Page 67 of Ethan & Grace

Once on the private floor, I headed to my flat, only to hear noises coming from inside. I frowned and unlocked the door. Nate and James were sitting on my sofa in front of the television, watching some trashy reality show.

“Ryder has to pick Juliette. Cindy’s just messing with him!” Nate commented.

“I think he should go for Alexis.”

“Uh, no! She’s super toxic. And just talks crap.”

“You’re the one talking crap,” James hissed.

I cleared my throat. “Hello?”

My friends turned to look at me. They had the audacity to look surprised, as if they were shocked to see me in my own flat.

I placed my key card—of which I had once given James a copy—in a bowl on the chest of drawers by the entrance. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you,” Nate said.

“I see that. Did we have plans?”

James reached for the remote and muted the TV. “No, but you’ve hardly been in touch lately, and after we read about Henry in the news, we wanted to check on you.”

I would have kicked out anyone else, assuming they’d only be after the juicy details, but I knew James and Nate. I trusted that they had only my best interests at heart. Besides, James had already been aware of Henry’s addiction.

I kicked off my shoes and, after grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, sat down with them. There were two plastic takeaway bags of food on the table—untouched, because they’d been waiting for me. My stomach grumbled. I hadn’t eaten anything today except a protein bar.

“What did you get?”

“Sushi.” Since I’d last seen him, Nate had cut off his medium-length brown hair and now had a buzz cut. It suited him. “We weren’t sure if you’d be home, and we figured sushi wouldn’t get cold.”

“You could have called first. Where’s Charles?”

Nate and James exchanged a look before James answered. “You said you weren’t getting on so well with him, so we thought it’d be better not to invite him. Want me to message him?”

“No, it’s fine,” I replied. I was actually glad Charles wasn’t here. I didn’t have the patience today for the sarcastic remarks he would doubtless have made about Henry. But his absence still surprised me—the four of us nearly always hung out as a group, not least because Nate and Charles were second cousins and did pretty much everything together. “How long have you been here?”

“Just a few minutes,” James said. We’d messaged earlier this morning, so I knew he’d had a lecture in Cambridge today. The fact that he was already here must mean that he’d jumped straight in the car afterwards and driven to London.

“Where have you been, anyway?” James asked. “I thought your last class finished hours ago.”

“I was out and about,” I replied evasively. “And just now I was down in Henry’s office. We probably just missed each other in the foyer.”

Nate started unpacking the sushi and slid one of the small plastic trays towards me. They knew what I usually ordered and had brought all my favourites. “Did you know about your brother being an addict?”

James slapped him on the back of the neck.

“What?” Nate exclaimed indignantly. “It’s a valid question.”

“Yes, but your tone!”

I snorted. “Henry’s fine. The press is exaggerating. He took Vitalyn—a prescription medication—last year. He’s off it now.”

“How is he handling people knowing?”

“How do you think?” I replied, drizzling a little soy sauce over my avocado nigiri. “He’s furious, and determined to find out who leaked the info to the press. You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”

“No, nobody.”

Nate raised his head. “Wait, you knew about this?”