Page 43 of Guy's Girl
“Shut up, Tristan,” says everyone in the circle.
Ginny bounces over to Adrian’s side and nudges him with her hips. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Want to dance?”
He nods to the bar. “I need one or two of those before I’ll make it out onto that floor.”
“Oh. Got it.” Ginny frowns for a second, then turns to Clay. “Dance?”
“Duh.” Clay takes her hand and pulls her out into the crowd.
“Wait for me!” calls Tristan, apparently forgetting that he would rather be anywhere but here.
“So,” says Finch as Adrian watches the group disappear. “You and Gin, huh?”
Adrian picks up his margarita and takes a sip. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?” Finch snorts. “You two are together all the time.”
Adrian shrugs. “She’s cool.”
“Yeah. She is cool.” Adrian thinks this will be the end of the conversation, but after a pause, Finch adds, “Just... be careful, okay?”
Adrian looks over. “What do you mean?”
“I just mean... Ginny has this really big heart, you know? Too big. She might not be thinking about this relationship as casually as you are.”
“Oh.” Adrian scans the crowd for Ginny, Clay, and Tristan. They’re right at the center, swing dancing to Lil Nas X. “You think?”
“I don’t know. I just know that after everything that went down freshman year—”
“Freshman year?”
“She didn’t tell you?” Finch brushes away a droplet from his plastic glass. “We were together. Sort of.”
“No. She definitely didn’t tell me that.”
Finch waves a hand. “Whatever, man. She probably just didn’t want to weird you out.”
“What happened?”
He runs a hand through his hair. “I liked her. A lot. But ultimately I couldn’t give her what she wanted.” He sighs. “It almost fucked up our whole friendship. Thankfully, we got past things, but... I don’t know. I should’ve been honest with her from the start.”
“I see.” Adrian’s heart is starting to beat unnaturally fast in his chest.
Finch claps a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t let my shit get to you, though, man. You seem to know what you’re doing.”
Adrian watches as Clay and Tristan dip Ginny’s head back, her mouth spilling open with laughter.
No, he thinks.No, I don’t.
Not at all.
***
Back at his apartment, Ginny and Adrian lie tangled together in the queen-size bed, limbs draped loosely in soft cotton sheets.
