Page 52 of Ring Me

His eyebrows shot upwards. “Hey, hi to you too.”

Across the room I caught Aubrey's eye. She saw who I was looking at and went a little pale. “Did Aubrey invite you?” I asked in disbelief.

“A friend of hers did. Relax, Maya. Just because we're exes doesn't mean we can't be in the same room together.”

One of my biggest regrets when Ben and I split, was how I'd gone out of my way to not make people choose sides. I thought I was being mature, but deep down, I'd hoped everyone would give him the cold shoulder. That hadn't happened. Why would it? No one had any clue what he'd done to me, and I'd always planned to keep it that way.

“Oh, before I forget,” he said. “Congrats on your upcoming wedding.”

He was smiling lightly. Like this wasn't weird. And his relaxed attitude made me feel suddenly self-conscious. Did it matter if he was here? There were a ton of people, we didn't need to talk to each other. And if we did, was I so broken that I couldn't be polite?

I saw his eyes dart to my hand holding my beer bottle. Was he looking at my ring, or just wondering what I was drinking? To my relief, he stared over my shoulder and waved. “That's my friend, Mark,” he explained. Then he shoved by me, ending the confrontation before it went further.

“Hey!” Aubrey said as she moved next to me. She looked towards where Ben had went. “I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't invite him. Want me to tell him to leave?”

“No, it's fine. Besides, this is a public place,” I said quickly. I made myself smile, but inside, I was unsettled. Ben had messed me up when he left me. The thought that I was the one hanging onto that, not him, filled me with self-hate. I needed to be better than this. Stronger.

She pinched the space between my shoulder and neck until I winced. “Love that upbeat attitude. But let's channel the anger you're hiding in a productive way.” She pointed across the room, just beyond the rows of mini basketball games. “Laser tag time.”

****

I JOINED THE CROWDthat filed into the darkened room. Along the walls were colored vests to designate teams. Music thumped through the speakers, the bass high enough I felt it vibrating in my chest. The setup was meant to create a tense atmosphere. It was working.

I was formulating a plan in my head about how to win this game before I'd even grabbed my vest—green, by the way. I figured Conner wouldn't care what team we were on as long as we were together.

“Conner,” I said, fighting my way through the shoving wall of people. I couldn't see Aubrey or him. I was getting a little claustrophobic from the hot bodies struggling to get their gear. Just as I was ready to shout out his name, his hand closed on mine, his eyes bright over the heads of the others.

He yanked me out of the group towards an emptier spot in the small room. “You okay?” he asked, checking my face for signs I was stressed or upset.

I held up my green vest. “I'm fine, just getting ready to kick some blue team ass.”

Together, we looked down at the obviously blue vest in his hand.

“Shit,” he said. “Opposite teams.”

My heart fell. “No, it's okay, I'm sure we can trade with someone!”

“Everyone line up and get your weapons!” the host shouted, waving a flashlight to draw us towards the pair of doors that were cracking open to let us into the arena.

People started pushing us forward—I pushed back with a grunt. “Stop! Wait! We need to change teams!”

“No time!” someone laughed; I didn't see who. “Grab a gun and go!”

“Yeah,” a girl shouted back, “we only have twenty minutes in the arena! Make my ten dollars count!”

“But—” I started to argue.

Conner ruffled my hair. “It's okay!” He flashed me a reassuring grin. “So what if we're on opposite teams? This will be fun.”

“I guess,” I said, letting the people nudge me through the doors. Conner winked, then bent down to kiss me. My whole body heated up like the center of a volcano.

“Maya,” he said softly.

“Yea?”

“I'm so sorry for how hard I'm about to kick your adorable ass.”

I leaned backwards with a shocked laugh. “Are you kidding?” Hoisting up the laser gun from the rack by the door, I separated from him, walking into the foggy arena. “You're going to regret not being on my team!”

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