Page 26 of Inevitable

Micah

The day after the concert, Bash texted me back late afternoon saying he wasn't feeling great, but we could have lunch the first day of school on Monday. I instinctively knew that part of his malaise had to do with what he saw on Saturday night, but I still couldn't wrap my head around the why of it all. Bash had reacted almost like…well, a jealous ass boyfriend.

His mixed signals over the last few months were giving me whiplash. However, I couldn't puzzle out if he was truly giving me mixed signals about his feelings, or if I was mistaking his normal bestie feelings for romantic ones. To be fair, the latter sounded more like me, so I doubled down on my efforts to put my feelings for Bash into a box and lock that shit up tight. It was hard though because everything Bash did pushed my buttons and lit me up inside, and it's probably because I'd given him full access to my damn nuclear codes. With one sexy smirk or piercing gaze, he could hit my big, red self-destruct button and I would go out in a blaze of glory.

The first day of school went as well as could be expected, and I had some courses for my Psychology major that I was pretty excited about. Bash and I had the lunch he promised me, but I could tell there was something off about him. He seemed troubled, his features drawn and his eyes rimmed with dark circles. I didn't get much out of him other than he was still fighting off whatever had made him sick the day before, but I let it go so I didn't bother him when he wasn't feeling well.

We talked and shot the shit for almost an hour, and I even wrangleda small smile or two from him, which made me absurdly happy. Although it all came screeching to a halt when Ainsley sauntered over, a smug smile across her stupidly gorgeous face. I thought I was lucky to have no interactions with her since that day I popped over to Bash's apartment and had her existence thrown in my face. That was evidently coming to an end, but I knew I'd have to tolerate seeing them together at some point.Guess there's no time like the present. Oh joy.

Strangely, Bash seemed to deflate even more when Ainsley scooched in next to him in our booth and slid her arm around his. The move made my head buzz with jealousy and it caused an unpleasant sensation to settle over my chest. From my body's reaction, I could tell it would be a while until I could easily stomach the sight of them all cozied up.

“Hey baby! I've been looking for you everywhere,” she trilled. For such a beautiful girl, her voice was whiny and grating, but it wasn't my place to point that out.I hope she doesn't sound like that while they're in bed…oh, STOP! Ugh! Rewind and delete the tape please!

I shoved the invasive image from my head and gave an excessive amount of attention to my club sandwich so I wouldn't stare down Ainsley unintentionally. Sometimes my facial expressions had a hard time using their inside voice.

“Well, you could've texted me and asked. I promised M&M we'd have lunch today because I was sick yesterday,” Bash muttered. Ainsley's nose flared a bit when Bash used my nickname and her eyes flashed with irritation, but she quickly schooled her features.

“That's okay! Can I join you guys? I'm starving!” she chimed, already making herself at home by putting her backpack underneath and pulling out a wrapped up sandwich she brought from home. Bash looked up and caught my eye, an apology stamped clear as day in those beautiful emeralds of his.

“You know what, I actually need to get going. My Cognitive Psych class is starting up in about ten minutes and I've gotta book it across campus,” I said regretfully, packing up my bag as I spoke. Bash's eyes widened and hurt crossed his face, but it was gone so fast that I thought I had imagined it.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Ainsley interjected. “Oh, that's too bad! Well, this gives us a little alone time then, huh babe?” she gloated, running her fingers through Bash's hair lightly, a bright smile overtaking her face.

If I didn't know Bash so well and I didn't happen to have eyes on him at that exact moment, I would have missed his flinch when Ainsleytouched him. My curiosity was on overdrive about what was going on with him where she was concerned, but I reminded myself it wasn't my business. Yeah, I was his closest friend and would support him through anything, but I wasn't supposed to dig into his personal life like that. It would only end up hurting me more to know things about their relationship, so I wisely stayed out of it.

“You two have fun. Text me later, BB,” I said, making eye contact with Bash one last time because it just hurt to leave him. The concert hadn't done us any favors in rebuilding our friendship, and it appeared that having Ainsley around was going to cause some friction if I wasn't careful. He glanced up at me, seeming to say so much in one look without saying a word. I stared back for a few seconds, trying to transmit every thought I could to him in the space of a moment.

It's okay, BB.

I'm still here for you.

You still mean the world to me.

I'll always love you.

I wish I could tell him that last one more than anything, but I knew better. I just gathered my things, and made my long trek across campus, leaving Bash and his troubles behind.

Rhys caught up with me halfway to my class, and I was actually happy to see him. After Bash had left the concert, I brought Kit over to meet Rhys because I wanted to get his impression of him. Oddly, I trusted Rhys' judgment despite knowing him for all of forty-eight hours total.

Within half an hour, Kit had charmed the pants off my new friend. He also turned out to be one hell of a dancer, but that was just a side perk. I assessed him for red flags and wasn't coming up with anything egregious, so I was fairly confident in my answer to his coffee date proposal. He even walked us out to our Uber at the end of the night and made sure we got in safely, which was kind of unnecessary, but I appreciated all the same.

Rhys gave me one of his sweet smiles that crinkled his eyes and showed off those dimples of his. “Hey Micah, where are you headed to?”

I hauled out my printed class schedule to double check the name of the building. “Uhh, the Seay building across Dean Keeton Street. It's my Cog Psych class. What about you?”

“Oh sweet! I'm on my way to the ETC building. It's almost right next to yours! Perfect time for a chat!” Rhys exclaimed, his violet eyes shining with happiness.What I wouldn't give to be as happy and carefree as he is. It's honestly really nice to see.

We talked for a couple seconds about the classes we had earlier in the day, and then Rhys seemed unable to wait any longer to start his interrogation. “Okay, enough of this boring crap, I need the deets! Are you and Kit still going on your coffee date? I need the location, date, time, what you're planning to wear, and his social security number just in case he murders you. I like to be prepared,” he spouted at me, his eyes wide and serious looking, even though I think he was mostly kidding.

“You're really trying to gather the appropriate information on the off chance that I'm murdered on my date?”

“I'm a very organized, motivated person,” he said, nodding solemnly.

“You know everyone who died on Mt. Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe take it down a couple notches?” I suggested to him, causing him to shove me with his shoulder, laughing.

“Seriously, tell me about it though!” he urged. I rolled my eyes and told him about the coffee shop that Kit was planning to take me to on Saturday. He graduated UT law school last year and had just started working in a decent sized law firm downtown, so he was pretty busy during the week. It didn't much matter to me at the moment. I was just starting to dip my toe into the world of dating and moving on from Bash, so I knew I'd only be able to handle Kit in small doses until we got better acquainted.

Rhys looked slightly nervous before continuing on, “Have you told Bash you have a date?”

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