I had a text waiting from Ty.
Forgot to tell you what time. Show starts at eight. It’s an hour drive. So by seven if you can.
I replied, See you then.
All my roomies were sprawled in the living room, and Angus looked like shit. Normally, he was the best put-together of us all, even for apartment lounging, but today he was wearing sweats, and his hair had no product at all. A plate sat nearby that showed signs he was responsible for my missing cookies. I sat down beside him. Both Lauren and Max mouthed something, trying to warn me.
“What happened?” I asked.
Max groaned. “Crap, we just got his mind off it.”
“Josh cheated on me,” Angus said flatly.
I frowned at Max. “Look at that face. You didn’t distract him at all. Do you want to talk about it?” I said to Angus.
He acted like he didn’t hear me. “The insane thing is, it happened last summer. I had no idea. He claims it was one time, while I was in Europe for three weeks.”
“Why the hell did he tell you now?” Lauren wondered.
“He said he needed to clear his conscience, otherwise he’d feel too guilty for us to build a future together.”
“That makes sense,” Max said. “Sounds like he’s serious and wants a clean slate going forward. If he feels bad every time he looks at you, it’ll poison your relationship.”
Neither of the other two noticed how thoughtful and serious a response that was, how unlike the Max we’d known since freshman year. Before, he was all about the quick comeback, refusing to get deep, refusing to admit he had emotions at all. He was the life of the party, and as far as anyone could tell, that was all there was to him. I knew better now.
“But he doesn’t get a free pass at Angus’s expense,” Lauren argued. “He’s the one who acted like a dick, and now he’s doing it again by hurting him with this sudden confession.”
“True,” Max said. “But sometimes you just have to tell the truth, even when it’s tough.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Any future they built together would be founded on bullshit. It sucks, but Angus has to decide if he can forgive Josh before they’ll have anything real.”
“Lauren, I appreciate the unconditional love.” Angus hugged her.
She was always fiercely, ferociously on the side of people she cared about—didn’t matter if they were even in the right. Lauren always had your back, and that was what I loved most about her. No matter how much she’d changed, that part stayed the same. Her face over Angus’s shoulder looked so sad, like she was the one with the cheating boyfriend, or a problem too heavy to solve alone, but she blinked away the tears with a determined lift of her chin.
“You know it,” she murmured.
Angus went on, “It’s awful, and I feel like puking, but Josh telling me? It was the right call. At this point, I don’t know if I can move past this, but I’m...glad he told me.”
“You feel like barfing because you inhaled all my cookies, feeling-eater.” I smiled, rubbing Angus’s back.
He narrowed his eyes. “In retrospect...they were f**king delicious and I’d do it again.”
“I can hang out today, but I have plans tonight. Will you be okay?”
“I’m taking him shopping,” Lauren put in.
Angus sighed. “I don’t want to go.”
Max pretended to fall out of his chair. “Call the paramedics.”
I was hoping Angus’s situation would divert attention from my plans, but Lauren was too sharp. “Where are you going that Angus can’t come in his hour of need?”
Time to tell them...something, though Max already knew. I kept my tone casual. “Ty, the guy who lives in 1B, asked me to go to a club in the city. We’re seeing Broken Arrow.”
“Oh, my God. You’re dating Hot Ginger?” Lauren said that so loud, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ty heard it. I pondered crawling under my bed and never coming out.
“We’re going as friends,” I said firmly.
Angus put in, “That sucks. He’s delicious.” When I raised my brows, he added, “What? Looking is not cheating.”
I could only say softly, “He is pretty delicious.”
“Maybe he’ll get drunk and grope you,” Lauren offered.
Max wore a horrified yet fascinated look. “That’s not something a girl wants. Is it?”
“If she’s into the guy, she does, especially if he’s not making the move sober.” Lauren seemed ready to argue with him, and I left them to it.
A long, long shower restored some of my equilibrium, and then I exfoliated, treating this like a date even though I had assured them it wasn’t. When I waxed my legs, I told myself it was because I might wear a dress, not because Ty might be touching them. Afterward, I moisturized and used a light bronzer, so they wouldn’t look pasty.
“Wow,” Lauren said, coming into our room. “You’re really into this guy.”
I could’ve denied it, but that would’ve been pointless. “It’s not going anywhere. He has a four-year-old, he works full-time, takes college night classes, and he doesn’t date.”
“Ouch. Your odds of a happily-ever-after don’t seem high. But let me do your toes, anyway.” She smiled and got out her kit, chock-full of sparkling colors. “Ruby-red?”
“I think so.”
To show her support, Lauren gave me a full mani-pedi. Since her self-makeover, her whole outlook had changed. At this point, she knew way more about beauty than me. Once she finished, I lounged around for an hour to make sure I didn’t ruin the polish. By now, it was almost five, and I was hungry but too nervous to eat. It’s not a date, I kept telling myself, but I couldn’t seem to internalize that fact.
“Want me to do your hair and face?”
This was part of why I loved her. Though she was worried about Angus, she’d also noticed that tonight was a big deal. No prying questions, she accepted what I offered in front of everyone else, and she was doing her best to back me up, even if she didn’t 100 percent get what was going on. Hell, neither did I.
“That would be great.”
“What are you wearing? That will determine how I make you up.”
Standing up, I duck-stepped to the closet, still being careful of my toes. I had exactly four dresses, one of which I’d worn in my cousin’s wedding, and never wanted to put on again. The other three were wrong, too, just in different ways. Lauren came to join me, then she dug into her side of the walk-in.