“You wanna know the truth, June? The truth is he doesn’t want me to make a move on you.”
And why should you?the June I know would’ve said. Instead, I posed another question. “Why doesn’t he?”
“He’s all weird,” I heard her say, while I had several flashbacks of the night.
“Did you see something?”
My question made her smirk.
“I passed by you when I went to vape with Jackson, so, yeah, I saw you.”
“What’d you see?”
“That if you kept provoking him a little more you would’ve made them both die of a heart attack.”
I covered my face with my hands.
“How embarrassing.”
Luckily, Tiffany seemed like the last person on the planet who would judge me.
“Who knows why they behaved like that,” I let slip. Tiffany seemed to be contemplating it seriously.
“In James’s case, boredom. Monogamy is too traditional for someone like him, not to mention that he can’t connect to anyone even though he keeps trying.”
“I understand that. He doesn’t seem like the type who can get into a serious relationship. But if we’re talking about, um—” I threw that out there innocently, but my curiosity was piqued.
“If we’re talking about sex, it’s the exact same thing, June. He always tries to create deeper intimacy, but he never can.”
I wanted to know more. “Why do you think?”
“I don’t know, a matter of preferences. He prefers emotionally cold people who will never allow him to fall in love with them. Maybe it’s a defense mechanism.”
“And Will?”
“Will just wants to feel like he measures up to James. Do what James does. He wants to feel accepted, and on the one hand, I get it. It’s never been easy for him. Everyone loves him, but at the same time they all treat him like he’s different.”
“So you think Will wanted to use me tonight to impress James and make him feel like he was at James’s level?
“Use you?” Tiffany’s voice burst into a resounding laugh. “Get rid of that internalized misogyny. You’re not an inanimate object, June. You have the power to choose who to dance and make out with. If you wanted to, you would have. Don’t you think you would’ve had fun too?”
Her tone became more mischievous, and I didn’t know what to think anymore. Tiffany was capable of reversing perspectives, and a few seconds later she made me see the situation from a whole new angle.
“It definitely wouldn’t be cool of them to make a move at a time like this. I’ve never done it, and they know it. So, yeah, in a certain sense they would’ve taken advantage of me. Not to mention, clear thinking isn’t my forte at the moment.”
“Did the two of them seem clear headed to you? If you gave them a blood test, it probably would’ve shown that you were the one who took advantage of James.”
I frowned at her until she gave me a light pat on the shoulder.
“Come on, I’m joking! But tell me something, have you really never done it, June?”
“No.”
“Nothing, nothing?” she seemed almost shocked that she had to ask that. “You’re really a—”
“Yeah. Totally.” Inexorably, I’d say.
“I don’t believe you,” she muttered.
