He pressed a few buttons on the screen before sliding his phone back onto the counter with a wink. "At least school isn't in session, huh?"
I groaned thinking of how awkward it would be if I did in fact have to teach on Monday with what I imagined would be a hell of a bruise and partial black eye. What would I tell my students?My best friend hit me in the face by accident, kids. Then they would ask,why?I'd have to make up some ridiculous lie, and that's one thing I tried to teach my students— lying isn't acceptable at all. I didn't lie to them, and I expected them not to lie to me. "I guess it could be worse if I was teaching," I smirked then winced at the pain with the movement of my facial muscles.
Ryan nodded, distractedly running a hand through the curling hair at the nape of his neck. "This probably isn't the right time to ask, but I was planning on calling you sometime this week. One of my friends is getting married in two weeks and my original date can't go. Would you mind going with me?" His forehead wrinkled as he asked. "I can always ask Zoey if you can't…"
"Of course I will, Ry. How could I ever tell you no?" There were countless things that he had done for me over the course of my friendship with his sister; we might not be "best friends forever," as Zoey always said, but he was my friend too.
"I wasn't sure if you were dating that guy at Josh's party," he explained, smiling sheepishly
Tristan.Of course. I had spent most of the night talking to him, so I couldn't really blame Ryan for being under that assumption. If motor-mouth Zoey had talked to her brother over the last few weeks, I was sure she'd probably spilled the beans on how often I was doing things with him. "Nah, we're just friends," I told him, noticing that the pain in my stomach wasn't as horrible as it had been the last time I'd referred to us as friends.
"That's great, Kat. Thanks. I'll call you next week and tell you what time I'll pick you up," he said.
Nicole started grumbling, dragging herself away from the couch she'd been sitting on. "Is she going to live?"
"Yes ma'am," he drawled.
"Thank god, I thought I was going to have to find another bridesmaid."
Chapter 34
The next day, Nikki and I went looking for bridesmaid dresses to try narrow our choices down to two different styles that we liked in a plum color. I kept my eye on her to make sure she was doing fine, and fortunately, she seemed really happy looking at different things for her wedding throughout the day. We laughed on and off about the reality that she was going to tie the knot with someone she had an insane crush on for yearsandthe serious bruise on my face. My cheekbone was purple and the outer half of my eye was red. The more we talked about the wedding, the more insane it seemed that life worked out in this way for her. Nikki's story was something out an adult fairy tale; she was marrying her charming porn star prince, who was giving it all up for her. It was perfect.
Tristan had texted me in the evening, telling me he was getting on his flight to come back home. I didn't hear from him again that day.
The day after, he texted me around one, asking if I wanted to come over, but I'd already made plans with Josh to go look at suits in the evening. He sent me a sad face in response, and then texted me goodnight around eleven.
On Tuesday, Tristan called me on his lunch break to invite me over because Yoda missed me. In all honesty, I missed the big lug, too.
My cell started ringing around three in the afternoon when I was right in the middle of showering. Reaching out of the tub to check the screen, I read ‘Magellan’ off the display.
"You're early, Mag," I said as loudly as I could into the speaker. I balanced the phone on the tips of my fingers as far away from the shower as I could, because I knew my luck. I'd probably electrocute myself if it were possible.
"I got off early, goldie. Ready to go?"
"No, I'm in the shower. Just come up. I'm in 214, and there's a key on top of the doorframe so just let yourself in."
The other end of the line was silent for a few heartbeats. "Please tell me you don't have a key on your doorframe," his voice sounded desperate.
"I don't have a key on my doorframe," I laughed.
"Kat."
"Just come up, I need to finish showering. 214," I hung up, not bothering to wait for a goodbye. A couple of minutes later, I finished my shower and got dressed before shimmying into my leggings and blouse. Opening up the bathroom door, I walked into the living room of my small apartment to find him sitting on the couch with Matlock curled up on his lap, purring.
The little shit.
I could count on two hands the number of times the furry asshole had sat on my lap.
"Hey," he said softly, petting the big white ball of poof on top him. His eyes narrowed and he leaned forward, causing Matlock to jump off his lap and scurry into my bedroom. "What in the world is wrong with your face?"
I snorted and stepped closer to him, watching his eyes widen. "Josh hit me in the face," I told him bluntly, squeezing into the spot open between him and the armrest.
Tristan shifted forward more, his apple green eyes scanning the bruised skin. He didn't say a thing as he got closer to me. I knew without his glasses he couldn't see very well. "What happened?"
"We went to a gay club on Saturday and this guy was harassing Josh. One thing led to another, and when he went to punch the guy, he elbowed me in the face," I said, trying to repress the smile creeping up on my face. I'd kept the number of people I'd seen since Saturday to a minimum, but each time I had to retell my story it sounded more and more funny. Sometimes I felt like someone up in heaven was laughing his or her ass off at the crazy stuff that happened to me.
My lovely friend on the other hand, gave me a small smile that just kept growing second by second until it covered the lower half of his face. He was so close to me his breath washed over my cheek, his teeth were even more strikingly white than usual it seemed. I saw his hand reach up in my peripheral vision, and I expected him to touch my bruise like everyone else had, but instead his fingertips pressed into the underside of his chin to tilt my face up. His smile was all encompassing, it warmed me up from the inside out. "Does it hurt?" he murmured.
