The Thorne at My Side

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 2 9

What is this, an intervention?

AUSTIN

I open the door to my apartment to find Elle and Felix standing at the island waiting for me. They are both giving me looks that make this feel like this is an intervention.

Or that my fly is down.

I check quickly and it isn’t so this might be serious.

“Thorney, sit down,” Felix says and he pulls out one of the counter stools for me. I walk over and sit between them after hanging up my coat.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re concerned about you,” Elle says.

Intervention. Nailed it.

“Why? I’m fine,” I say and I reach down to pick up Brinkley. He glares at me as I try to situate him in my lap so I let him pounce to the floor instead of risking a left hook.

“You’re not fine,” Felix says and then he pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket.

“You prepared a fucking statement for this?” I chastise.

“I have things to say!” He yells as Elle hollers “Let him speak!”

“Fine, go ahead, let’s hear it,” I say as I cross my arms and settle in. This is going to be ridiculous.

“Austin, my dear Thorney,” I roll my eyes, “I’m here tonight to tell you that I am concerned about you. We have been friends for a long time and I have never seen you so lost.”

I look between him and Elle. Felix is focused on his speech and Elle is nodding in encouragement.

“We used to enjoy the finer things in life together, beers on the sofa while watching a game, rock climbing so we’re fit as fuck, inviting girls into VIP sections,” Elle rolls her eyes but I smirk, “and trying to outperform the other in any competition we could think of.”

He takes a break and looks at me dead in the eyes. He’s taking this so seriously I try really hard to contain my smirk.

“C’mon man! Don’t laugh! I’m serious,” he looks at Elle, “He’s laughing at me!”

“Finish your words, he’s listening, he’s in denial.”

“I am not,” I protest but she just raises an eyebrow at me.

Point taken.

“Okay, where was I, oh yeah,” Felix regroups, “in the last two months the Thorney I have come to know and love has been gone. You’ve been moody and dismissive and have been working out way too much.”

“Can you really work out too much?” I ask as I flex my bicep and kiss it. Okay, I can see it, I’m being a jerk.

“Austin, seriously, what is the matter with you?” Elle complains. “You’ve been off since the fall. It got worse before Christmas, and even worse after all that AI Media bad story stuff at New Year’s. I thought it would get better when you finally quit being a corporate monkey jumping around for Dad. Instead you’ve been working out, taking sad walks around the city, or spending your time holed up in your room.”

Elle throws her hands up in the air in exasperation.

She’s not wrong.

I expected my mood to lift after I left too.

But it hasn’t. The cold has settled into the city and my heart.

Everyday I wake up without a response from Maggie it freezes a little more. I feel hollow without her in my life. But I’m not about to admit how low I actually am to these two after they organized this little ambush.

“Why is it so bad that I’m working out so much?” I ask instead to deflect from the numbness inside.

“Well, it’s not bad exactly, it's just not, like, mentally healthy. You’re borderline obsessed with it. I’m the professional athlete in the room and I think you’re training more than I am.”

“It feels like you’re avoiding something,” Elle says gently. “And,” she glances at Felix who nods, “you haven’t mentioned your girl recently.”

“What girl?” I ask as my foot slides off the bar under the stool.

“Maggie,” Felix says with a smile. And I don’t miss the eyes Elle shoots to him and then to me. She’s going to be pissed I told him her name before I told her.

“I don’t know what to tell you guys.” I admit. Even if a part of me really wants to tell them everything. And, it doesn’t matter anyway.

She’s gone. I missed my chance. It’s been almost a month since my message to her and no matter how hopeless the outlook is, I can’t let go of her yet.

“Well, I said my piece,” Felix says as he folds his paper back up. “I’ll only add that you’ll be joining me and the boys for our All Star break trip in two weeks. Your attendance is mandatory. I’m fuckin’ pumped. Puerto Rico, here we come!”

◆◆◆

"Don't forget to reapply!" Felix says with a smack to my back. Sunscreen bottles start flying between the group as we all lather up again. Five dudes with little else to do besides swim, play pickleball, and try to set up ping pong ball trick shots throughout the house.

Our triumphant moment was when one bounced off the ceiling fan, into a funnel and then down into the cup. When it dropped in we all stood in silence for a beat and then erupted in whoops and hollers like we'd scored a game seven, overtime winner.

