"It was a great show. I'm glad we came." Velvet flashed her infectious grin as she spoke, and Christy smiled in pleasure.
"So am I. We never seem to hang out anymore." Two of the vodka and Cokes Christy had ordered had already been set down in front of her on the bar, and the third was in the hand of the approaching bartender. "Thanks," she shouted as he put it down, and then she pointed her thumb at Velvet and added, "Put hers on the band's tab too, yeah?" The barman nodded and took the order Velvet bellowed at him while Christy arranged the three drinks into a triangle so she could pick them all up together.
"Good music and free drinks?" Velvet shouted in her ear. "You should play gigs in Orlando more often."
Christy smiled at Velvet again in lieu of trying to make herself heard, and she started her careful journey back to the little corner of the club they'd staked out for the night, a corner she particularly liked because it was far enough from the speakers for it to be possible to hold a conversation. Sabin, Lethal and Kendrick had gotten along famously with her bandmates, and it was nice to have her friends here - the musical part of her life and the wrestling part of her life didn't often meet. Her group's set had gone well, and Sabin seemed to have enjoyed it. Christy was pleased about that, because she valued his opinion not just as a friend, but as a fellow musician.
Admittedly, she felt a little bit weird about Sabin being here with Velvet, but she was fairly sure she was hiding it well. She and Sabin had never been anything more than friends, and while it was true that she missed sharing his bed from time to time, she was happy for him. He was easygoing, warm and affectionate by nature, and so was Velvet; they suited each other, and they made a great couple.
When Sabin and Velvet had started dating, Christy had wondered briefly whether it would have any impact on the situation between herself and Shelley, but her concern had been unfounded. He hadn't taken Sabin's removal as an opportunity to insert himself further into her life, but he hadn't pulled away from her either. It had raised the question in Christy's mind of how she'd fill her time when he got a girlfriend too, but she figured she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. Ruining whatever time they had left by fretting over it would have been silly.
Sabin grinned in unsympathetic amusement at Kendrick's tale of laptop-related woe. Kendrick loved his laptop, but Red's daughter had broken the mousepad several months previously, and a recent accident involving a toilet and his USB mini mouse had dramatically affected his ability to browse disreputable porn websites while he was on the road. Fortunately, Sabin reflected, he had a similar mouse packed into a side pocket of his bag back at the hotel. He rarely used it, and if giving it to Kendrick meant the latter was too busy whacking off to inflict detailed conversations about his disturbing fetishes on anyone unwise enough to stand next to him for more than five seconds, then Sabin was all in favour of generosity.
"I've got a mouse," he began as Christy appeared at his side, proffering drinks to Kendrick and Lethal.
"Does he have a house?" Christy interrupted blithely.
Sabin stared as he ransacked his mental filing system, trying to find the reference, and then he grinned at the lame joke. He'd always liked Christy's whimsical and unpredictable sense of humour. "No. Poor Gerald's getting on a bit too, but he's not too bad, as rodents go."
Christy smiled, a lock of hair falling across her face as they made eye contact, and for just a moment, and for reasons he didn't understand, Sabin fervently wished they were anywhere but here. Christy's smile froze, and she hurriedly looked away. Nothing happened, but somehow Sabin's world wasn't the same.
"Did I already smoke that joint I stashed in my bag and somehow forget about it?" Kendrick asked. "I'm so confused right now. Who the fuck is Gerald?"
"Hey guys!" Velvet handed Sabin a beer as she rejoined the group. "Did I miss anything?"
Sabin wrapped an arm around Velvet and pulled her close, pressing an overenthusiastic kiss to her temple. "Just Spanky confessing to waterboarding his mouse and a bad Pink Floyd joke." He felt every bit as guilty as if he'd cheated on her, and that was both ridiculous and inexplicable. The sight of Christy looking at the ground and trying to blend into the background made it a hundred times worse, but she masked her discomfort almost immediately, asking Lethal what he thought of her band's set.
As he clung to Velvet possessively, Sabin tried his best to listen to her when she started talking to him, but his mind was a million miles away, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He'd known when he'd started seeing Velvet that he was going to miss Christy; he'd grown fond of her, and some of their more intimate moments were among his most cherished memories. But he didn't much like being single. Velvet's interest in him had really driven that home, and he and Christy would never be anything more than friends.
Reluctant though he had been to give Christy up, he had craved meaning as much to someone as he did to Velvet, and allowing her to mean that much to him in return. The whole thing with he and Shelley sharing Christy had been glorious, but he'd missed being in love, and his growing feelings for Velvet filled a void whose existence he'd been denying to himself for far too long. And they were genuine feelings - he wasn't using Velvet for comfort or convenience, he cared deeply for her and loved being with her. Besides, this left the road open for Christy and Shelley.
After a little while, Velvet started bickering with Kendrick, and Lethal ended up being pulled in to play referee. Sabin watched proudly as his girlfriend deftly turned away every barb Kendrick could throw at her, but in the corner of his eye he could see Christy staring blankly into space. Edging closer, he brushed his fingers against her elbow and discreetly asked, "Are you okay?"
Startled back to reality, Christy instinctively jerked her arm away and Sabin regretfully withdrew his hand. She gave him a weak smile in mute apology. "Yeah, I just..." She sighed, rubbing absently at the spot where Sabin had touched her. "I wish Alex was here."
Sabin nodded, keeping his expression carefully schooled, but he was surprised and dismayed at how much that hurt. He glanced at Velvet and the boys to be sure they weren't paying attention, but they were engrossed in a heated debate on the ethics of getting cats drunk. "You're good for him, you know." It was true; Shelley would always have questionable habits, but he'd been indulging them a lot less since he and Christy had become close.
Christy's smile turned wry. "I hope so." Sabin couldn't stand how forlorn she sounded, but once again she quickly covered her vulnerability. She looked upbeat and perky, and anyone who wasn't as familiar with her as Sabin wouldn't have been able to tell how empty her usually expressive eyes were.
Although he knew he was being cowardly and running away from her, Sabin drained the rest of his beer and excused himself to the bar. He didn't make much effort to attract the bartender's attention; he was in no particular rush to get back. He leaned back against the bar and watched Christy from across the room, and he watched Velvet, and after a minute or two he took his cellphone from his pocket and sent a hurried text message.
Call Christy
Putting his phone away again, Sabin turned back to the bar and ordered five bottles of beer. As an afterthought, he ordered a shot of whiskey too, and he downed it before he gathered up the rest of the drinks and made his way back to the others. Barely five minutes passed before Christy pulled out her phone, breaking into a grin when she looked at the screen and retreating across the club towards the door as she answered the call.
"Hey, Alex! Hang on, I'm just going outside so I can hear you. Yeah, the gig went pretty good..."
Ignoring the jealousy roiling in the pit of his stomach, Sabin slipped his arm around Velvet's waist.