Page 39 of Inseparable
He’s chosen his side, and we’ve chosen ours.
Leaning his hands on the edge of Ayden’s chair, he lowers his head, closing some of the gap between us. It’s almost as if he’s challenging me to speak. Well, hell will freeze before I’m the first to break. I can be stubborn as fuck when I want to be.
He’s claiming the attention of random moviegoers now, and several curious faces are trained in our direction. Then Ayden is there, looming like an all-powerful protector behind him. “Your girlfriend’s on the way back from the bathroom, so I suggest you get your ass out of here before she notices. Lina has put up with enough of Becky’s bullshit.”
“What?” Devin turns to face Ayden.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know. You two are practically joined at the hip.” True fact, but Becky never antagonizes me when Dev is around. She only does it when there are minimal witnesses and she knows she can get away with it.
“Ayd!” I hiss. “Drop it, and sit down.” The opening credits roll. “The movie’s about to start.”
Devin glances at me with a frown before walking away, plonking into a seat three rows in front of us. Becky swans in a minute later, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder and skipping into her seat. She wastes no time draping herself around Devin, but he pushes her off and I spot the tell-tale glint of anger in his eyes as he whispers furiously in her ear. Her head whips around, her eyes narrowing as they lock on mine. I rest my head on Ayden’s shoulder, and focus on the screen, doing my best to ignore the couple in front of us, but my treacherous eyes have other ideas, and despite my best efforts, my gaze keeps returning to them.
Devin sits upright in the chair staring at the screen while Becky nuzzles into his side. She takes his arm, wrapping it around her shoulder only for him to remove it almost straightaway. Then she’s whispering with an ugly, angry expression on her face, and I can almost see the steam billowing out of her ears. This goes on for about the next twenty minutes, and it would be almost comical if I could find anything about this entire clusterfuck that’s funny. Five minutes later, after another angry tirade from Becky, Devin stands up and stalks out of the place. Becky flees after him, sending me a murderous glare on her way out.
“There must be trouble in paradise if that display was any indication,” Mariah says in a low voice as we make our way out to the parking lot after the movie has ended.
“I don’t care, and I don’t want to talk about it.” My tone is harsher than I mean it to be. “Sorry, M.” I loop my arm through hers. “I know you mean well, but I’m determined to put all that behind me. I’m fed up with feeling depressed and upset and tonight was fun for the most part, and it’s reminded me that life is for living, and I’m done acting like a lovesick harpy. Devin is a closed book, a non-entity in my life, and that’s how I prefer it. Life’s less complicated that way.”
She squeezes my arm. “I understand, and I’m glad you are moving on. I hate seeing you so sad, and tonight, in the diner, is the first time I’ve seen you smile and laugh in weeks.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been such a Debbie Downer, and I promise that’s the last you’ve seen of it.”
“I just want you to be happy.”
“Me too.”
“What about you and Ayden?”
“What about us?”
“You never answered me that day, and he’s good for you. You two are so cute together. I think you should give it a shot, and then we can go on double dates all the time.”
“Who’s going on double dates?” Ayden asks from behind as we pull up in front of his Jeep.
“The four of us.” Mariah is quick to reply, wiggling her brows mischievously.
“I’m down with that plan,” Ayden says, grinning at me. “Tonight was fun.”
“It was,” I agree, neither one of us prepared to mention the temporary blip in our otherwise awesome night.
“You should’ve gotten tickets to the psychic show tomorrow night,” Ayden says, opening the passenger door for me. “Then you could’ve come with Lina and me.”
“That psychic shit is all fake hocus-pocus,” Cody says, helping Mariah into the back seat.
Ayd grins at me. “Careful what you say around Lina. She’s very touchy when it comes to this particular subject.”
“Fact.” I twist around in my seat, shooting Cody a warning look. “I’m a true believer.”
“You’re too smart to fall for that bullshit,” Cody replies. “It’s all fake. It’s well known they have scouts in the crowd and they’ve done their homework. They find stuff out and make it seem like someone from the other side is sharing the intel, when it’s all complete and utter bullshit.”
“You’re such a cynic, Cody.”
He shrugs, buckling his belt as I do the same. Ayden revs the engine, driving out of the parking lot.
“I’ll admit I’m naturally cynical,” Cody confirms, “but a healthy dose of cynicism does no harm. Being too trusting is a flaw. Trust has to be earned, and that’s not going to happen at a mass event where everyone has paid twenty bucks a ticket.”
I cannot argue with his logic, even though I’ll never admit that out loud, certainly not less than twenty-four hours before Ayden and I attend the event. But the truth is, for years I’ve loved going to see fortune tellers and psychics because several of them have reinforced my future life choices, and I’ve needed that reassurance that life is going to pan out as I’ve planned it.