Not that I know what that feels like, but the other guys do.

There were hugs and cheers and I spied Felix wipe a tear from his eye.

It's been three days of these kinds of shenanigans.

Tonight is our last night and Felix has booked us a private room at a restaurant in town. It's Valentine's Day too, so of course, he has bags of cheap party supplies, decorations, and wearables for us. One thing about Felix is he is a sucker for a theme. He loads up on cheesy party supplies and makes sure anyone and everyone feels the experience from all aspects.

"Any excuse to celebrate right?" He jokes as he slides a glitter heart necklace over my head.

"Did you invite any girls to this dinner? Or is it just going to be five dudes celebrating Valentine's Day together?" Duncan Paisley, affectionately known as Dunc or Pays or Vera, after the bags girls made famous at high school sleepovers, asks as he slaps a heart sticker to the back of his hand.

"I thought we could visit the bar at the resort before heading to dinner. We've got the whole room, it wouldn't be difficult to add a few chairs. And even easier if you have your girl snuggle up on your lap!" Felix laughs and gives me a slap on the back that feels personal. "You gonna pick up a girl tonight?" He asks.

"I dunno," I respond with a shrug.

"C’mon man, it’s time," he pauses his work of unraveling a heart garland. "Why are you so hung up on this girl from the fall?"

"It’s hard to explain."

“You’ve never even tried.” He sounds hurt.

“No, I haven’t,” I admit as I think back to how angry Maggie was at dinner. She still doesn’t know that I’m her SMS Connect date; she just thinks it was a bad coincidence. “I messaged her on SMS Connect at Christmas and I haven't heard back."

"Ouch." He says with a wince like someone is cleaning a cut on his knee.

"I'm just not ready to move on yet." I admit.

"That makes sense, but are you going to do anything about it?"

"Like what?"

"Well you can always fuck around to get her out of your system. That has never failed in the history of manhood." Dunc calls out from the sofa.

"I think you need to check your facts." I tell him as I point my beer in his direction before taking a sip.

"Fine, but I don't see how pining for her and not taking any action to fix it is any better." He shrugs.

He has a point.

◆◆◆

It wasn't hard to find girls at the bar. In fact, as soon as we walked in, a group approached us. One of them, Charity, I think, or maybe it’s Cassidy, attached herself to me and is now sitting next to me.

Well, it's more like she's perched on the edge of her chair trying to be as close to me as possible because I wouldn't let her sit on my lap.

She is playing with the hair at the back of my neck and I have to keep reminding myself not to swat at it thinking it's an insect.

Because she’s definitely a pest.

Felix is a happy camper at the head of the table and the other guys seem to be doing fine with the attention as well. I wouldn't be surprised if all these girls came home with us. And it would be awkward if I sent Chelsea, maybe that’s it, home alone while her friends were otherwise engaged so, it seems I'm stuck with her.

"So Austin, what do you like to do for fun?"

I turn towards her and try to appreciate the green of her eyes and the brunette of her hair but, even though she is pretty, she's not Maggie.

"I like to exercise," I respond coolly.

"I bet you do," she giggles and squeezes my bicep.

Maybe I enjoy the chase, the challenge, because fighting with Maggie was a thousand times more arousing than having this girl throw herself at me.

I can see it now, sex with this girl would be mechanical. Going through the motions. She'd of course mew and writhe and do all the things women are somehow taught to do so men feel like we're pleasuring them, but it would be an act.

Maggie never acted with me.

And, shit, I'm only thinking about sex with Maggie. It’s been months and I still haven't wrapped my mind around the fact that she is also my SMS Connection and that we share this incredibly deep emotional bond.

"I'm sorry, Chloe," I say, taking a stab in the dark .

"Cady," she corrects, trying not to show her annoyance.

"Right, Cady, I'm sorry but I'm just not in the mood tonight." I point across the table to Duncan. "He has been known to enjoy having two girls in his bed so you could try your luck there if your friend is willing to share."

"We've shared before," she shrugs and stands up from the chair with little finesse.

I stand as well because I'm not going to sit here and watch four other guys and five girls get themselves riled up. I walk to the door, slip some cash to the waiter who is standing nearby, and decide to take the car service back to the house. He'll turn around to gather the guys later.

"Austin, wait up!" Felix calls.

"I'm gonna head out," I tell him, stating the obvious.

