Page 56 of My Three Roommates

“You RSVP’d with Brad as your date. Are you still going to bring him?”

“I haven’t thought about it,” I tell her honestly. “Would it matter if I brought someone else instead?”

“Of course it would. Brad’s your boyfriend,” she continues. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you need to get yourself straight. One boyfriend, Kenna. No more. I’ll expect you to come with Brad or not at all.”

My jaw falls open. “Are you actually uninviting me if I don’t come with the man you want me to?” I didn’t think Rosalie would go that far. It never even crossed my mind. I love weddings. How can she even think of trying to tell me who I can bring?

Rosalie juts her chin into the air. “I only want normal couples at my wedding. I don’t want whatever it is you’re doing to be part of it. If you can’t commit to one man, then I don’t think you shouldn’t come to my ceremony where I commit to one man. Or did you forgot what marriage is all about after you lost your mind and agreed to this strangeness? What you’re doing feels way too much like cheating. I can’t tolerate that.”

One of Rosalie’s other friends calls her. She glances over her shoulder at me with a mixture of disappointment and disgust as she heads off.

My mind goes back to Eric. I figured he was just caught off guard by the idea of his brother sleeping with another guy. He hasn’t change his mind either. None of my friends are acting much differently than Tanner’s own brother is.

“Now look at what you’ve done,” Paige accuses me. “You’ve upset Rosalie at her bridal shower. How could you?”

“Me?” I gape at her. “I wasn’t the one who brought this up. That was Nadine.”

Nadine’s gazing at me defiantly as if she isn’t the one who caused all of this. “If I hadn’t, when would you have told us? How would we know what you’ve been up to? How could we save you from it?”

“Of course I would have told you. I thought you’d be okay with it. It’s not that big of a deal, not like you’re making it out to be.”

“It certainly is a big deal,” Paige says. “What really happened, Kenna? Did Cody hit on Brad to try and break you two up?”

“How can you say that? Cody’s my best friend,” I say. “You never had a problem with him before.”

“Sure I did. I just kept it to myself. Looks like I was right not to trust him.” She holds up her hand before I can protest. “He wanted you for himself, and so he got between you and Brad. His whole gay thing was an act, wasn’t it?”

I can’t disagree. In a way it was, but not for the reasons Paige thinks.

Her lips purse. “I thought so. If you’re going to move on from Brad, then why not just break up with him? Dragging it out won’t help.”

“That’s not what I’m doing,” I insist.

“Is that what he’s doing to you?” Nadine asks. “Because you’re not enough for him? Is that why Brad wants to get with a guy?”

“We aren’t trying to make you feel bad,” Paige says. I snort and her eyes narrow. “But you’ve got to face facts, Kenna. There’s a reason why Brad brought all of this up. He was always talking about settling down with you before. He stopped, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” I begin, then falter. Our relationship’s changed drastically, why wouldn’t he stop? I twist my fingers together nervously. I have no idea how to explain that to Paige.

“It’s not your fault if you’re not enough for him. If he’s gay, how could you be? It’s a good thing that Brad’s not talking about marriage anymore,” Nadine says before she turns to Paige. “What if they’d gotten married already, and then Kenna found out what he’s really into? That would’ve been so much worse. It’s a lot easier to leave a boyfriend or a fiancé than husband.”

“I’m not leaving Brad,” I say. “We’re fine. I’m not doing a thing behind his back. There’s really nothing more to talk about.”

“If you can’t talk about it with your friends, who can you talk about it with?” Nadine asks. “I was so surprised when I saw you and Cody together at the work party. Everybody in the office was talking about it the next day.”

“Why? Because you told them that I’m with Brad, but I was there as Cody’s date? You know he got fired because of the rumours. Did you start them, Nadine?”

Nadine shrugs, unconcerned. “I hadn’t heard from you in so long, Kenna, and I wanted to know what was going on. I thought maybe you and Brad had broken up. That was really the only reason I could think of as to why you haven’t been responding to any of our group chats lately.”

“That’s right,” Paige adds. “We’ve been worried about you. Once Nadine told us that she saw you and Cody acting like a couple, we were worried. I even sent you a few direct messages and you never replied.”

“I didn’t get them. Sorry about that,” I tell her. “Look, I can’t explain it, but what I’ve got going on works for us. All of us. I’m fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Nadine shakes her head. “That can’t be true. If you’re ignoring your friends, things are definitely not right. You’re always the one who says you should never get so caught up with a guy that you ignore your friends. If you can’t explain your life to your closest friends, isn’t there something wrong with that? Is this really what you want your life to be like?”

“Yes,” I say defiantly. “It’s exactly how I want it. There’s nothing wrong with my relationship. Everyone that’s involved is happy.”

Except the doubts they’ve planted have me rattled. Is it? Have I stopped thinking about marriage because I’m afraid it is what I really want, and it’s no longer an option?

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