Page 133 of Out of Bounds

“I asked you if it’d be messed up if I slept with a twenty-one year old football player who worked at a hotel—”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Zariah held up a finger and lowered it slowly. She held it up and dropped it again. “Ryan. I amKassiein the hypothetical situation.Youare the twenty-one year old football player.”

“I don’t work at a hotel.”

“Holy shit—forget it! I’m glad you’re sleeping with each other. Done!”

I pulled up the notes app. "I have the list for the makeup stuff. This is what I need." It was a nice, concise way to have things written down too. I’d have to learn how to use that app more often.

Zariah strode out of the elevator with my phone in her hand and pushed open the door. I closed the door behind us.

"So you guys are friends-with-benefits?" Zariah whispered, holding open the bathroom door.

I frowned. "No."

"This isn’t a one-time thing right?"

"She’s my girlfriend, Zariah."

The light flickered on and Zariah knelt down to the cabinets below. I joined her until I saw the boxes and boxes of crap under the sink. Shit. Zariah started bringing them out to the floor and I reached in after her, dragging out everything I could.

"Like yourrealgirlfriend?" Zariah asked finally, picking items out of boxes.

"Yes." I stared down at the color corrector. "Zariah, this is green."

"She needs it."

"She doesn’t have green skin."

"Just put it in the bag, Ryan," she huffed.

"Zariah." I held up another tube for her to see. "This expired last year. She can’t use this."

"Just put it in the bag, Ryan!" She sighed and tossed in a big brush. "You two need to have a conversation about this. A real conversation. Because I think sometimes you think things are clear when they’renotand I’m Kassie’s ride-or-die but she can be…you know…"

"What?"

Zariah grabbed some bottles from the bottom of a baggie. "Sometimes I forget you’re like a third season recurring character."

"What do you mean?"

"There’s a lot you weren’t here for. When I first met Kassie, she was too busy working. She didn’t have anybody. It took a while for her to even be comfortable withmewhen I moved in." She hesitated. "You need totalkto her so you two can clear all of this up."

For a couple of seconds, Zariah and I stared at each other, sitting on the tile of the bathroom in the worst dorm on campus and I thought hard on the words. I needed to have a real conversation with Kassie.

I can do that.

52

Kassie

You Can’t Keep That Going

I could’ve kissed him when he came back with the makeup, all put together in a grocery bag. Ididkiss him. And then I spent fifteen minutes in the bathroom, assembling my neck back together while Ryan stood outside, my brave guard dog.

We didn’t leave UrgentCare until close to five o’clock in the morning and when Cleo saw the test results, she was shocked.

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