"You okay? What's going on?"

"I'm just not in the mood for all this. I don't want a random hook up. It won't make me feel better. I want Maggie."

"Then, go get her." He says like it's the most obvious statement in the world.

"It isn't that easy." I remind him. I’m still stuck in the spiral of how interconnected our lives became. We had one of the hottest weeks of my entire life, one that I wanted to put everything else in my life on hold for. But then I ruined her first date with the guy she was expecting to fall head over heels for, who also happens to be me. Oh, and let’s not forget the small little fact that I put her out of a job.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, but sulking like you've been doing isn't going to get the job done. You gotta figure out how to win her back."

"Back?"

"She's the girl you were fucking in the fall, right?"

"You knew?"

"Ever since I met her after my game. You had hearts falling out of your damn eyes man. It was obvious."

"Huh," I mutter out loud. "So, what now?"

"Well," Felix brings his hand to his chin in thought and stares off into space for a minute, clearly milking my vulnerability. I want to punch him in the gut. "I think it might be time for the big guns."

"Big guns?"

"Oh yeah," he says with a sly smile. "Wait here."

Felix leaves me standing by the door and goes back into the private dining room. I can hear him clap his hands loudly and tell the girls that something came up and we had men's work to do.

He comes bounding back to the front of the restaurant and claps me on the shoulders before walking me out to the curb. "This is going to be great. And FUCK YEAH," he yells and I jump, "so much better that it's on Valentine's Day. This should have been my plan from the start."

"What are you talking about?"

"You said you didn't know what to do so we're going to watch the best romance movies of all time and help you come up with a plan."

"That's ridiculous." I laugh.

"No, it's genius. Ah, look here's Rico with the car."

Turns out the big guns are Tom, Matthew, Michael, Leo, Dermot, and Darcy times two.

"See how he notices the way she is trying to hide her fear?" Emmett Turner, or ET, says as we watch Kate Hudson walk into the ballroom. Her hair is the same color as Maggie's, which is what I’m focused on. "There are so many emotions in everyone's face. Sometimes they're not even aware they're making the expressions that give them away."

Oddly the guys have been super insightful about this. We started with Sleepless In Seattle and I thought it was outrageous that a woman would travel across the country based on a radio show. Felix proceeded to tell me it was no more outrageous than to fall for someone over text messages and to shut up and watch.

Apparently this isn't the first time these guys have called in the big guns, as they call it. They have been on the team together for three years and have coached two guys out of the singles group through these movies.

It gives me hope.

"There's always some deception or miscommunication. In this one, they have opposing goals. In Sleepless they had distance. But ultimately, love conquers all, there's nothing that can get in the way." ET says.

We watch the rest of the movie quietly. Scoffing at her boss when she limits what Kate can write about. Cheering when Matthew catches her cab.

The credits roll and we all stand up to stretch. Felix had Rico stop at a market so we picked up plenty of junk food and candy to fuel our marathon. My stomach hurts but I'm enjoying myself for the first time in months.

"Any ideas yet?" Felix asks as I get some water from the kitchen.

"Well, considering I don't own a motorcycle I'm not sure I can chase her down through Dupont Circle."

"OH! I know which one is next, Dunc queue up Mr. President." he hollers into the next room. "And no, I don't expect you to do exactly what happens in any of these movies. It would be lame to just copy them. You've gotta use them for inspiration."

"Inspiration."

"Yeah, like see if any of the characters remind you of Maggie and not just appearance because I saw you staring at Kate. Think about her work, her struggles, her values, and see if our MMC meets any of those needs."

“MMC?” I ask, perplexed.

“Oh, Thorney, you have a lot to learn. Male Main Character” he responds. “But don’t worry, one thing at a time.”

"Okay, I've never heard of Mr. President, what movie is that?"

"It's a classic, The American President . Michael Douglas is a single dad in the White House and Annette Bening is a consultant trying to swing enough votes in her direction that the president will sign some bill. He doesn't want to sign it or something. I dunno, the politics aren’t the point. They're enemies but they fall for each other, he is smitten from the first time they meet." Felix chuckles, "she actually insults him pretty good and he still wants to take her out."

"Could be promising."

Because that sounds a lot like Maggie and me.

◆◆◆

We stayed up all night watching seven romcoms. After watching one more together on the plane back to D.C., I have a plan.