AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So. Fun night you had. Care to tell me about it?”
“What did Quinn tell you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. There was some drunken rambling about jellyfish and venom. About some man trying to use networking to get into your pants. Oh, then there was something about the Grand Canyon being so big and wide that if he fell in, he’d never stop falling. But the real doozie was when he said you moved out days ago. He said you left him.”
I don’t understand half of what she’s saying, but those last two sentences I do understand, and how she practically spits out the words, tell me that they’re the most important sentences of them all. Shit, I’ve been such a bad friend.
“Remember our anniversary dinner?”
She nods because, of course, she does. She was on board with my plan to drag him to dinner. She knew how important that night was to me. I texted her photos of me in my new dress after spending hours on my makeup and hair. Asking her if I looked okay.
“I found him in his office with a woman.”
The hurt I’m still feeling at seeing them together is unfathomable. This is why I didn’t want to say anything. Besides the hurt, there’s the humiliation. Our group of friends is so closely connected it’s inevitable that soon, everyone will know. I just wanted to keep it to myself and shy away from the fallout for as long as I could. So I tell her that, and I keep going, the words spewing out of me like water from a fire hydrant that’s just been demolished by a bus. I tell her of all the lies. All the betrayals. Every conclusion I came to. Moving out. All of it.
“No,” she breathes, her face covered in shock.
“He wants me to forgive him, but I just can’t stay with him anymore,” I whisper. “Not after everything.” It feels as if I’m trying to justify my actions to her. But I’m scared of what this might mean. Quinn is one of Aidan’s closest friends, and I don’t want anyone to have to pick sides.
“Of course, you can’t,” she soothes, grabbing my hand and lacing our fingers together. “I can’t believe this. I mean, it’s Quinn. The two of you are practically an institution. It feels like I’m in the middle of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
I smile at the reminder of Hannah’s love for old-school horror movies.
“And maybe that’s the problem. The statistics are against childhood sweethearts making it for the long haul. Maybe it was a mistake that we got together so young.”
“So what you’re saying is that me and Aidan are next?”
“Sorry,” I say, giving her a sheepish smile. “I didn’t mean it that way. I guess I’m just trying to make sense of it all.”
“I’m going to fucking kill him, and I know I’m not the only one that’s going to feel this way.”
I groan, dropping my head in my hands. “See? This is why I didn’t want to say anything.”
“And what did he mean by the networking guy?”
“That was just Quinn being drunk. Kallan was here, and Quinn saw what he wanted to see.”
“Who’s Kallan?”
“The owner of The Wood Room,” I remind her.
“Okay,” she says slowly. “And he was here? Late at night?”
I narrow my eyes. “He works across the road, Hannah. We’ve become friends.”
*****
Early afternoon, my phone vibrates, and I see a text from Nathan.
Nathan: Went by your apartment last night and you weren’t there.
I bite my lip, hesitating, but then I remember that he knows. That Quinn told him.
Bailey: I moved out
Nathan: Where are you staying?
Bailey: In my grandparents’ old apartment
