark room with his thoughts.
If Regulus were awake, he’d ask if he would wait sixteen years for him.
And if Regulus felt the need to ask him, James would tell him yes, he would wait sixteen years for him.
He would wait forever.
〚*〛
Evan tries to shoot the turkey and misses. For doing this one a year, he guessed as much.
His father is annoyed, “You know what? Let’s just pack it up and go home.”
“You drove us all the way out here to not shoot a turkey?” Evan scoffs, “Why did we even come?”
“I haven’t seen you in almost six months, Evan, why do you think I came?”
He rolls his eyes, “You’re right. Let’s just go.”
When Evan gets in the car, he sees his reflection in the side mirror, a bruise already forming on his half-swollen eye.
He texts their house group chat that he is on his way home when Barty replies, me too, from the hospital, shoving his phone in his pocket as he's making his way towards the exit.
Barty passes by Macdonald on his way out, “You’re still here?”
Mary nods, “I am.”
“No Thanksgiving plans for you?”
“Nope.” She says, fidgeting in her chair. “Get out of here Crouch, before long you’re going to get sucked into another case.”
Barty has a moment, “Well, Dorcas is throwing this whole Thanksgiving thing at our house. Open invite. You should come. Dinner is at seven.”
Mary looks at her intern, “Thank you, Barty, now get outta here.”
〚*〛
People have begun showing up at the house, Sirius there after he stopped by to see his father.
He goes upstairs, opening the door and flipping the light on, waking his brother up.
Oh. And James is in bed too.
He walks over to the end of it and sits down, “Rosier’s mother just told me getting tattooed is against the word of the lord.”
“Sirius!” Regulus whines, pulling the blanket over his head, “I was sleeping.”
Sirius looks at the two of them, “As absolutely disgusted as I was, this is definitely growing on me.”
James is smiling, watching as Regulus launches a pillow at his brother.
Sirius doesn’t block it fast enough.
“I’m going to strangle you with this.” He says, reeling from the impact against his face.
“I’d like to see you try.” Regulus snaps, his head under the blanket.
Sirius looks at James, “Does he talk to you like this too?”
Regulus sits up, head poking out of the blankets and looking at James next to him, eyes thin, “Do not answer that.”
James, the idiot, only looks at him, “You look really pretty.”
Sirius pretends to gag, “And just like that, I’m out of here.”
“Bye, Sirius!” James waves, just before the door is slammed.
Regulus flops back on the pillow, screaming, “Sirius, you forgot to turn off the light!”
James gets up and turns it off, skipping back into bed, this time laying on top of Regulus, looking down at him.
“Hi, Reg.”
He yawns, “Hi, James.” He moves his fingers through his hair, “How was your surgery?”
He licks his lips, “Went well.” He debated telling Regulus about his last second patient before deciding he didn’t want to talk about it at all.
“What time is it?”
“Six-ten.” James answers, looking at the clock on his opposite side.
He frowns, “We could just hide out here.”
“What? No, I love Thanksgiving.” James says, “We have to.”
Regulus sighs, “Then, I need to shower.”
“Okay, should I wait for you?”
He shakes his head, “No, I’m sure you’re dying to talk to Sirius downstairs.”
James kisses him, gently, "You know me so well."
〚*〛
Barty is sneaking wine in the study of the house when James passes by, feeling the need to ask, “Are you good, Crouch?”
“Our patient died.”
Oh.
“What happened?”
“Coded, apparently.” Crouch shrugs, “I went to check on him after I clocked out and everything but he was gone.”
Which brings James right back to his original question, “Are you okay?”
“Just sucks.”
He can agree with that.
〚*〛
Remus is sitting on the couch, watching a football game by himself.
Lily joins him.
She leans over, “I just asked Mrs. Rosier was to find a glass of wine and she looked me up and down and then said no.”
Remus has an upside down smile on his face, “She’s certainly something.”
Sirius climbs over the back of the couch and sits awfully close to Remus, James squeezing in next to Sirius, one of his legs halfway on top of his friend's thigh.
