Page 130 of Love Undiscovered
She has a good point there. A dip in the hot tub sounds awesome.
“What about date night?” Brad asks her.
“Dinner was good, but we’re finished eating. So, technically the date is over.”
“What about, you know… dessert?” he asks. I scoff. Kat scoffs right along with me.
“Oh, there will be no dessert,” she says. “Not only will there be no dessert, but there is a dessert moratorium until further notice.”
“What? Why?” Brad asks, his voice a little whiny. I want to tell him to grow a pair, but I also don’t want to interrupt this discussion. Watching the dynamics of their relationship has always been a little bit fascinating to me. Because Kat is my best friend, and because it’s a relationship that is healthy and positive. And, of course I want that for her, but I also want to analyze it and try to dissect the bits and pieces that make up the successful whole.
“Sides, babe. There are always sides and you chose the wrong one. Even if you didn’t want to tell Remi, you should have told me.”
“I just—” he says.
“I know,” Kat says. “You didn’t want to be in the middle, blah, blah, blah. Well, now you’re not. You aren’t even in the equation. You’re going out for a while so Remi and I can have girl-talk.”
“Where am I supposed to go? It’s eight-thirty on a Sunday night.”
“I don’t know. What about yourbroBauer’s house. Since y’all are so close and shit,” Kat says.
“Try to do the right thing, and this is how they treat you,” he says, but it’s under his breath and in more of a teasing tone than a serious one. He gives Kat a kiss on the top of her head, then blows one toward me via the video screen and leaves the room.
“Come over,” Kat says. “The hot tub is bubbling, and I’ve got wine and sweets.” Kat and I live in the same neighborhood. But her house is on the water, whereas mine is a couple blocks from it. I can get to her house on foot in about five minutes, and the walk is an enjoyable one. So, I’m pretty much out my door before she finishes the words ‘sweets.’
* * *
We sink down into the water, a floating table filled with gummy bears between us. I bite the heads off each one I grab, envisioning doing the same to Chance, then put the mangled bodies back on the table to finish off later.
“Look,” Kat says. “I totally understand that you’re angry. And I get why. But let’s be real for a minute, you don’t really have a leg to stand on with this argument.”
“Of course I do. Why would you say that?”
“Because we had our own bet.”
“He took money, Kat.”
“Wait, he already won the bet?”
“No, he won half the bet, and he took the money.”
“Hmm,” she says, tapping her index finger on her lips. “Okay, that is a super dick move on his part, but maybe he really needed the money.”
“Kat he prostituted me.”
“Technically, I think he prostituted himself,” she says.
“Whatever,” I say. I don't tell her that's the same thing Chance said.
“And,” she continues. “We did have our own bet.”
“But our bet didn’t include sex.”
“It could have. I mean our bet was for a month and in that time, most people have sex. Fuck, Rem, in that time youdidhave sex.”
“Fine, but our bet wasn't dependent upon sex,” I say.
“Is that the part that bothers you? That it was about sex? I find that hard to believe.”
