The crowd cheers again as Morrow steps up to the mic. The band strikes up, and we all start to cheer as he belts out a pretty good rendition of “Can’t Have You” by the Jonas Brothers.
“You know, you can sit on my lap,” Ryan leans in to say in my ear.
I lean away, setting my beer down. “So, how often do you go bunny shopping?”
He looks at me, one brow raised. “What?”
“Come on, they can’t all not know how chairs work,” I tease. “Surely one has figured it out.”
He just shakes his head. “Tess…”
“What? I bet I could find you a good one. I’m an excellent wing woman. Cay, tell him,” I shout over at Caleb. “You can’t judge me by any previous failures I’ve had with Rachel. She’s impossible to shop for.”
“Facts,” Caleb says from my other side.
“Honestly, I feel a little vindicated now that I could never find her a good match,” I admit. “I was trying to narrow it down to one when that’s clearly not her style,” I tease at Caleb.
“It’s not mine either,” he says, slinging an arm around a distracted Jake and kissing him.
“Well, it’s my style,” Ryan says from my other side. “I’m a one-woman kind of man.”
“Would you ever let me wing woman for you?” I ask. “I bet we could find someone sweet and funny, maybe at the coffee shop or the beach? There’s still time to find you a cute date for the gala next week.”
He slow turns to glare at me. I know what I’m doing and so does he. “You wanna patrol the local beaches and coffee shops with me trying to find me a hot date for your gala?”
“You have a plus one invitation,” I reply with a shrug.
“Hey, Ryan, I’ve got your chicken wings here,” says Cami, stepping around the back of us. Is there a reason she needs to touch him? I don’t fucking think so. I narrow my eyes at the point where her hand rests on his shoulder. She carefully takes his order off the tray, placing it all in front of him. Another guy behind her is carrying a large tray. She’s too busy getting Ryan extra napkins, so that leaves the guy alone, handing out the rest of the food for our table.
The lights flash green and blue as Morrow sings his heart out at the chorus. The bunnies are all on their feet, cheering and screaming, their pomegranate martinis sloshing around.
I’m feeling sensory overload as the music pulses, the lights flash, and Cami is suddenly back, offering Ryan extra bleu cheese he didn’t ask for. Her breasts brush against his arm as she leans over to set it down, saying something I can’t hear over the music that makes him laugh. She’s quickly called away to another table, and Ryan watches me watch her leave.
“What about Cami?” he says, his smile falling the moment she’s gone.
“What about her?” I say, heart in my throat.
“She’s young and cute and clearly knows how chairs work,” he deadpans. “I think she’d make a great date for the gala. Should I ask her?”
The Rays around us all cheer as Morrow finishes his song, but Ryan and I may as well be alone in this crowded room. He’s all I see.
“Feel free,” I reply, knowing he’s just trying to get a rise out of me because I hurt his feelings. But no one hates me more than me right now, so he can spare me the hurt puppy look.
“You know what, maybe she’s free tonight,” he says, slapping his napkin down. “Hell, maybe she’s free right now. Why don’t I go ask her?”
“Ryan—” I reach for him as he gets up, but he shrugs away from me, passing Morrow as he saunters past the bunnies, moving quickly towards the doors.
I sit there, staring down at the food I can’t bear to eat. I’m not hungry anymore. I’m not anything.
“Jesus. That was worse than watching a car crash,” Caleb says. “You’re a fucking mess, Tess.”
I blink away my tears, glaring at him. “Says the guy who loved his best friend for ten years and did nothing about it.”
“Yeah, and if you used half the cells in that ginormous brain of yours—better yet, if you used half the sense of feeling in that bleeding heart you hold in your chest, you’d know not to make the same mistakes I did,” he snaps at me.
A tear slips down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away. “I don’t know what to do, Cay. Everything is so…broken.”
He sighs. “You’re not broken, Tess. You’re scared. What did Mars say the other day?”