“Oh shit,” I breathed.
“Anyway,” he said, exhaling heavily, “I guess she panicked, because instead of just admitting to it, she told them I’d been pursuing her.”
“Oh shit!” I said, louder this time, the alcohol making my head a little light, and my filter a little slow.
“Oh shit,” he agreed. “So, anyway, I got pulled into a meeting with the higher ups.”
“What did you say?” I leaned forward.
He chuckled. “I told them it was all me.”
“You did what?” I exploded.
“I told them she kept turning me down, but I thought if I just kept flirting, she’d be interested enough to give me the time of day. I told them she hadn’t done anything wrong.”
“And they bought that?” I was stunned.
“Probably not,” he shrugged one shoulder and looked down, where he was absent-mindedly picking at a loose thread in the rug. “But it’s the story they accepted. It was easier for everyone. She got off, and I got to be the bad boy. Everyone won.”
I felt my face pinch as I watched him, but I knew better than to lay platitudes he couldn’t use at his feet.
So, instead I settled on the next best thing.
“You’re really not the arsehole people say you are.”
He looked up at me from under his lashes, the ghost of a smirk on his lips.
“Ssh. Don’t tell anyone.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the ambient noise of Glastonbury filter in through the thin walls. Even here, in the most exclusive area of the site, it was never really quiet.
“Go on then,” he said suddenly, before finishing off his bottle. “You owe me a sob story. Tit for tat, Pom.”
I rolled my eyes, but he was right. That was the deal. I took a few moments to get the story into the right order, shuffling around the details to bridge the gaps for the details I would omit.
“It’s actually way less dramatic than yours,” I warned, but his only response was to get up and grab us another couple of beers,and some snacks. I made a mental note to pace myself, and then a sub-note to remember that I’d already paced myself.
I leaned back against the sofa, pulling off one of the cushions to hug against my chest.
“Basically, he told me he was sick of long distance, and that he didn’t want to do it anymore.” I shrugged. “That’s it.”
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the part where we’d argued about him. Just the thought made me want to lie down and close my eyes.
Tae stared at me.
“That’s it?”
“Uh huh. Told you it wasn’t dramatic.”
“No fucking way, I don’t buy it.”
“Well, I’m sorry but you don’t really have a choice. That’s how it went down.”
“Bullshit.”
I blinked. “Pardon?”
“Bullshit,” he enunciated. “There’s no way that guy gives you up that easily.”
