Craft Beer & Roses

Chapter 28

There were few scenarios Aviva could think of that could be worse than the one she'd found herself in that particular summer afternoon. She crossed one leg over the other, eyes surveying the other pairs of islanders at their respective speed-dating tables. She wanted to look at something else – anything else. Gabi sat across from her, idly watching Aviva actively avoid her gaze. Gabi reached for her drink, bringing it to her lips for a modest sip. She cleared her throat, setting the glass back on the table.

Aviva clutched the stem of her own champagne flute. She took a long, luxurious gulp of her drink, enjoying the fresh sweetness of peach nectar and crisp Prosecco popping on her tongue. Her narrowed eyes found Gabi's over the rim of her glass.

A slow and deliberate smile curled on Gabi's deep red lips, "Can you believe I've been on dates more awkward than this one?"

"Hm. Do all your dates end up with you shagging someone else's boyfriend? Or am I just lucky?" Aviva asked with a sarcastic edge.

"I'm going to ignore the bite and entertain you for a moment. Suresh is a big boy. He made his choices." Gabi flicked her glass, a light ding sounding when her nails made impact, "I didn't even know you existed."

Aviva swallowed the last bits of her cocktail, though the previously delightful drink had soured in her mouth as she scrutinized the tattoos along Gabi's bare collarbones. The memory of her half-naked body on Suresh's phone screen vaulted to the top of her mind, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut to wish it away.

"You really didn't know?"

"Really. We flirted all the time; I just assumed he was single and into me. Think what you want, but I would never sleep with another woman's man. Not knowingly, at least." Gabi voiced honestly.

Aviva thought about her conversation with Saoirse. Aviva never intended to meet Gabi. She didn't want to know who she was. She didn't want to know why she did what she did. But mostly, she didn't want to place any importance on her. She wanted Gabi to remain faceless and insignificant. Whether she knew Suresh was in a relationship or not, Aviva worried that Gabi still held some sort of power over her. She didn't know how long the two of them were together, despite Suresh's insistence that it was a one-time thing. She didn't know what he told her all those times they spent alone at the pub. Gabi could know things. She could say things. She could make Aviva feel insignificant, and the thought made her stomach turn.

"It'd be funny if we wound up mates after all this. We've already found at least one thing we have in common." Gabi chuckled to herself, leaning over the table to refill Aviva's glass. Aviva quirked a skeptical brow. "A relationship with Suresh," Gabi explained.

A bitter laugh bubbled up from Aviva's throat, "So is that what we're calling one-night stands now?" She held up her hands to air quote with her fingers, "Relationships?"

Gabi let out a long-suffering sigh, "I guess some things don't change. I take it he's not told you, then?"

"Told me what?"

"That we dated."

Aviva pushed her glass away from her, fearing she might break it in anger, "Pardon?"

"I thought he would've said something, or maybe I would've told you earlier. But yeah, we were together. For like, five months after your breakup."

The straightened tablecloth wrinkled in Aviva's hands as she balled it into her fists. "How soon after?"

"I honestly couldn't say. Like I said before, I didn't know anything about you. Not for a while, at least." Gabi's expression dissolved into something apologetic, "I don't know why he didn't tell you. I mean, it doesn't really matter anyway. Plus, as soon as he did tell me about you, he said he was completely done with you and all in with me."