Page 114 of The One I Love
Mariah: Just freaking fix it. Please.
Shane: I’ll do my best.
Mariah: I’m holding you to that.
“Fuck!” I yell while trying to pull my hair out. I throw my phone across the room for good measure.
“Whoa!” Simon says as he, Wes, and Oliver, walk in just in time to see my phone hit the wall. “What the hell was that?”
“It—” I stop myself before I say too much. “It was nothing.”
“Well, I’m going to call bullshit on that,” Simon says as he makes himself comfortable on my couch. “Wes, hand me a beer.”
“Shane, are you okay?”
The concerned question comes from Oliver. Fuck, I’ve missed this guy. I don’t blame him for not being here during all of this—he’s had just as much of a whirlwind over the past four months as I have. Yet I know while he might be shocked at all that’s happened with me, he’s not going to be angry. Or hurt. He’s going to try to fix it. Because that’s what he does.
That’s what best friends do.
I shake my head. “No, I’m not okay.”
Saying it out loud isn’t as cathartic as I hoped it would be. Then again, I still feel like I’m bleeding from that text from Mariah.
“Okay,” Oliver says, pulling up the ottoman so he can sit down in front of me. “Talk to me. Start from the beginning.”
Everyone laughs except me. “Oliver, I don’t have the energy to start from the beginning.”
He looks over to Wes and Simon. “Can you guys fill me in?”
“We got it,” Simon says, cracking his knuckles. “It started when Shane kissed Amelia at Whitley and Jake’s wedding.”
“The wedding! That’s when Izzy and I?—”
“Yes, we know,” Wes says. “Now quiet and let him talk.”
“Fine, but I already have a thousand questions.”
“Shush,” Simon says. “Anyway, she didn’t want to ruin the friendship, but he didn’t give up, so they started dating but sheinsisted they keep it a secret. They didn’t tell anyone. Well, they told some. But not us, which is rude since I’m his new best friend. Anyway, one day we saw Paul and accidentally told him they were engaged. And then it got out of hand and now we’re here, and judging by the state of Shane’s beard, I’m guessing they had a fight and he hasn’t showered in at least a week.”
The room is silent as Oliver processes. Then, because this man is who he is, he says the most Oliver thing I’ve ever heard.
“You proposed without me?”
I shake my head. “I didn’t propose. That’s actually the whole problem.”
“What?” Wes asks. “What happened that we don’t know about?”
“Wait! Am I caught up?”
“Seems as if you are,” Wes says.
“Good. I mean, I’m still very confused, but I’m appeased for now. Also, I’m super happy for you, and you owe me a lunch to answer every question I have. After that story, the question count is at roughly ten thousand.”
I laugh, and honestly, it’s my first real laugh in I don’t know how long. “I really could have used you.”
“Hey!” Simon says in protest. “I did pretty good.”
I shoot him a look. “You got kicked out of the caterers.”
