plate. He grabs a fork and starts digging in on his way over, where he drops into the chair.
“I enjoyed it.”
Teddy grins, eyes darting between us. “Uh-huh. I might’ve been making out with one of the sorority girls—Jessica? Or maybe it was Savannah? No, it was definitely Kayla. Anyway, that doesn’t matter, what does is the fact that I saw you two.” He waggles his finger between us then smacks his hands together. “Fireworks. Boom. Pow. Chemistry.”
Cole’s eyes connect with mine for the briefest second before we both hastily break eye contact.
“You know, I once met a fortune teller at a fair and she told me I have the Eye for these kinds of things. I’m telling you now, you two…” Teddy gives a low whistle. “Something is there.”
Cole gives his friend an incredulous look. “You know that shit isn’t real. She was just fucking with you.”
“She was legit man, I’m telling you. Long flowing skirt, beads, all those dangly bracelets that clinked when she walked. The things she told me man … she was the real deal, I know it.”
Cole stares down at his eggs, lips twitching.
“Fine, don’t believe me.” He takes a massive bite of his donut, eating almost half of it in the one bite. “But I know the truth.”
I look back at Cole, our eyes connecting for the briefest of seconds.
I swallow past the lump in my throat. Yeah, I think we know the truth too, but we’re both going to keep lying to ourselves and each other because it’s easier.
11
Cole
I grunt, pushing the barbell up. Teddy spots me, counting out loud.
When my arms start to shake, he yells, “Are you fucking weak, man? Push it up! I know you’re better than this!”
Groaning, I crank out three more reps before I’m done. I’m dripping with sweat as I climb off the bench. I grab my towel, drying my face.
Teddy adjusts the weights and then it’s his turn. I stand over him to spot, looking around the gym. I see Mascen near the end with Murray.
I need to talk to him, I know. Selfishly, there’s a part of me that wants to put all the blame on him and make him do all the work, but that’s not how friendship goes, and if ours has any chance of survival it’s going to take both of us working at it.
Teddy finishes up and I tap him on the shoulder. “I’m going to go talk to Mascen.”
“Seriously?” His eyes widen, noticing him at the other side of the gym. “It’s about damn time. Get to it.” He slaps my ass with his towel. “I’m going to shower. A few of us are going to Harvey’s tonight. You in?”
I ponder it for a moment. “Maybe.”
“Cool, text me later if you decide to come.”
I give him a nod and count silently in my head to ten before I walk over to Mascen and Murray.
“Mind if we talk?”
Murray clears his throat. “Play nice,” he jokes, walking off with a grin.
I sigh, rubbing the back of my head. I should’ve thought about this more before I walked over, had some idea what I was going to say.
“I’ve been a dick to you, I know,” I blurt it out there, getting it off my chest.
Mascen’s brows rise. “You haven’t been a dick, man. Sure, you’ve been distant, but fuck, I don’t blame you.” He pushes his fingers through his sweat-damp hair. “You know I’m sorry, and I’m not the type to keep repeating myself so I’ve chosen to keep my distance and hoped … I don’t know, that one day we could move on. I don’t want to lose you as my friend, but…”
“But Rory is more important,” I finish for him.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been living with Zoey for a month now, but I’m beginning to see how ridiculous I’ve been about this whole thing.
“Yeah, she is.” He gets a look in his eyes that’s impossible to mistake for anything except pure love. Who would’ve thought that out of all of us that Mascen would be the one to fall in love first?
I hold my hand out to him and he eyes it skeptically. “Let’s put this shit behind us.”
“You sure?” He looks skeptical, eyeing my hand like it’s a snake that might decide to strike at any second.
“Yeah.” I’m tired of holding onto a grudge that was dumb to begin with, dragging it out would be pointless and immature of me and I like to think I’m above such things.
He takes my