a moment

Freddie gave Cole a look that suggested he wasn’t going to take the money back. “Just keep it. For the trouble. Honestly… even if it wasn’t my fault, I certainly didn’t help.” He offered Cole a smile in return, bumping his shoulder up against the other man’s as their drinks were brought over.

“Oi… don’t f’ink I’m lettin’ those buggers ruin my night.” He said, pointedly, a crooked grin flashing over the top of his glass before he downed it in one quick series of gulps. He set it back on the bar and exhaled, refreshed. “’Ow’ve ya been, Cole? Long time since I seen ya last… ‘aven’t really ‘eard from ya, neither.” He scratched at his nose, turning to look interestedly at his friend. They both knew why their visits weren’t nearly as often as they could be, but their friendship still held true. That was all that mattered to the Brit.

Cole respected him and treated him as an equal, and that was due to the relationship they had built over a number of years and had nothing to do with his affiliations. Those sorts of relationships were hard to come by. Freddie wasn’t going to take it for granted.

Cole tucked the money in his pocket for the time being before he turned his attention to Freddie with a slight smirk. “Hey, you always know where to find me. I’m an old man now, I don’t get around as much as you do.” It was a running joke Cole made about himself these days. Ever since retiring and getting the bar going, his social life hadn’t been very lively. He still went to a few parties, but it ws more so networking for his foundation than anything else. The days of him going wild and getting drunk, etc were gone.

“If that’s your way of saying you’d like a phone call or something, then I’ll be sure to bug you in the future.” He gave Freddie a wink before he took another sip of his drink. Cole always had fun when Freddie was around, even if they didn’t do much but shoot the shit and have a few drinks. It was just nice to be around someone genuine that wasn’t trying to get after his money.

“You didn’t have to respond to the text, Alex.” She replied, eyebrows high as she let him in. “Yoink!” The food was grabbed from his hands as she made her way over to the small table in the kitchen. “You know you fucking love me… don’t play games, boy.”

She knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to dismiss her reaction, almost regretting the choice to move away from him. Almost. But not enough to swallow the little bit of pride that would have been required to articulate that particular apology. Instead, she was content to continue toward whatever argument they were destined for - even if that meant causing even more strain between the pair. “You’re bullshittin’ me now.”  Stronger accent came through on stressed words, making sure there was no doubt about the time she’d spent kicked out on those Brooklyn streets. “MIA is an understatement, and put that with radio silence, what am I supposed to think? I’m too old to be sitting my ass by the phone all night wondering and waiting. So congratulations, you came to see me. You’ve seen me.”  Hand gestured toward the door. “Now there’s the door.”