“Uck! Girl no!”
“So where do you know him from?”
“Back when I was in uni. I think he took a break from school and was ‘finding himself’ or whatever. Weird. He was super into veganism, always asking me about it and my tattoos. I even introduced him to Ciro.”
“Oh my god,” Tasha gasps. “I love Ciro! I can’t believe he moved to Italy. Best dick I ever had.”
“Ew,” Mantis and I say in perfect unison.
Mantis recovers first. “Anyway. Me and Tee are cool. Same friend group since I went to college in Georgia. Actually, we’re all going on a trip soon. For a wedding.”
“Aww,” I smile. “Is it him and his girlfriend? I saw him post her on Instagram. They’re so cute together.”
Mantis’s face shifts. Just slightly.
“No,” she says. “They, um… broke up.”
I blink.
What.
The.
Fuck.
“Huh?!”
“Yeah,” she shrugs. “Like two years ago now.”
I stare at the screen, genuinely offended on their behalf.
“What kind of sick person would create a universe where those two aren’t together?”
Mantis sighs. “Girl, trust me—I hate that they aren’t together too.”
I lean back in my chair, shaking my head.
The world truly makes no sense.
“We can debrief tonight,” Tasha offers. “I don’t know these people but I love drama.”
I groan, rubbing my temples. “Of course you do.”
I pull my phone from my pocket and step away from the desk, leaving the cousins to get into their catch up because obviously I wasn’t going to work anymore.
Rain streaks downthe glass of the window in the empty hallway, blurring the city into soft gray lines.
I tap Zaza’s name before I can overthink it.
She picks up on the second ring.
“Hey,” she says. “What’s up?”
“So,” I start carefully, “hypothetically… how would you feel about me going out tonight with Tasha and her cousin?”
There’s a pause.
“…Which cousin?”
