“Scotch,” Malakai was saying, gesturing to me. “This is Amari and . . .” He faltered as he saw the expression on my face.
I wrenched myself up, turning to face our interviewees, and confirmed what I already knew.
“Rianne.”
The girl’s wry smile dissolved instantly. “Kiki?”
Malakai’s eyes popped open as he looked back and forth between us. “Oh. Oh, fuck.” The boyfriend just looked confused.
Rianne hadn’t changed that much. She had the same beauty. Her nose was pierced now, like mine was, and her loose curls were left natural, buoyant around her face. Her dress was deep blue and skimmed her curves to the floor. She was dressed as Yoa, subduer of the waters, Shangaya’s mortal-enemy-turned-ally-turned-friend. I felt like I was going to faint.
She turned to the boys, who were stood still, unsure what to do as they looked on, trying to figure out if they were in the midst of war. All I knew was that I had an instant stress stomachache. I was going to pass out.
“Hey . . . can we have a few minutes, please? If you don’t mind.” She directed the last part at me.
Malakai turned to me, eyes horrified; he pulled me aside, lowering his voice. “Kiki, I had no idea, I swear. I am so sorry. We can just drop this. . . . Are you okay?”
I shook my head slowly, feeling stunned. “Of course you had no idea.” I glanced at Rianne, who was watching us. “I think I have to talk to her. I’ll be fine.”
Malakai reached out to gently squeeze my elbow before nodding at Amari and finding a table nearby.
“It’s good to see you, Kiki. Here of all places.” Rianne’s smile was so forced it was perplexing. “I mean, I guess it makes sense if we think about it. We were obsessed with those books at school. Do you remember when we used to spend ages on those fanfic sites? God, how did we manage to pretend we were cool?”
I exhaled deeply and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Then it was as if I erupted. “Rianne, what do you want? Like, what was the friend request about? Why are you tagging me in old pictures? Why are you acting like we’re just two old friends catching up right now? Is this some kind of weird extended revenge plan, because I am sorry, and I said it then and I’m saying it now. I just—” I was speaking faster now, trying to get words to outrun the tears I felt burgeoning, stinging my eyes. “I’m sorry, I was drunk and then he was giving me more alcohol and then before I knew it, I—”
It took me a while to realize that Rianne was shaking her head frantically, her own eyes glistening. She reached out and grabbed my wrist. “K, K . . . Fuck. I’m so sorry.” Wait, what? “That’s why I sent the friend request, that’s why I tagged you in that picture. I just didn’t know how to reach out to you. I’ve been so ashamed. I acted really, really badly—”
“Rianne, I get it.”
“No. No. I was wrong. I should have heard you out. But Nile had this hold on me, you know? He told me that you’d been after him for a while, and I was an idiot not to have seen it. He was a manipulative prick, Kiki. He’s the one that told me to block you and, I don’t know, he just had this way of making me feel like I was an idiot. We went out for maybe two, three months after that, and I really lost myself. And, at first, yeah, I was so, so pissed at you. But inside it never made sense to me. You wouldn’t do that.”
“Ri . . . I was really drunk and he got me even drunker, and he was saying all this stuff and before I knew it, we were kissing, or he was kissing me, and then I pushed him off but he kept— I swear I pushed him off.”
Rianna’s hold on my wrist tightened; her eyes were shiny. “Stop. I know. I know. You don’t have to rehash this for me, I promise. His version didn’t make sense. I kept asking him what exactly had happened and he would get so mad, so I’d drop it. One time, we were having some argument about a cheating rumor—that turned out to be true, by the way—and he goes, ‘Fuck, why was I even loyal to you when Kiki tried it with me? I should have let her keep going. She was better with her tongue than you anyway.’ Then, it was like something clicked. Like I’d been under some fucking spell and it had broken.
“I thought about the way he acted with me and alcohol and put two and two together. And I knew. Fuck, Kiki, I have been feeling so sick about how I treated you. And you were going through so much and I was so selfish. I let him get between us. . . . I’m really, really, sorry.” Her voice broke.
I flipped her hand so it was in mine. The relief I felt at her words, her understanding, was soured by the nausea that rose at the thought of what she must have experienced with him—the anger at what he’d taken from us. Taking a deep breath, I squeezed her hand. “Ri, it’s okay. He messed with both of us. I’m just glad that you got away from him.”