When we made it out of the stall and back to the table, I suggested to Ronan that he and I should dance. “Let’s go. There.” I pointed to indicate what I meant.
He stared at me then glanced at the people swaying in a clump. “Really? Are you serious?”
“Very.Let’s go.”
He was almost laughing and he was definitely confused but he did follow me as I walked into the throng. “Here we are,” he called. “What are we doing?”
“I don’t really want to dance,” I said, then waved my hand so that he’d come closer. His ear was too far away. “Kiya wanted me to talk to you,” I explained when he could hear me. “She says that her Cado is acting weird.”
He pulled back. “Don’t call him that,” he begged. “It genuinely makes me feel sick to my stomach.”
I gestured again and he bent down. “She keeps asking him what’s wrong but he won’t tell her.”
“Then she should stop asking,” he stated.
“She wants you to figure out—hey!” A body had crashed into my back, propelling me forward. Ronan pushed the guy away.
“Careful,” he warned him.
This was really not the best place to have a conversation, but I tried again. “She wants you to talk to Channing and figure out what’s wrong. She thinks he’ll tell you because you’re friends, but you have to be subtle.”
“I’m not subtle.”
He was talking more normally since now, we were standing very close. He’d put his big hand on my shoulder and it felt a little like a hug. Not a hug, because we weren’t hugging—but we were close and his arm was sort of around me, so it did have that general sense.
I inched a little nearer. “I feel bad for her,” I said.
“Yeah, if Chan wants to break up with her, there are better ways to do it.” His hand on my shoulder left briefly to ward off someone else but then returned to rest on my lower back. Now it felt exactly like a hug.
“Do you think that’s what’s happening? He’s breaking up with her?”
“I don’t know. If I get an opportunity, I’ll ask him, but I’m not going to participate in spy shenanigans,” he told me. “My advice to her is to leave him alone. If he wants to talk, then he will. If hedoesn’t want to and keeps acting like a dick, then she should tell him to screw off. She’s a nice girl and she doesn’t need to waste her time if he isn’t treating her well. Like I said to you before, I’ve never seen him stay with one person for very long. If that’s what she wants, then she may need to move on.”
Correct. There was no reason to pine after someone who wouldn’t give you what you wanted. I nodded and stepped back, away from Ronan. “Let’s go to the table,” I called.
Kiya and Channing were still there. She was looking upset and he was looking at his phone, but he glanced up when we sat down. “We’re out of here,” he told us. He sounded bored. “Kiya’s not feeling great.”
“I feel fine,” she shot right back. “I feel amazing!”
“Ok, then you stay. I’m leaving.” He stood and pulled out his wallet to put some bills on the table. “That should be enough.”
“Add another,” Ronan told him. “And then one more.”
Channing gave him a dirty look but he did put down more money, which seemed to be enough to cover the drinks he’d consumed. “See you,” he told all of us.
“You can’t drive like this,” Ronan said. He glanced at Kiya, who was assiduously studying the ceiling. “Cate, can you give your friend a ride and I’ll deal with his drunk ass?”
“Fuck you,” Channing said angrily, and Kiya’s eyes widened but Ronan didn’t appear to care.
“Sure,” I said. They left together, but “Cado” didn’t bother to say goodbye.
“Why is he acting like this?” she asked me as they disappeared from view. She sounded desperate.
“Maybe Ronan will find out,” I said. “He told me that he’d ask.” Then I repeated the other things he’d said. “I think you should stop talking to Channing. Let him come to you, and if he doesn’t, then forget him. You’re great and you shouldn’t waste your time if he doesn’t treat you well.”
She used a cocktail napkin to edge away the tears in her eyes. “I thought that I was going to marry my boyfriend from college. I loved him so much but I realized that I had to break up with him. Channing is the first guy I’ve been with since, in a serious way. In a way that I thought could last.”
“What do you know about his previous relationships?”
