"Are you kidding me?!" I finally explode. "You were at the bar for like, fifteen minutes. You actually managed to pick her up?"
Tristan's smile doesn't waver as he shrugs.
I shake my head in disbelief. "Unbelievable," I mumble. "I will never understand what women are thinking."
Finally, Tristan turns away with a chuckle. He grabs his water bottle and steps around me to head back up the stairs. "Regardless, you better get used to it. If you and I are going to be roommates, then you're going to be seeing a lot of it."
I glare at his retreating back. "About that. We still need to set our ground rules. I don't want to deal with a revolving door of women while I'm here." He doesn't respond, which only annoys me further. "Tristan.Tristan!I'm serious!"
His chuckle floats down the hallway.
4
Remy
I'm surrounded by bubble wrap and moving boxes when Hailey walks into my apartment later that day. She stands in the doorway and looks around in shock.
"How do you have so much kitchenware for someone that can barely make a grilled cheese?"
I glower at her as I clear yet another drawer. "Very funny. We can't all be Gordon Ramseys, you ass. And I'm perfectly capable of following any intermediate recipe, hence the many kitchen appliances. Now grab some bubble wrap and make yourself useful."
She rolls her eyes and takes her sweatshirt off. She grabs a box and helps me pack the last few drawers in my kitchen.
"How was Jax feeling this morning?" Hailey asks me as we move to the cabinets.
I roll my eyes. "How do you think? He didn't leave his bed until 2:00, and even then, it was just to pay the Chinese delivery guy." I shake my head, remembering the image of an ogre-sized Jax hidden under a blanket opening the door to a wide-eyed Chinese restaurant employee. "I will never understand how he's so bad at drinking when he does so much of it at work conferences and happy hours. How does he keep his shit together for work the day after a bad party night?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Hailey chuckles.
I reach for the mugs in my designated coffee cabinet. "You seemed pretty buddy-buddy with Lucy last night," I comment. "What were you guys talking about?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Hailey's flinch. I straighten with a frown and turn my full attention toward her.
Recognizing that I'm now expecting a real answer, she starts to fidget with the bubble wrap in her hands, avoiding making eye contact with me. After a long few moments, she takes a deep breath and meets my eyes. "We were talking about long term relationships," she mumbles.
My frown deepens. "What about them?"
Hailey turns back to look at what's in her hands again. "Just about what changes are normal when you've been with someone for a long time. Lucy's been in long term relationships and has seen both good ones and bad ones, so I picked her brain for most of the night." She pauses. "There have been a few things that feel different with Steve lately, and I just wanted to get her opinion on whether or not I should be worried."
I grimace, turning back to the cabinets in an effort to hide my reaction from her. We've always been close to each other and have never hesitated to share something, so the fact that she's talking to someone else hurts me a little. But I want to be sensitive about this, so I don't want my discomfort to make her feel guilty about going to someone else.
Still, I can't help but ask, "Why didn't you want to talk to me about it?"
She finally looks at me, the guilt clearly showing in her eyes, and I've already decided I can't be mad at her. For anything. "It's not that I didn't want to talk to you, I just… Lucy has experience with this kind of stuff. And you… I know you say you can know everything about your compatibility with a guy in a few months but that doesn't exactly make them long-term relationships. I just didn't think you'd have anything to say. I'm sorry." She hangs her head in shame.
I sigh and climb off the ladder so I can drop myself into the pile of bubble wrap next to her. We're not exactly an affectionate family, but we're open enough to give each other our undivided attention when we talk like this. I want her to know I'm here for her and that she can talk to me about anything, even if she thinks I'll have nothing to say. We know from watching our family that keeping shit bottled up only makes problems worse.
"Do you want to talk about it now?" I ask her softly, punching her lightly in the leg. Mock violence is the extent of any affectionate contact in our family.
She cringes but gives me an honest answer. "Not really," she says softly. After a moment she punches me back. "I'm just really confused and kind of embarrassed about the whole thing, so I didn't want to tell you. But I also don't want to keep you in the dark since I know it's not fair to talk to other people and not you."
I don’t say anything. I just wait patiently, giving her time and space to share what she wants.
"Things are just… weird right now," she explains, nervously wringing her hands in her lap. "I can’t really pinpoint why. That’s why I was talking to Lucy. I was trying to figure out what things are usually like after the honeymoon phase."
I wince and pull my knees up, wrapping my arms around them. As much as I want to tell Hailey she should break up with the guy if she doesn’t want to be with him anymore, I also recognize that she's the only one that can make that decision. If I give her my honest opinion, she'll probably just interpret it as me doing my usual jump-ship routine.
"Are you unhappy?" I finally ask her.