Read Marie Sexton - Coda 03 - The Letter Z for Free Online

apparently—was still talking. “Oh my God, Zach, it’s been years.” He started to put his hand out, like he was going to shake Zach’s hand, but then at the last second he seemed to change his mind, and he grabbed Zach and hugged him. Zach was stiff in his arms, still looking shell-shocked. “I was thinking about you just the other day, Zach. It’s so good to see you.” He stepped back a bit, but still hanging on to Zach. “You look great,” he said sincerely. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
“Yeah, you too,” Zach managed to choke out. And then he stopped short, obviously unsure of what to say next.
Jonathan apparently wasn’t surprised or offended by Zach’s behavior. He let go of Zach and turned to me with his hand out. “Hi, I’m Jonathan.”
“Matt,” I said, shaking his hand.
“Nice to meet you.” He glanced between Zach and I, and I knew what was coming. “Are you—?”
“No,” Zach and I said in unison, and Jonathan’s smile got bigger.
“What are you doing in Vegas?” he asked Zach.
“Ummm…” Zach stuttered and looked over at me for help.
“Just being tourists,” I said, since Zach was apparently incapable of formulating a response.
“That’s great!” Jonathan said, turning back to Zach. “We should get together. I’d love to catch up.”
Zach didn’t even manage to stutter this time. He just stood there with his eyes wide, and I had a feeling I was going to have to answer for him again. The problem was, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to say yes or no. Then all of a sudden Jared appeared at my elbow, smiling like always, and I could have kissed him. He was so much better at this shit than I was.
“Hi,” he said to Jonathan, shaking his hand. They started doing the introduction thing, and I didn’t miss how happy Jonathan was by the fact that Jared was with me, and not with Zach. I was starting to have a very bad feeling about this. I looked around for Angelo, but he was nowhere in sight. “Listen,” Jared said to me when they were done, “Angelo and I will be in that gallery over there.” He smiled and said quietly, like it was some kind of secret, “He really likes looking at all the art. It surprises me.” It didn’t surprise me, but I didn’t have a chance to say anything, because Jonathan started talking again.
“Let’s all have dinner tonight! I’ll make us a reservation. How about six o’clock?”
“That sounds great,” Jared said, before either Zach or I could answer.
Jonathan started telling Jared where the restaurant was. I looked at Zach, and could see a hint of panic in his eyes, but he obviously had no idea how to stop this particular train wreck from happening.
And then Angelo was there, grinning like I had never seen before, and I wondered if Jonathan noticed how relieved Zach looked when his eyes landed on Ang. Angelo didn’t seem to notice Jonathan at all. “Zach, come on man. You gotta see this painting—”
“Ang, how do you feel about dinner tonight?” Jared asked, obviously trying to pull him into the conversation, but Angelo wasn’t interested.
“Yeah man, what the fuck ever,” he said with just a hint of annoyance in his voice. He was already heading back to the gallery, and I could tell Zach wanted more than anything to follow him. “Just hurry up, will ya?”
“So, five of us then?” Jonathan asked, and he was definitely a little less enthusiastic about it now.
“Yes,” I said firmly. “Angelo’s coming too.”
Jonathan’s smile returned. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll see you then.” He turned to Zach. “I can’t wait to catch up, Zach.”
“Yeah,” Zach said weakly. “Me too.”
Jared was headed back to the gallery now too. Jonathan started to walk away, but then stopped suddenly and turned back to us. “By the way, the restaurant has a dress code: business casual. It’s not too formal but,” he glanced toward the gallery where Angelo and Jared had disappeared, “you might ask your friend to clean up a