Page 20 of What are the Risks
“Soyouhave to go instead?” Noah bit.
I’d waited over twenty-four hours to speak to him, andthiswas what he wanted to focus on?
“If you’re going to be grouchy, I’m hanging up.”
“I’m sorry, Ruby,” Noah muttered, exhaling heavily. “It’s because I miss you. I’m sick of playing phone tag and going days without speaking.”
I sighed. “Me too.”
In the background, I vaguely registered a female voice talking, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
It was more than likely Noah’s roommate’s girlfriend. I’d never met her before. His roommate spent more time at her off-campus place than he did at their frat house, which I sure wasn’tcomplaining about. It meant whenever I visited Noah, we always had the room to ourselves.
“Sorry,” Noah said. “Some chick had the wrong room.”
“Did she just open your door?”
“Yeah. I must’ve forgotten to lock it last night. I was so wasted.” Noah sat up, the blankets pooling around his waist. “I’m going to take a shower. Call me later?”
Before I could answer, he’d disconnected the call.
Knowing the moods he got into when he was hungover, I decided to let it drop. Bri didn’t though. When she pulled up at the next light, she held out her palm.
“Give me your phone.”
I handed it over. “Why?”
Opening my photos, she pulled up the screenshot she’d forced me to take, then kept zooming until she was focussed on one of Noah’s pillows. Not the one he’d been lying on, the other one.
She pointedly thrust my phone back in my face.
“What?” I asked.
“There’s a dent.”
“Okay?”
She gaped at me. “It looks like someone’s been sleeping on it.”
I groaned. “God, not you too.”
I didn’t want to get into this. Not again. Her lack of faith in Noah was frustrating. Why did both my best friends have to think the worst of him?
“What’s with people always jumping to crazy conclusions?”
“People?”
“First Ryker, and now you. Isn’t the most likely explanation that Noah was lying there?”
After a pause, Bri’s toned softened. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ve been dealing with fuck boys for so long that I forget they’re not all slime balls. Blame being single and a lack of sleep. This residency year is kicking my ass.”
Being able to relate to that, I gave her a pass. The years of study certainly hadn’t prepared us for the exhaustion that went hand in hand with nursing. While I loved it, sometimes I resented it for the bags it caused beneath my eyes, and the events I couldn’t makebecause I was on shift, and the people I missed because my roster kept me too busy.
*
A security guard lingered near Tori’s Range Rover, which was parked in the pick-up zone, muttering in frustration and throwing his hands in the air. She either hadn’t heard him over her music, or she was purposely ignoring him. He thumped on the passenger window, trying to get her attention, so I walked around to the driver’s side instead.
Slowly peering up from her phone, Tori’s lips curved into a grin once she realised it was me.
