Joey: Chapter 5

“Oh fuck me, it’s MoJo,” a familiar voice shouts.

“Toby Fiore!” Mo shrieks, arms thrown wide, almost knocking me out of the way as she lunges for the guy standing behind me. Toby was our friend in high school. Actually, he was more like our obedient puppy dog the way he used to follow us around. Mo never really had much time for him, so I figure her reaction has more to do with the six cocktails she’s knocked back in the past hour than happiness at seeing our old friend.

However, when I spin around to say hi too, I realize why Mo’s so happy to see him. It seems our buddy Toby grew up while he was away at college. Gone is the skinny boy with the shy smile and braces, and in his place is a fine ass man with muscles and stubble and twinkling hazel eyes.

Mo’s literally hanging off him with her arms around his neck. He rolls his eyes at me. “Hey, Joey,” he mouths over the loud music.

“Hey.”

When Mo finally lets him go, I give him a quick hug. “It’s good to see you,” he says with a smile, revealing perfect white teeth. I guess those braces really paid off.

“You too. I haven’t heard MoJo for a long time.” I laugh, recalling our high school nickname. I kind of hated it, but Mo loved it. The moniker stuck with us right through to our senior year.

He laughs too, brushing his dark hair out of his eyes.

“Toby, come buy me a drink.” Mo tugs on his arm and pulls him toward the bar.

“You want one?” he asks, looking down at my almost-empty glass.

“Sure. I’ll take a rum and coke.”

“Rum and coke,” he repeats, his eyes fixed on mine. Wow. Toby has really grown up. He went away to Berkeley, and rumor had it he was going to stay in California because he got a job with an accounting firm. I wonder if he’s only here to visit his family. It will be nice to catch up with him if he’s in town long enough. He and I had a lot in common when we were younger. He was a good friend.

Lexi sidles up to me, nudging my arm while I watch Toby and Mo disappear into the crowd. “Wow. Toby got hot.”

“He was always cute,” I remind her.

“Yeah, but now he is h-o-t, hot.” She waggles her eyebrows at me. “You think he’s back for good?”

“I dunno.”

“He used to have it so bad for you. You remember?” She giggles.

“No. We were just good friends,” I insist, although I do remember the way he used to look at me with those puppy dog eyes of his. But I was always more interested in assholes back then.

“He lurves you,” Lexi says, sniggering.

Nyx comes over and wraps an arm around her waist. “Come dance with me, babe.”

Lexi bites on her lip and stares at me, her huge brown eyes wide and pleading.

“Go dance,” I tell her. “I’ll wait here for Toby and Mo.”

It’s midnight, and it’s time to go if I’m going to have enough energy to look after Gabriella tomorrow. Mo and Toby appear deep in conversation when I approach to let them know I’m about to leave.

Toby checks his watch. “Actually, I need to head out too. You need a ride?”

“Nah. I got my armed escorts.” I gesture toward Henry and Ash who are standing about twenty feet away from me, where they’ve been all night. I’m so used to them now, I usually forget they’re there.

“Of course you do,” he says with a smile. “You mind if I grab a ride with you then? I won’t need to bother my dad’s driver.”

“Sure. But what about you, Mo?” Lexi and Nyx left a half hour ago, and I don’t want to leave her here alone.

She links her arm through Toby’s. “I’ll come too. You can drop me at home, right?” she asks me.

“Of course.” I take her other arm and we walk out of the club with Henry and Ash.

When Henry pulls the car to the curb outside Mo’s house, I tell her good night and lean over Toby, giving her a quick kiss.

“Night,” she says, but then she focuses all her attention on Toby, and I smile to myself. The poor guy has no chance. “You wanna come in? I have beer and nachos.”

“I really have to get home. I have an early thing tomorrow.” He shrugs, a sad expression on his face, like he really would rather stay here with her.

Mo’s face falls. She’s not used to being turned down. “Fine,” she huffs. “Maybe next time?”

He nods agreeably. “Maybe.”

Mo climbs out of the car, and we watch to make sure she’s safely inside before Henry drives off.

Toby doesn’t make any attempt to scoot into Mo’s now-empty seat. Ash glances back at the two of us. “Your place, Toby?”

Toby looks at me and arches an eyebrow. “Um.”

I offer a casual shrug. “I only have waffles.”

“Now waffles I can get with.” He laughs.

“Home then?” Ash asks me with a grin.

“Yes please.” I settle back in my seat and turn my attention back to Toby. “So, tell me, are you home for good?”

Toby and I sit opposite each other at the huge wooden table in my kitchen, fresh waffles covered in syrup in front of us. “This reminds me of back in high school. We always had waffles after we snuck home from a party,” he says, looking around the room. “This place has barely changed.”

“Hmm.” I wrinkle my nose. “It’s the same and completely different.”

“I was sorry to hear about your dad.”

I feign a well-practiced smile. My father was a monster and my life is way better without him in it. But I don’t tell Toby that. “Thanks,” I say instead.

“You sure your brothers are going to be okay with me being here?” He glances at the door as though he half expects them to burst in here any second and break his arms and legs.

“Relax, Toby, we’re just eating waffles.”

“I know.” He grins.

“It’s so good to have you back. I missed you,” I say honestly. He was such a good friend to me back in the day. And now that he’s back in Chicago for good, it will be nice to spend time with him.

“I missed you too, Joey. Now, I’ve bored you with every single detail about my time at Berkeley, so you have to tell me what it was like going to school in Italy.”

I roll my eyes. “You make it sound way more exciting than it was.”

“I bet it was cool.” He stuffs a piece of waffle into his mouth and syrup runs down his chin. He licks it off, staring at me like I’m the most fascinating person in the world as he waits for me to talk.

“Well, there was this one girl I really liked, Cherry. She was from England, but her parents sent her to St. Agatha’s because she was such a handful. Some of the stuff she used to get us into …” I snicker, remembering the time she caused a riot in the cafeteria just so we could sneak out and go to the beach.

Toby leans forward, arms resting on the table. “So, tell me.”