My heart exploded with happiness. “What would we dress up as? How about Ashton? He never dresses up for Renn Faire either.”
“What don’t you like about dressing up?” Kai inquired.
“I don’t want to wear the tight pants that show off everything.” His head ducked in embarrassment.
Oh. That’s the reason? He never toldme that.
“Pirates. Or Vikings? Something with loose pants. Vikings have big furry boots,” Kai suggested, looking something up on her phone.
“And we could get some really nice leather armor?” I added, wanting an excuse to get some.
“I’d be a pirate.” Ashton took a sip of beer.
My jaw dropped. Ashton would dress up as a pirate? Maybe we should keep Kai just for that.
“I’d be a pirate. I do like to plunder.” I gave Ashton a wink. We could still get some really nice leather gear as pirates.
“Pirates make great group costumes, because you can piece them together from things you have lying around. You also have so many options, too. While puffy noble dresses are beautiful, they’re really heavy and hot. I do like the ability to wear pants and be a pirate.” Kai kept scrolling through her phone.
“No takebacks, we’re going as pirates this summer,” I told Ashton.
Kai showed us some examples, and I took notes as to which ones Ashton seemed to like. Yeah, someone was getting a couple's costume for their birthday.
“There are cosplay options without tight pants,” I added. “If there’s any Renn Faires or comic conventions in the summer, we could come visit you. That would be really fun, wouldn’t it?” I blurted. Wait, was I overstepping? But she did sayweshould dress up.
“I’ll have to look. The stuff I know of is in the fall. I go to things with my cousins, but I don’t really do them on my own. Logan’s into serious things.” Kai finished her beer.
“Serious things?” I made a face.
“His words. Still, class takes up a lot of time. Things get expensive. We did a lot of hiking. We went to the beach and snorkeled. He wasn’t really into surfing. He liked artsy things, too.”
“He sounds exhausting. He’s probably one of those assholes who thinks audiobooks aren’t reading.” I made a big yawn.
“Yeah. I’d sometimes listen to audiobooks for class, and he’d make comments that we’re in college and I should be over that.” Kai’s voice went soft.
“He’s a dick.” Ashton gripped the table.
That he was.
“Now I see it. But there were so many times where we had fun doing things that I looked the other way. Maybe I wasn’t enough. His mom said I was a mistake, and if I was a better omega, he wouldn’t stray.” Kai looked about to cry.
“Do you want me to punch her?” It didn’t matter that I’d only known Kai for two days. She was my friend. If someone hurt my friend, they got punched.
“I’d like to see that. But while sometimes violence is the answer, I’m not sure it is in this case.” Kai toyed with her cup.
“Him cheating on you has nothing to do with you not being omega enough. If you’re not someone’s idea of a good omega, then obviously they’re not the person for you, and they can go fuck themselves.” I held up the beer pitcher. “Should we get some more?”
“Yeah.” Ashton’s eyes darted over to the air hockey table. “I’ll play winner.”
“Sounds good to me,” I replied.
He went to the bar to get a new pitcher. Kai and I cleaned off the table and another group quickly filled our spot. I got the stuff for air hockey and went over to set up the game.
“Do you play?” I leaned around her, showing her how.
“I played a little bit in the after school program that I went to in middle school. They had this and foosball. But it’s been a while,” Kai replied.
From the smirk on her lips, I could tell that she was lying. Maybe I should have let Ashton play her first. But he had calledwinner.
