The Luckiest by Mila McWarren Read Free Book Online

Nik’s body language: Nik is nervous. “Ah, no, that wasn’t a great breakup—I’m on my own for a little bit.”
    That part of the story is new, so Aaron offers silent thanks for Stephanie in interrogation mode and takes another bite of pasta while he waits for her to do her job and drag the rest of the story out of Nik. Is it just him, or is Nik really bad at breaking up? Because that would explain so much.
    “Oh, I’m so sorry! You always looked very happy together. What happened?” He barely keeps from scoffing into his glass of wine; if by “very happy” you mean “attached to each other at the face,” then sure, they had seemed delighted to be together. For most of their sophomore and junior years of college, so many of Alex’s parties and dinners had included the dubious thrill of seeing his ex hanging all over somebody else. It had sucked. It still sucked when he thought about it, even though the worst was last summer, when Nik had been in Dallas with Ollie most of the time. It was hard to see Nik, sure, but that didn’t mean Aaron didn’t miss him when he wasn’t around.
    Aaron turns to Nik; he wants to watch him while he answers this question. Nik is looking into his wine, swirling the liquid so that it almost reaches the lip of the glass. His face is passive, expressionless, even as he sighs. When he finally answers it is slow, deliberate. “I don’t—it was never quite right. I think we both really tried—we were good for each other. Ollie is the kindest person I know. But when one of you is hung up on somebody else it’s never going to work, and eventually you get tired of trying to force it.”
    Stephanie coos behind him, “Oh, Nik, I’m so sorry! That’s terrible.”
    Nik turns, gives her a wry smile and says, “Thanks, but we really are both better off.” His eyes flick over to Aaron’s and the smile fades and they’re left just staring at each other.
    “There was somebody else?” he hears his own voice say quietly.
    Nik looks at him for a long beat before he angles his body toward him and responds in a hush. “Well, yeah. It sucked, for both of us, but I think we’re both right where we need to be.” Nik’s smile is tentative, strained, and Aaron can’t stop looking at him.
    Stephanie, of course, has apparently missed this altogether and has been working her way through another bite of olive oil and rosemary pasta. “And graduate school is next for you too, I heard? Where are you going to be?”
    Nik glances at Aaron. His smile falters before he says, “Well, actually, I’m going to—”
    Alex yells, “OKAY! STATUS REPORTS!” Chat time is over, and this is going to be a working dinner.
    There’s not much to tell this early in the game—he and Stephanie give their report from the beach this morn­ing and Stephanie goes on and on about the neighborhood and how difficult the homeowners’ association was to wrangle until Aaron pokes her in the side. Tu announces that they’ve reached the end of acting like idiots and pretending there isn’t a photographer in the house, and that he will start casual snaps tomorrow in preparation for Alex’s formal portraits on Thursday morning; everybody bitches about having to stay “on” while they’re trying to get things ready until Alex guilts them into submission. Nik says something quick about the music planning getting underway, and he and Jasmine share a nod, and then Mia and Nicole talk about the menu again and he has to pay attention to that, to press his point about the cake before the kitchen schedule turns into an absolute nightmare.
    The conversation devolves again, with everyone newly focused on the week’s tasks. During his argument with Mia and Nicole about plating, Aaron glances over and sees Alex and David, leaning back in their chairs and presiding over their happy minions, and shares a smile with Alex. People get up and move around to be closer to somebody they have to talk to. Jasmine and Stephanie clear