A Different Slice

41 - Reflections (Naomi)

"Do you want to talk about it?" Naomi asked.

"No, it's fine. You should enjoy your night." He took a few steps toward the bus stop. In the distance, one approached from the direction of the casino, but Greg needed one heading in the opposite direction.

"Am I the only person you've told?"

Greg turned back to her, fidgeting with his hands. "Yeah."

"Is that why you worried so much when we dated?"

He nodded and met her gaze, steadying himself with a breath. "When you tried to confess your feelings at the bar, I heard her mocking laughter and her whispering, 'She'll never see you as more than a friend.'"

No wonder he'd gone for that shot.

"When that woman flirted with me, I needed someone to want me again, so I went with it."

An emotional icepack hook-up, Kieran had called it. How was he so talented at noticing this stuff?

"I never meant to hurt you. I didn't think you'd ever consider me romantically. When you brought up your asexuality when we were dating, it reopened old wounds Tara left. I was so wrapped up in your lack of sexual attraction seeming like rejection that I hadn't considered what my reactions did to you."

She forced her mind to stay on this sidewalk with the dulled sounds of laughter, conversion, and classic rock. "Yeah, it fucking hurt. Your opinion meant more to me than anyone else's then."

"I'm sorry."

She didn't want to keep rehashing their breakup, but the new information about Tara made her curious. "Why'd you get back together if she was that awful?"

"Even though it was flawed, and she broke up with me, she still loved me. I wasn't sure anyone else would."

"You picked up someone at the bar."

"That's just lust. You knew almost everything about me and rejected me. Most of my exes found issues with our relationships too. Tara's biggest concern was the chemistry between you and me, but since that was no longer possible, I assumed she'd take me back."

"She did."

"Yeah, but it had to be an open relationship."

That was surprising, given Tara's past jealousy of their friendship.

"Initially, I thought it could work, but she made these rules like it couldn't be any of our friends, and I had to run everyone by her first."

"I'm not an expert on open relationships, but communication is probably what makes them work, right? Going for friends would lead to drama. We know that."

"The rules only applied to me. She'd tell me who she was seeing after the fact or ditch me for them at the last minute. Then she'd compare me to them when we were together, saying she was trying to improve our relationship. She slept with two of my coworkers while we were dating, telling them things I'd never want them to know." Greg's face was red, and he clenched his hands into fists at his sides.

Naomi had found Tara off-putting, but if she'd got back together to humiliate and control her ex, that was horrible.

"That's shitty of her."

"I ended it after that."

"I hope you find someone who treats you better."

"Thanks." He kicked at the ground. "If I learned anything, it's to communicate more. I hate that I ran instead of doing that with you."

"A clean slate relationship is pretty incredible. It's easier for me to be honest."

"Kieran has the trust of a saint if he was that friendly to me after you and I talked in Gimli."