The side of Raffi’s mouth quirked up, and his eyes shone bright. “It sure is.”
Oh no, she died a little at that adorable half smile, one that he reserved for her. He ignored Madison, scorned Kami, but she got that cute smirk.
She pretended to keep looking at the flowers while Kami oohed and ahhed over different arrangements. Ani was nodding half-heartedly at Kami when Kami asked, “Hey, babe?” and Ani instinctively answered, “Yes?”
Oh no,no. She did not just do that. Unbeknownst to her, Grace had returned and sidled up to Kami. Kami’s actual babe, not Ani. Duh. DUH.
But hold on, her ears were just catching up. Then her brain. She had heard a man’s voice also say “Yeah?” at the same time as her response to Kami. A man’s voice to her right. She turned to look at him in horror. Raffi had his hand clamped over his mouth and was now coughing. No. Way.
Kami cocked her head at both of them and then went, “Awww. I’m touched.”
Grace had a somewhat amused expression on her face, and Ani wanted to spontaneously combust rather than hear what she had to say next because she knew Grace was getting ready to address it.
“Well,” Grace said. “This is awkward. But it shouldn’t be. We talked about it when we met, right? And if it makes you feel any better, it’s not just Kami with her exes. My ex Cassie is going to be a bridesmaid—we had a bit of a friendcest group back in college—so this is not exactly uncharted territory. Ani, you really don’t have to look so uncomfortable. It’s fine.”
Ani shifted her expression, realizing she was probably still wearing a look of horror. Then she gave a feeble laugh.
Grace continued, “Couple more exes, and we could start our own intramural volleyball team.”
To this, Raffi and Kami laughed. Ani wanted to—it was funny—but she was frozen in fear at the topic of this conversation.
Grace looked very specifically at Ani. “I know Kami trusts your opinions and style and, therefore, so do I. It’s all good, okay?”
Ani nodded fervently.
“It’s not like you’re still in love with her or anything.”
Ani laughed, definitely a little too loudly. Raffi shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
Kami put a hand on Ani’s shoulder. “It’s okay, everyone’s a little in love with me.”
What the heck was that supposed to mean? Kami knew that Ani still felt something for her but thought it was naturalbecause that was the way she went about the world? Ani’s companions’ reactions were reassuring, though. Raffi rolled his eyes. Grace did, too, but in a loving way. “You have the biggest ego, I swear. But for good reason.”
Kami smiled along. “That’s right, for good reason.”
Ani felt like she was on some kind of nightmare game show, where everything everyone said made things worse and there was no possible way to converse her way out of this situation. Everything that came out of her mouth would dig her hole of mortification deeper and deeper.
So she said nothing at all and kept on smiling, surrounded by living works of art. Everything was fine.
“By the way,” Grace was now saying to Kami, “they need me to go to the studio this Tuesday. Filming some promo thing for the movie with Robert.”
“Oh my God! Can I come?” Kami’s voice was bright and eager, and her hands clasped together like a kid asking for dessert.
“Of course, I’m sure that’d be fine with Bob.”
“You are so amazing, babe. I’m so proud of you. My Mafia Princess.”
And this time no one besides Grace responded to the “babe.” Ani wasn’t looking, but she could hear that the engaged couple were now kissing. Lovely.
Ani was saved by Madison and another woman waltzing in. Ani had never been so happy to see two hot women stride toward her, which was really saying something.
The moment was crushed, however, when the woman, Andrea, greeted Raffi, slicing him out of their group. She whisked him out of the room, and he turned only briefly to give a small goodbye wave. Ani felt a sharp tug in her stomach.
Just then, she got an alert on her phone and looked down to see a reminder to pay her credit card bill. Ugh, she had been putting it off, hoping for another influx of cash before the due date.
She looked around at Kami and Grace, blissfully unaware that their wedding planner was deeply in credit card debt, while they ordered six figures’ worth of flowers. Kami. Fuckin’ Kami, nearly impossible to be around. But she’d have to swallow it and take it because of things like this alert. Otherwise, she would have run far away. To spare herself any more Kami-related embarrassment and whatever strange feelings she was having toward Raffi.
Raffi! Who just wanted her body, who was likely only interested because he wanted to sleep with her, despite what he said. She still felt there was a very high probability that if they slept together, the next day he’d leave. Or apologize with some supposedly soothing words but make it awkward for the rest of their months of work together. She had to be more careful, guard her heart, not fall for his little tricks.
