Page 144 of Becoming Selfish

“I don’t know,” she says with a sigh. “You and Maddison have this whole soulmate thing going on, and Marc and I are just having sex,” she shrugs. “I felt a bit silly divulging all of it when you have the real thing.”

Cocking my head to the side, I look at her with sympathy. Just because I have a boyfriend doesn’t mean she can’t talk to me.

“And, I wasn’t sure how you would feel about us being friends with benefits. I know you’re protective over Marc,” she adds without judgment.

“Yeah, I’m protective over him when it comes to him being with shitty people. Ali, I love you, you know that. And you guys are adults. You can do what you want, and I would never judge you. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to hide things from me.”

Ali’s expression melts in front of me. “I love you too, Lo.”

“Lo?” I ask with a chuckle. “New nickname?”

“Maybe? I’m kind of drunk, so I’m just trying it out,” she adds, causing us both to laugh, relieving the tension.

“So, friends with benefits, huh?”

“Well, it was just benefits at first. The friends part came later.”

“And you don’t have feelings for him?”

“It’s not like that,” she quickly says, shaking her head.

I pause for a moment, trying to figure out if I believe her or not.

“Have you hooked up with anyone else this year?” I ask. “What about that guy Dylan? You guys went on a date.”

She shakes her head again. “I left early. And no, there hasn’t been anybody else.”

Tilting my head, I eye her with skepticism because I’m not sure if she hears herself. “Are you sure there aren’t feelings involved?” I ask again.

“It’s just sex, Logan.”

“It’s never just sex, Ali. Not when it’s with someone who you get along with that well. And someone you spend all your time with.”

There’s no way in hell she doesn’t have feelings for Marc or vice versa. They spend all their time together. Granted, I’m there most of the time, but still.

“I don’t do boyfriends,” she adds as if she’s trying to remind both herself and me.

“Maybe you should.”

We drop the topic of conversation for the moment and find our way into the kitchen, looking for more alcohol. Between my time upstairs with Eli and finding my two friends hooking up outside, my perfect drunken state is beginning to wear off. We bob and weave through the crowd until we make it to the kitchen island where the bottles of liquor are waiting to be consumed. Unfortunately, when I look up, I find Lauren with a couple of her girlfriends standing on the opposite side.

“That’s her,” one of Lauren’s friends says.

My eyes dart upward to see the group of girls staring at my friend. Ali is oblivious or at least pretending to be, as she pours us a round of shots.

“Yeah, I know,” Lauren says, looking at Ali. “Slut.”

My blood begins to boil as I hear that word leave her mouth in regards to my friend. “What did you just say?” I snap from across the island.

“Logan, I got this,” Ali says, clearly aware of the girls talking shit about her in front of us.

“No. Lauren, what did you just say?” I ask again, but she stays quiet, averting her gaze from mine. “What? You don’t want to repeat it out loud now that you’re being called out on it?” It takes her a moment, but finally, Lauren looks up to me with an evil stare and her lips pressed in a hard line.

“I called her a slut,” Lauren repeats, “because she is.”

Oh, she did not just say that.

“She’s a slut?” I ask with wide eyes, pointing to Ali. “Because she’s hooking up with your ex, that makes her a slut?” Lauren keeps her smug expression, not wanting to take back her words. “Your ex-boyfriend that you cheated on,” I remind her. “If you really want to use that word, I mean...” Chuckling, I motion up and down at Lauren, obviously referring to her.