Joey had them walk through the garage versus the front door which had Hannah wondering, even in her close-to-black-out state that he likely had lost the house key.
The house felt somewhat lived-in and empty at the same time.
The living room was decorated with maps of Ireland and Italy that hung crooked, framing a bay window where a Google Home speaker sat blaring more recognizable music. The kitchen had a lot of cabinets and yet the counters were crowded with appliances that had yet to find a home. The main dining room table was cluttered with dirty tupperware, protein shaker cups and empty Amazon boxes yet to be recycled.
“Sit down,” Joey cleared off one of the chairs for her that had a computer bag and Spartan Race hoodie on the seat, and dropped them onto the next chair. “Can I get you something?” Joey opened and eyed the fridge. From where Hannah was sitting she caught a glimpse of a variety pack of basic bitch drinks, a couple cans of Guiness and a bundle of limes. “Hey babe, strawberry or peach?”
At first Hannah thought he was talking to her until she heard another voice coming up the stairs from what Hannah assumed to be the basement. “Peach babe, you know this.”
Joey placed two Trulys on the counter and glanced up at Hannah. “You too?”
Before Hannah could answer, Joey’s fiancee opened the door and stepped up into the kitchen. She gasped at the sight of Hannah and almost tripped over her feet. She shot a glare at Joey who greeted her with an opened peach Truly and an ass slap that was indefinitely loud. It was so loud, Hannah thought it was a synthetic clap from the song playing in the background.
Joey cocked his head to the left and raised his blackberry Truly to meet hers. “Cheers!” They clinked cans but she was hesitant to drink hers. Based on the contents of their fridge, drinking basic bitch drinks on a Sunday afternoon didn’t seem out of nature to them; but maybe there was something about Hannah’s presence that made her uneasy or ashamed.
Hannah couldn’t care less and was more hyper-focused on how soon they were going to leave or better yet, tell her where the closest bathroom was. She continued to breathe deep as the feelings of nausea plunged down her throat and rose back up like a bungee jumper.
“Ani is on her way. How is this going to look?” His fiancee finally took a sip and wiped her mouth clean.
“How’s what going to look? She knows you’re here. She knows Hannah is here too.” Joey motioned over to Hannah who was attempting to calm down her nausea by focusing on one spot on the wall. It was quite easy to do since the walls were pretty bare. “We are all going to the movie together, the plans haven’t changed.”
“Yes but Hannah being here when Annika got home was not part of the plan. Now two girls are here? How’s that going to look?”
“Did you not hear me? Fuck!” Joey nudged her and then put his hands up as if to defend himself. “I tease, I tease.”
One slight push almost toppled her over. He towered over here. He was the King, she was his pawn. Hannah was in no right mind to accept their dynamic duo but she knew more alcohol wouldn’t make it right. Joey finished his basic bitch and got himself another before sitting on the couch with his feet propped up (shoes still on).
“Whatever Joey,” his fiancee said before joining Hannah at the table. “So, margaritas were good?”
“Fuckin’ fantastic-”
“I was asking Hannah, I’m done with you.” She took out her phone. “Ani’s here.”
“She texted you? It’s not in the chat.”
“Unbelievable right? She still texts me.”
“We will have to work on that.”
His fiancee rolled her eyes and scrolled through her phone. She too had the same Red Lotus group chat pinned in her messages. She exited out of all of her apps and silenced her phone. The background of her phone was a picture of Joey leaning up against his car with his arms crossed.
The moment the front door clicked open, she locked her phone.
Joey jumped up and greeted Annika with a huge hug and a unique collection of nicknames. “I missed you, Kins! Can I get you a drink? The movie isn’t for another hour.”
His fiancee didn’t get up from the chair and just watched the two of them interact. Hannah could feel this rage sizzling or maybe it was her own insides burning off the bloody orangey toxins.
Annika approached the table, “I’m so jealous you guys got mexican, that’s one of my favorite spots.”
“Oh, I didn’t go, Joey and Hannah did.”
Annika locked eyes with Hannah and revealed a hesitant smirk.
“Yeah babe,” Joey said putting his arm around Annika’s waist, “this is Hannah, she’s close friends with Derek and Devon, she used to host the demo derby at the fair.”
Annika blinked and then smiled with teeth. It was as if in the split second she took to blink, she absorbed Joey’s response, hypothesized, analyzed and then accepted it as truth. “So nice to meet you,” she reached out her left hand that Hannah noticed right away was adorned with a huge diamond ring. “I’m Joey’s fiancee Annika.”
As Hannah greeted Annika with a slightly dead fish handshake and half smile to match, she glanced up at Joey. He stood there tall and proud, between these two women with his hands on both of them.
Hannah started to feel even more sick and she knew this time, it wasn’t because of the bloody orange margarita.