Distraction (10 page)

"Oh, I guess I just assumed." I looked between the
two of them.

"Well, yeah. Uh, since Kellie
'
s a freshman she
'
s required to
live in the dorms, and her parents won
'
t allow us to live together until
we
'
re married."
His eyes darted toward the table, away from mine.

I sipped my tea.

"Too bad for you. I guess there won
'
t be too many
late night booty calls." I snapped my head over to Alyssa. She maneuvered
her lips into a wicked grin, and I choked on my tea.

Our food came out then. Thank God, because the livid expression
on Tristan
'
s face increased my anxiety. I thanked the waitress and she
walked away giggling. We all ate in strained silence.

I overstuffed my stomach. Again. My stomach grumbled thinking
about the extra amount of food I shoved in my mouth to keep from talking or
crying. I swallowed the sick feeling down with a big gulp of tea. It helped.
Some.

We paid and when I tried to leave the tip, Tristan shoved the
money back at me. I didn
'
t argue. As much as I loved the food here, I didn
'
t think I
'
d ever be able
to stand coming back after tonight.

Outside, we stood in a lopsided circle until Tristan moved
Kellie to him.

"It was great to meet you, Kellie. If you need any help
with your classes, let me know. I
'
d be happy to help out if I can." I plastered another
fake smile on my face. I thought if I could trick myself into a fake smile then
maybe I could trick my heart from hurting too.

"
Thanks.
" She nestled closer into Tristan side.

"So, there
'
s a party at our sorority this weekend. Do you wanna go?"
Why I blurted that out, I really didn
'
t know. Kellie forwarded me an
uneasy grin, which I childishly relished.

"
Thanks, Spud,
" Tristan said, smiling sincerely at me. "Kellie,
you should go. You can meet some of Elle
'
s other friends." He glared at
Alyssa.

"Yep, you can meet our other friends. I know Ginger will
be there, too."
Alyssa met Tristan
'
s wide eyes. "Yeah, she
'
s the chick
Tristan coupled with last weekend since Elle and I were going together. She
said she didn
'
t want him to get lost or anything. You can
'
t miss her. She
'
s tall, perfect
skin, and rich as hell. You know the type."

Nope, not a great idea to have invited Alyssa tonight.

"Tristan?" Kellie looked up at Tristan with sad,
pathetic, puppy dog eyes.

"It was nothing and Alyssa knows it. She
'
s being a bitch.
Ignore her." Then he kissed her. Even though he'd only kissed her on the
forehead, my heart still ached from having to witness his lips on her.

"I
'
m sorry this wasn
'
t the greatest first introduction.
I
'
d really like to
make this up to you, but I need to get home. I have to open in the morning at
work. I
'
ll call Tristan tomorrow, and we can work out the details."
I watched her think over my invitation.

"Sure, that
'
ll be great. I look forward to hearing from you."

We each said our goodbyes and walked away. My legs must have
had their own GPS. I didn
'
t know where I was going until I found myself sitting inside
Alyssa
'
s car. As soon as she drove off, I started in.

"Alyssa, what the hell was with you back there?"
Even though I loved her for being so bitchy, I couldn't believe she
'
d been so
vicious.

Alyssa shrugged her shoulders. "
I don'
t like her, is
all."

"You don
'
t even know her. You didn
'
t give her a
chance." At that point I wasn
'
t sure who I tried convincing, me or Alyssa?

Alyssa glanced at me. "The girl has no backbone. She
didn
'
t even attempt to stick up for herself and Tristan didn
'
t stick up for
her either. I think she
'
s jealous of your friendship with Tristan and that is shit in
my book. Besides, I think he can do better."

I agreed, but being with him proved too late for me. I did
notice some animosity, but figured tension had to do with him being best
friends with a female. Would she try to end our friendship? No, I wouldn
'
t let her. She
might be engaged to Tristan, but he was my best friend. If she thought I
'
d step aside and
let her take his friendship away from me too, she
'
d better think
again. With a smile I thought, game on Kellie, game on.

Chapter
6

Tristan

"What the hell was all that about, Tristan? And who is
Ginger?" I felt Kellie
'
s eyes burning a hole into the side of my head. I could kick
Alyssa
'
s ass right now. I did not need this shit.

"Listen, I told you Alyssa was trying to start shit. She
does that." I laughed. The situation seemed funny, in a sardonic kind of
way.

"
I don'
t believe you."

I looked over at her. Her arms were tightly crossed over her
chest, her brow raised, waiting for some sort of confession.

"Believe whatever the hell you want then." I heard
the quick gasp of air when I tore my eyes away. Maybe I should have been more
sensitive, but I didn
'
t fucking do anything wrong. She should trust me.

"Just take me home, Tristan. I don
'
t want to be
around you right now."

My jaw tensed and I gripped the steering wheel tighter.