Sirius is wearing a short sleeved collared shirt, which makes it hard for Remus to not stare at the tats on his arms.
Of course, Sirius seems to notice anyways, “You have any?”
“Two.”
“Really, where are they?”
Remus bites his lip, “Well, one on my ribs with my mothers handwriting. The second you can only see when I drop my trousers, so. . .”
Lily snorts, “I think he wants to see.”
Sirius rolls his eyes, “Shut up, ginger. I do not.”
Remus teases him, enjoying this immensely, “Sure about that, you’re getting a little defensive?”
“I don’t want to see what’s in your pants.” Sirius stands up, “In fact, I would rather see what’s in James’ pants.”
“You already have.” James adds.
Sirius turns to him, “Wait what?”
Lily throws her head back laughing, “I totally forgot about that!”
Sirius suddenly seems to remember, an expression of horror filling his face, “Oh no—we don’t have to-”
Remus is lost, “Someone fill me in.”
Usually he wouldn’t care but the way Sirius is trying to keep it so hidden is egging him on.
Lily is the one who spills, “After college graduation, James got so trashed that he stripped naked in Sirius’ bed thinking it was his own. I heard all about it the next day.”
“Alright, fuck you guys.”
From the kitchen, they hear, "Language!"
James grabs his hand, “Come on, we were just kidding.”
“Ha. Ha.” He deadpans, “You’re so funny.”
〚*〛
Dorcas is bringing the turkey to the table, asking Pandora, “Should we wait for your dad and Evan?”
Mrs. Rosier shakes her head, “They got a flat tire about an hour ago so it might be a while.”
Dorcas nods, everybody sitting at the table. Well, everybody despite two empty spots for Evan and his dad.
Dorcas, Pandora, Mrs. Rosier, Barty, Marlene, James, Regulus, Sirius, Remus, Lily, and Mary.
They’re all sitting there, James cutting the turkey for everyone.
Regulus watches in awe, which Barty kicks him under the table for.
Regulus is glad to have a friend that reminds him when he is being too pathetic for his own good.
Despite Mrs. Rosier’s unnecessary comments and rules, her food is pretty damn delicious.
Barty is talking to Mary, the whole group breaking into multiple side-conversations. “How was your last surgery?”
She nods, chewing a piece of bread before speaking, “Some idiot swallowed a wishbone whole, can you believe that?”
Barty wishes he stayed at the hospital a little longer now.
Halfway through dinner, the door opens and Evan and his dad walk in.
They’re not in a good mood when they step inside. The dining room has been stretched to the living room because so many of them are there, which is unfortunate because now everyone can see the giant bruise on Evan’s eye.
A bruise that wasn’t there before.
Barty scans Axel’s hand to notice his knuckles are red.
Axel is smiling, “We are going to clean up before dinner.”
Barty pushes out of his chair, stomping over to find Evan upstairs.
Everyone watches, Regulus’ eyes wide.
Pandora is staring at her mom.
Regulus stands up, James concerned, “Where are you going?”
“To make sure Barty doesn’t kill him,” Regulus drops his napkin in his chair, leaving.
Up the stairs, Barty grabs Axel Rosier by the collar and slams him against the wall. Angry.
Evan flinches back, never seeing Barty in this light.
He doesn’t even stop him, not at first.
It’s not until Barty starts screaming that anyone intervenes.
“You think you’re so fucking tough?” Barty pulls him forward before slamming him back into the wall. “You pathetic, son-”
Regulus pulls Barty away from him, “Stop it.”
Barty is all physical now, trying to get out of his grasp. Even though Mr. Rosier is a big man, Barty is much stronger than him, pinning him to the wall was nothing.
He’s lucky that he got pulled back by Regulus, if not, he might by missing some teeth by now.
Evan finally talks, “Dad, I think you should go.”
