“Get the fuck out of here. I didn’t go anywhere near her. When I saw she showed up, I was over there talking with Bailey—a girl in our Wednesday group—and happily stayed in that corner most of the night.” I pointed to the bar where I’d played sounding board to Bailey.
“Don’t bullshit us, Straw, man. Not a good look. If you fucked up and did Ches, that’s one thing, but don’t lie about it,” Dex said, disappointment in his voice, which pissed me off.
“I’m not lying. Why would I lie about something I didn’t do?”
Now they looked at each other with doubt.Good.
I drove the point home. “I did not sleep with Ches last night,” I said slowly and clearly.
“No. But I did.”
We all turned our heads to see Veeti, who had just entered the room from the kitchen, a bagel in his hand.
“Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?” He gestured to me. “It didn’t seem like you were interested, Straw. Ever, but especially not since Megan. I thought you two were exclusive or whatever.”
“We are. Were.”
Veeti took a bite, nodding, then got the past tense part of my statement. “Oh. Ouch. Sorry to hear that. I really liked her. Why’d you cut her loose?”
“I didn’t. She dumped me,” I said.
“Because she thought you slept with Ches last night,” Philly said. She was on her phone scrolling and swiping, then held it out for me.
I took the phone from her and saw she had Chloe’s post cued up. I started to hand it back to her. “I don’t need to watch this bullshit. Once was more than enough. I’m still so fucking pissed that—”
“Watch it again. But keep your eye on the background. Over Connor’s shoulder.”
I did. And then I played it again. And once more. “But I…” I shook my head. I had been at the bar with Bailey while all of this was going on, but it was obvious Ches had just been in some sort of state of undress in my room that she was now putting to rights.
“You slept with Ches last night?” I said to Veeti.
He nodded. “Great in bed, man. Seems pretty high maintenance, but gave great head.”
“God, Veeti,” Philly said, shaking her head. “Don’t be a pig.”
“Listen, if you’re going to basically live with us, you’re gonna hear us be pigs from time to time, Philly. Comes with the territory,” Veeti told her. She looked to Dex, who gave a “he’s not wrong” shrug.
“Whatever,” I said. “Did you sleep with Ches in my room? Why, man? Did she, like, demand it or something?”
“Dude. I would not fuck a girl in your bed when mine is right there across the hall. Even if she did want to, which would be a big red flag, you know what I mean? Might not have stopped me, but I’d definitely hesitate.”
“Reversed image,” I said, getting it. “Fucking reversed image. But nobody’s wearing clothes with lettering on it that’s backward, or the steering wheel’s not on the wrong side. No way to tell with that completely identical hallway. But she had it shooting in mirror mode.”
Philly snatched her phone back and watched it again. “Oh shit, you’re right. We were standing on the other side of the staircase at about this time,” she said to Dex. She pointed at her phone and then over to the foot of the staircase. “Look, there’s the finial that’s missing. But it’s on the wrong side.”
“The what now?” Dex asked, thankfully, because I didn’t know what she was talking about either.
“The big ball on top of the balustrade,” she said. At our continued confused looks, she got up and went to the staircase, passing her phone to Veeti as she did. “The missing knobby thing on top of the railing thing.” She pointed to the one side, where there was nothing on top of the banister (thatword I knew), and to the other that had a wooden oval thing on the top.
“Oh yeah,” Veeti said. “Total reverse image. She left my room just like that, still buttoning up and doing something with her hair.”
“But Megan never mentioned it to me today. When she dumped me. Maybe she didn’t see it,” I said.
“Had she seen the post when you first saw her? Or did she mention it before she got to the hospital?” Philly asked. She came back into the living room and sat down next to Dex. Veeti gobbled up the rest of his bagel and sat on the other couch. All of them looked to me for an explanation.
To explain what I thought was unexplainable.
But maybe it was simple. Maybe Connor’s OD and Chloe’s post hadn’t been the impetus for Megan dumping me. Maybe it wasn’t as big picture as “too complicated” for us right now. Maybe it was this.
