Page 80 of Love, Academically
“I thought she wouldn’t want to talk to me.” His voice was small.
“She probably doesn’t. But if you don’t try to talk to her, she’ll think you don’t want to,” Dan said.
Why were people so complicated?
“So, I should text her?”
“Yes.”
“No! Don’t fucking send that!” Dan cried.
“I’ve already sent it,” Rhys said, bewildered. “But what’s wrong with that? It’s true.”
“It’s not you, it’s me? That’s what you say when you want to break up with someone,” Dan said.
“We’re not together yet. I’mtryingto get us together,” Rhys explained, like Dan was the most stupid man in the world.
“Fuck me, Rhys. You really are dense sometimes,” he muttered, tapping at his phone. “Let me call Jasmeet, she can run interference for you.”
“No! Don’t do that, Dan,” Rhys said, reaching out to cover hisphone. “I don’t want Lila to think I’ve been gossiping about her behind her back.”
“I’ll ask her to be discreet. I can be discreet.”
Rhys scoffed.
“Can you? Can you really be discreet?”
“Yeah, course I can,” he said. “Look, I’ll just tell her the truth, that you’re even more miserable now that Lila won’t talk to you. I won’t give her any details. She won’t be able to help but get involved. You know how she is when it comes to Lila.”
Jasmeet had indeed threatened him, but he still had both his balls, so he could only imagine that Lila hadn’t told her best friend what happened.
But that was the kind of stuff women told each other, wasn’t it?
Rhys blew out a breath. He didn’t have anything to lose.
“Fine.”
“I think the words you’re looking for are ‘yes please Dan, that would be a great help, thank you’,” Dan said.
Rhys rolled his eyes.
“Thank you for your help, Dan.”
Dan grinned.
“You’re welcome, lover boy.”
“Yeah, don’t call me that,” Rhys said. “Besides, you’re one to talk.”
They migrated to the sofa and Rhys found some football on TV.
“I’ll have to see her at work tomorrow,”
“Ask her if you can talk. Make an arrangement to see her. Don’t corner her. If she says no, she says no.” Dan pointed his beer bottle at the screen. “That was a free kick.”
They sat in an easy silence for a few minutes. That’s what he liked about Dan, they’d known each other long enough that silence was just as easy as words.
“Besides, she might need some time to get over the fact thatyou led her on and then pulled her hands off your dick and ran away.”
