Lee’s attempt at a subject change was much better than Tarin’s attempt had been and immediately drew Rachel and Matt into the conversation.

It was funny too, based on the way the two of them reacted, Rachel trying to play off the whole thing while Matt refused to let her do so.

Even Tarin knew that was bull?

”I may or may not have been on the receiving end of something Rachel decided was going to happen.” Tarin said, taking another drink. At this rate he was going to have to test Rachel’s boast about her ability to get drinks sooner rather than later.

”No threats were required…but I did think that Lee might kill me.” he said thoughtfully, before shooting her a quick grin.

”It was a fun night when it was all said and done.”

Lee’s foot continued to bounce as she listened to the others at the table talking. Things were going incredibly well, Lee couldn’t help but think. The conversation was easy, the beer was good, and not only was Tarin getting along very well with two of the most important people in her life after Kevin, but he was talking. Not keeping pretty much silent around others like he often seemed to do.

”Nah, I wouldn’t have killed you, Tarin,” Lee said, turning to give him a smile in return before turning to her sister. ”Now Rachel, on the other hand, I contemplated killing a few times that night. Especially when she was trying to do my makeup for me.”

”It was a fun night when it was all said and done.”

”Oh really?” Rachel asked, leaning forward on the table. ”I thought you said nothing happened that night?”

Lee sighed and rolled her eyes, hoping that Tarin hadn’t blown their rouse. Because even this long after the fact, Lee was sure that Rachel would still gloat about being right and setting them up.

”Nothing happened, Rach,” Lee said as she shook her head at her sister. ”But it was still a good night. You were right that it had been too long since I had been out, and it did feel good to play again. I hadn’t touched my guitar in too long.”

The more time passed, the more comfortable Tarin got. Again, he couldn’t help but think that Lee’s mood had something to do with it. She seemed almost restless now, and Tarin couldn’t help but wonder just how much tonight was going affect Lee, how much she’d have to do to burn off the extra energy. Lee would handle it, Tarin knew, but he still found himself curious as Lee assured him that he wouldn’t have been the target of her wrath that night.

”How was I supposed to know that?” Tarin asked, ”But it had been made clear to me that you were going out that night, one way or another…”

Tarin rolled his eyes at Rachel’s comment too, he’d been vague on purpose. They’d put too much work into keeping things quiet for him to blow their cover…even if it was a moot point now.

”I am glad I got to hear her play that night.” Tarin said to Rachel, ”She’s been teaching me…I know…two chords now?” he said, glancing at Lee again. ”And when I can remember what strings I’m supposed to use, they almost sound right too.”

”I suppose that is fair,” Lee replied with a bit of a laugh. ”You did see me angry a couple days before that, didn’t you?”

Angry might be a bit of an understatement, though, for how she was feeling toward Tarin after Robert had finally left that first Friday. That night, Lee had been ready to kill Tarin until he had to go and use logic against her.

And until she noticed that he was shirtless.

”Well, good,” Rachel replied, though she sounded a little deflated. ”You really did need to get out and have some fun.”

Lee nodded when Tarin questioned how many chords he’d learned, taking a sip of beer to cover the slight flush covering her cheeks.

”Well, we needed to find something to do on the rare nights when there’s no baseball on.”

Lee pointed out that he had seen her angry a couple
if days before the bar and Tarin winced and looked over at Matt and Rachel, ”I might have made things worse when I called her ‘Emily’ in a wild feat of stupidity.”

Rachel’s eyes widened at that, ”You didn’t…” she breathed and Tarin shrugged, ”I said it was a stupid thing to do…”

Rachel did seem to relent though and drop her insightful persistence that something had happened after the after the open mic night in favor of just being glad that Lee had gone out and had fun.

Now they were on to his blossoming guitar skills and Tarin had to laugh, ”What about you Rachel. Do you play anything “

”Oh, he most certainly did,” Lee confirmed with a single nod. ”So you’re lucky he was even able to bring me to the open mic night.” Which, if Tarin’s shirtless logic hadn’t made Lee pause long enough for her brain to be frazzled in a completely different way, he might not have been physically wanting or able to come to the bar a couple days later.

”Do I play…?” Rachel repeated with a slight laugh. ”Does a sewing machine count? Our parents tried to get me to learn piano. And to try out this sport or that activity. But for as long as I can remember, I've really only been interested in clothes.”

