Page 61 of Knot Only For One Night

“About time you asked,” she mutters and I tense at the comment. She winces and shakes her head. “No, I’m sorry I didn’t mean that.”

“It’s okay.”

Her eyes meet mine. Her piercing green eyes seem so… sad.

I should have reached out sooner.

“I… I’ve been a shitty friend, Esper.” I shake my head but she doesn’t let me interject. “I’m a bitch and I wish I wasn’t.”

“You’re not!"

“I can’t have this conversation with you, if you’re not gonna tell me the truth.”

I nod and look away for a moment. She’s right. She is sort of… a mean girl, sometimes.

But that isn’t all she is! And she has to know that.

“You are kind, in your own way,” I say as I perch on the edge of the bed beside her. “Remember when you helped me move out? Or those times we’d watch tennis matches together. You were my first and only friend here, and even though I’m a bit anti-social⁠—”

“And somehow still have a date with four hot-ass bikers,” she interjects.

“—you still accepted me.”

“Who wouldn’t accept you? You’re an omega.”

“Did you hear the bit about being my only friend⁠—”

“Now you have four alphas⁠—”

I roll my eyes as I correct her. “One is an omega and one is a beta.”

Penny shoots up from the chair, standing at her full height, making her eye-level with me. She scrunches her eyebrows, and she looks almost angry.

“So you’re taking alphas and betas now?”

Her words hit me like a slap. “It’s not like that⁠—”

“Like what? You taking all the eligible bachelors on campus with your omega cunt? Like it’s so fucking special? You’re just a clingy-ass omega. I mean, what the fuck?”

Taken aback, I gawp at her, speechless. The silence between us grows as Penny calms down.

She blinks. Shaking her head. “Have fun on your date.” She’s quick to grab her purse, storming out of my room and slamming the door on her way out. The loud sound makes me jump, and for once, I’m so glad she left.

What the hell was that?

Taking slow deep breaths, I try to bring my omega down. She’s just as rattled as I am, causing me a headache as she scratches at the inside of my mind to grab a blanket and curl up.

My softest cream blanket sits on my bed. I grab it, wrapping it gently around my shoulders and lying back on my bed. Counting the fairy light bulbs on my ceiling.

You’re just a clingy-ass omega.

Did I just… lose a friend?

Are friends supposed to talk to each other like that?

She’s just upset. That’s all. It’s fine. It’ll all be fine. I swallow that choking sensation holding back tears as I continue to count. Gripping the edges of the blanket tight around me.

She didn’t say she didn’t want to be friends anymore. Jeez, Esper, calm down.