Undone [Completed]

Undone: [Nine] [Part Three]

My mouth opened out of its own accord.

I stared.

Ryan was still watching the two – Nick and his…girlfriend – while I was staring at him. Was he joking?

“Um, Ryan?” I found my voice about a minute afterward, the duration during which the notion that Nick was seeing someone sunk in slowly.

“Yeah?” he turned away and looked at me.

“Did you,” Yes, he did, “I mean, you said that that girl, she’s, Nick’s girlfriend.”

“Uh-huh,” he nodded happily, “that’s h-wait, you didn’t know about Lani?”

I smiled wryly. “Clearly not.”

“Oh,” Ryan seemed confused by this, and spoke slowly afterward “okay, let’s go introduce the two of you then.”

He started to walk towards them.  

“Hold up. First, who is she?”

“Well, uh, she’s Lani.”

“I figured.”

Why were Ryan’s eyes darting about the scene? Why did he seem so anxious?

“Ryan, what’s going on?” I asked, growing more confused by the minute.

“I guess it’s not a big deal,” he answered, to which I frowned. Then he added, “that he didn’t tell you. He probably forgot. Plus, they’re not really together, they’ve just had this thing going on between them.”

I was astounded. All these days, Nick had had something going on with her, and he hadn’t said a thing? I could understand why Ryan thought I’d be…offended, but I wasn’t. I was still reeling from the shock.

As though he were reading my mind, Ryan answered the next question I was about to ask. “You’re seeing her today ‘cause she’s been away for a year now. She was away as an exchange student, but her timing’s all off ‘cause she went also as a swimmer,” he clarified.

Oh.

That made sense.

I found myself being pulled along towards where the happy reunion was still on.

“I can’t believe I forgot!” Nick was exclaiming, the smile on his face broader than ever.

“You’re awful,” Lani agreed amicably.

It felt strange for me to stand there as the two chatted on, with Rodney and Ryan beaming at them. I didn’t want to interrupt them, and while I now knew what was going on, I couldn’t help but feel out of place.

Rodney noticed this. He cleared his throat, thus cutting off their banter. Both of them looked at him with identical expressions of surprise, but Nick’s face cleared when he saw Rodney’s head tilt towards me slightly.

“Right, sorry.”

Lani looked at him questioningly.

“There’s someone you haven’t met. This is Max.” He gestured towards me.

“Oh. Hi! I’m Lani,” extended her hand for me to shake.

*

Time froze.

*

She had a bright smile on her face, having taken in the new addition to the group quite easily. Her hand was extended outwards and in my direction, and it wouldn’t have been a big deal, except it was her right hand.