“Oh my God, Dillon, how could you say that?” Emily looked to him in shock.
“Fuck her.” He casually walked across the room to the kitchen and reached into the refrigerator.
“No, honestly, fuck you, Dickhead!” Olivia spewed.
“Holy shit, would you two just stop?!”
“I’ll stop when you see the fake overcoat of charm he wears in front of you, Emily! He’s fucking around behind your back, and you’re oblivious to it!” Olivia stood up and wagged her finger in Dillon’s direction. “But, for now, he’s in my fucking house, so he can take it or get the fuck out!”
Dillon plucked his shirt from the couch, tossed it over his head, and dug his keys from his pocket.
“Dillon, wait!” Emily let out, crossing the room to go after him.
“Fuck that stupid bitch! I’ll call you later!”
He threw the door open and slammed it closed with a thundering force.
Emily stayed rooted to her spot in his wake. Her head fogged as she tried to process everything that had just happened. She spun her body around and glared at Olivia.
“You promised you wouldn’t say anything!” she spat, hot tears springing to her eyes as she moved across the room.
“Well, you know what, Em? I couldn’t help myself when I saw you cozying up to him like he did nothing!” Emily opened her mouth to speak, but Olivia cut her off. “And, not for nothing, friend, if you didn’t think it was true somewhere in that brain of yours, you would’ve never kissed Gavin,” she snarled, letting her words cut straight through Emily’s heart.
Emily inhaled, trying to quell the sudden urge to punch her square in the face. “You’re truly fucked up,” she said in a surprisingly calm tone—one that even threw Olivia off guard. “How could you say that to me, knowing what I’ve been through all week?”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Olivia replied, cautiously moving toward her. “I just think you’re in denial, Em. I think that you’re in denial about the way Dillon treats you, and I think you’re seriously in denial that you don’t feel something—even the littlest bit of something—for Gavin.”
A wounded cry escaped her throat. “I’m not in denial, Olivia. I love Dillon, and I believe him. Why is that so hard for you to understand?” Emily turned and walked toward her bedroom, stopping at her door. “I didn’t see the whole kiss. I saw exactly what Dillon said I did. That skank pulled him into her, and I turned around before he backed away. The only reason why I kissed Gavin was because I didn’t see the whole thing. I was mad. My emotions got the better of me when we got back here. That’s all—it’s nothing more.”
An uncomfortable silence descended throughout the apartment before Emily retreated into her room, sinking herself onto her bed. She had never felt so mentally bruised by the stinging of Olivia’s words. Pinching the bridge of her nose from the sudden headache pulsing through her skull, she tried to put her feelings in check. She couldn’t lose her best friend over all of this, and she refused to lose Dillon either. She hated the phrase “caught between a rock and a hard spot,” but that was exactly the way she felt. Two of the people she loved most in her life despised one another more so than ever before. Emily’s mind was whirling as the pain of the whole situation crushed in on her.
Twenty minutes later, with a subdued knock, Olivia peeked in the door. “Can I come in?”
Emily nodded.
Olivia sat on the bed. “I’m sorry, Emily. I shouldn’t have said what I did,” she whispered, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear, her eyes glassy with regret. “You’ve been through so much. I just want to see you happy.”
“I am happy, Liv. Please trust me when I say that. I just can’t have you act like that around him,” she said, sitting up. “You two will give me a nervous breakdown.”
After a very long minute of obvious deliberation, Olivia let out a heavy breath. “Okay—only for you because I love you to absolute fucking pieces—I won’t say another thing to him. You do realize how hard that will be for me, chick, right?”
“I do,” Emily said. “And that’s why I love you to absolute fucking pieces.” They leaned in and shared a tight hug. “I’m going to make sure he apologizes to you for what he said.”
Olivia let out a huffed laugh. “I don’t need his apology, Em. Besides, he’s wrong. I’m not a dyke. I’m a certified equal-opportunity lover. I like both male and female, darling.”
Shaking her head, Emily laughed.
Olivia stood up and walked to the door. “I cringe saying this—God, I fucking cringe…” She exhaled a breath and rolled her eyes. “But Dickhead—which I’m not giving up his nickname by the way—is right. Most of Bushwick isn’t a good neighborhood. Something else will come along. Just hang out—you’ll see.”
A faint smile played across Emily’s mouth. “Thank you. I’ll take both of your advice and wait it out.”
Olivia blew her a kiss and walked out of the room.
After calling Dillon and vehemently insisting that he apologize to Olivia, Emily attempted to go to sleep. She tossed uncomfortably in bed as her mind continually strayed back to Gavin. She tried to fight her emotions, reminding herself that she loved Dillon, but Gavin was embedding himself into her thoughts like a sneaky little parasite. His magnetic presence thickened the air she breathed when he was near her. His idea of inaugurating a friendship between them seemed impossible the more she went over it. There were too many dangerous variables floating around. She felt swallowed by the confusion of the feelings she had.