“And?” I try to burrow deeper into his chest so I don’t have to look him in the eye, but Tripp pulls me back.
“I think … I think we need to start looking at us from the outside. If we’re ever going to make our relationships work, maybe we need to—” He takes a breath. “—stop being so possessive of each other.”
“I’m not possessive!”
“Who do I belong to?”
“Me, but—”
He grins.
“Shut up.”
Tripp chuckles. “I know it’s hard to believe, but when people start a relationship, they want to be that person’s world. Not their whole world, because that’s unhealthy, but the most important part. I think Jessica could sense she wasn’t that for you, which is why she always got so panicked about you spending time with me.”
“And Oskar?”
“Is making sure you’re not that for me. It’s … time we start … I start …” He puffs out a breath. “I think I want a proper relationship, and I can’t do that—neither of us can do that—when we’re in each other’s way.”
But he’s not in my way. I was with Jessica for eighteen months. Which means … Is he saying I’m in his way? “I’ve been giving you guys space. I thought we were having this vacation together, and then I get here and you drop a boyfriend on me. What, because Oskar is here I don’t get you at all?”
He sighs. “What am I supposed to say to that?”
“Fine. Oskar is so much better than me. Oskar can be your new best friend.” I roll onto my back.
Tripp’s smirking face appears hovering over me a second later. “Are you sulking?”
“My best friend doesn’t love me anymore. Of course I’m sulking.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Sure you did. A second ago. And I quote, Dex, you’re a stupidhead who is stupid and I hate you.”
He jostles me. “Call yourself a stupidhead again.”
“I didn’t. That was all you.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I can’t believe you would say that about me.”
Tripp flicks my nose, and I slap his hand away. He lifts his hand, and I raise mine, ready to block him.
“Oh, it’s on.” I tackle Tripp, but he gets me in a headlock and flips me onto my back. We wrestle back and forth, slapping and biting, and the bastard even pulls my hair as he shoves me back into the mattress.
We’re gasping around heavy breaths when Tripp pins me. “You really suck at—”
A throat clears, and we both freeze.
Tripp quickly scrambles off me at the sight of Oskar standing in the doorway, and I let out a loud groan and cover my face with my arms.
“Should I be jealous?” he asks.
The bastard could at least have the decency to sound threatened.
“Maybe you should be.”
Judging by his laugh, he probably isn’t though.
“Come on, boyfriend, let’s take that hike.”
I can’t take it anymore.
“No.” I sit up and glare at him. “It’s my turn.”
“Dex …” Tripp starts, but I don’t want to hear it.
I turn to him. “I get it. He has to be your priority now, but I’m still a priority, aren’t I? When do I get to have you?”
“You don’t, Dex; that’s the point.” Oskar’s voice has a warning edge to it.
“Pretty sure I didn’t ask you.”
“You don’t have to ask me to have an opinion on my friend.”
“Don’t you mean boyfriend?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Does it matter what he is to me?” Oskar crosses his arms. “At the end of the day, I can give him things you can’t. And if you care about him as much as you say you do, you should be happy to step aside and let Tripp be happy.”
“But he can’t be happy without me.”
Oskar’s eyes widen. “Are you hearing yourself?”
And here it comes, the Dex-is-an-idiot tone. “So sorry you don’t know what it’s like to have a best friend.”
“I’m beginning to think you don’t either.”
Tripp climbs out of bed to pull some shorts on. “Can you both shut up?”
“Nope.” I stand firm.
“Come on, Tripp. Dex needs to calm down.”
“No, I don’t.” I climb out of bed too because I don’t want to be the only one not standing. I’m tempted to take my shirt off as well so that I’m not the only one fully dressed, but that would probably be weird. I think. Yeah, definitely weird.
“Well, you don’t exactly seem calm, do you?” Oskar points out.
“Because you’re stealing my best friend.”
He shrugs. “Sorry, boyfriend trumps best friend.”
“Well, husband trumps boyfriend! Ha!” I point my finger in his face to really drive the point home.
Then Tripp curses, and I realize I’ve just messed up.
Oskar’s eyes flash. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It was a joke,” Tripp quickly says, right as I reply with, “Fake husband. I mean. Obviously.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sorry, Tripp.” I rub the back of my neck. “I … I didn’t mean …”
Oskar pinches the bridge of his nose. “Please tell me you didn’t actually get married.”
“The whole wedding was a joke,” Tripp says. “It’s not even legal.”
“You’re married?” His deep voice echoes off the damn walls, he’s so loud.
“No,” Tripp says, sounding a thousand times more patient than I would. “Dex didn’t think he could get married, so we were proving that he could. It was all fake. Calm your tits. Dex suggested it, and I—”
Oskar whirls on me. “I like you, Dex, but Jesus Christ you would have to be the world’s biggest dumbass. What is wrong with you? How could you make him do that?” Does Oskar sound … hurt?
I can’t even answer him. My annoyance from earlier dries up because yeah, I’ve been called dumb a lot in my life, but never like that. “I … I …”
“I can’t with you two.” Oskar throws up his hands and leaves.
“Shit.” Tripp shoots a look at me. “What happened to it being a secret?” he hisses before chasing after his boyfriend.
Well, I did what I wanted.
I got one over on Oskar.
It just doesn’t feel as good as I thought it was going to, especially when I’m left standing here alone.
Eight
TRIPP
“Oskar, wait.”
He was so fast to run out of there, he’s already storming down the beach by the time I get outside, and I have to run after him. Though I shouldn’t have to explain myself.
Oskar isn’t actually my boyfriend.
I’m just about to reach him when he whirls around on me.
“You let him talk you into marrying him?”
“No. Not exactly. I didn’t think he’d go through with it. I was there as a supportive friend.”
“How …” Oskar can’t seem to get his words out.
“How, what?”
“How do you do it to yourself, man? I’ve never loved someone before, but I’ve been interested in guys who haven’t been interested in me, and that was bad enough. How do you put up with him being so insensitive to you?”
“He’s not insensitive. He legitimately thinks we feel the same way about each other.”
“Then why do I seem to fight for your heart more than you do?”
“It’s complicated.”