That was the wrong thing to say.
Bella stood there, a molded tray with three coffee cups in one hand. “You…” she stammered. “He…” It was horrible to watch. Her eyes filled with tears. Then she took a deep breath. “I was bringing you coffee. You asshole,” she said. “Because I was under the mistaken impression that we werefriends.”
“Bella,” I said softly. But then I ran out of words. Because there really was nothing else to say on the subject. I put a bed pillow in front of my package and dove for my underwear on the floor.
Her face had turned bright red. “This isn’t just a fluke, is it?” she sputtered. “You’ve done this before. God, Graham.” His eyes were squeezed shut, and his face was red, too. Maybe redder than hers. Bella stomped toward the door, turning around once more before she got there. “I thought we wereclose!” she yelled.
And then she turned around and left, the door slamming behind her.
“Oh, God. How the hell did she get in here?” Graham covered his face in his hands.
“She said something about her key. I don’t fucking know. I’m sorry,” I said, hopping into my jeans. “I’m going to catch her. You okay with that?”
Graham just lay there, stunned. “Yeah. I guess.”
“She’s not going to tell anyone,” I said as I shoved my feet into my shoes.
He just sighed, the weight of the world in it.
I put one knee on the bed, and a hand on his chest. “Are you okay?”
“She’s pretty pissed.”
“You know why, right?”Because she loves you.
He pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “I guess. I’m such an asshole.”
“No, you’re not. Just kind of stupid.” I patted him on the hip and then stood up. “You’re not going to freak out, are you?”
Another sigh. “Probably not.”
“Good. Because your very fine ass needs to be on the bus in half an hour.” I shoved my stuff into my duffel at warp speed. “Can you grab my toiletries when you leave? I don’t have time.”
Bella wasn’t hard to catch. When I got to the elevators, she wasn’t there. But a quick scan of the lobby revealed a defeated-looking figure on a lonesome bench between two ficus trees. She sat there, staring at her shoes, her face blotchy.
She didn’t look up when I sat down beside her. But she didn’t order me to leave. So that was something. “Would it be really obnoxious of me to ask right now if one of those coffees was supposed to be for me?”
Bella practically growled. “I kind of hate you right now.”
“I know,” I whispered.
She took one of the cups out of the tray and handed it to me. Then she took a big slug of another one. “What the fuck, Rikker. How could I be such an idiot?”
“You’re not.”
She made a face. “I… It’s hard to wrap my head around.” She raked her hands over her forehead. “I mean… I never thought that Graham…” I watched the emotions duke it out on her face. “You went to the same high school for a while. He said he didn’t remember you.” She looked up at me for the first time. “That wasn’t true, was it?”
I cleared my throat. “He would have to have a pretty impressive case of amnesia.”
Bella groaned in frustration. “I’m sopissedat him. It’s like… we had so many conversations about relationships. And sex. And our pasts, you know? We talked all the time.” She dropped her voice. “Graham isgay.” These last words came slowly, as if she were trying them on.
And I’d still never heard Graham say it out loud.
“…So then he lied to me foryears,”she went on. “Even last night, I asked who he was texting… I’moffended, okay? Because I would have been cool with the truth, you know? I’m notlikethat.”
I just put my arm around her, and let her get it all out.
“I knew he didn’t love me.”