Lee laughed and shook her head at Rachel. ”That is the understatement of the century,” she informed the table. ”I had to chase her out of my closet at least three times a week when we were kids. She was always in there playing dress up.”

”Of course I was, Lee. At the time, your clothes were better than mine.”

”She says that, but I think she was 8 when I found her in there with a pair of scissors and a pile of my clothes.”

”Well if you had let me finish, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Plus, I remember you wearing one of the shirts I ‘ruined’ to school. But instead you had to scream so loud that mum and dad came running.”

”I only made that mistake once…” Tarin said, looking over at Lee again, ”And I had no idea that you hated it so much…”

Still. It was probably a lucky thing that despite her extreme ire, Lee had been willing to listen to reason that night.

Rachel answered his question and as she and Lee went back and forth about their childhood and what sounded like classic sibling conflict, Tarin had to laugh. He could imagine an even tinier little Lee chasing Rachel out of her closet.

Tarin had to laugh, ”I bet your parents never had a moment’s peace.” he said.

”Matt? It’s only fair, everyone else answered.”

”Because when I was already angry was the perfect time to test that out,” Lee teased with a shake of her head.

But then Tarin turned the question on Matt, and Lee couldn’t help but be quite curious as well because she honestly did not know. So she looked over curiously as she took a sip of her beer.

And was surprised when that finished it off.

“I used to play drums,” Matt said with a shrug. “But the band broke up 20 years ago. I started bartending, and the hours are pretty similar, the pay is much better, and I get to flirt with pretty women all night instead of just between sets.”

”Oh really?” Rachel asked with an eyebrow raised.

”Oh god, Rach,” Lee said with a sigh. ”You know he only does that for fun, right? And that’s not just me saying that. I know an empath who’s seen him flirting and knew what he was feeling while he did it.”

”You went ‘full name’ first, I was just matching your energy.” Tarin said, then vowed to let the subject drop. He also didn’t point out that it had taken Lee a fair amount of time to actually call him by his name. She’d had her reasons, and it had been an odd situation, but it wasn’t like there weren’t other people in the world who had the same name. Still. It was absolutely not worth arguing over.

Matt, it turned out, had played the drums. Drums were super cool, but apparently the pay from doing so was not. At least not when it was compared to bartending in New York City.

The clientele and their tendency to flirt was also more accessible this way. Tarin chuckled and finished off his beer while Rachel gave Matt a look and Lee rushed to the rescue of her friend.

Lee knew an empath? For some reason the idea of someone having that power made Tarin deeply uncomfortable. If Lee knew them though, and had been out with them, they had to be alright, didn’t they?

”Well, you can’t beat that for reassurance…” Tarin said, with everything he knew about Rachel, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she had a jealous streak.

”Another X-Man?” he asked Lee, then turned to Rachel, ”Didn’t you say something about easy access to drinks?”

Lee was actually a little surprised that Matt was a drummer. Though that was probably because she hadn’t even heard him consider playing in all the years that they’d run the bar.

And, while Tarin took her mention of knowing an empath in stride, both Rachel and Matt looked shocked.

”How many times do I need to tell you that you’ve met a lot more mutants than you realize, Matt?” Lee asked as she shook her head. ”I’ve told you that because I know for a fact that it’s true.”

Tarin was wondering if Keeley was another X-Man. Lee tilted her head in thought as she looked over at him. ”You know, I’m not sure if she is,” Lee admitted after a few moments. ”I mean, she wasn’t at the time, but that was years ago.

“She’s married to Shin now.”

Drinks. Yes, more drinks would be good, Lee thought as she turned to look at Rachel expectantly.

”Yes, Rach, ‘easy access’ to drinks? Do you know a secret I don’t?”

”Oh, I just meant it was easier because not all of us have to find room at the bar for us to get drinks.”

It was almost comical that Rachel and Matt were surprised to find out that Lee had been there with a mutant even if it had been years ago. ”We’re everywhere..” he said with slightly exaggerated drama.

Lee wasn’t sure if the empath, Kealey, was an X-Man or not, but she was married to one. Kealey was the wife that Shin had mentioned when they’d toured the Mansion. Tarin had to wonder what that was like. On one hand, having that kind of insight into your significant other would be genuinely helpful sometimes…but someone knowing what you were feeling all the time. Yeah, the whole idea was wildly uncomfortable to Tarin. ”Didn’t you say they just had a kid? That must be a lot.”

