“I’ll have to check my calendar to see when I can come over.”
He’s going to see him. A sting of anger flares in my chest, mixed with worry. I told him he needed to back off. And now he’s calling him on New Year’s Eve. Arran nods at whatever he’s hearing and then giggles.
Fuck.
“Look, I’d better go, otherwise my mum will come looking for me. Go have fun. I’m proud of you. Your first sober New Year’s. You’ve got this. And call me if you need anything, okay,” he says. Guess Chance is truthful about some things, just not everything. “Happy New Year, buddy.”
And with that, he hangs up. When he turns around and sees me, he stills. “Derrick, I didn’t realize you were there.”
“Got lost on my way to the bathroom. I wasn’t interrupting anything, was I?”
Arran shakes his head. “No, just chatting with a friend.”
I nod. “Chance?”
“Excuse me?”
“I know you were talking to Chance,” I tell him.
“Yeah. We connected when I was in LA. He’s a good guy,” he tells me.
“I also saw you in the garden.”
Arran stills. “Garden?” he questions me.
I look around the corridor and move closer to him. “I saw you two together.” Arran’s face goes pale, and he looks like a deer caught in headlights. “It’s okay. No one knows. Your secret is safe.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he argues.
“You can trust me.” Arran raises a brow at me but doesn’t say anything. “Did you know Chance is my ex?” Arran’s mouth falls open. Guessing that’s a no. “We dated on and off for years.” Arran swallows hard. “I don’t want him to fuck you over like he did me.”
“Do you still want him?”
“What! No. Hell no. I’m happy with Charlie, so fucking happy with him. But I also think you can do better than Chance.”
“I’m into women.”
“That’s what Chance used to tell me, too.”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to get at, Derrick,” he says angrily.
“I’m just saying, be careful when it comes to Chance. He is very much in the closet, as well as other issues he has.”
“Like the drugs?” Arran asks.
“Yeah. They make him mean. Aggressive. Angry.”
“Never seen that side of him,” Arran argues.
“Addicts have a way of hiding their problems until they can’t,” I explain.
“You should be more supportive of your friends, especially those who are trying to be sober.”
Oh.
I feel like I’ve made a massive misstep here. “I’m just looking out for you, that’s all.”
“Appreciate that, but I can be friends with whomever I want,” he tells me, shutting down that line of conversation. “We should get back to the great room, people will be looking for us.” He storms off ahead of me.
