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entertainment, snacks, and open bar between ten and midnight. At a few minutes before ten Mugs still wouldn’t budge.
    “Ten is ten, you assholes. Knock it off or I’ll throw you all out.”
    I laughed out loud. There was no way Mugs was following through with that threat.
    Jase snuck in as I was serving customers at the other end of the bar. I worked while he yapped about the perfect date he’d had with Eve the night before. “Man, she’s flawless in every way. She can do this thing with her—”
    “Stop! I don’t want to hear it.”
    The last thing I wanted was a visual of Jase and Eve. I couldn’t give a shit about his love life, but more important, I was fucking jealous. All I could think about was having the same with Angela. But thinking it and making it happen were on opposite ends of the spectrum. I was leaving soon. To start something now would be a huge mistake. It would be a tease, like tasting the most delicious dessert only to be told you could never have it again. It really
could
only be a one-night stand. The Nick of a few days ago would jump on a no-strings-attached hot fuck. I couldn’t envision that with Angela, she was too good for that.
    “Hit me up, bro! It’s ten fucking o’clock!”
    “Where’s your date?” I asked, more so to find out where Angela was.
    “They had a pit stop to make. They’re cabbing it over in a bit.”
    I handed Jase his beer. “Um…I want the good stuff.”
    “You can’t handle the good stuff. Mugs will throw you out if you repeat what happened on Thanksgiving.”
    “I had a stomach flu,” he said, reciting his standard excuse. That hilarious night will forever be in my top ten memories of Chicago. Do I even have ten? I know I have one other—the first time I saw Angela smile.
    As if he read my mind, Jase asked, “So, dude. What gives with Angela?”
    “Nothing gives,” I responded a little too quickly and too angrily.
    He stared at me for a long, hard minute. “I call bullshit. You like her.”
    “What the fuck do you know?”
    “I know if you didn’t, you’d be balls deep in her by now.”
    “Shut the fuck up, Jase.” Normally, I’d laugh at his theory. His descriptive analogy hit a nerve.
    “Wow. Someone is testy today.” In my peripheral, I saw Eve and Angela enter the bar. A smile spread over my face, which Jase noticed and jumped on. “Seems something can change your mood…or someone.” The death stare I threw his way warned him to shut his mouth. He leaned in, undeterred and warned, “This discussion isn’t over, my friend.”
    “Hey, guys. Happy New Year.” Eve planted a huge kiss on Jase’s smirking lips.
    “Hey, baby.” He looked past Eve and said to Angela, “He’s very grumpy. You know what they say—your mood at midnight will be your mood all year long. I plan on sucking face with this gorgeous girl, that will guarantee I’ll be sucking on her all year long. Maybe you guys should have that one-night stand tonight. It could guarantee you a year of good…moods.”
    Oh my God, I was going to fucking kill him.
    “Why are you grumpy, Nick?” Eve asked. Those two were a perfect pair.
    “He’s confusing determined with grumpy. I’m just trying to figure out a way to hide all evidence after I kill him.”
    “Too many witnesses,” he argued. “You’d get life as a minimum.”
    Angela laughed at the scowl on my face, which caused me to laugh as well.
    “Come, babe. Let’s dance and give these two some privacy.” Jase assumed victory, grabbed Eve’s hand, and pulled her onto the dance floor.
    Angela took the barstool Jase abandoned. “Everything okay?” she asked.
    “Yeah. He’s just a pain in the ass sometimes, that’s all.”
    “Is he bothering you about us?”
    Her question surprised me.
    Us?
    I was never a half of an “us.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Eve has been relentless.” She nodded in agreement. “Does it make you uncomfortable?”
    “Yeah, but not for the reasons you think,” I admitted. I could’ve