“That was different.”
“For your sake, I hope so,” he says, pressing his lips together.
“So.” I clear my throat and look at my sneakers for a moment. “I have a strange question for you.”
He raises an eyebrow and waits.
“Did you ever go to Onyx with Mal?”
The surprise on his face is obvious, but he recovers quickly. “Why are you asking?”
“I found an old journal of hers and some of the things she wrote about were pretty intense. I’m wondering if it was an exaggeration,” I lie.
“I…” He looks away, bringing a hand up to squeeze the back of his neck. “I only went once. She rented out a floor and invited a group of us.”
“Did you meet anyone she knew from there?”
His lips purse as he thinks about it. “Only one guy. John, I think?”
I swallow and nod.
“I didn’t go there to hook up,” he says. “I was just curious about the place.”
I stay quiet for a moment. “She told me you guys hooked up.”
His brows hike up. “Really? That is … wow.” He shakes his head and huffs out a laugh.
“What?” I frown.
“Nothing.” He shakes his head and exhales. “Can we talk about this later? I don’t want to be late to class.”
“Yeah, of course.” I try to smile and fail.
We hug quickly and start walking in opposite directions. I hate the feeling in the pit of my stomach. I know Tiago had nothing to do with this, I do. Why is he acting so weird, though? Ugh. I’m almost to my car when I hear the pounding steps of a runner behind me. When I turn, I see Tiago. My heart climbs to my throat. I’ve never been afraid of being left alone with him, but I’m feeling a little uneasy now. He is breathing heavily by the time he reaches me.
“I don’t remember much about that night at Onyx, but the next morning, I woke up in her bed,” he says, exhaling. “I didn’t want you to find out, so I told her to keep it quiet.”
“Why didn’t you want me to find out?”
“I guess I didn’t want you to…” He glances up at the sky and exhales before looking at me again. “I thought … I don’t know. I didn’t want to ruin things between us in case I had a shot with you.”
“So you thought you’d hide the fact that you hooked up with my friend?” I ask, frowning.
“I know,” he says. “Not my proudest moment. I really don’t remember being with her, though.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me how you felt?”
He rolls his eyes. “It was pretty fucking obvious how I felt. Everyone knew.”
“You could’ve just told me.”
“Would it have made a difference?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. When I don’t respond, he shrugs. “You only ever saw me as your friend, and that’s fine. I know we’re better off like this.” He looks toward campus again. “I just wanted to tell you that in case you read anything else about me in those pages.”
He turns and runs back to where he came from, without letting me get a word in. In case I read anything else?What the hell does that even mean?
43
JOSSLYN
