“What do you mean?”
“He talks to me. I shouldn’t say that he knows. He speculates.”
“You think he knows that I have been with Drew?”
Star nodded. I wanted to get back on the plane and get the hell out of dodge. I didn’t want to face him. Shit.
He knew. What the hell was I supposed to say to him?
I hung around with Star until almost two. I knew that Dawson took his lunch from two to three and I had planned on meeting him and maybe going to Millie’s for lunch. I felt my nerves stand on end with every tick from the Indian wall clock above my head.
Star hugged me and told me to call her. I thanked her for being my friend and not judging me the way that my so called best friend, Lauren, had.
I pulled over to the curb when I saw Dawson walking down the sidewalk. I smiled a sad smile at the sight of him. I really didn’t want to hurt him any more than I had. I couldn’t believe that he knew that I wasn’t at my mom’s. He never mentioned it when I had talked to him the day before. I lost my smile pretty quick.
What the fuck?
I watched Lauren run up behind him and jump on his back. He carried her for a few steps before she slid off. They were laughing and flirting. Was this why Lauren was so interested in my plans with Dawson? I watched Dawson hold the door open at Millie’s for her. I couldn’t help but notice the look between the two as she passed.
I sat dumbfounded for a few minutes, trying to process what if anything was going on. Dawson didn’t have lunch with Lauren. They never hung out. How did I feel about it? That was when I knew exactly who I belonged with. I thought about how it made me feel to think of Dawson with someone else. I smiled and shook my head. I was okay with it. I thought about Drew being with someone else and how I wanted to scratch Celeste’s eyeballs out when I thought they were being intimate. I couldn’t handle the thought of Drew being with someone, but I was okay with Dawson being with my best friend.
I wondered about Joel, although I knew that Lauren had said she would never be serious with him. I really didn’t know that Lauren had feelings for Dawson. I guess I should have. She was very insistent on me not hurting him.
What should I do? Should I walk in? Should I wait until later? What did Lauren tell him about our fight? I wasn’t sure what I should do. I didn’t want to embarrass either one of them. I decided to wait until later in the evening. I wanted to talk to Lauren first. I could very well just be an innocent lunch, and I was reading more into it than I should have been.
I patiently waited for Lauren to get home, staring out the window. She pulled into her drive five hours later.
I knew she wouldn’t come over like she normally did. She was pissed at me.
I took a deep breath and slid my arms through my coat. I didn’t even know what I was going to say. Was Lauren really seeing Dawson behind my back?
Lauren opened the door before I had a chance to knock.
“Can we talk?” I asked.
She stepped aside and gestured for me to come in.
“I just made coffee, want some?”
“Sure,” I said, sitting at the table. “Lauren, I’m sorry,” I blurted out even though I didn’t know what I was apologizing to her for.
“Me too, Ry. I just don’t want you to hurt Dawson.
He is so in love with you.”
Hmm. How do I respond to that? She wasn’t going to mention having lunch with him. Should I? I decided to let it slide and pretend that I didn’t know.
“Why don’t you and Joel come over tonight?” I asked. I didn’t want her to come over with Joel. I wanted to spend the evening alone, talking to Dawson. I was just fishing for information.
“Joel and I broke up almost a month ago,” she stated.
“What happened? Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, playing the concerned friend.
“I came over to talk to you last night. We didn’t really talk.”
“Why did you break up?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess I have decided lately that I wasn’t getting any younger.
Joel’s not really the settling down type. I want to be in love and start a family.”
“Got anyone in mind?”
She thought briefly before answering. “No, not really.”
She wasn’t going to tell me that she had lunch with Dawson, and she wasn’t going to tell me who she had in mind, but I could tell there was someone, and I had a good feeling that it was Dawson.
I answered my phone when I saw that it was Dawson.
“Where are you? I brought supper.”
“How did you know that I was home?” I asked. I knew Lauren had told him. I just wanted to see what his answer was.
“ESP, baby. Get over here. I’m hungry, and I miss you.”
I smiled. He wasn’t telling me either. “I’m coming.”
I stood up and took Lauren’s hand. “Come, let’s go eat.”
“No. I think I am just going to hang out here. You go ahead,” she said pulling her hand from mine.
“I thought you said you weren’t mad at me.”