The Hardest Fall(25)
“So? Any advice? Real advice? The kind friends give each other?” I asked Kayla. “What the hell am I gonna do? How am I gonna go back there tonight?”
Her perfectly filled thick eyebrows rose higher on her forehead and she gave me an innocent look. “Walk, maybe?”
I returned her look with my most bored stare.
“Okay, okay. Sheesh. Save that face for someone else. I think trying to keep a bit more quiet instead of going off on an endless rant might be a better idea. I support you on that.”
While Jared was the most easygoing and confident one out of the three of us, Kayla—AKA KayKay, as Jared had dubbed her—was our mama bear. She was just the person you wanted to open up to, so nurturing, sweet, quiet, and everything I was not around guys. However, when it came to her actual relationships, her choices were a little skewed. Case in point, her on-again, off-again prick of a boyfriend Keith gave me the creepy chills almost every time he was around. I just wished—actually, both Jared and I wished—that one of the times when they broke up, it would actually be for good. There was always hope.
“Any other ideas? We’re going to be living in the same apartment and I’m quietly freaking out about it. It’s not like I can stay in my room and never come out, and trying to act all casual when he is around is a no-go because we all know how I get around guys I think are good-looking.”
“How about you go with being casual and normal instead of acting?”
“I’m too itchy and nervous around him, Kayla. If you’d seen me last night, you would’ve winced every time I opened my mouth. He was being so nice, and I think I’d love to be his friend. I think I could maybe handle that.”
“You can definitely do that. Just think of him as already taken. That should make it easier.”
“He actually just broke up with his girlfriend.”
“Dang it, you don’t say.” Jared whistled. “Maybe I should give you a visit one of these days, just to check things out, you know.”
Feeling like I had some kind of a game plan I could focus on when I went back to the apartment, I leaned back in my seat and let out a huge breath. I was thankful for having Kayla and Jared as friends, more than they could ever imagine. They made coming to L.A.—the biggest risk of my life—worth it for me. God knows nothing else had gone the way I’d hoped it would.
Kayla cleared her throat and fidgeted in her seat before glancing at me and then at Jared, all the while shredding her empty paper cup into small pieces. “So, I think in light of this new development, I have to tell you guys something.” Before either of us could open our mouths to say anything, she went ahead and continued, “I might have gone on a few dates with Dylan.”
“Dylan who?” Jared asked, still chewing on a piece of toast as he eyed the rest of Kayla’s brownie.
“My Dyl—ah, I mean the Dylan that’s staying in my apartment? The wide receiver? Dylan Reed?”
“Yeah. That one.”
Jared stopped eating.
Something weird settled in my stomach. “Huh?”
“Two dates, Zoe,” she rushed out, lifting two of her fingers to emphasize her words. “It was just two times.”
Some guy bumped my chair from behind, and I scooted myself a little forward as I took a few sips of my already cold coffee, my attention focused on the table. It was fine. It was a surprise, sure, but still completely fine. It wasn’t like I was interested in Dylan in that way or anything like that. It would’ve also been completely fine if they had gone out more than two times. He was off limits anyway, wasn’t he? Not just because he was my roommate and out of my league, but because he was one of Mark’s players.
“It was freshman year, before I met you guys. I think it was a few months before actually. I was having this two-month hiatus kind of thing with Keith”—which meant he had broken up with her for some stupid reason—“and my dorm roommate was going out with this football player. She kind of forced me to go out with them because I was upset about Keith, and the guy was gonna bring a friend, so I was supposed to keep him occupied while also occupying myself. You know I didn’t have any friends other than Keith my first year here, so I said fine.” She grimaced and went back to shredding pieces. “He was really sweet actually, but you know how I am. I love Keith, and I just wasn’t into getting to know anyone else. I barely talked the whole night, and the second time…my roommate happened again. That time I actually managed to chat with him for a little while. We talked about our families, how we both had big, loud ones and all that, but neither one of us was acting like it could turn into something more. It was just a friendly night out sort of thing. I think my roommate started seeing the other guy—his name was something weird like Rap or Rip or something—so she didn’t need me to hold her hand after that second time. I barely saw Dylan again. Also, it was only double dates, never just the two of us. Plus, a few weeks after that I was back with Keith anyway. He would always say hi those rare few times we ran into each other on campus, but I don’t think I’ve seen him in a year.”
Jared hummed and drew my gaze back to him. “Those don’t count as dates, KayKay, at least not in my book.”
“I agree, but at the time I might have described it as if I went out on these big dates with a football player to Keith, just to make him jealous. I just wanted to mention it now in case Dylan saw me with Zoe and actually remembered and said something. I didn’t want it to be a surprise.”