"I guess I’ll never know."
"The strongest they had was a Long Island Iced Tea," I say to Bea, placing the tall glass down in front of her. She wastes no time taking her paper straw to mix all the alcohol together, but her eyes never leave my face.
"Why are you staring at me like you want to fuck me?" I tease, swirling my drink around in my glass before I take a sip.
"Gross." She gags, washing down her disgust with the first sip of her drink."That girl was hitting on you at the bar, and you shut her down," she says. "She was hot as fuck, Wingrove. What the hell, man?" she asks, and I sigh.
"I can’t be just friends with her, Bea. I can’t. I tried, I really did; but too much has happened between us since she came back. I can’t ignore my feelings for her anymore."
"Can’t or won’t?" she asks, and I shift uncomfortably in my seat.
"Both."
"What do you mean 'too much has happened'? What have you not told me?"Bea and I haven’t had time alone to talk, so she doesn’t know about the apartment, the creek, or my office.
"I don’t even know where to start," I admit, dragging my hand down my face.
"The apartment. I assume that was the starting point for all that has happened," she says, staring at me impatiently.
"She needed a place to live. No one was renting it from me, so I figured I would help a friend. I told her the owner wanted it gone, and it was hers if she wanted it. I gave her an offer she couldn’t refuse." I shrug as I take a sip, looking everywhere but at her.
"So, you sold her an apartment in the apartment building youown?"
I can’t tell if she’s confused, pissed off, or impressed by what I did, but I also know she isn’t the least bit surprised.
"Yes. It was practically a spare."
"Aspare?"
I don’t know why I said that. It’s not a tire or a damn key, but it was sitting there empty.
I saw a solution and helped a friend in the meantime.
"Okay. So, what happened after the apartment?"
I tell her I convinced Cassandra to jump off the rock into the creek and that she accidentally walked in on me shirtless in my office. I didn’t, however, tell her that if it weren’t for a measly piece of fabric, we probably would have fucked in the creek, or that things almost went a little too far in my office.
She doesn’t need to know any of that.
"Harley fucking Wingrove. You better not have fucked her," she seethes.
She’s pissed, I get why. I don’t feel guilty about it, though.
"No, of course not. And frankly, I’m mad that you would even think I would do such a thing. You know I’m celibate," I joke, trying to ease the tension, but it’s just making it worse. "I helped her find an apartment, and she wanted to thank me. So, I suggested she make the jump. It’s not a big deal." I try to play it off, but I don’t think it’s working.
"I thought that’s what the pizza and beer were for," she yells over the music. Thankfully, everyone at the party is too focused on having a good time and not listening to our conversation.
"It was," I say, unconvincingly.
"Oh God. She just came back into our lives and you’re going to fuck it all up." She groans before chugging back the rest of her drink. "And you’ve only been celibate since she came back to Grangewood, so don’t pull that shit with me, Wingrove." She rolls her eyes. "I can’t believe you convinced her to jump. She’s fucking terrified of heights, Harley."
"It took a lot of persuading, but I promised I’d catch her once she hit the water." I sip my drink to swallow my discomfort.
"Just like you promised her when you were sixteen."
"How did you know about that?"
"Sixteen-year-old girls don’t keep secrets from their best friends." She smiles. "What happened after she jumped?"
