Ah hell, I still felt guilty. Even if it was laced with a healthy dose of mortified anger at having been rejected with such finality.
Who cares about Garrett Bellows? I sure didn’t. Nope, not Riley Walker.
Riley Walker had bigger and better things to worry about. Like my internship. I was finally shadowing a reporter and was being allowed my very own byline.
That was cause for celebration.
Right?
So why wasn’t I happier about it?
“Really? Did you guys all hang out or something?” Maysie asked, shoving a cream puff in her mouth. My best friend had a serious addiction to the Cup and Crumb’s cream puffs. I think half of the coffee shop’s profit margin lay in Maysie Ardin’s frequent purchase of those chocolate covered pastries.
Vivian shook her head. “No, you’re missing my point here. Garrett came back to the apartment,” she paused for dramatic affect, making sure we were paying attention. I rolled my eyes.
“With Gracie! Can you believe it? Miss ‘I will never hook up with a townie,’” Vivian giggled and bile tickled the back of my throat.
Maysie gasped. “Did they hook up?” she asked. Vivian waggled her eyebrows.
“Well, why else would he accompany a very drunk Gracie home and then disappear into her bedroom. He was still there this morning, his van was out front when I left!” Vivian exclaimed excitedly.
Shit, it had happened. Gracie and I had now both been biblically acquainted with the same penis. The thought was utterly horrible.
“He sure has a thing for drunk girls,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Huh?” Vivian asked, looking at me with confusion. Maysie’s eyes were sympathetic as she watched me hurry through my breakfast so I could get far away from this conversation.
“I’ve got to get to class,” I said in a rush, finishing off my coffee. “I’ll see you guys later.”
“Wait, Riley,” Maysie called out, hurrying after me. I slowed down but didn’t stop. We had been tiptoeing around the Garrett shaped elephant in the room for a while now but I knew that my effective evasiveness was at an end.
“Are we ever going to talk about what happened? With you and Garrett I mean. Jordan has tried to find out but Garrett is pretty tight lipped about the whole thing. I had hoped for a bit more information from my best friend. When did we stop telling each other everything?” she asked and I knew my refusal to confide hurt her. I was doing a bang up job of making the people around me feel like crap lately.
I let out a deep sigh. “What’s there to talk about? We hooked up. It was a huge mistake. I feel like an idiot about it. Let’s just chalk it up to very bad decision making and leave it at that,” I said tiredly. Maysie looked unconvinced.
“That’s it? Really?” she asked incredulously.
“Yep, really,” I said firmly, thankful to see the English building in front of me that promised my sweet escape from this discussion.
“Bullshit. If that’s all there is to it than explain why that chip on your shoulder has grown into a crater. You’re almost bitchier than you were post Damien. What went down between you two after Benny’s? Garrett’s been beyond weird and you’re going apocalyptic every time I leave my shoes in the living room,” she said, eyeing me closely.
“Well, shoes belong in the closet, not in the middle of the floor. It’s a safety issue, Mays,” I remarked dryly. Maysie made a clucking noise that was a clear indicator she was ready to throttle me.