I stared at the untouched bag of fries lying in my lap. So, Chris and Jessica... Since when? What if it started when he rejected her? That had been over a month ago. How did I miss—
"Tay!" Suzy's voice cut through my tangled thoughts.
"Wh-what?" I jerked, and some fries fell onto the floor.
"Where do I need to go?"
"Oh." Wait, weren't we just at McDonald's?
A huge park spread out towards my right. The thick shadows of the high trees were only occasionally disrupted by small lights, distributed among the paths. On the left, apartment complexes stacked next to each other like bricks inside a wall.
Why did I have to run into Killian of all people? Why him? Why not Cody? In my memories, his hazel eyes filled with pity—I squished the empty cup in my hand.
"So?" Suzy asked again.
"Yeah." I blinked. What did she ask again?
"Tay...are you alright? You've been kinda quiet."
I blinked. And then I blinked harder because suddenly my throat tightened, and my eyes grew hot. I swallowed and fixed my eyes outside the window. I would be fine. I had to be...
"Okay...wait didn't you live on Peterson Street?"
I nodded, still not trusting my voice.
"Is it guy drama?" Suzy asked gently.
I bit down on my quivering lip and shrugged.
"Alright, don't worry, I gotcha. I have just the thing for you." She patted my leg and turned up the music that was half rap, half pop, all sung in some foreign language I didn't recognize.
By the time we pulled up in front of my apartment, I could breathe a little easier. "Thanks for the ride. I really owe you. If you need anything just..."
"Nonsense," she interrupted me. "Since I am gonna call in that favor right now."
My hand froze over the seat belt. "W-what?"
"We will have so much fun this weekend!" She clapped her hands, bouncing up and down.
"Er... I think I want to be alo—"
"Nonsense," she interrupted me again and rummaged through the car. She procured a small backpack and held it up with a satisfied smile. "My emergency sleepover bag. Not exactly the kind of situation I'd intended to use it for but whatever."
I stared at her. "I mean, I think I need some time—"
"Moping around on your own won't solve anything. Trust me. I know exactly what you need."
I sat up straight and eyed her carefully. "You do know I like men, right?" Although I also sort of didn't right now.
She burst out laughing. But then she held up her finger. "You said you owe me, right?"
I grimaced but nodded.
"So, that means you're not going to back out, right?"
Another nod.
She rubbed her hands and smirked, looking like a mini demon. "Don't worry. Give it some time and I'll hook you up on something way better than boys."
"I don't do drugs."
She cackled. "You won't need any drugs after I'm done with you."
My mouth fell open. What had I gotten myself into?
Suzy walked back into my living room, carrying two boxes of Thai food. The table was littered with empty bags of chips, bowls, and crumbs. I started stacking them in one corner and she squeezed our dinner into the tiny space I'd created.
Then she grabbed two pairs of chopsticks, and another carton of apple juice and dropped down on the couch next to me.
I plucked a pair out of her hands. She lifted the remote, her eyes beaming. "Ready?"
"Hell, yeah."
She pressed play and Ji Chang-Wook filled the screen. We both let out a content sigh.
Suzy grabbed her box with a dreamy expression. "He's so handsome."
"He's crying," I deadpanned and reached for my own.
She swiped at her eyes. "What can I say? His suffering face is the best."
I burst out laughing. The more the male lead suffered, the happier she became. Although I had to admit she wasn't wrong... We both munched away our eyes glued to the scene.
"This Pad Thai is amazing," Suz remarked.
I flashed her a grin. "I know right? It's my favorite. They use rice noodles, so it's perfect."
"So, let me get this straight," she started but then we both winced as the female lead got dragged into a car. "God damn it this timing! I'm losing my mind. He had one job, one! Protect her! Where is he now, huh? Gah, this makes me so mad."
"He shouldn't have lied to her. If he hadn't, she wouldn't have followed them."
"True... So, what was I saying? Ah. So, no gluten and dairy? Anything else you can't eat?"
"Mhm...I should steer clear of any chemicals like MSG or stuff like that. Anything that can be irritating. I always have to check the ingredients for whatever I buy. I legit own one vanilla body spray. Took me ages to find one without synthetic fragrances and it was expensive as well. I only use it sporadically."
"Man, that must be tough. But we can start looking around campus for some restaurants we can test. I guess Italian is out then, but Asian food is my favorite anyways and they have loads of stuff that should work."
I hid a smile. "Alright."
The male lead rushed into the building on screen, ran up the stairs, and...entered the wrong hallway. We both let out a groan. A gunshot rang out. He froze and whipped around.