I drove to the dorms and sped off as soon as she shut my car
door. At home, I didn
'
t hesitate to open a beer, gulping the cool amber liquid down
in seconds. This shit storm with Kellie didn
'
t concern me
much. I knew she'd get over being pissed, most likely by tomorrow.

Something bothered Elle. I had a feeling she
'
d talked to her
mom after all. I picked up the phone and punched in her number, but didn
'
t hit send. She
was with Alyssa and as much as she pissed me off, I took comfort knowing she
'
d be there for
Elle.

I sure as hell wasn
'
t calling Kellie. Not until we'd
both had time to cool down. I didn
'
t want to end up saying something I
'
d regret. The
night certainly didn
'
t go as smoothly as I had hoped.

* * *

The next morning I woke up to the irritating ding of my
doorbell. Too early for my mind the think straight, I couldn't figure who the
hell could be at my house. Only a few people knew where I lived. I rolled out
of bed, not bothering to put a shirt on.

I walked to my front door and opened it. Kellie stood on my
doorstep. "Hey." She handed me a cup of coffee. I took the Styrofoam
cup and moved aside for her walk in.

"
Tristan, I don'
t like fighting with you." Kellie turned around to face
me.

"
Good, I don
'
t want to fight either." I sipped the coffee and
grimaced. She
'
d spiked my favorite morning cup with so much sugar, the
grains coated my tongue. She never could remember how I liked my coffee. Black.
Not too fucking hard to remember.

"
I don'
t think that super tall freak liked me much, and Elle..."
She rolled her eyes. In reflex, I gripped the coffee cup tighter, and the lid
popped off. I waited for her to continue as I bent over to pick it up.

"
I don'
t think she likes me either. I don
'
t want you
hanging out with her anymore." Oh, this was going to be good.

"Kellie," I said, slow and deliberate as I
struggled to keep my anger under control. "Do not tell me who to be
fucking friends with. Elle and I have been through a lot. She
'
s my best
friend, and I
'
m not ending our friendship because you
'
re insecure."
I walked away. I had to.

In the kitchen, I poured the too sweet coffee shit down the
sink and then gripped the counter. I didn
'
t want Kellie feeling unwanted, but
I refused to let her run all over me.

I heard Kellie
'
s footsteps walking up behind me and tensed.

"I am not insecure!" I could tell by the
high-pitched screech she was fuming, but I kept my back to her.

"I
'
m not ditching Elle as a friend, so deal with it." I
turned around. "
I don'
t tell you to give up your guy friends. Hell, I don
'
t give a shit
who you
'
re friends with and more importantly, I would never make you
do something like that. So, if you don
'
t wanna fight, as you
'
ve said, then
drop the subject."

Her face contorted into a scowl, ready to say more, but I
wasn
'
t in the mood. I had practice in an hour and needed a shower
first. I left her alone in the kitchen and headed to my room.

In my bathroom, I turned the shower on as hot as I could
stand. My life was fine a week ago. Kellie and I were happy and I knew where I
stood with Elle. We were friends, and at the time, I could live with that.
Hell, it had been my motto for years–just be friends with Elle. I expected
feelings to resurface when I met her last weekend, but I hadn
'
t anticipated
those feelings would snake around me as hard as they did.

Kellie being in the middle of it all made me feel like a
dick. I didn
'
t want to hurt her, but my protective feelings for Elle
overshadowed what Kellie wanted from me. Hopefully she
'
d come around.

The bathroom door opened and Kellie came in while I rinsed
shampoo from my hair. I refused to let her games change my mind, not when it
came to Elle.

"I get that you
'
re friends with her, but can
'
t you understand
why I
'
m upset?"

"I get it, let
'
s drop the subject. All right?"
I turned the shower off and pushed the curtain open. Kellie handed me a towel.
"
Thanks.
" She walked out and sat on my bed while I dried off.

"So what
'
s the plan now?"

I worked my shirt over my head and glanced over at her.
Kellie
'
s arms were crossed over her chest and she still looked
pissed.

"I
'
m going to practice." I jumped into my shorts.

"That isn
'
t what I meant, and you know it."

Yeah, but I also said I was finished.

"
Just drop it.
" Dammit. I didn
'
t want to fight. Giving up, I
walked over to her.

"Okay fine, but not until you promise me something."
Kellie wrapped her arms around my neck, stepped on her tiptoes, and brushed her
lips over mine. I pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. I chose to be with
Kellie and knew I had to move away from the idea of being with anyone else. I took
a step back.

"What
'
s the promise?"

"Promise me you
'
ll make sure I
'
m around when
you hang out with Elle."

I pulled away from her, thinking she had to be joking. From
her stern expression, I could see she wasn
'
t.

"Kellie, that's ridiculous. You
'
re acting like a
baby."