Page 7 of It Must Be Love

"Yeah."

"She's a bright girl, you know that, right?"

I nodded. "Ann said something about how she went to a state school, so how good could she be?" Fuck! Had Naya heard that too?

"Of course, she went to a state school. Her dad didn't have the money to send her anywhere else—'cause he spent it all on Nolan's ungrateful ass." Hayes shook his head in disgust. "What's your problem with Naya, man?"

I finished my drink and set it on the bar table we were standing at. "It's just how she looks at me."

"Oh, you mean the way she idolizes you? Looks at you with adoration?"

I sighed. "Yeah."

"Does she do it in the office?"

"Fuck no. She's very professional and I don't see her much; I work more with her boss." The boss who was now on paternity leave having handed over many of his responsibilities to Naya. We'd be working more closely in the near future.

"Then what?" Hayes prodded.

"The whole, gray-eyed sad story routine watching my every move makes me uncomfortable and pisses me off."

Hayes glared at me. "I think being with Ann is turning you into an asshole."

Hayes didn't know the half of it. As I recollected more and more of what Ann and I had talked about yesterday, I cringed. I remembered mentioning how she had no curves and that she was boring.

God! What a goddamn shitty thing for her to overhear.

"I may also have been a bit of a hard ass to her at a few meetings," I confessed.

"Why?" Hayes raised his hands, palms out in defeat. "What the fuck has she ever done to you?"

"She rubs me the wrong way."

"Why?"

"I don't know," I exclaimed. "She just does."

"You gonna fix this?"

"How?"

"You're a guy with a high IQ. I'm sure you'll find a way," Hayes mocked.

I shook my head. "No. First, she shouldn’t have eavesdropped on a private conversation. I'm going to pretend it never happened. We'll just keep it professional."

"You're an asshole and a coward."

"No, I'm not. I just don't think my bringing it up is going to change a damn thing. She heard what she did. If I apologized, it wouldn't change how I feel, and she'd know that. So, what the fuck is the point?"

"The point, Amias, would be to be a decent fucking human being. Ditch that bitch; Ann's polluting you with her narcissism."

"You can't talk about Ann like that, Hayes. She's my girlfriend."

"Whatever, man, it's your life." Hayes went inside my apartment, obviously disgusted with me.

I stayed on the patio and talked to guests as they walked by, feeling an unfamiliar weight in my chest.

That night I told Ann that Naya may have overheard our conversation, and she shrugged it off as she got into bed.

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