“Don’t expect me back anytime soon.” He says, looking at his son disgracefully. As he trudged down the stairs and back into the eyes of the party, he shouts at his wife and daughter, “We’re leaving, girls.”
Pandora gives a sad look to Dorcas before she disappears out the door.
Sirius is the first to break the silence downstairs, “Can we drink now?”
Upstairs, Barty, Evan, and Regulus are staring at one another.
Evan then rips his eyes towards the ground, “I’m going to shower.”
“Evan-”
The door is shut.
Barty and Regulus are left alone.
〚*〛
Most of the guests leave. Remus and Lily, heading to the bar, jokingly to hear more Sirius stories, Mary went home, Dorcas disappeared to her room and nobody knows where exactly Marlene had gone.
James is in the kitchen doing the dishes while Sirius is sitting on the couch, drinking and watching television.
Barty has decided that waiting in Evan’s bedroom is what he is going to do, so Regulus left him to go find James.
Of course, he’s cleaning up.
“You don’t have to do that, James, I could’ve-”
“No, it’s fine.” James shakes his head, “I’m almost done. Is Evan okay?”
“If you call locking yourself in the bathroom okay, then yes.” Regulus says, leaning against the counter.
James finishes washing the dishes and loads them into the dishwasher—or what will fit in the dishwasher, anyways.
“Everyone left except for Sirius.” James tells him.
“Why is he still here?” Regulus sulks away, shrugging James off when he shouts, “Be nice!”
Regulus sits down on the couch, taking the bottle from the table in front of them.
While Regulus drinks, Sirius talks, “Does this feel like home or what?”
Regulus’ face contorts, “Except neither of us were hit and less yelling occurred.”
“Definitely less.” Sirius agrees, “But you know, all in all, one of the better Thanksgiving’s I’ve been to.”
“Same.”
This is probably the longest time they've gone without arguing since the reappearance in each other's life.
Sirius takes the bottle from his hand, ditching the glass, “I saw Dad today.”
“You realize you just called him Dad right?” Regulus says, eyes wide.
“Doesn’t count if I’m drunk.” He shrugs, laughing.
“How was he?”
Sirius slouched a little more, “Batshit crazy.”
“Sounds about right.”
“Unfortunately.” He nods.
It’s a rare moment where the two of them aren’t fighting.
Sirius is on the edge of plastered, the lightweight he is, slurring his words when he says, “You know, I never thought I’d see you again.”
“Me either.”
“Can I ask you something? Without you getting mad.” Sirius blurts out.
Regulus shrugs, “Depends," he gets mad easily.
Sirius takes a deep breath, watching someone score a touchdown on the screen in front of them. “How come you never tried to call me, after the letter?”
“What are you talking about, Sirius?” Regulus rubs his eyes, too tired to guess.
“I left you that letter. Explained why I had to leave the way I did. It was very heartfelt and I left my number in it for you to call me, so I always waited. Answered every random number. Tried to call you all the time but you never picked up.”
Regulus stares at his brother, “I never got a letter.”
“I left it for you, under your pillow the night I got out.”
“You didn’t-” he trails off. He never saw it, housekeeping came in to clean his room and disposed of it before Regulus could find it.
And his mother made them all change their numbers, wanting no contact with the estranged member of their family.
Regulus leans his head against the couch, “I just thought you didn’t care.”
“You’re my little brother, Reggie, of course I care.”
Regulus wipes his face before Sirius can realize how emotional he is.
He takes at least five minutes to process that.
Regulus isn’t quite sure what to say next, and then he just asks, “Are you happy?”
Sirius looks away for a second, “I think I’m getting there. You?”
“For the most part.” He lets out a deep breath, “Sirius?”
“Hm?”
“Where were you? After college, how come you didn’t find me then?” Regulus asks.
It takes not even a second for Sirius to answer. “I thought you didn’t want to be found, so I joined the army. I was a trauma surgeon for years, and did some tours.”
Regulus’ mind goes to the worst case scenario, as usual. Because what if Sirius got badly injured, or he died or something and he would’ve thought Regulus hated him the whole time.
