At No Time || Bruno Mars

27

"So what's so important you had to ask of my culinary skills and cut into my Christmas wrapping in which you will be helping me finish?" Angelique climbed onto the bar stool opposite of Trystan, who had only asked to stop by her friend's house and would barely qualify peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, pretzels, and tea as anything especially adroit. Fortunately for Angelique's credit, she remembered PB n' Js were Trystan's favorite types of sandwiches, and she could tell her friend was long overdue for a good one when her tone on the phone was not as sprightly as it normally was.

Trystan picked at the crust her sandwich, the peanut butter thick in her throat as she thought of the most suitable way to tell her friend she was falling for an engaged man. She had not planned to tell anyone, whatever going on between she and Peter their secret, but it had begun to drive her crazy. She figured her friend, notorious for her relationship escapades, could be of some kind of help.

Licking her lips, Trystan edged, "You ever wanna be with someone you knew you couldn't have?"

Angelique shrugged after taking a bite of her own food. "Yeah, you could say that."

"What did you do about it?"

Her shoulders bounced up and down again as she mimicked Trystan in toying with the corners of her bread. "I'm not really into getting it on with people who are already in relationships; not my thing." She looked up at Trystan. "Why?"

"Just because . . ." Trystan crammed her mouth with a bite so she wouldn't have to answer even though her stomach swirled with the guilt living there.

Angelique watched her carefully as she stole a pretzel from a green bowl, and then a chip from the blue one. Angelique was oblivious when it came to many things, but not when her best friend was acting out of the ordinary. Trystan had always been the same, ever since they were kids. She could spot a difference from a country mile.

"What's going on, Tree?"

"I have feelings for Bruno." Trystan bit her tongue from how quickly she'd blabbed out her secret. She was sure had she kept it in a moment longer, she probably would have hurled.

Angelique's eyes widened. "You what?"

"Please don't make me say it again." Trystan was not embarrassed about liking Peter, but something about saying it out loud to someone other than him made her want to disappear.

"You have feelings for Bruno? As in P. Dez? As in the asshole in your seat?" Trystan couldn't tell if Angelique's surprise was from vitality or abashment, but there was no point in taking it back either reaction.

"Yes."

"Okay, wait, wait, wait." Angelique dropped her sandwich and held out her hands as if Trystan's single statement had been thrown at her much too fast. "You're gonna have to start from the beginning. How can you love this man who gave you such a hard time?"

"I didn't say I "loved" him," Trystan quickly reprimanded, her heart pounding. "Just that . . . I have feelings for him; that's it."

"That's it?" Angelique pretended to throw a chip at her. "This isn't some small news like you're telling me Bella got caught in a rose bush again. This is fucking huge! When did this all happen?"

"I don't really know," Trystan sighed, pressing her thumb against the side of her forefinger in lieu of having a pen to click. "We really didn't like each other at first but then . . . we started to get to know each other and . . ." She didn't know what else to say. To her own ears, the story sounded implausible, even though it was undoubtedly true. She and Peter seemed to have fallen for each other out of nowhere. "Something just . . . clicked."