"What?" Suzy shouted when the credits started right after. "You're going to end this here? I'm sorry," she added with a side glance at me. "But we are going to have to watch the next episode. I can't go home being left hanging like this. He has to save her at least."
I leaned back and relaxed. "Save her and finally fucking tell her why they were after her in the first place. God, it would save us so many problems."
She giggled. "But then they would have to cut the whole drama down to I don't know, two episodes? And where's the fun in that?"
"True."
That was what we had been doing the entire weekend, watching Korean dramas. And it was just as Suzy had promised. By the time Sunday came around, I was hooked.
She skipped the intro of the new episode when my doorbell sounded.
The scene paused.
"You expecting anyone?" Suzy asked.
"No," I said and scrambled to my feet. It was kind of late for Sofia. Did something happen?
However, instead of my neighbor, I was met with squinted blue eyes, and messy blond hair. Chris leaned against the frame his hands stashed inside his pockets.
"Can we talk?"
My shoulders tensed. "It's kind of a bad time," I said, while Suzy shouted from the background, "Tay?"
I drew back, rubbing my forehead. "Why didn't you call?" I asked trying to keep the irritation out of my voice.
He had the nerve to scowl. "You kept ignoring my messages. What's the point in calling?"
Oh yeah. My phone. I had left it in the kitchen after the first few messages had come in. Without waiting for my reply he walked around me and came in.
I had to remind myself to unclench my jaw as I limped after him.
His greeting to Suz was met by a resounding silence. She stood and gathered her things, shooting me a tight smile. On TV a black gun was pointed at a blurred-out person. Gnashing my teeth, I reached for the remote and turned it off. Why did he interrupt us at the worst possible moment?
"I will catch you later, alright?" Suzy said on the way out, seemingly seeing right through Chris.
I wanted her to stay. I wanted to sink back onto the couch, gush over handsome Asian actors, and berate other people's stupidity.
I let out a breath and nodded. Guess now she knows who the guy trouble was about.
The door closing echoed throughout the apartment and then silence wrapped around us. I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter. There were only two bananas left. I should do groceries tomorrow.
"So..." He started. "Why did you ignore my messages?"
My gaze snapped up. Then I looked back at my nearly empty fruit bowl. I forgot to add apples to that list.
"Tay," he said.
I tensed. "What did you expect? After the way you acted? Thanks for letting me find my own ride home by the way," I said in a sharp tone. I bet he hadn't even noticed that I was limping.
His hand raked over his face. "Fine, I shouldn't have reacted like that. I'm sorry, okay? But what do you expect me to do? You always play cold. I don't even remember the last time we had sex."
Yeah. And you were busy with Jessica.
He hung his head, his hands wrapping around his neck. "I mean...I was drunk. And then I keep finding you with Jared of all people..."
My stomach twisted into knots. "That was a coincidence. You don't trust me at all, do you?"
He lifted his head. "Do you trust me?"
A rock settled on my chest. Of course, I didn't. Not now. But...did I ever?
"You don't even want others to know about us," he added.
"But...you didn't have a problem with that before."
He snorted and shook his head. "And you never have time. You are always busy lately..."
I bristled. "I had to study. And every time you want to meet at some party."
"Yeah. And then you keep dropping excuses. You can't eat this, you can't drink that."
The skin on my face tightened, and I had to resist the urge to scratch at it. "I told you I've been sick lately."
"Oh, please. You look perfectly healthy to me."
My scalp prickled with heat, and I turned away, gnawing on my lip. Here it was. The main problem. I didn't exactly tell him why I didn't like to drink.
"I just don't get it. We were good, right? I don't understand why you have to make everything so complicated."
My ankle started throbbing again, and a headache formed behind my temples. Right. Why couldn't I just be normal? Maybe things wouldn't have come to this if I didn't have my skin condition...
"I've been stressed about passing my courses and—"
My limbs became heavy, and I blinked. Still, he cheated. Was there even a point to this?
Let's break up.
The words were sitting on my tongue but when I opened my mouth nothing came out. Why was this so hard?
"—that's why it's been hard. And—"
I felt myself nodding along to whatever he was saying. I needed sleep.
"Chris. I think we should..." I took in a deep breath. "Let's—"
"Guess I held you up a little. You probably need some rest, eh? You look a bit tired. I mean we can talk some other time, alright?" He flashed me a confident grin.
"Yeah, sure," I said tonelessly. "Sounds good."