“Aw,” Dave whined. “Come back. I was having fun kicking your ass.”
Kamran ignored him, breathing deeply for a minute before fixing his glare on me and Ollie instead.
“You two still coming out tomorrow?” he asked.
“For what?” Ollie asked.
“Night out,” Kamran said, his sullen expression intensifying at having to explain.
“Oh yeah. I mean, I’m not as young as I used to be, but if you want to buy the rounds, I’ll suffer a second hangover in one weekend for you.”
Kamran rolled his eyes.
“Fine. Whatever. It’s on me. I just need a night out,” he muttered.
“I’ll be there too,” Dave called over.
“I didn’t ask you,” Kamran retorted and fixed his eyes on me. “What about you Ryan? You still coming?”
I nodded and that seemed to mollify him even though he’d had nothing to worry about. I never let him down if I could help it. That was just what it was like when you loved someone. They always came first, even if the feelings weren’t reciprocated. I’d learned that a long time ago.
Kamran may not love me the way that I loved him, but that was a non-issue at this point. I didn’t love him just because Iwanted him to love me back. I loved him just because he wasKamran.
There was nothing I could do about it and nothing Iwoulddo about it.
Right now, I was just glad that he still wanted me there. I’d been nervous as hell for this get together, but when Kamran had walked in, he’d just fist pumped me like nothing had happened and walked past me.
Ollie got up then, futilely challenging Dave to a game of darts. The wall was already covered in pock marks, none of them from Dave.
I took the opportunity that I’d been aching for all evening; a moment with just me and Kamran. I wanted to suss him out, to make sure that he was okay and that we really were still good. As soon as we were alone though, he started tapping his foot, looking everywhere but at me.
He didn’t seem to want to talk at all.
For a moment, the hope I’d held all evening sank into disappointment. Maybe we weren’t as okay as he’d made it seem, but after a minute, I realized that his gaze kept flying to Melissa.
Maybe he was just preoccupied withthatsituation.
Maybe they had been fighting about it.
They didn't usually argue. As far as I'd ever seen, their six-year long relationship was the most easy-going, drama-less relationship ever. They didn't disagree much. They supported each other. They were nice to each other. But cheating would definitely throw a rock onto the calm waters for anyone.
When he continued to ignore me, I pushed to my feet and went over to Melissa and Deb.
I dropped an arm around Melissa's shoulders—mostly because I was a nosy bitch sometimes, especially where Kamranwas concerned. And maybe especially because I knew he was watching.
“Hi Lissa, Deb. It's been a while.”
“Hi.”
“Hey Ryan,” Melissa said, turning to give me a half hug. “How are you, love?”
“Good, good,” I said. “Not much to report. You?”
“Work's been hell,” she said. “My boss has been riding me.”
I raised a brow at her choice of words, wondering if she was giving herself a little inside joke that wasn’t as exclusive as she thought it was.
“I’ll bet,” I muttered.