“Why did you quit?”
Sirius looks at his hands, “My friends were dying and I was lonely. James was kind of the only person who really knew me, besides you, and I needed to come back and have him remind me who I was.”
Great, now Regulus feels even shittier for stealing all of James’ free time.
“Has he?”
“More than anyone else.”
His brother still is lonely, he can tell.
Regulus may not be able to voice to his brother that he cares about him—definitely not be able to say that he loves him—but he can try.
“We could have a weekly dinner.” He offers. “You and me. . . or James if you want, I don’t know.”
Sirius nods, “That would be nice, yeah.”
Regulus takes a drink of the bottle, passing it back to his brother. “If Papa dies are you going to come to the funeral?”
“If you ask me to, yeah.”
“I’m asking you.”
“He’s still alive, Regulus.”
He nods, “I don’t want to have to be near my family all alone.”
My family.
Sirius scoffs, “They’re also my family, even if they disown me.”
“You’re arguing that you want to be in this family? Are you serious?”
“Yes, I am Sirius.”
Regulus puts his palm over his face, not able to contain his laughter, “You’re so fucking annoying. That joke wasn’t funny when we were five and it’s not now.”
Sirius rolls his eyes. “It’s not funny, it’s hilarious.”
〚*〛
Evan walks into his room, a towel around his waist, noticing Barty who is laying on his bed.
“Barty,” he groans, "get out."
“Evan,” he stands up, “finally, I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Get out.” He repeats.
“Jesus, he did a number on you.” Barty stares at his face, “I should’ve kicked his ass.”
Evan keeps his towel up with one hand while Barty gets pushed away by the other.
“Barty, at least give me a moment to change.”
“Fine,” he rolls his eyes and faces the door.
Much to Evan’s surprise, he doesn’t attempt to peek.
Once fully clothed, Barty steps back up to Evan, asking, “Does that happen a lot?”
“Started when I was in high school.” Evan lays on the bed, Barty opting to sit and lean against the headboard.
He starts moving his hands through Evan’s hair, his eyes going shut at the sudden touch.
Barty is never this gentle, Evan isn’t sure how to react right now.
“I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve that.”
“I’m fine.” Evan assured him. “Really, you don’t have to worry about me.”
Barty is staring down at him shamelessly, especially since Evan isn’t looking back.
“My dad did it too.” Barty tells him, “It’s not something that you talk about, y’know?”
Evan nods, “I just—I hate him because it didn’t used to be like this.”
“I know,” Barty says, his other hand patting the tear off of Evan’s face. “I know.”
“I’m sorry,” he covers his face with his hands, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Nothing,” Barty tells him, “not a thing. The people who swallow wishbones whole, they have things wrong with them. We all have shitty families, that’s why we are surgeons. Well most of us. . . I am sure James is perfect and became a surgeon because he wants to save lives.”
Evan laughs, weakly, “Why do you hate James so much?”
“I have a thing for Regulus.” He says, easily, like it isn’t a secret at all.
“Oh,” Evan opens his eyes, looking up at him, “You do?”
“You can’t be homophobic to me if you’re not also going to be it to them.” Barty says, leaning his head down to get his point across.
“I’m not being—no, look, I just. . . that surprised me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, usually people who have things for other people don’t sleep with different people.”
Barty tilts an eyebrow up, “You’ve never heard the saying to get over someone, you got to get under someone else?”
“I have.”
“Although for the record, in my case I’m getting over Regulus by getting over other people.”
Evan rolls his eyes, “Ew, Barty.”
“All I am saying is that if you have any available model friends, let me know.” He winks.
Evan sits up, “Get out,” he points to the door, laughing.
“Alright, I’m going.” He raises his hands. Once he made Evan smile, he felt better about him being alone.
He is going to be okay. Barty knows it.
As he is stepping out of the doorway, Evan says one last thing, “Thank you.”
Barty lifts a hand, “Don’t mention it.”