Unfortunately it turned out that Rachel hadn’t really had any special kind of hook up for drinks and Tarin rolled his eyes, ”I’ll grab another round.” he said, ”Same thing?” he asked Lee, then looked at Matt and Rachel, ”Anyone want anything?”

Lee couldn’t help but to laugh when Tarin commented that ‘they’ were everywhere. This was definitely turning out to be a rather good night, Lee thought as she shook her head at Tarin’s antics. It was true that mutants were everywhere, probably even more so than she and Tarin would think, but he hadn’t had to say it the way he had.

”They did just have a kid,” Lee confirmed with a nod. ”And I imagine it is, though potentially helpful? I think she said something about the emotions being…intense but basic when she saw me while I was pregnant.”

Since Rachel didn’t have any secrets, Tarin said that he’d go grab another round. ”Yeah, unless you wanted to surprise me with something,” Lee told Tarin as she turned to look at him.

”I’ll have a beer,” Rachel said cheerfully. Lee suspected she was happy she wasn’t having to get up to go get the drinks herself.

“Nah, thanks,” Matt replied as he stood. “I’ve got to go see how everything’s going.”

God he loved it when Lee laughed like that. Maybe it was a good thing that they’d decided, and actually followed through, with coming out tonight.

Lee confirmed that Shin and his wife had just had a kid, but explained that Shin’s wife had been around Lee when she was pregnant and had talked about baby emotions being intense but basic. Well, that was weird, wasn’t it?

Tarin didn’t say that though because Lee seemed to think it explained something and maybe made it better. Great.

Lee was ready for another round unless he wanted to surprise her? ”Three beers it is.” he said, having absolutely no idea what he’d have possibly gotten for Lee as a surprise.

Matt, it appeared, was getting up too, but it was to check on how things were going in the bar. A consummate professional, it seemed and Tarin made his way off into the crowd of people, leaving the sisters at the table to chat or do whatever it was they were going to do.

A few moments later, he remembered why he hadn’t liked being in the general miasma of the bar as the crowd refused to part for him and he found himself moving far more slowly than he’d of liked packed in with the rest of everyone. Yuck.

Just like that, both Matt and Tarin both left the table leaving Lee and Rachel on their own.

And Rachel looking not too happy as she watched Matt walking away.

”Rach, he does this every night at this time,” Lee told her. ”I’ve literally seen him come in on his nights off at this time. I haven’t seen anything the bouncers have had to deal with, so as long as there’s no issues at the bar he shouldn’t be long.”

Rachel seemed to relax slightly at that, though Lee did still see her shooting an unhappy look in the direction that Matt had gone.

”I guess so,” Rachel replied as she turned back to look at Lee. ”I just wish he’d relax a bit more.”

Lee nodded as she looked at her younger sister as she thought for a couple moments. Yes, both Rachel and Matt owned their own businesses in New York, each of them a lot of work Lee knew. But for Matt, he had to be here to do that work while Rachel was able to do a lot of her designing and even some garment construction at home.

”Maybe once I’ve got Kevin settled in for school at the mansion, I’ll be able to come force Matt to take some time off,” Lee offered.

”The mansion?” Rachel asked, but Lee was already a little distracted. There had been a large amount of energy from behind her the entire time she’d been sitting, but suddenly Lee felt it getting considerably closer to her. And it was definitely much too soon for either Tarin or Matt to be making their way back through this crowd.

Turning slightly in her chair, Lee glanced behind her. In time to see a man approach the table.

”Oh,” Lee said disinterestedly as the man came to a stop at their table, between her and Rachel.

Yeah. Crowds in bars sucked. Tarin wasn’t even all that big as far as people went, but he was having next to no luck getting through to the bar. True, he wasn’t the only one who wanted drinks…but like, wow.

Still. Lee and Rachel were back at the table and they needed drinks, so Tarin waited…and squeezed his way through when possible, and got just a little claustrophobic a few times.

Eventually though, Tarin made it to the bar and ordered the three beers he had been sent to get.

Soon enough, he had them, had paid for them, and was making his way back through the crowd. It was gonna take a minute, but dammit wasn’t going to spill a drop.