Violet: Rya, this is fucking stupid, not telling us where you are.
Violet: At least let us know if you’re okay?!
“Let’s go home, babe.” Zayn says as we all stand around in the middle of downtown watching people come and go from bars and clubs.
I whip my head around and eye him. “We can’t leave Rya.”
“This isn’t our problem,” he whispers closer to me.
I glance over at Ezra as he hangs up his call to Rya and recalls her again. He’s been doing this for the past hour. It’s almost midnight and all we’ve done since dinner is look around for her. She doesn’t answer our text messages or calls. I’m getting worried because it isn’t like her to disappear like this regardless of what is going on. Ezra wasn’t worried until hours passed by with still no sign of her.
Ezra’s jaw is shut tight, with the wrinkles on his forehead deepening. I can’t tell what his emotions are. Angry, worried, or scared?
He slams his pointer finger down on his phone, ending yet another call. He walks over to us, shaking his head. “You guys can go if you want.”
“We’re not going to leave you to look for her alone. Plus, this isn’t like her. What if something happened?” I ask.
A ding sounds behind me. I look over my shoulder and see Zay pull his phone out of his pocket. “Is that her?” I ask.
Zay lifts his head from his phone. “What?” He shakes his head. “Oh no. Just a friend from work,” he says with a slight grin. “How about I go into some clubs around here and see if I can find her? We haven’t had much luck calling or texting her,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.
My brows raise. That’s odd. He now wants to help look for her, but only a minute ago he wanted to leave before finding her.
Ezra runs his hands through his hair. “You don’t have to, Zay.”
“Nah. It’s fine, man.” He pats Ezra’s shoulder. “I’ll look around here,” he says, walking off with his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
The shuffling sound of feet makes me turn around. Ezra sighs heavily as he sits on a bench. I walk over and sit beside him.
“Ezra, is everything okay between you and Rya?” I look over at him, waiting for a response, but he doesn’t say anything. I lean back and cross my arms. “You know you can talk to me. Right?”
He nods his head while staring straight ahead.
I watch him, searching his face for any clue about what’s running through his head. His eyes stay fixed on the building in front of us. His fingers are tapping against his legs as if he’s restless. We used to talk a lot, and now it seems he doesn’t feel like he can open up to me. I can’t help but wonder if there ismore going on between those two, other than that she bought a pair of shoes. I know he had doubts before tonight, but I can’t help thinking there’s more. And if there is more, why hasn’t she spoken to me about it? We’re best friends. We’re all best friends, and it seems as though we are all having problems.
“Ez, are you okay?” I place a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
He looks over at me, dark circles hang under his tired eyes. I didn’t notice them at the restaurant. I’m not the only one who’s getting no sleep these days. He lets out another sigh, sounding worn out as he looks at me.
“Yeah.”
“Have you talked to Rya about how distant she has been with you?”
“No, because every time I try, there’s a new fucking transaction on our card that blowsdistantout of the water.” He shakes his head and hangs it down low.
“Is it really getting that bad?”
“Yeah.” He mumbles and glances over at me. “It is. There is something she’s not telling me.”
“Like what?”
He raises his shoulders. “I don’t know. It’s more of a gut feeling.”
Gut feeling.
Those two words have crossed my mind a lot. What happened to all of us? I don’t understand what is going on. Weeks ago, we were in Vegas celebrating our birthdays, living our lives. Our marriages were good. Our friendships felt strong, like they always had been. But now, it feels like with every passing day, something is happening. One of us is always caught up in something. How did we get here?
My focus shifts to my left as I hear people arguing. I see Rya throwing Zayn’s hand off her. They’re bickering aboutsomething, but they’re too far to make out the words. I turn to Ezra. His brows scrunches as he stands and heads over to them. I follow behind him. Right as Zayn sees us heading their way, he stops mid-sentence at whatever he was saying to Rya.
