“Where the hell have you been?” Ezra yells.
Both Zayn and I are taken aback by Ezra’s raised voice. He’s never one to yell.
“Like you care,” Rya mutters. Zayn catches her as she wobbles on her heels. She shoves his hands off her again. Zayn raises both of his hands in the air as if he’s done with her.
“What is going on with you, Rya? We’ve all been looking for you while you’re over there getting wasted?” I say, stepping closer to her.
She scoffs. Her eyes are glossy and unfocused, and her whole body sways, trying to keep her balance. I glance down at her heels, still attached to her feet. They now have dried splashes of spilled drinks all over the top of them.
“Rya, this isn’t like you?” I say, reaching my arm out to her.
She looks up at me, her eyes dark, like they’re filled with hatred for me.
“Rya.” I say her name out of shock and pull my arm back.
“Can we go home?” she asks with her unfocused gaze toward Ezra.
I watch as Ezra wraps his arm around her, and they both walk off.
A pang of hurt twists in my chest as I take in the look she gave me. She looked like she’s mad at me, like I’ve done something. But what? My mind races, trying to pinpoint what I could have done. Did I say something? Do something? Is it because I didn’t follow her out when she left the restaurant? I can’t shake the uneasy feeling settling in my stomach.
“What did she say to you?” I ask Zay as we walk to the car. The sound of laughter echoes through the night of everyone getting out of the clubs.
“Nothing,” he says.
“But I heard you guys arguing. What were you guys arguing about?”
“Well, we’re all pissed that she had us looking for her.”
“So you told her that?” I say as I slide into the car. I look over at him as he starts the engine.
“Yeah, I told her how mad we were and how fucked up it was that she did this.” He shakes his head and drives off. “It made her even more mad. Couldn’t even understand what she was saying.”
She was drunk and slurring her words. Did she not know it was me she was looking at with those hateful eyes?
The chime of my doorbell rings through my ears, making me jolt. Who could that be? I hardly ever get unexpected company. I run my hands under the sink faucet, scrubbing the stickiness from the frosting off my fingers. The chime echoes through the house once more. I dry my hands on a paper towel, throw it on the counter and head for the door.
I swing the door open and am shocked to see Rya standing there with a smile on her face. “Hey,” she says, high-pitched and overly excited, like we had plans.
“Hi,” I mumble, swinging the door open wider. “Did we have plans?”
She shakes her head, taking a step inside. “No,” she says. She inhales the sweet scent of homemade cupcakes.
I shut the door and follow behind her as she makes her way into my kitchen. “What are you doing?”
She pivots around with a frown on her face. “Can I not come visit my best friend?”
“Yeah. But shouldn’t you be at work?”
I’m very confused about her unannounced visit. Even though we’re best friends, I always know when she is coming over.
“I took the day off.” She gets closer to the vanilla cupcakes that I just pulled out of the oven and takes a big sniff.
“Again?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
Rya has been acting so strange lately, and I can’t figure out why. I’ve tried to brush it off. Zayn’s been stressed and acting weird, so maybe something similar is going on with her too. I’ve learned not to push with Zayn, so I haven’t pushed with her. Maybe this is what she needs—her best friend. But after what happened this past weekend, I’m not so sure. I want to ask what the hell all that was about. The hatred in her eyes still rolls around in the back of my mind.
