Page 75 of What are the Risks
“Is Ruby coming into town for it?”
Simply hearing my best friend’s name was enough to send my stomach into a nervous spiral. I was still reeling from how we’d left things. If I was to bump into her right now, I’d have no fucking clue how to react.
I nonchalantly shrugged. “She hasn’t mentioned anything.”
Probably because I’d barely spoken to her this past week. When she said she was on night shift, she wasn’t kidding. She was responding to my good morning messages at dinner time, and opening my Snapchats at three in the morning.
I was still torn about whether to acknowledge the kiss or not. It didn’t help that I had zero clue where Ruby’s head was at.
Had she not mentioned it because she wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened? Or was she waiting on me to say something first? Would talking about it clear the air? Or would bringing it up make things really fucking awkward?
I wished I had somebody to confide in, but there was no one who felt like a safe bet. Brady would turn it into something it wasn’t, Kyler and Pat would give me terrible advice – which would likely involve fucking Ruby out of my system – and Evan would say something smug and frustrating.
Tori would be the only one with good advice, but knowing she’d snitch straight to my cousin, I kept my mouth shut.
“I’ll text her now and ask,” she said.
“Wait, don’t–”
I stopped. That wasn’t a half bad idea. Let Tori do my bidding a little – let her test the waters.
“What are you going to say?” I casually checked.
“That we’re hosting a small dinner and drinks Friday night and going out on Saturday.”
That suited me, so long as she was willing to stick to thesmallpart. I didn’t need the type of attention Pat was receiving tonight. He currently had his tongue down Lindsay’s throat, and Kyler had also joined the pool table party to make out with Lindsay’s friend.
“Are you going to get up there with Gretchen?” Evan snickered.
“Why the hell would I do that?”
“You’re at three repeated hookups with her. That’s practically a relationship.”
That wasn’t a relationship, not even close. Besides, we were still at two hookups, if you counted the nights we’d spent together and not the amount of times things hadhappenedduring those nights.
Despite having told the guys more than once already, I hadn’t hooked up with her last weekend. I’d fallen asleep on the couch while waiting for Pat and Lindsay to finish up. Unfortunately that wasn’t until the following morning.
I’d known I’d fucked up the moment I opened my eyes. Without waiting for Pat, I’d run out the front door and straight to my car.
I tried calling Ruby on the way, but the drive was too short for my phone to recharge in between.
Even as I’d stormed into my house, noisily throwing the door open and waking all the people camped in my living room, I’d known Ruby was gone. It was as if I could sense her absence, like some part of me was missing.
I was a complete asshole. Not only had she travelled all that way to celebrate with me, but after I’d kissed her, I’d all but ghosted her at a party where she knew less than ten people. No wonder she was acting like the kiss never happened.
When Tori’s phone lit up on the table, I nearly jumped out of my seat. “Is that Ruby?”
“Mmhm.”
“What did she say?”
Tori paused, her eyes scanning Ruby’s reply. “She asked if you want her there.”
Fuck this. I pulled out my phone and opened Ruby’s message thread.
Ryker: Of course I want you there.
She wrote back straight away.
