chance to make it there first. “Where are you going, bro?” Tango asks him.
“I’m out,” he says. “I have to get to work.”
“You okay?” Tango presses.
“Great.” I hear the door slam following his last word.
“What was that all about?” Cali asks Tango.
“No clue. He was fine an hour ago.”
I walk slowly and somewhat shamefully out into the living room, clutching a sweater within my arms. “What happened?” Cali asks me.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I tell her.
“Did you two just have an argument or something?” she continues.
I don’t want to answer her or talk about it so I just look through her, wondering if maybe I was a little too hard on him, but he was so fixated on getting me into bed that he just withheld that information from me. Then again, the thought of what could have happened if Jags didn’t show up last night makes me feel ill. Still, he knows what I’ve been going through because of Landon. How could he just not tell me?
“Hello?” Cali says, waving her hand in front of my face.
“Look, girls, I’d get up if I could, but it takes every muscle in my body just to move my damn leg right now. If you don’t want to talk in front of me, it’s cool, but I can’t get up and leave to give you girl time here.”
Cali snaps her head over to Tango, glaring at him pretty much the same way I was glaring at Jags just a minute ago. “Don’t think you’re out of trouble, Tango. We’re going right back to the hospital as soon as I get Tyler dressed.”
“Cal, knock it off. I’m fine. They were releasing me today anyway. Oh, and I love you, babe,” he says, smirking at her. “I just missed you so much I couldn’t wait another day.”
Cali’s eyes grow a little wider as if she’s only focused on the last little bit of his statement. She smiles a little and gently sits down on the couch next to him, curling her body under his arm. For only a brief second, I think the argument is over, but then Cali continues, “I can’t believe you were dumb enough to take a Zuber car home from the hospital. How did no one even stop you? You’re in a goddamn hospital gown with nothing covering your damn ass.”
“I’m good like that,” Tango says, leaning back into the couch carefully.
Cali groans angrily and stands up, grabbing me by the elbow to pull me down toward the bedroom I’ve been occupying. “I don’t have a lot of time this morning, but clearly, something is going on, so spill it,” she says.
“Nothing is going on,” I say, trying to pacify her.
“Okay, so we’ve been best friends for what, twenty-two years now? Something is wrong. And I’ve only known Jags for a little over a month, and I know something is wrong with him too. What happened?”
I look over at the bed and the messy pile of sheets left behind, including the one I dragged over to my duffle bag and left in a heap. “Did you two just…”
I nod slowly and sigh.
“You two just fucked for the first time?” I hate that word. Why does she have to talk like that? Why not phrase it as, “Oh, you two just made love for the first time?” Though, that sounds pretty lame too. I don’t know what exactly to call what we just did but it’s over now, so it doesn’t matter.
By the lack of enthusiasm and movement in my body, she knows the answer and a questioning smile grows widely across her face. “Are you okay?”
I close my eyes, trying to think of the real answer. “I’m fine,” I grit out.
“Then what happened?” she says, opening her arms with question. Cali likes to talk with her hands, mostly because she’s a little too animated most of the time. She can’t seem to make her point firm enough without using her hands and facial expressions for accentuating her statements.
“He failed to mention Landon and what happened last night before…you know…”
“Making love to you,” she clarifies, sounding as if it pains her to speak so cleanly.
“Yes, Cali.”
“So what?” She says. “You were obviously having a moment. Why would he want to ruin it with something stupid like Landon’s name? Anyway, Tango’s taking care of this whole Landon issue today so you don’t have anything worry about.”
“Yeah, that’s why Tango booked it home in the middle of the night?” I